breakthrough

After 15 years, four records and a buzz-making barrage of shows, tours and festivals, the moody, multifaceted music of north London’s Wolf Alice is huge in the U.K., thanks to uniquely seductive soundscapes, visceral live shows and a relentless hunger for experimentation that melds rock, shoegaze and alternative pop.

With their latest studio album, “The Clearing,” the members are primed for the next level of success in the U.S., and it comes via songs that reflect their growth as individuals and as a collective.

Consisting of lead singer Ellie Rowsell, guitarist Joff Oddie, bassist Theo Ellis and drummer Joel Amey, Wolf Alice provides both feminine and masculine perspectives on life that feel resonant and real, with sonic approaches that can go from raging one moment to restrained the next. They’ve honed their sound even as they’ve continued to experiment with it. The result is exciting for them and for fans, now more than ever.

“This tour has been incredible. It’s definitely been the busiest and had the biggest shows we’ve ever played in America,” Ellis tells The Times via Zoom, noting that the band’s upcoming Wiltern date in Los Angeles on Oct. 13 is almost sold out.

Wolf Alice’s connection to Los Angeles is especially significant at this phase of its career. “The Clearing” was recorded here with famed producer Greg Kurstin (Adele, Miley Cyrus), who brought his pop sensibilities to the project, even as he encouraged the band to follow its own eclectic instincts, dipping into synthy, dancy elements and balladry with bite.

“We’ve had a different producer every album, so every experience has been quite different,” says drummer Amey, who joins our Zoom later. “He was just a very calm and positive force in the studio that made all of us feel very comfortable, to be able to be the best versions of ourselves … And it did come at a time where maybe even the four of us were second-guessing ourselves. We’d been in this headspace for a while about how we wanted to treat the sonics of the record. You can get stuck in that cycle … But he was so positive that he could help us get there, and he did.”

As Taylor Swift’s latest record brings scrutiny to the construction and thematics of pop music and its presentation, Wolf Alice’s seductive sway and wistful grit feels comparatively effortless, even if it’s just as accessible.

Buzz in the U.S. started after a killer set at Coachella 2016, but we caught Wolf Alice the following year at Dave Grohl’s Cal Jam in 2017. Its emotive alt-rock melodies and charisma more than held its own next to headliners including fellow-Brit Liam Gallagher and the Foo Fighters themselves (who the band has also toured with). The material, largely off its first and second albums, “My Love Is Cool” and “Visions of a Life,” respectively, offered a compelling blend of sharp riffage and dreamy textures, which reminded us of everyone from Smashing Pumpkins to Cocteau Twins at the time. Standout tracks we noted included the dissonant “Yuk Foo” and the sassy hit “Don’t Delete the Kisses.”

After another shimmering genre-blending release, 2021’s “Blue Weekend,” and now “The Clearing,” it’s almost a decade later, and the band is even harder to codify. The members are also bonafide touring and festival vets.

“In the U.K., festival culture is, like, a whole thing. The U.S. is kind of getting more like that too,” Amey says. “But European and U.K. festival culture is a rite of passage for a teenager … it’s ingrained. If you’re starting a band, you’re thinking about festivals at some point. So we love playing them. We played Glastonbury this year, and it just felt like a really wonderful way to say, ‘We’re back, here’s some new stuff,’ and also a celebration of the old stuff.”

Old or new, creative imagery has been a consistent component of Wolf Alice’s expression. Building upon the cinematic qualities of its music, its videos elevate not only its narratives but also its rock-star personas as well.

“This album explores themes of performance which I think is prevalent in the music videos and musically, in rock ’n’ roll which we also explore,” frontwoman Rowsell shares by email. “In the past Wolf Alice have shied away from performance videos so this marks a new vibe for us.”

