As eardrum vibrations naturally create a usable voltage from brain signals, the prototype can build enough charge in a capacitor to drive a very low-power wireless transmitter that relays the electrochemical properties of the ear and potentially diagnoses balance or hearing problems.

ENGADGET: MIT ear-powered wireless sensor sustains its charge through sound

Lethal electric fences, however, use a continuous current that can make a person lock on to the wire as voltage causes involuntary muscle contractions, paralysis and death.

WSJ: Escape From a North Korean Prison

Dixon has harnessed a process known as mineral accretion a tool of bioengineering to subject the chairs to low-voltage charges of solar power that encourage the growth of limestone at something close to three times the usual rate.

WSJ: Tom Dixon Makes Things Better

Outages that used to last a few hours now can drag on for the better part of a week as repair crews contend with flooding, downed trees and snapped high-voltage power lines across vast regions.

FORBES: Preparing The Grid For The Next Superstorm

Though Dixon wears his eco credentials lightly, his crusade to make low-voltage lighting attractive is second to none, as illustrated by Luminosity, a collection of lamps, lights and shades that he also presented last month in Milan.

WSJ: Tom Dixon Makes Things Better

He knew how he was going to scramble them: by connecting a wire to the memory and shooting it with pulses of voltage, just as he had when he hacked his iPhone.

NEWYORKER: Machine Politics