Over the years, scientists have been developing batteries that last longer and are adjustable to different temperatures. However, this time, the innovation has taken to another level. Lithium-ion batteries are commonly used to provide power for smartphones and cars. Although these batteries are covered with a robust layer to prevent potential stress from air intake, they are not ideal for soft robots or wearables. Recently, a team of scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, has built a non-toxic flexible battery that is super-stretchable and survives twisting or even stabbing.

About Self-Healing Lithium Battery

This self-healing stretchable battery has been developed by a multidisciplinary team at the University of California, Berkeley, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. According to their published paper in the Journal Science Advances, this group of scientists has proved that the stretchable lithium battery remained stable after undergoing 500 charge/discharge cycles. The properties of this battery are highly advanced, as it heals itself, and the jelly-like structure makes it flexible to use.

The Process

The development of this new battery was enforced by using a zwitterionic polymer that comprised both a positive and a negative charge. Such polymers bond with water molecules with a charged part, while the negative charge attracts the lithium ions. This arrangement lets the water be bound tightly within the battery, further limiting the risk of splitting and releasing lithium ions when the voltage is applied. Furthermore, the scientists added acrylic acid, followed by a fluorine-free Li salt-based hydrogel electrolyte (stability window up to 3.11 volts) as a cross-linker.

The Results

As a result of the above-exemplified process, the battery was 19 percent water and exhibited stability with 50% humidity. The expert team of scientists then assessed its functioning by attaching it to a circuit board running LED lights. As a result, the battery performed well for over a month, and very little water splitting was witnessed. Post that, the battery continued to work even after suffering stretches, punctures, needles, razors, and folds.

This expert team of scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, has proved that innovation knows no limit. These batteries will work wonders in soft robots and wearables. Surviving the damages and the presence of non-toxic components is what makes it outshine as compared to other lithium batteries.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has revealed the complex structure of NGC 1514, a planetary nebula developing over at least 4,000 years. Only seen in infrared light, the nebula’s rings now resemble “fuzzy” clusters set in twisted patterns. A network of sharper holes near the centre stars indicates where the faster materials are punched through. An orange arc of dust envelops the stars, which follow a close, elongated nine-year orbit. The leading actor in creating this scenario was one of these stars, formerly several times more massive than our Sun.

James Webb Space Telescope Reveals Dual Gas Rings Around Dying Star

The nebula’s hourglass shape is likely due to the star’s interaction with its companion and stellar evolution. Appearing more diffuse in the bottom left and top right and looking fuzzy or textured, the two rings of the nebula are unevenly illuminated by mid-infrared light. Oxygen was found in the clumped pink centre of the nebula, especially around the bubble or hole boundaries. NGC 1514 is notable for what is lacking since the expelled debris may have merged the orbits of the two central stars, therefore preventing the synthesis of complex molecules.

According to a press release, astronomers may investigate the last phases of a dying star with fresh James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) images. Showing a Taurus constellation planetary nebula 1,500 light-years from Earth, NGC 1514’s structure is found to be traced by two rings of expelled material generated by the main stars. For this as well, one employs gravitational pull. These rings present a special chance for investigation of the complicated interaction of star outflows throughout decades.

JWST Finds Clumped Gas and Oxygen in Binary Nebula System

As per earlier research, these two stars have, among planetary systems, one of the longest known nine-year orbits in the binary system. Astronomers believe that the creation of the nebula was mostly caused by the more massive of the two stars. The star most definitely changed quickly as it aged, losing layers of gas and dust through its stellar wind to produce a hot, compact core sometimes referred to as a white dwarf. Most likely, the earlier, slower-moving material was carried away by the faster, weaker winds from this white dwarf, generating quite faint, barely detectable in infrared light, clumped, filamentous rings.

Though carbon and complex components like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were strikingly uncommon, the JWST’s observations also identified oxygen in the clumped pink centre of the nebula. This substantial demand for the $10 billion JWST makes scientists more eager than ever to obtain the equivalent of nine years’ worth of telescope observation time in a single year.

A unique carved amber bear was found when workers were delving into the peat in 1887. It is believed that this was worn as a protective charm during the Stone Age, as bears were considered the most powerful and threatening animal of that period. This amber bear was named “Słupcio”, or a “little guy from Słupsk” in Polish. A Polish kindergartner named it after winning the contest of naming this artefact. Now, this carved bear is at the National Museum in Szczecin, placed around 220 kilometres from the original location where it was found.

Discovery of Gummy Bear

Mostly, people were hunters during this period, so their archaeological evidence is rare. However, in the Pomerania region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea, Stone Age sites with artefacts have been found by archaeologists, such as tools, pottery and weapons, along with the amber-made objects that had washed ashore. After a study of 2023 conducted by archaeologists Daniel Groß and Peter Vang Petersen, where several amber bear statuettes were discovered from the Baltic Sea, it was concluded that the objects are likely to be from a period of Palaeolithic tradition, i.e. 50,000 to 12,000 years ago.

After World War II

During the end of World War II, Słupcio was taken out by Germans from Poland with other ancient artefacts. The amber bear was then placed in the Stralsund Museum until its return to Szczecin in 2009. In Germany, the experts studying it called it “Bernsteinbär” (amber bear) and claimed the carving to be from an ancient period. Since Slupcio was founded more than 100 years ago, there were still arguments when it was made.

Appearance and Use

This carved amber bear is now famous as a local symbol, and its copies are widespread as souvenirs. The statuette is 10.2 centimetres long and 4.2 centimetres tall, weighing 85 grams.
In the statuette’s middle part at the trunk, a hole can be seen that goes all the way through the whole body, used by the ancient hunters to tie a strap across this gummy bear and carry it like a necklace or wrap around the waist or arm.

Ancient Times Perceptions

The amber bears may be further evidence of the Palaeolithic tradition of representing animals in cave paintings and portable objects, and they also show that people shifted their hunting from reindeer on the open tundra to elk and bear in the forest. Due to its properties of being translucent when polished and fragrant on burning, it was perceived as the material of magic, which transformed it into a Stone Age amulet.