Fancy walking around with urine in your socks?

by Amelia Dalton

According to a press release from the University of the West of England in Bristol, a team working under Professor Ioannis Ieropoulos has developed socks with inbuilt microbial fuel cells (MFCs). These generate electric current from bacteria, using the bio-chemical energy normally used for microbial growth. MFCs have previously been used to power a mobile phone, using an electric pump (which was used only for proof of concept. The socks include a urine reservoir and a manual pump, powered by the user walking, pushes the urine over the cells. The cells power a wireless transmission board, which can send a message every two minutes.

Quickly and accurately identify inter-domain leakage issues in IC designs

Sponsored by Siemens Digital Industries Software

Power domain leakage is a major IC reliability issue, often missed by traditional tools. This white paper describes challenges of identifying leakage, types of false results, and presents Siemens EDA’s Insight Analyzer. The tool proactively finds true leakage paths, filters out false positives, and helps circuit designers quickly fix risks—enabling more robust, reliable chip designs. With detailed, context-aware analysis, designers save time and improve silicon quality.

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featured chalk talk

Analog Output, Isolated Current, & Voltage Sensing Using Isolation Amplifiers

Sponsored by Mouser Electronics and Vishay

In this episode of Chalk Talk, Simon Goodwin from Vishay and Amelia Dalton chat about analog output, and isolated current and voltage sensing using isolation amplifiers. Simon and Amelia also explore the fundamental principles of current and voltage sensing and the variety of voltage and current sensing solutions offered by Vishay that can get your next design up and running in no time.

Click here for more information about Vishay / Dale Reference Designs

Apr 27, 2026

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Fancy walking around with urine in your socks?

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