Startup Cuberg is working on developing lighter, safer, more energy-dense batteries, and they're using a machine learning platform developed by Aionics Technologies to do it faster. "The exciting thing we do is make batteries that are very energy dense. They are much lighter than lithium ion batteries but they have much more energy in them," said Olivia Risset, PhD, senior scientist at Cuberg. The batteries that Cuberg makes are safer than lithium ion batteries because the liquid component, the electrolyte, is nonflammable as opposed to what has been used traditionally in lithium ion batteries. "Because of that," says Risset, "electric aviation is a great place for us because they are very sensitive to weight, but also to safety."

It was actually about when technology goes wrong: In many ways, 2016 was the year of the exploding batteries. A little over a year ago, hoverboards topped many holiday wish lists. By December 2015, they were being recalled by the thousands. According to Popular Science, "…cheaply made hoverboards have exploded and caught fire, forcing Amazon to stop selling specific models and Overstock to discontinue all sales." Rolling into 2016, major computer companies recalled batteries for fire hazards, baby monitors were pulled from shelves and major airlines diverted flights for emergency landings when tablets caught fire onboard.