Generate Electricity by Squeezing This Slime

Slime exploded in popularity in recent years, thanks to a seemingly infinite number of YouTube channels where slime influencers squish all manner of gooey substances and even offer tutorials on how folks at home can make their own gloopy creation. We are in a Slime Renaissance that is now expanding outward from recreational slime into the realm of the scientific with slime that might be beneficial to the advancement of human civilization.

I might be overstating things a bit, but according to new research from the University of Guelph in Canada, scientists developed a type of slime with potential uses in a variety of industries, from clean energy to medical products. Published in the Journal of Molecular Liquids, an exhilarating read I’m sure, this slime, made from all oleic acid, amino acids, and a lot of water, can generate electricity as it’s squished.

The theoretical uses for a slime that generates electricity when compressed are seemingly endless. Just imagine: the floors of your home are lined with a thin layer of slime so that every step you or your pets take generates a little bit of electricity that can feed right back into your home.

Since it’s mostly made up of water and a few harmless chemicals, it could be used as a bandage that actively promotes healing by generating electric fields that attract healing cells, effectively turning this slime into a liquid Band-Aid that heals a wound at a rapid pace.

“Imagine you have the material take an initial structure that contains a pharmaceutical substance and then, when an electric field is applied to it, the structure changes to release the medicine,” said the study’s co-author Erica Pensini, who has already been using the slime to treat her hands after rock climbing.

This wondrous energy-creating slime is still many years away from anything close to retail availability, but if the advancements continue, we could be living in a slimy future.