Dig this — some skull-kings at Cornell have created a tiny battery that could run for 50 years off a small piece of Nickel-63.

The decaying Nickel-63 shoots a stream of electrons up at a strip of copper, giving it a negative charge. After a while, the negative charge is so strong the copper strip bends downwards to touch the Nickel-63 — discharging a tiny current. The copper strip bends back upwards again, and the whole process repeats itself. The result? A battery that could be made as small as one cubic millimeter, perfect for powering tiny robots. Tiny robots, people!!

Check out the way-kewl comic-strip illustrating the process here.