Learn about 4 up-and-coming batteries that could overtake lithium-ion; how microsleep happens without you even knowing it; and what you’re getting wrong about CRISPR gene editing technology, and how to get smart about it — with a little help from Minu Prabhune of Synthego. In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories from Curiosity.com — with some help from Synthego’s Meenakshi Prabhune and Kevin Bryant — to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes: 4 Up-and-Coming Batteries That Could Overtake Lithium-Ion — https://curiosity.im/2sAwbdX Microsleep Happens Without You Even Knowing It — https://curiosity.im/2sv7ZK6 More from Synthego: CRISPR Cuts, Synthego’s official podcast — https://www.synthego.com/podcast “The Bench” Synthego Blog — https://www.synthego.com/blog About Synthego — https://www.synthego.com/company Follow Synthego on Twitter — https://twitter.com/synthego Meenakshi Prabhune on Twitter — https://twitter.com/minu_pr If you love our show and you're interested in hearing full-length interviews, then please consider supporting us on Patreon. You'll get exclusive episodes and access to our archives as soon as you become a Patron! https://www.patreon.com/curiositydotcom Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Learn about 4 up-and-coming batteries that could overtake lithium-ion; how microsleep happens without you even knowing it; and what you’re getting wrong about CRISPR gene editing technology, and how to get smart about it — with a little help from Minu Prabhune of Synthego.
In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories from Curiosity.com — with some help from Synthego’s Meenakshi Prabhune and Kevin Bryant — to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes:
More from Synthego:
If you love our show and you're interested in hearing full-length interviews, then please consider supporting us on Patreon. You'll get exclusive episodes and access to our archives as soon as you become a Patron! https://www.patreon.com/curiositydotcom
Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/become-a-crispr-connoisseur-w-synthego-up-and-coming-batteries-and-microsleep
CODY: Hi! We’ve got three stories from curiosity-dot-com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn about 4 up-and-coming batteries that could overtake lithium-ion; how microsleep happens without you even knowing it; and what you’re getting wrong about CRISPR gene editing technology, and how to get smart about it — with a little help from Minu Prah-boo-nay of Synthego.
CODY: Let’s get smart and satisfy some curiosity on the award-winning Curiosity Daily.
4 Up-and-Coming Batteries That Could Overtake Lithium-Ion — https://curiosity.im/2sAwbdX (Ashley)
What do you know about lithium-ion batteries? They power your phone, your laptop, and pretty much any rechargeable device you own. But that might not be for long. Because experts are scrambling to find a safer, more efficient, and less expensive substance to power our gadgets. That’s why instead of just telling you how lithium-ion batteries work, today I’ll tell you about 4 up-and-coming batteries that could overtake lithium-ion. But let’s start with some battery basics. Every chemical battery is made up of the same parts. That includes two electrodes called the cathode and the anode, and some sort of electrolyte. Charged particles called ions travel through the electrolyte to go between those two electrodes. In a lithium-ion battery, the cathode is made of a compound that has lithium in it, like lithium cobalt oxide or lithium iron phosphate; the anode is made of carbon, or graphite; and the electrolyte varies depending on what type of battery you're talking about. Lithium-ion batteries are great because they don't take up a lot of space, they can charge and recharge lots of times without wearing out, and they have high energy density, which means they can store a lot of energy compared to how small the actual battery is. But lithium-ion batteries also expand more than other batteries when they warm up, which can break your favorite phone or tablet. The demand for lithium is also so high, the price DOUBLED between 2016 and 2018. So here are 4 batteries you might be hearing about soon: sodium, fluoride, magnesium, and ammonia. Sodium is easy to find — I mean, it’s in seawater — but sodium is a larger ion than lithium, so it won’t fit between the carbon layers of a graphite-based anode. Fortunately, phosphorous does a bang-up job of subbing in for graphite in the anode of a sodium battery, and it even has seven times the charge capacity of graphite by weight. Fluoride batteries have the potential to last eight times longer than lithium batteries, but fluoride is reactive and hard to stabilize. In December, a research team announced they’d come up with a liquid electrolyte that could stabilize fluoride and make it usable at room temperature, so there’s some hope there. Magnesium is more stable and more common than lithium, but it just can’t compete for storage capacity… although in December, researchers came up with some ways to boost the capacity. So we’ll see. And ammonia-powered batteries are a long way off, but recent breakthroughs could make it viable in the future — and hopefully we’ll be able to produce ammonia in a renewable, carbon-free way. There’s your battery 101! Keep an eye out, and who knows what the future has in store?
