We followed a particular fish, from its grave yard in a stretch of ocean west of the most northerly atoll of the Maldives - all the way to a dinner plate in a suburban home in Bristol.

Then, in 2006, came a breakthrough: MIT Professor of Physics Mehran Kardar demonstrated a way to solve the formula for a plate and a cylinder.

Then, the exhaust heat from the bottom plate of the thermoelectric device would be used in the traditional way to warm water up.