A Thermal Camera Reveals the Secret of the Drinking Bird Desk Toy. A closer look at exactly how the popular desk toy operates. By Avery Thompson Published: Dec 08, 2016 12:29 PM EST.

The kitschy desk ornament's mechanism confounded Albert Einstein. ... If you're familiar with the drinking bird toy, you know it as a cheesy knickknack that's adorned office desktops for decades.

A commercially available drinking bird toy – the generator version definitely has a few more bits and bobs added Frank Vincentz/C.C. 3.0 View 2 Images ...

Scientists in Hong Kong and China have proposed a creative way to generate renewable energy —using a classic "drinking bird" figurine that may feel like a throwback to high school physics class.

The retro “drinking bird” is making a surprising comeback — as the inspiration for a clean-energy generator that could one day power your watch and phone.

For me, the most mysterious of these toys is the drinking bird. Often called a dippy bird, it pivots about an axle, continuously dipping its beak in and out of a container of liquid with no obvious ...

Inspired by the classic drinking bird toy, scientists have developed an engine that efficiently converts energy from water evaporation into electricity to power small electronics. The device ...

There are a few ways to harvest 10μW from the environment but, perhaps, none so much fun as a generator based on a ‘drinking bird’ toy built by researchers in China. Dubbed a DB-THG (drinking-bird ...

The retro “drinking bird” is making a surprising comeback — as the inspiration for a clean-energy generator that could one day power your watch and phone.

“It was then that the idea of utilizing the drinking bird toy came to mind.” Wu and her colleagues added two nanogenerator modules — small devices which convert mechanical energy into ...