Scientists at the Georgia Tech School of Material Science and Engineering have developed the first self-powered nano-device able to transmit data wirelessly over long distances.

Detailed in the American Chemical Society's NanoLetters journal, the device could someday lead to tiny implantable medical sensors. 

From a press release:

Zhong Lin Wang and colleagues explain that advances in electronics have opened the door to developing tiny devices that operate battery-free on minute amounts of electricity that can be harvested from the pulse of a blood vessel, a gentle breeze, or the motions of a person walking. "It is entirely possible to drive the devices by scavenging energy from sources in the environment such as gentle airflow, vibration, sonic wave, solar, chemical, and/or thermal energy," the scientists explain.

—Jamie Hartford