To gather venom for commercial purposes, beekeepers place a sheet of glass embedded with low-voltage electrical wires at the hive entrance.

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More modern versions have been powered by everything from waterwheels to electrical motors, and they work a wide variety of different kinds of materials, including metal and glass.

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The two researchers realized they could combine forces by creating a bundle of glass tubes, similar to what was being used for DNA analysis, for recording the electrical activity of individual neurons.

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Although barely visible in the air, the ash -- made up of tiny particles of rock, glass, and sand -- poses a serious threat to aircraft, stalling engines and causing electrical failure, experts have said this week.

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To enable this material to store electrical energy, two layers of woven fibres are made into a sandwich, separated by a thin layer of a glass-based insulating material.

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