If having a healthier heart isn't enough to get you up and walking, maybe being able to charge your cell phone or PDA while out and about will do it.

Researchers from the University of Michigan, University of Pittsburgh and Simon Fraser University in Canada have developed a new type of knee brace that harvests the kinetic energy produced from walking and turns it into a different kind of energy that can be used to power cell phones and other portable electronics devices. There are also more scientific uses for the energy, such as powering prosthetics or neurotransmitter implants.

An article on the Discovery news site goes into the details of how it all works.