New way to power pacemakers

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120201181449.htm
     In this article aerospace engineers have been trying to find a new way to power pacemakers. For people who have artificial pacemakers, the battery must be changed, which requires surgery for patients every once in a while. Aerospace engineers M. Amin Karami and Daniel J. Inman have found a way to power the heart with the vibrations of the chest cavity, which are mainly due to heart beat. Their pacemaker is able to convert mechanical stress into an electrical current.  Test show that their pacemaker would be able to beat from 7 to 700 times per minute and deliver eight times more energy than the pacemaker actually needs. The team must still build a prototype but they hope that the technology of the pacemaker will beat other ways to power pacemakers.
     This article relates to our studies on the heart. In class we have discussed how every person has a natural pacemaker, but if it does not function artificial pacemakers are available. Pacemakers help coordinate the contraction of muscles in the heart through electrical impulses. Without having the energy to create the electrical impulses the heart of the patient might fail to beat correctly. So, with the new possibility of powering pacemakers, patients with artificial pacemakers would not have to come in for surgeries to change the battery in the machine.