Scientists from the Department of Energy received an award in developing a new source of energy that can be converted into electricity through harmless viruses, the DOE said Wednesday.

The DOE’S Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory received its award from R&D Magazine’s “R&D 100 awards,” which recognizes the 100 most technologically significant new products of the year.

Out of the 100 awards given out, the DOE received 36. Another DOE product that received an award included a battery-powered, portable digital X-ray system.

The findings of the virus power generator were published last year in the journal, Nature Nanotechnology.

The generator works by the virus converting mechanical energy into electricity. Scientists genetically engineered large numbers of viruses to boost their voltage. The amount of voltage the scientists were so far able to exert was a quarter of a AAA battery.

Energy