Electricity goes viral

An MIT team has found a way to use a virus to build batteries. The virus, M13 bacteriophage, is attracted to inorganic materials, making it fairly unique among viruses.

The virus is coated with gold and cobalt oxide to transform it into a piece of nanowire. When the viruses are encouraged to grow into a chain, they form a film that carries a negative ionic charge.

The advantage to this kind of battery making is that it eliminates harmful solvents that are used to make traditional batteries.

This is a pretty cool advance, and I wish the MIT team well.

One always has to wonder about the unintended consequences of new technologies, however. What happens when a battery containing a virus is discarded? After the battery's shell breaks down, can the virus escape and take on all the inorganic material in the landfill as a host? Could it mutate?

Yes, I watch too many sci-fi movies.