Do-It-Yourself Plug-ins
Hybrid cars that can recharge their batteries by plugging into electrical outlets could enable nearly gas-free commutes and even provide extra storage on the electrical grid, but they’re not yet commercially available. This year, however, Toyota Prius owners will be able to turn their cars into plug-ins by installing a new battery pack from A123 Systems, a company based in Watertown, MA. The pack stores five kilowatt-hours of electricity and uses a new nanostructured electrode material that makes high-capacity lithium-ion batteries safe enough for automotive use.
Keep Reading
Most Popular
The gene-edited pig heart given to a dying patient was infected with a pig virus
The first transplant of a genetically-modified pig heart into a human may have ended prematurely because of a well-known—and avoidable—risk.
Meta has built a massive new language AI—and it’s giving it away for free
Facebook’s parent company is inviting researchers to pore over and pick apart the flaws in its version of GPT-3
Saudi Arabia plans to spend $1 billion a year discovering treatments to slow aging
The oil kingdom fears that its population is aging at an accelerated rate and hopes to test drugs to reverse the problem. First up might be the diabetes drug metformin.
The dark secret behind those cute AI-generated animal images
Google Brain has revealed its own image-making AI, called Imagen. But don't expect to see anything that isn't wholesome.
Stay connected
Illustration by Rose WongGet the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.