“Bloom Baby Bloom,” which features an “All That Jazz”-style dance sequence (with choreography by L.A.’s Ryan Heffington, known for his magical movements on the Netflix cult fave “The OA” and in Sia’s “Chandelier”) brings out the drama and audacious expression of the song, especially Rowsell’s soaring vocals. It also highlights the band’s maturation and liberation as established artists at the height of their performing powers.

Similarly, “Just Two Girls,” a sweet ode to female friendship that’s a cool, ’70s soft-rock filler track on record, becomes more of a defiant anthem for feminine freedom on video.

“It’s a wonderful license of expression in which you can kind of do whatever you want,” reflects Ellis on the videos. “It’s absurdist in its nature and there are really interesting formats to explore. We’ve had some great experiences in America making them.”

The band has also had memorable moments on Amercian late-night TV, including “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” turning in wild appearances that reflect its name (inspired by a book about feral children raised by wolves).

And while good old-fashioned live performance has helped its popularity grow, the band acknowledges that the music industry is different — even from when it started 15 years ago, with streaming’s domination and platforms like TikTok exposing music to new audiences. For a band driven by its own interpersonal chemistry, interactions and influences, it’s not top of mind.

“We’re not concerned with how it’s going to be distributed to people fundamentally, as we’re creatively trying to satisfy ourselves,” Ellis says. “I don’t think the mechanics of [music discovery] are affecting what we’re making in the studio or the creative process. There’s so much for a band to create nowadays, and to worry about … from our perspective, the music is what comes first and then everything else is hopefully just kind of a fun way of presenting it to the world.”

The frenzy over artificial intelligence (AI) stocks kicked off in late 2022 with the arrival of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. While this watershed moment occurred years ago, the AI market shows no sign of slowing down.

In fact, Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL -0.16%) (GOOG -0.04%) achieved a recent breakthrough with Gemini, a large language model (LLM) comparable to ChatGPT in many ways.  The innovation suggests the AI industry could enjoy prosperity for decades.

If so, now may be the time to invest in AI giants like Alphabet. Here’s a dive into the company’s artificial intelligence accomplishment, as well as the implications for Alphabet’s stock and the broader AI market.

Alphabet’s AI achievement

In September, Alphabet’s Gemini achieved a groundbreaking outcome, becoming the first AI model to win a gold medal in an international computer programming competition. It successfully solved complex, real-world calculations that stymied human participants.

Google DeepMind, Alphabet’s AI research division, was responsible for Gemini. The DeepMind team highlighted the significance of the landmark achievement by stating, “Solving complex tasks at these competitions requires deep abstract reasoning, creativity, the ability to synthesize novel solutions to problems never seen before, and a genuine spark of ingenuity.”

Gemini demonstrated these traits in the competition, including successfully coming up with a creative solution to one challenge that no human participant was able to solve. This result marked a crucial step on the path toward artificial general intelligence (AGI). AGI is a theoretical level of AI proficiency considered equivalent to human thinking.

Gemini’s milestone is a memorable bellwether, akin to the moment when the world was stunned by IBM’s Deep Blue computer beating the reigning human chess champion in 1997.

How Alphabet’s milestone impacts the AI industry

A quarter-century after Deep Blue’s achievement, OpenAI’s introduction of ChatGPT opened the floodgates for the current AI boom. Now, Gemini’s breakthrough signals the start of a new era in the evolution of artificial intelligence, as the tech edges closer to the capacity for original thought.

AI is evolving from simply completing specific tasks toward solving more complex problems that require leaps in thinking — for example, designing innovative microchips or coming up with new medicines. The possibilities to upend markets in the years to come could be akin to how today’s AI is delivering unprecedented transformation across industries.

One example is Nvidia, the semiconductor chip leader. AI systems require increasingly potent computing capabilities. This need led to the company’s impressive 56% year-over-year sales growth to $46.7 billion in its fiscal second quarter, ended July 27, and drove its stock to a $4 trillion market cap.

