• Imagine taking a pill with an ingestible sensor that takes measurements and sends information wirelessly to your doctor, or a pill that senses changes in your gut microbiome and adjusts its dose .
• Ingestible medical devices promise such applications, and many more, but a big challenge is making their power sources safe for our bodies.
• Melanins protect our bodies from free radicals, but they also bind and unbind metallic ions, a chemical process crucial to the function of batteries.
• The Carnegie Mellon team is now experimenting with making batteries from other biodegradable materials such as pectin.
• The team built the batteries using melanin and other biocompatible materials such as manganese oxide, copper, and iron.

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