The Download: sodium-ion batteries and China’s bright tech future
The Download: Sodium-ion batteries and China's bright tech future
A New Era in Energy Storage
For decades, lithium-ion batteries have powered our phones, laptops, and electric vehicles. However, lithium's limited supply and volatile price have led the industry to seek more resilient alternatives. Enter: sodium-ion batteries. These innovative batteries work much like lithium-ion ones, storing and releasing energy by shuttling ions between two electrodes. But unlike lithium, a somewhat rare element that is currently mined in only a handful of countries, sodium is cheap and found everywhere.
Sodium-ion batteries are one of MIT Technology Review's 10 Breakthrough Technologies this year. The technology has the potential to revolutionize the way we store energy, making it more accessible and affordable for people around the world. With the increasing demand for renewable energy sources, sodium-ion batteries could play a crucial role in enabling widespread adoption of solar and wind power.
CES Showcases China's Tech Ambitions
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is the world's biggest tech show, where companies launch new gadgets and announce new developments. This year, China had a significant presence at CES, showcasing everything from AI gadgets to household appliances to robots. The overall mood among Chinese companies was upbeat, with many expressing optimism about the future of the tech industry.
China's tech industry has been growing rapidly in recent years, driven by government support and investment. The country has become a major player in the global tech market, with companies like Huawei and Xiaomi making a name for themselves. At CES, Chinese companies showcased their latest innovations, including a range of AI-powered products and services.
Gene Therapies for Longevity
At some point this month, a handful of volunteers will be injected with experimental gene therapies as part of an unusual clinical trial. The drugs are potential longevity therapies, says Ivan Morgunov, the CEO of Unlimited Bio, the company behind the trial. The volunteers will receive a series of injections in their arms and legs, with one of the therapies designed to increase the blood supply to those muscles and the other to support muscle growth.
The company hopes to see improvements in strength, endurance, and recovery. It also plans to eventually trial similar therapies in the scalp (for baldness) and penis (for erectile dysfunction). However, some experts warn that the trial is too small and likely won't reveal anything useful.
Must-Reads
Here are some of the most important and fascinating stories about technology:
- Apple is teaming up with Google to give Siri an AI revamp. That's a giant win for Google, and a blow for OpenAI.
- Trump wants Elon Musk to help break Iran's internet blackout. He's appealing to Musk to let Iranians circumvent it with Starlink.
- Right-wing influencers have flocked to Minneapolis. Their goal is to paint it as a lawless city, and justify ICE's shooting of Renee Nicole Good.
- The Pentagon is adopting Musk's Grok AI chatbot. Just as it faces a backlash across the world for making non-consensual deepfakes.
- The push to power AI is devastating coastal villages in Taiwan. A rapid expansion of wind energy is hurting farmers and fishers.
- Don't hold your breath for robots' ChatGPT moment. AI has unlocked impressive advances in robotics, but we're a very long way from human-level capabilities.
- Meta is about to lay off hundreds of metaverse employees. Reality Labs is yesterday's news—now it's all about AI.
- We could eradicate flu. A "universal" flu vaccine could be far better at protecting us than any existing option.
- You can now reserve a hotel room on the moon. It's all yours, for just $250,000.
- AI images are complicating efforts to find some monkeys in Missouri. For real.
Quote of the Day
"In big cities, everyone is an isolated, atomized individual. People live in soundproof apartments, not knowing the surname of their neighbors."
—A user on social media platform RedNote explains why a new app called 'Are you dead' has become popular in China, Business Insider reports.
One More Thing
AI is coming for music, too. While large language models that generate text have exploded in the last three years, a different type of AI, based on what are called diffusion models, is having an unprecedented impact on creative domains. By transforming random noise into coherent patterns, diffusion models can generate new images, videos, or speech, guided by text prompts or other input data. The best ones can create outputs indistinguishable from the work of people.
Now these models are marching into a creative field that is arguably more vulnerable to disruption than any other: music. And their output encapsulates how difficult it's becoming to define authorship and originality in the age of AI.
We Can Still Have Nice Things
A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet 'em at me.
- Bricking your phone is the new Dry January.
- If you're hankering for an adventure this year, check out this National Geographic list.
- There are few people more furiously punk than women going through the menopause, as this new TV show demonstrates ($).
- Aww, look how Pallas cats keep their paws warm in winter.
Deep Dive
The Download: AI's impact on the economy, and DeepSeek strikes again. Plus: OpenAI is sounding the "code red" alarm.
By Rhiannon Williamsarchive page
The Download: China's dying EV batteries, and why AI doomers are doubling down. Plus: TikTok has finally signed a deal to keep operating in the US.
By Rhiannon Williamsarchive page
The Download: the worst technology of 2025, and Sam Altman's AI hype. Plus: China has built a major chip-making machine.
By Rhiannon Williamsarchive page
The Download: how to fix a tractor, and living among conspiracy theorists. Plus: DOGE is no more.
By Rhiannon Williamsarchive page
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Illustration by Rose Wong
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