Batteries that swap liquid electrolytes for solid materials promise to charge faster, last longer, and (crucially) run cooler. The rise of the lithium-ion battery, which powers everything from the smallest personal electronics to gargantuan energy storage systems, has been nothing short of revolutionary. But as anyone who's boarded a plane in the last decade could tell you, storing and pumping out energy by moving charged lithium ions through a liquid electrolyte soup has its drawbacks, not least that the batteries have a troubling tendency to catch fire. Enter the solid-state battery, which swaps liquid for a solid ceramic or polymer, creating power packs that charge faster, last longer, cram more energy into smaller spaces, and (crucially) run cooler. A new generation of companies aim to bring such batteries to market, and if their bets pan out, the tech could substantially ease the shift away from fossil fuels. Solid-state batteries have been "just a few years away" for more than a decade now.

Ridding the world of forever chemicals could address a range of health and environmental and health woes. PFAS or forever chemicals--could eliminate a list of woes for people and planet. Used for decades in everything from nonstick pans to firefighting foams, PFAS have been linked to increased risks of fertility challenges, developmental delays, cancer, and reduced immune response . They are known for a strong bond between carbon and fluorine, which the environment struggles to break down. PFAS are everywhere: They spew from factories and slough off products and into water with normal use. Scientists have found them in everything from human blood to Antarctic snow .

Deploying simple, proven methods for making our roads safer could save more than 1 million lives worldwide each year. Every year, traffic crashes kill more than one million people, and they're the leading cause of death for children and young adults. In the US, 100 people a day lose their lives this way, in many cases not on highways but on rural and local streets. "Traffic deaths are a leading cause of preventable death, yet we treat it like it's inevitable," says Leah Shahum, founder and director of the Vision Zero Network, a nonprofit focused on making streets less deadly. The causes of a crash can be muddy. Drivers make mistakes like speeding or getting distracted, but infrastructure fails them too: Perhaps they were on a road built for speed and not safety, in a screen-filled vehicle, or at an intersection where pedestrians, cyclists, and other cars aren't visible.

It's all too easy to lose sight of ambition when we're busy playing whack-a-mole with the world's problems. I'd wager everyone has a rehearsed response to what's absolutely one of the world's worst interview questions: "What's your biggest weakness?" Whenever I've gotten it, I take a slow--even pensive--breath and rattle off my line: "I say no to myself too much." I'm a systems thinker: When an idea pops up, I immediately spin up a feasibility assessment in my head. I run lists, plot timelines, and tally budget line items. Sometimes a rough Gantt chart starts to take shape.

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SpaceX and Tesla have formed special committees to discuss the possibility of a merger, Elon Musk has revealed during the former's earnings call for the third quarter of 2026. Musk, who serves as CEO for both companies, said the committees were formed at the request of shareholders. The committees are made up of independent directors from SpaceX and Tesla. Musk himself can't be part of the discussions, as someone who's considered a "conflicted party," along with his brother Kimbal Musk. Based on the corporate information listed on the companies' websites, Tesla has seven independent directors, while SpaceX has six. However, Ira Ehrenpreis, the chairperson for Tesla's Compensation and Nominating and Governance committees, also joined SpaceX's board in February.

A plan to funnel the heat given off by data centers into nearby homes has run aground in Germany. Across Europe, policymakers are weighing AI ambitions against climate objectives. Earlier this year, the German government laid out an ambitious plan: By 2030, it would double the scale of the country's data center fleet, and quadruple the amount of compute available for running artificial intelligence models. The idea was to minimize Germany's dependence on the United States for access to AI--a point of concern across Europe--and boost its faltering economy. However, Germany has found that its AI ambitions are butting up against its climate commitments.

A drone attack on a market in Abyei, a border region disputed by South Sudan and Sudan, has killed at least 153 people, according to a South Sudanese official. The Abyei administration's caretaker minister of information on Tuesday blamed the attack, which took place a day earlier on Amiet Market, north of Abyei town, on Sudan's military. He told the news agency Reuters that the "situation is terrible", adding that some bodies had been burned to ashes. Blaming the Sudanese military for the attack, South Sudan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said drones hit several locations in the market. It said it has summoned Sudan's ambassador and called for its northern neighbour to "refrain" from acts that endanger civilian lives and property.

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