The team from MIT were re-booting research into glucose powered cells after a forty year lapse thanks to the success of lithium ion tech.

While older glucose cells were simply not powerful enough to be effective, and also became increasingly inefficient the longer they were implanted, MIT's new design is based on silicon and platinum, two substances that don't have long term biological impacts on the human body, but also maintain efficiency long term.

The cells can generate up to a few hundred megawatts, which isn't enough to power much beyond extremely low powered-devices. The point, though, is that the concept works, and can be refined heading into the future.

"It will be a few more years into the future before you see people with spinal-cord injuries receive such implantable systems in the context of standard medical care, but those are the sorts of devices you could envision powering from a glucose-based fuel cell,” said study lead author Benjamin Rapoport in a press release.

The cerebrospinal fluid at the back of the head presents a likely implantation site, especially when it comes to such injuries, thanks to the high concentration of glucose and the relatively low number of autoimmune cells.

The hope is that such cells could eventually displace the need for external power sources for implants altogether, and allow paralysis-defeating devices to run completely off the subject's own bio-chemistry.