Alphabet was among the first to power its AI with Nvidia’s new Blackwell chips. When the chip debuted in 2024, Nvidia stated, “Blackwell has powerful implications for AI workloads” and that the tech would help “drive the world’s next big breakthroughs.” Following Gemini’s AI milestone, it appears that Nvidia’s words were something more than empty marketing boasts.

The computing power needed to produce the Gemini breakthrough must have been substantial. Alphabet declined to specify how much, but admitted it was more than what’s available to customers subscribing to its top-tier Google AI Ultra service for $250 per month. With that kind of computing capability required for AI to perform advanced reasoning, Nvidia and other hardware providers can continue to benefit from AI advances.

What the Gemini breakthrough means for Alphabet stock

While building toward artificial general intelligence will increase computing costs for Alphabet, the company can afford it. Thanks to its search engine dominance, Alphabet generates substantial free cash flow (FCF) to invest in its AI systems. The company produced $66.7 billion in FCF over the trailing 12 months through Q2.

In addition, AI is already delivering business growth for the company. Its second-quarter sales were up 14% year over year to $96.4 billion as customers adopted AI features Alphabet released onto its search engine, cloud computing services, and advertising platforms.

Despite these strengths and Gemini notching a significant AI victory, Alphabet shares remain reasonably valued compared to rivals such as Microsoft. This can be seen in the stock’s price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio, which reflects how much investors are willing to pay for each dollar of a company’s earnings, based on the trailing 12 months.

Data by YCharts.

The chart shows Alphabet’s P/E ratio is lower than Microsoft’s, suggesting it’s a better value. In other words, now could be a good time to pick up Alphabet shares at a reasonable price.

Since the Google parent isn’t the only beneficiary of ongoing AI progress, it’s worth considering the growth potential in other AI players, such as Nvidia, IBM, and Microsoft. As the tech industry moves closer to achieving AGI, the AI space is poised for innovations that are likely to fuel the sector’s growth for decades to come.

EPA

Diplomatic risks

PA Media

Negotiation preparations

WASHINGTON — As the United Nations and global aid groups sound the alarm of widening starvation resulting from U.S.-backed Israeli food distribution policies in the Gaza Strip, the Trump administration said Thursday it is cutting short Gaza ceasefire talks and bringing its negotiating team home from Qatar to discuss next steps.

The apparent derailing of the talks comes as Israel’s blockade and military offensive have driven Gaza to the brink of famine, according to aid groups. The U.N. food agency says nearly 100,000 women and children are suffering from severe, acute malnutrition, and the Gaza Health Ministry has reported a rise in hunger-related deaths.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he would hold an emergency call Friday with officials from Germany and France to discuss how to urgently get food to people in need and pursue a plan to build a lasting peace.

“The suffering and starvation unfolding in Gaza is unspeakable and indefensible,” he said in a statement. The three European countries “all agree on the pressing need for Israel to change course and allow the aid that is desperately needed to enter Gaza without delay.”

French President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday that France would recognize Palestine as a state, saying, “The urgent thing today is that the war in Gaza stops and the civilian population is saved.

“Given its historic commitment to a just and sustainable peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognize the state of Palestine,” Macron posted. “Peace is possible.”

The Israeli Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment.

Israel has come under mounting pressure, with 28 Western-aligned countries calling for an end to the war and harshly criticizing Israel’s blockade and a new aid delivery model it has rolled out. More than 100 charity and human rights groups released a similar letter, saying even their own staff are struggling to get enough food.

In an open letter, 115 organizations, including major international aid groups such as Doctors Without Borders, Mercy Corps and Save the Children, said they were watching their own colleagues, as well as the Palestinians they serve, “waste away.”

The letter blamed Israeli restrictions and “massacres” at aid-distribution points. Witnesses, health officials and the U.N. human rights office say Israeli forces have repeatedly fired on crowds seeking aid, killing more than 1,000 people. Israel says its forces have only fired warning shots and that the death toll is exaggerated.

The Israeli government’s “restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death,” the letter said.

