We know boobs are powerful. In my younger days I never had to wait for a drink while at the bar (my less endowed friends would have me make the drink runs) and now, well, I have two pudgy, well-nourished babies to my credit.

But the idea that boobs can actually generate power? Like, electricity? That never occurred to me, until I saw this article from Slate blogged all over the place today. Writer Adrienne So spoke with a sports bra expert, nanotechnology guy and someone who made  a backpack that uses kinetic energy to power itself to see if the bouncy-bouncy of reasonably good sized breasts during vigorous exercise could generate enough power to, say, keep your iPod charged through a workout.

It's possible, just not easy, it turns out.  A D-cup in a low support bra can move 35 inches – that’s right, almost THREE FEET – up and down during vigorous excise, and breasts also move side to side and back and forth. There's a lot of, um, jiggle there –but harnessing it with a sports bra, which has to be comfortable and washable, proved a challenge. Plus, you have to hit the right balance of a bra that controls motion enough to be comfortable but allows enough to generate power.

I have no idea how much power a iPod actually takes to charge, so I have no idea if such a device would make much of a dent in sustainability. But if it would make some of these women I see at the gym harness those ladies already (seriously, it's all I can do to not march over and just wordlessly hand them a Title 9 catalogue) it would be all to the good.