Pavithra Sindhu LCE

Some Scientific Developments of 2018 1) Gene-edited babies  A Chinese Scientist claims to have created the world's first genetically edited babies resistant to contracting HIV through the gene-editing tool CRISPR, causing an uproar within the scientific community. 2) ET, that you? The first interstellar object - 'Oumuamua' was found to be neither a comet or an asteroid so Harvard University astronomers suggested  that Oumuamua may be an extraterrestrial solar sail. 3) There is a car in space SpaceX successfully test-launched the Falcon Heavy rocket with two boosters landing back on earth safely and aboard was Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster just chilling by itself. 4) 12 years to disaster An IPCC report warned that global temperatures may cross 1.5 degree Celsius as soon as 2030. The planet has already warmed up to 1degree and is on track to produce record greenhouse gas emissions. 5) Microplastics Microplastics were found in all levels of the...

An illustration of the electrolyte solution used in the new study, on the atomic scale. The fluoride ion (pink) is surrounded by a liquid of BTFE molecules. Credit: Brett Savoie/Purdue University Imagine not having to charge your phone or laptop for weeks. That is the dream of researchers looking into alternative batteries that go beyond the current lithium-ion versions popular today. Now, in a new study appearing in the journal  Science , chemists at several institutions, including Caltech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed by Caltech for NASA, as well as the Honda Research Institute and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, have hit on a new way of making rechargeable batteries based on fluoride, the negatively charged form, or anion, of the element fluorine. "Fluoride batteries can have a higher energy density, which means that they may last longer -- up to eight times longer than batteries in use today," says study co-author Robert Gru...