Radio Ga-ga

Is anyone else terrified by the idea of wireless electricity?

The news that scientists at MIT are successfully pioneering "witricity" scares me to death for some reason - I just don't like the idea of it. Using resonance techniques (and a two foot receiving coil) the system has been proven to power gadgets wirelessly over a distance of up to 7 feet, paving the way for a battery-free utopia where all our gadgets are kept topped up wireless networks at home and away - but something about the idea of this kind of energy resonating about the place feels me with suspicion...

I feel a bit like the modern day equivalent of those people in the thirties who thought that TV transmissions might burn them, or the victorians who thought that passengers on a train going over fifty miles an hour might explode, but nevertheless something about the idea of high voltage energy in the air just gives me the heebeejeebees...

Couple that with the fact that the system is only 40% efficient at the moment - eg, 60% of the energy is completely wasted - and the designers are only hoping for around 80% efficiency from the final spec, and you've another good reason to stick to good old eco-friendly wires. More here - http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=013001A0QMZZ