Termites manage to power themselves by eating wood, which is a pretty neat trick. Sony has just come up with a battery that does the same thing: feed it shredded paper or cardboard , and it produces enough electricity to run an MP3 player.

The idea of jacking yourself into some sort of machine that can teach you anything you want to know without you having to, you know, do anything is total science fiction. Or, it would be, if some researchers hadn't just done it. Teachers, you are now obsolete!