Next-gen batteries and 'dark oxygen'

BBC Inside Science

BBC

Technology, Science

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 20 February 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Following a devastating fire at the world’s largest lithium-ion battery plant, Inside Science probes the present and future of a technology we rely on every day.

Lithium-ion batteries were a technological breakthrough, powering everything from mobile phones to electric vehicles, but as funding is poured into researching alternatives, are we on the verge of something safer, faster, and more efficient?

Also this week, we learn about the “dark oxygen” potentially being produced in the deep ocean and friend of Inside Science, Anjana Ahuja, brings us her favourite science stories of the week, including a new material described as ‘chainmail on steroids’ and contagious urination.

Presenter: Marnie Chesterton Producers: Ella Hubber, Sophie Ormiston & Gerry Holt Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I want to tell you why I love podcasting.
0:04.7	Hi, my name's Tommy Dixon, and I make podcasts for the BBC.
0:08.4	I'm a big fan of stories, always loved a good book.
0:11.4	But when I started commuting for my first job, I discovered podcasts.
0:15.4	I was blown away by how a creative idea and the right mixture of sounds could take you into
0:19.2	a whole new world full of incredible stories. You know, the type that make you go, wow. And that kind of inspired me to
0:25.2	give it a go myself, which to cut a long story short led to a BBC training scheme and a whole
0:30.0	new career giving other people that exact same feeling. So if you want to hear amazing stories
0:34.2	that make you go wow like I did, they're just a tap or click away on BBC Sounds.
0:40.8	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. This is the podcast of BBC Inside Science, first broadcast on
0:48.5	the 23rd of January 2025. I'm Marnie Chesterton. Hello, and coming up over the next half hour. What do we want?
0:57.9	Power! How do we want it? Cheaply, sustainably, and as soon as possible, please. We look at the
1:04.7	next generation of batteries and the huge implications for the environment and how we live our lives.
1:11.2	Also this week, nature's batteries deep in the ocean that may have shaped the world today.
1:17.6	Joining me in the studio, our materials scientist, Mark Mierdovnik, hello.
1:22.0	Hello.
1:22.9	And science columnist for the Financial Times, Anjana Ahuja.
1:26.5	Hello.
1:27.1	Hello.
1:29.5	And you're going to be chatting to us about this week in science. What have you seen? Well, my clue to my three stories
1:35.9	is going to be animal, vegetable and mineral. Very vague teas. Stay tuned for that. Starting off, each of us has a phone in our back pockets and that's an incredible piece of technology. But I want to talk about some amazing tech that isn't even the phone itself. Can you imagine how different life would be if you had to power it with one and done zinc oxide double A's rather than our rechargeable
2:02.3	lithium iron options. But lithium batteries do come with issues. Last week, the world's largest
	...

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