With some of our focus being pointed to wearable art, I’d like to go in a different direction to wearable power. Scientists have developed a type of fiber that can generate its own electricity, enough to recharge your cell phone battery or other appliances. If woven into a shirt, the wearer would be able to walk around, creating energy that could be transferred over. The fiber takes advantage of semiconductive properties of zinc oxide nanowires — tiny wires 1,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair — embedded into the fabric. The wires are formed into pairs of microscopic brush-like structures, shaped like a baby-bottle brush. One of the fibers in each pair is coated with gold and serves as an electrode. As the bristles brush together through a person’s body movement, the wires convert the mechanical motion into electricity. While it still needs some work before being perfected, the idea that we are discovering ways to develop new energy sources from the basic of functions is a great step to be taking.