Wireless

This is about a little experiment that could change the meaning of the word 'wireless'. Even the coolest mobile device today is not truly wireless. Every once in a while, you have to plug it into a wall. And thats the end of mobility. Fortunately, someone decided to do something about it.

Late one night, Marin Soljacic, found himself standing by the kitchen counter in his pyjamas staring at a mobile phone. As he recalls, this was probably the sixth time in that month that he was awakened by his cell phone beeping to let him know that he had forgotten to charge it. And he wondered what a better world it would be if the thing could just take care of its own charging.

After much research, his team at MIT have set up an experiment to show that magnetically coupled resonators, basically just copper coils, can be used to wirelessly light a bulb over a distance of a few meters. Now, why didn't anybody think of that before?