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Advanced Battery Technology Breakthrough A team of engineers has made a significant advancement toward the development of fast-charging lithium-metal batteries, according to a recent paper published in Nature Energy. These batteries are capable of charging in as little as an hour, thanks to the growth of uniform lithium metal crystals that can be rapidly seeded on a surprising surface. This innovative technology holds great promise for the future of energy storage. In a new Nature Energy paper, engineers report progress toward lithium-metal batteries that charge fast – as fast as an hour. This fast charging is thanks to lithium metal...

Findings challenge conventional wisdom of how neurons operateNeurons are complicated, but the basic functional concept is that synapses transmit electrical signals to the dendrites and cell body (input), and axons carry signals away (output). In one of many surprise findings, Northwestern University scientists have discovered that axons can operate in reverse: they can send signals to the cell body, too. It also turns out axons can talk to each other. Before sending signals in reverse, axons can perform their own neural computations without any involvement from the cell body or dendrites. This is contrary to typical neuronal communication where an...

Finding could set the stage for ways to reverse damage in sufferers of the inherited fragile X syndromeIn a case of life imitating art, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) reported today that they had successfully reversed mental retardation in mice, just as scientists did in the classic 1966 novel Flowers for Algernon. In the book by Daniel Keyes, scientists use experimental surgery—first tested on a mouse named Algernon—to dramatically boost the intelligence of a mentally retarded janitor named Charlie Gordon. Now M.I.T. scientists report in Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences USA that they ameliorated...