MIT researchers are putting a tiny gas-turbine engine inside a silicon chip about the size of a quarter. The resulting device could run 10 times longer than a battery of the same weight can, powering laptops, cell phones, radios and other electronic devices.
Professor Alan Epstein and his team have been using computer-chip fabrication techniques to make a gas-turbine engine that fits in the palm of his hand. Photo / Donna Coveney