Learn You A Thing

[learnyouathing]

An Open Letter to Students Returning to School

Learn with Crash Course: http://www.youtube.com/crashcourse And SciShow: http://www.youtube.com/scishow In which John Green gives advice to students returnin...

“The whole pleasure of being a human is in being stupid but learning to be less stupid together.”

[goodstuffshow]

In 1991, Sony released the first lithium-ion battery and the world hasn’t been the same since. It allowed us to carry our computers with us and it made our phones small enough to fit in our pockets. The introduction of the lithium-ion battery not only revolutionized our technology, it revolutionized how we interact with each other. These small rechargeable batteries allowed us to be connected at all times. Our modern way of life would not be possible without batteries.

And a second revolution is on the way.

Our power grid is in need of an overhaul. We have to get away from fossil fuels and start using renewable energy sources like solar and wind. We also need to use the energy we produce more efficiently. But to do that, we need energy storage. Lots of it. 

And lithium batteries won’t cut it. They’re just too expensive to scale up to the size we’d need.

We need a new kind of battery.

At the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (J-CESR), that’s exactly what they are looking for. By pooling the resources and expertise of multiple labs across several industries and institutions, J-CESR hopes to cut down the time it takes to develop and manufacture the next generation of batteries. 

And with a little bit of luck, they’ll be able to confuse the ghost of Thomas Edison!

Confused? You’ll have to watch the video.