Using aluminum panels as electrodes, Japanese inventor Kazuhiko Minawa has powered a mall Christmas tree with an electric eel. Minawa told Reuters Televesion that "If we could gather all electric eels from all around the world, we would be able to light up an unimaginably giant Christmas tree." Hmmmm.... let's not do that.
The tree has proven to be quite the Christmas attraction. Eel is particularly popular during the summer, because it's rich in vitamins, which the Japanese believe they lose through sweating in the summer heat. "I would love to have an eel like this at home. This is very nature-friendly," said visitor Harumi Yayoi. Is it Harumi? Is it really?
- Log in to post comments
More like this
by Mark Pendergrast
This is my second post in a series of three about the state of Japan's renewable energy efforts, which are vital to prevent further climate change and to wean the country from fossil fuel and nuclear power. In the previous post, I covered the public-health impacts of climate…
"Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war that we know about peace, more about killing that we know about living." -Omar N. Bradley
There are some words that, seemingly, you can't utter without inflaming people's passions in one way or another, and nuclear seems…
Via several blogs, including the normally wonderful
Making Light comes a link to an obnoxious Reuters' story that once again demonstrates just how
scientifically and mathematically illiterate reporters are.
We have yet another company basically claiming to have invented a perpetual motion machine…
Hagfish are gaining popularity in Korea by the minute! Caravalho Fisheries is now trying to develop a live market for the "primitive and somewhat disgusting eel-like creatures". About 5,000 pounds of hagfish, peacefully coiled at the bottom of their tank, were shipped to Seoul, where they should…
Huh? Japan is in the Northern Hemisphere, so their seasons are the same time as yours.
right... we were testing you... you win some sort of prize to be determined later.
Man, that poor eel. You'd think they'd give him a little cave to hide in, or at least a nice big rock to stare at.
And that isn't an eel, it's a big knifefish.
It's most certainly an electric eel http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org…
Yes it is, and the electric "eel" is a big knifefish.
i see your point...
Apparently people have had some other bright ideas on creative ways of using this species:
http://fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=4535
"Incorporation of this species in fish-based house security systems has been suggested"
Whaaaaaa? I want to see diagrams of how exactly this species is going to defender me against burglars. Oddly, the article it was in doesn't appear to have been written by Japanese scientists either. Well, if it does a lousy job, I'm sure it will make a fine meal. I don't know if it's rich in vitamins or not, but I'm going to assume it's an aphrodisiac.