Urine can power a cell phone: British scientists

Put down your devices and open your minds, because scientists in the U.K. say they've managed to power a cell phone using urine.

There might someday be more mobile phone customers "peed" off at their devices, but they won't be complaining. A report by Agence France-Presse says British scientists at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory have developed a way to charge a battery with human waste.

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They said a phone they charged with bacteria and urine had enough juice, so to speak, to send text messages and browse the Internet. A video from the laboratory shows a jar of human urine on a desk with a tube pumping it into the fuel cells.

Others have designed ways to use human waste as power in recent years. For example, engineer Caitlyn Butler at the University of Massachusetts designed a latrine that could help light an African village and provide compost for farm fields at the same time.

The scientists working on the mobile phone battery said they're planning to further develop the technology, hoping that one day bringing a cell phone to the bathroom will have an entirely new meaning.

Don't forget to wash your hands.