10/10/09 - Physicists Measure Elusive 'Persistent Current' That Flows Forever
 Physicists at Yale University have made the first definitive measurements of "persistent current," a small but perpetual electric current that flows naturally through tiny rings of metal wire even without an external power source. The team used nanoscale cantilevers, an entirely novel approach, to indirectly measure the current through changes in the magnetic force it produces as it flows through the ring. “They’re essentially little floppy diving boards with the rings sitting on top,” said team leader Jack Harris, associate professor of physics and applied physics at Yale. The findings appear in the October 9 issue of Science. The counterintuitive current is the result of a quantum mechanical effect that influences how electrons travel through metals, and arises from the same kind of motion that allows the electrons inside an atom to orbit the nucleus forever. “These are ordinary, non-superconducting metal rings, which we typically think of as resistors,” Harris said. “Yet these currents will flow forever, even in the absence of an applied voltage.” - Source
http://www.physorg.com/news174222765.html

10/10/09 - Researchers Develop a Penny-Sized Nuclear Battery
 Researchers have begun developing a tiny nuclear battery the size of a penny that could provide power in a smaller, lighter, and more efficient package. Most people probably think of nuclear power that involves fission and the splitting of atoms. But nuclear power can also come from the natural radioactive decay of isotopes such as plutonium-238 -- a much gentler process that has powered nuclear generators aboard spacecraft such as NASA's Cassini probe. "The radioisotope battery can provide power density that is six orders of magnitude higher than chemical batteries," said Jae Kwon, an electrical and computer engineer at the University of Missouri. Kwon and colleagues want to miniaturize such batteries to power micro-devices and nanotech systems. The batteries won't pose any fission-related threats, but engineers do face a challenge in preventing the radioactive decay from damaging sensitive parts of the batteries. "The critical part of using a radioactive battery is that when you harvest the energy, part of the radiation energy can damage the lattice structure of the solid semiconductor," Kwon noted. The researchers hope to get around that problem by using a liquid semiconductor rather than a solid semiconductor. Eventually they also want to boost battery power, shrink its size, and eventually end up with a battery thinner than a human hair. - Source
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2009-10/scientists-develop-penny-sized-nuclear-battery

@Paul,
  Your work is being validated.  Do you have any thoughts on how to concentrate such natural currents to get useable amount of work?

I did not want to mention some ongoing experiments just yet, but since I don't have the money to make a good version, it's time to show it -->

http://globalfreeenergy.info/2009/10/12/high-voltage-experiments/

Regards,
Paul

Usable power would be nice. The best so far per thin shielded piezo element is a flash of an LED one or two times per day. 

Research final stage:
http://globalfreeenergy.info/2009/10/19/research-final-stage/

Thanks! It's an ancient idea. Back in the ... what, 1950's they did a bunch of theoretical work on diodes, but their diode models had so many holes it was like Swiss cheese. We can say that now because we know a lot more about diodes than in the 50's. Anyway, it doesn't matter because it appears the produced DC current & voltage is not due to Johnson noise rectification.

I'm telling you, there is something weird going on in our society. Some kind of freakish control. LOL, have the Martians infiltrated us. 

I recall handing my professor in Electronics class a copy of the Bruce DePalma report, and the look he gave me was priceless. It was not a look of, "You're crazy."  It was not a look of, "Give me a break."  It was a look of, "We should not be reading this!"

Regards,
Paul

10 picoAmps?

Had you considered that the piezo works in reverse.  When it gets sound vibrations it generates a voltage and current.  Try exposing the piezo to loud sound and see if the current goes up...

In a Project Camelot interview Dr. Arthur Neumann (Henry Deacon) talked of a small crystal device that continuously generated direct current via the Casimir Effect.  I think that this has been revisited time and again through out the 20th century.  Henry Moray and Tesla were doing it in the early part of the 20th century.  Their knowledge got passed around and various other country's researchers got involved, in secret of course.  Then we see the technologies emerging in the late 20th century with Arthur Summera's Electrinium document.  Then there is John Hutchison's work with a random mix crystal cell.  There are a lot of people chasing this little crystal.

I think you need a very well organized compound (several elements) crystal to achieve this effect with a usable current and standard voltage (like 1.5 Volts).  It will probably need something akin to semiconductor quality crystals which need to be grown in a special high temperature environment.  But, once you get the process down, and go into mass production, despite the high front end expenses, you could make a mountain of money with a product like this.  Permanent Batteries?  Everybody is going to want them, and a lot of them...