A battery breakthrough made by researchers in Japan could pave the way for next-generation batteries to finally enter mass production. A team from Tokyo University of Science discovered a way to build sodium-ion batteries with an equivalent performance to conventional lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion, or li-ion, batteries are found in everything from electric cars to smartphones, however they are made from difficult-to-extract and expensive resources, while also containing liquid electrolytes that are toxic and flammable. By contrast, sodium-ion batteries are cheaper, offer stability against extreme temperatures, and pose no risk of overheating. Until now, their main limitation has been a lower energy density compared to li-ion batteries. To overcome this limitation, the scientists developed a high-capacity electrode made from nanostructured hard carbon, which they were able to optimise and then incorporate into an actual battery. The researchers said the new electrodes deliver “unprecedented performance” and offer a viable option for producing next-generation batteries for consumer electronics and electric vehicles. “This value is equivalent to the energy density of certain types of currently commercialised lithium-ion batteries... and is more than 1.6 times the energy density of the first sodium-ion batteries, which our laboratory reported back in 2011,” said Professor Shinichi Komaba from Tokyo University of Science. The breakthrough could also make sodium-ion batteries viable for other practical applications, such as low carbon footprint energy storage systems for solar and wind farms. The research was detailed in a study, titled ‘New template synthesis of anomalously large capacity hard carbon for Na- and K-ion batteries’, published in the journal Advanced Energy Materials. Read More Breakthrough solar system outperforms military-grade diesel generator

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Conspiracy theorists think that there is a hidden planet in out Solar System that will eventually destroy humanity. That's right, conspiracy theorists believe there is a secret ninth planet that was discovered by 19th-century astronomer Percival Lowell. The planet was given the name 'Planet X', also known as Nibiru, by Lowell, who believed the inhabitants of the planet made humans who we are today. Despite Lowell never actually seeing the mystery planet, he was convinced of its existence and left $1 million to fund research about the planet after he passed away in 1916. A hundred years later and all the money spent, it was concluded that the planet never existed. But this hasn't stopped conspiracy theorists from vowing to continue the search. With Caltech professors Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin even going as far as to co-author a paper suggesting the planet exists "I didn't have a particularly strong appreciation for just how difficult would be to find Planet Nine until I started looking together with Mike using telescopes," Professor Batygin told the BBC. "The reason it's such a tough search is because most astronomical surveys are not looking for a single thing." It was initially predicted that Planet X would bring about the end of the world in 2003, but it did not smash into Earth as had been suggested. In 2012 it was again predicted that the planet would collide with Earth at the end of the year, which I don't need to tell you, did not happen. Dr Scott Sheppard and Professor Chad Trujillo sought to explain a strange cluster of six small objects in the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune back in 2014. They suggested that a large planet was lurking in the solar system, with Dr Sheppard saying: "These distant objects are like breadcrumbs leading us to Planet X. 'The more of them we can find, the better we can understand the outer Solar System and the possible plant that we think is shaping their orbits - a discovery that would redefine our knowledge of the Solar System's evolution." Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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