In the days immediately following Hurricane Katrina, radio and
phone communication suffered, in part, when rechargeable
batteries died and could not be recharged due to widespread
power outages. A new backpack design may offer a way for first
responders and disaster relief workers to generate their own
electricity for communications devices, night vision goggles,
water purifiers or other crucial, portable electronics. All the
person wearing the backpack has to do is walk — the backpack
does the rest. The backpack captures energy from the up-and-down
movements of its heavy contents and converts this energy to
electricity. The new research is published in the Sept. 9 issue
of the journal Science published by AAAS, the nonprofit science
society. “I wrote the first draft of the Science paper during
the relief effort following the 2004 tsunami. I was struck by
continual reports of people not being able to communicate
because satellite phone batteries went dead,” said backpack
inventor Larry Rome. In light of the p