Microsleep Happens Without You Even Knowing It — https://curiosity.im/2sv7ZK6 (Cody)
Have you ever heard of microsleep? It’s exactly what it sounds like. Microsleep is a tiny sleep, or, to put it more precisely, a several-second episode of unconsciousness. And get this: you don't always notice when it happens. Try to stay awake for this. First off, being asleep and being awake are not all-or-nothing propositions. Part of your brain can stay awake while you’re asleep, like if you’re sleeping in unfamiliar surroundings. And part of your brain can fall asleep while you’re awake if you’re, say, pulling an all nighter. When you’re BEYOND sleepy, though, you can lose consciousness for a few seconds, and that’s called microsleep. This happens most often in a sleep-deprived brain when you’re doing something monotonous, like driving or listening to a lecture or watching a movie. Sometimes when this happens, you know it, because you feel your chin falling to your chest, and that jerks you awake. But a lot of times? You don’t have the faintest idea you microslept at all! That’s according to Professor Jim Horne, the director of Loughborough University's Sleep Research Centre. He says, quote, “Sleep has to last beyond a minute or two for your brain to remember it,” unquote. And you don’t have to be THAT tired for microsleep to kick in. In a 2014 study, researchers had well-rested participants do a repetitive task on a computer monitor with a joystick for just under an hour. They said they stayed awake the whole time, but participants experienced an average of 79 microsleep episodes during that hour, lasting up to six seconds each. That's probably because during microsleep, it's not your whole brain that loses consciousness. It's often just a single region or even a handful of neurons. The moral of the story, by the way, is that you should NOT get behind the wheel if you’re very sleepy. Get your rest! And go back and listen to this story again if you drifted off while I was talking. So rude!
Synthego clip (and promote Patreon / full podcast episode) (Both)
ASHLEY: Have you heard about CRISPR? It’s a technology that’s being used to permanently modify DNA in living organisms, and one day, we might even use it to treat genetic diseases in humans. CRISPR is a hot topic in the science world, but with all the clickbait headlines and misinformation out there, sometimes it’s hard to know what’s real and what’s fiction. So what are its limits?
CODY: Ashley and I got some answers in our conversation with Kevin Bryant and Minu Prah-boo-nay. They’re science communicators at Synthego, which is a leading provider of genome engineering solutions. The Synthego blog and podcast are doing a great job of teaching people about this new technology. But Kevin and Minu agreed that not everyone is taking away the right lessons from their genome editing education.
ASHLEY: So how can YOU become a CRISPR connosseuir? Here’s what Minu told us.
[CLIP 1:33]
CODY: So there you go! CRISPR is not the solution to all of humanity’s problems, and it is also not going to be the end of the human race… at least, for right now. We’ll put a link to learn more about Synthego, that’s S-Y-N-T-H-E-G-O, in today’s show notes. Their blog and their Crispr Cuts podcast are both really great places to learn more about what’s ACTUALLY happening with genome editing, so check it out if you’re curious about CRISPR. And next week, we’ll be posting a brand-new full-length Curiosity Podcast episode featuring Synthego for our supporters on Patreon.
ASHLEY: Today’s ad-free episode was brought to you by our Patrons. Special thanks to Brianna Webster [Bree-AH-nah], Ryan Day, Montecito-One, Kim Braun, Dave Broschinsky, and Emily for your support on Patreon. We really appreciate it!
CODY: To learn more about how you can support Curiosity Daily, AND how to get access to our feature-length Patreon-exclusive podcasts, please visit patreon-dot-com-slash-curiosity-dot-com, all spelled out.
ASHLEY: Join us again tomorrow for the award-winning Curiosity Daily and learn something new in just a few minutes. I’m [NAME] and I’m [NAME]. Stay curious!