The U.S. and Israel rejected the allegations and blamed Hamas for prolonging the war by not accepting their terms for a ceasefire.

Hamas’ latest response “shows a lack of desire” to reach a truce, President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said Thursday.

“While the mediators have made a great effort, Hamas does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith,” Witkoff said in a statement. “We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza.”

State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott would not offer details on what “alternative options” the U.S. is considering to free hostages held by the militant group.

A breakthrough on a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas following 21 months of war has eluded the Trump administration as humanitarian conditions worsen in Gaza. Thursday’s move is the latest setback as Trump has tried to position himself as peacemaker and vowed to broker agreements in conflicts from Ukraine to Gaza.

Israeli troops Wednesday at the border with the Gaza Strip.

(Jack Guez / AFP / Getty Images)

Israel says it is allowing in enough aid and blames U.N. agencies for not distributing it. But those agencies say it is nearly impossible to safely deliver it because of Israeli restrictions and a breakdown of law and order, with crowds of thousands unloading food trucks as soon as they move into Gaza.

A separate Israeli- and U.S.-backed system run by an American contractor has also been marred by chaos.

“Of course, we want to see the end of devastation that is taking place in Gaza,” Pigott said. “That is why we have supported the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. That is why we’ve seen those 90 million meals being distributed.”

When pressed on whether and how the U.S. would proceed on seeking a truce in Gaza, Pigott did not offer clarity and told reporters that “this is a very dynamic situation.”

He said there’s never been a question of the U.S. commitment to reaching a ceasefire and faulted Hamas.

The sides have held weeks of talks in Qatar, reporting small signs of progress but no major breakthroughs. Officials have said a main sticking point is the redeployment of Israeli troops after any ceasefire takes place.

Witkoff said the U.S. is “resolute” in seeking an end to the conflict in Gaza and it was “a shame that Hamas has acted in this selfish way.”

The White House and representatives for Hamas had no immediate comment.

Macron, in making his announcement Thursday recognizing Palestinian statehood, posted a letter he sent to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas about his decision.

The French president offered support for Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks and frequently speaks out against antisemitism. But he has grown increasingly frustrated about Israel’s war in Gaza, especially in recent months.

France is the biggest and most powerful European country to recognize Palestine. More than 140 countries recognize a Palestinian state, including more than a dozen in Europe.

France has Europe’s largest Jewish population and the largest Muslim population in Western Europe, and fighting in the Middle East often spills over into protests or other tensions in France.

Israel also calls back its negotiators

Earlier Thursday, Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu’s office recalled his negotiating team in light of Hamas’ response. In a brief statement, Netanyahu’s office expressed appreciation for the efforts of Witkoff and other mediators Qatar and Egypt but gave no further details.

The deal under discussion was expected to include an initial 60-day ceasefire in which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the remains of 18 others in phases in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Aid supplies would be ramped up, and the two sides would hold negotiations on a lasting ceasefire.

The talks have been bogged down over competing demands for ending the war. Hamas says it will only release all hostages in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal and end to the war. Israel says it will not agree to end the conflict until Hamas gives up power and disarms. The militant group says it is prepared to leave power but not surrender its weapons.

Hamas is believed to be holding the hostages in different locations, including tunnels, and says it has ordered its guards to kill them if Israeli forces approach.

Trump has been pushing for peace

Trump has made little secret of the fact he wants to receive a Nobel Peace Prize. For instance, he has promised to quickly negotiate an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine, but little progress has been made.

On the war in Gaza, Trump met with Netanyahu at the White House this month, putting his weight behind a push to reach a deal.

But despite a partnership further solidified by their countries’ joint strikes on Iran, the Israeli leader left Washington without any breakthrough.

The State Department had said earlier in the week that Witkoff would be traveling to the Middle East for talks, but U.S. officials later said that Witkoff would instead travel to Europe. It was unclear if he held meetings there Thursday.

