A tiny gas-turbine engine inside a silicon chip about the size of a quarter could run 10 times longer than a battery of the same weight can, powering laptops, cell phones, radios, and other electronic devices.

It could also dramatically lighten the load for people who can’t connect to a power grid, including soldiers who now must carry many pounds of batteries for a three-day mission. All this technology can come at a reasonable price.

It may massively increase the number of internal combusion engines on the planet without significantly increasing emissions.