Price and Krauss write for the Associated Press. Krauss reported from Ottawa, Canada. AP writers Josef Federman and Julia Frankel in Jerusalem and Farnoush Amiri in New York contributed to this report.

The latest round of indirect ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas have ended without a breakthrough, a Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told the BBC.

According to the official, the session lasted for nearly three and a half hours and took place in two separate buildings in Doha.

Messages and clarifications were exchanged between the two sides through Qatari and Egyptian mediators, but no progress was achieved.

The official added that talks are expected to resume on Monday, as mediators plan to hold separate meetings with each delegation in an effort to overcome the obstacles and narrow the gaps between the two sides.

According to Reuters news agency who spoke with two Palestinian officials, the Israeli delegation was not “sufficiently authorised” to reach an agreement with Hamas because it had “no real powers”.

The latest round of indirect negotiations come as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads to Washington to meet Donald Trump.

Netanyahu said he thinks his meeting with the US president on Monday should help progress efforts to reach a deal for the release of more hostages and a ceasefire in Gaza.

He said he had given his negotiators clear instructions to achieve a ceasefire agreement under conditions Israel has accepted.

Hamas has said it has responded to the latest ceasefire proposal in a positive spirit, but it seems clear there are still gaps between the two sides that need to be bridged if any deal is to be agreed.

For now, Hamas still seems to be holding out for essentially the same conditions it has previously insisted on – including a guarantee of an end to all hostilities at the end of any truce and the withdrawal of Israeli troops.

Netanyahu’s government has rejected this before.

The Israeli position may also not have shifted to any major degree. As he was leaving Israel for the US, Netanyahu said he was still committed to what he described as three missions: “The release and return of all the hostages, the living and the fallen; the destruction of Hamas’s capabilities – to kick it out of there, and to ensure that Gaza will no longer constitute a threat to Israel.”

Qatari and Egyptian mediators will have their work cut out during the indirect talks between Israel and Hamas in trying to overcome these sticking points, which have have derailed other initiatives since the previous ceasefire ended in March.

Israel has since resumed its offensive against Hamas with great intensity, as well as imposing an eleven-week blockade on aid entering Gaza, which was partially lifted several weeks ago.

The Israeli government says these measures have been aimed at further weakening Hamas and forcing it to negotiate and free the hostages.

Just in the past 24 hours, the Israeli military says it struck 130 Hamas targets and killed a number of militants.

But the cost in civilian lives in Gaza continues to grow as well. Hospital officials in Gaza said more than 30 people were killed on Sunday.

The question now is not only whether the talks in Qatar can achieve a compromise acceptable to both sides – but also whether Trump can persuade Netanyahu that the war must come to an end at their meeting on Monday.

Many in Israel already believe that is a price worth paying to save the remaining hostages.

Once again, they came out on to the streets on Saturday evening, calling on Netanyahu to reach a deal so the hostages can finally be freed.

But there are hardline voices in Netanyahu’s cabinet, including the national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir and the finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, who have once again expressed their fierce opposition to ending the war in Gaza before Hamas has been completely eliminated.

Once again, there is the appearance of real momentum towards a ceasefire deal, but uncertainty over whether either the Israeli government or Hamas is ready to reach an agreement that might fall short of the key conditions they have so far set.

And once again, Palestinians in Gaza and the families of Israeli hostages still held there are fervently hoping this will not be another false dawn.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attacks, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 57,338 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

The series: “Ginny & Georgia.”

The setting: A women’s healthcare clinic.

The scene: Ginny, 16, is carrying an unwanted pregnancy. She’s seeking an abortion. During a preconsultation, a clinic provider asks if she needs more time to decide. No, says the teen, she’s sure.

There’s no proverbial wringing of hands around the character’s decision. No apologizing for her choice. Why? Because it’s not for us to judge. It’s a personal matter, despite all the politicization around reproductive rights that might have us believe otherwise.

Opinions, debates and legislative fights around abortion have raged since Roe vs. Wade was adjudicated by the Supreme Court in 1973, then overturned in 2022. It’s no secret why such a lightning-rod issue is rarely touched by series television. Alienating half the country is bad for ratings. Exceptions include breakthrough moments on shows such as “Maude,” “The Facts of Life” and “Jane the Virgin,” but even those episodes were careful to weigh the sensitivity of the political climate over a transparent depiction of their character’s motivations and experience.

Another pitfall is that subplots featuring abortion storylines are hard to pull off without feeling like a break from scheduled programming for an antiabortion or pro-abortion-rights PSA, or worse, a pointless exercise in bothsidesism.

Season 3 of Netflix dramedy “Ginny & Georgia” dares to go there, unapologetically making the political personal inside a fun, wily and addictive family saga. The series, the streamer’s No. 1 show since it returned two weeks ago, skillfully delivers an intimate narrative that defies judgment and the fear of being judged.

The hourlong series, which launched in 2021, follows single mom Georgia Miller (Brianne Howey), her angsty teenage daughter Ginny (Antonia Gentry) and her young son Austin (Diesel La Torraca). This formerly nomadic trio struggles to forge a “normal” life in the fictional Boston suburb of Wellsbury.

Flamboyant, fast-talking Southerner Georgia stands out among the fussy, provincial New England set. Born in Alabama to drug-addicted parents, she fled her abusive upbringing as a teenager. Homeless, she met Zion (played as an adult by Nathan Mitchell), a college-bound student from a good family. Soon into their relationship, she fell pregnant, giving birth to their daughter Ginny, kicking off a life on the run and in service of protecting her children.

Georgia (Brianne Howey), left, had Ginny as a teenager, and history appears to repeat itself in Season 3 of the show.

(Amanda Matlovich / Netflix)

Now in her 30s, the blond bombshell has relied on her beauty, innate smarts and countless grifts to endure poverty and keep her family intact. The hardscrabble lifestyle has made Ginny wise beyond her years, though she’s not immune to mercurial teen mood swings and the sophomoric drama of high school.

But history appears to repeat itself when Ginny becomes pregnant after having sex just once with a fellow student from her extracurricular poetry class. Overwhelmed, he’s the first person she tells about their dilemma. “That’s wild,” he responds idiotically, before abruptly taking off, leaving her to deal with the pregnancy on her own.

Episode 7 largely revolves around Ginny’s decision to have an abortion, a thoughtfully paced subplot that breaks from the perpetual chaos and deadly secrets permeating the Millers’ universe.

Ginny is painfully aware that she is the product of an unwanted pregnancy and her mother’s choice not to have an abortion. Georgia has repeatedly said her kids are the best thing that ever happened to her. But when counseling her distraught daughter, Georgia says the choice is Ginny’s to make, and no one else’s.

Here’s where “Ginny & Georgia” might have launched into a didactic, pro-abortion-rights lecture cloaked in a TV drama, or played it safe by pulling back and highlighting both women’s stories in equal measure.

Instead it chose to bring viewers in close, following Ginny’s singular experience from her initial shame and panic, to moving conversations with her mom, to that frank counseling session at the women’s health center where she made it quite clear she was not ready to be a mother. We watched her take the medication, then experience what followed: painful cramping, pangs of guilt, waves of relief and the realization she now bore a new, lifelong emotional scar that wasn’t caused by her mother.

By sticking to Ginny’s intimate story, through her perspective, the series delivers a story that is hers and hers alone, partisan opinions be damned.

“Ginny & Georgia” has offered up many surprises over its three seasons. Georgia has emerged one of the more entertaining, cunning and inventive antiheroes of the 2020s. As such, she attracts men in droves, schemes a la Walter White and doesn’t believe in therapy: “We don’t do that in the South. We shoot things and eat butter.”

But therapy might be a good idea given Season 3’s cliffhanger ending: another accidental pregnancy.

Russia and Ukraine have concluded talks in Istanbul with no ceasefire deal, but agreed to an exchange of prisoners and fallen soldiers. The talks took place amid escalated attacks by both sides in recent days.

MIT researchers say the devices could pack three times as much energy per pound as today’s best EV batteries – offering a lightweight option for powering planes, lorries or ships

A groundbreaking fuel cell could be the key to unlocking electric planes, according to a new study.

The researchers suggest that these devices could hold three times as much energy per kg compared to today’s top-performing EV batteries, providing a lightweight solution for powering not just planes, but lorries and ships too.

Batteries are fast approaching their capacity in terms of how much power they can store relative to their weight. This poses a significant challenge for energy innovation, particularly in the quest for new ways to power aeroplanes, trains, and ships.

Fuel use is a huge problem in aviation. Airlines spend around a quarter of their operating budgets on jet fuel, meaning it has a significant impact on the cost of a ticket. What’s more, flying is one of if not the most polluting way to travel.

Passenger taking an economy-class flight from London to New York generates around 309kg of carbon dioxide, which would take roughly a year to absorb via 10 mature trees.

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However, a team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) may have found a solution that could help electrify our transportation systems. Their concept doesn’t involve a battery, but rather a type of fuel cell – similar to a battery but can be quickly refuelled instead of recharged.

In this innovative system, the fuel is liquid sodium metal, a cheap and readily available resource. On the other side of the cell is ordinary air, which provides oxygen atoms. Sandwiched between them is a layer of solid ceramic material acting as the electrolyte, allowing sodium ions to pass freely through. A porous electrode facing the air aids the sodium in chemically reacting with oxygen to generate electricity.

Through a series of experiments with a prototype device, the research team demonstrated that the cell could carry over three times as much energy per unit of weight as the lithium-ion batteries currently used in almost all electric vehicles.

Professor Yet-Ming Chiang said: “We expect people to think that this is a totally crazy idea. If they didn’t, I’d be a bit disappointed because if people don’t think something is totally crazy at first, it probably isn’t going to be that revolutionary.”

He believes the tech has genuine potential to shake up the industry, especially in the field of aviation where keeping weight down is paramount. The team of researchers are convinced that their advancements in energy density could well be the game-changer needed to pivot towards substantial electrically powered flights.

Prof Chiang noted with enthusiasm: “The threshold that you really need for realistic electric aviation is about 1,000 watt-hours per kilogram. Today’s electric vehicle lithium-ion batteries top out at about 300 watt-hours per kilogram – nowhere near what’s needed.”

He admits that even a battery achieving 1,000 watt-hours per kilo wouldn’t make transcontinental or trans-Atlantic flights feasible yet.

That achievement is still out of bounds for any current battery chemistry; however, Prof Chiang insists reaching 1,000 watts per kilo would start to enable regional electric aviation, cutting about 80% of domestic flights’ emissions and 30% of aviation emissions overall.

The study released in the Journal Joule suggests that such a technological breakthrough could also revolutionise other industries like marine and rail transport.

The team imagines that this technology could be used in aircraft by inserting fuel packs filled with cell stacks, akin to sliding racks of food trays into a cafeteria slot, into the fuel cells. As the sodium metal within these packs is chemically altered to generate power, a by-product is produced.

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In the case of aircraft, this by-product would be expelled out the back, similar to jet engine exhaust, but without any carbon dioxide emissions. Instead, the emissions, primarily sodium oxide, would actually capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The researchers explain that this compound would rapidly react with atmospheric moisture to form sodium hydroxide, a substance often found in drain cleaners, which then readily reacts with carbon dioxide to create a solid called sodium carbonate, eventually turning into sodium bicarbonate, also known as baking soda.

Prof Chiang concluded: “There’s this natural cascade of reactions that happens when you start with sodium metal. It’s all spontaneous. We don’t have to do anything to make it happen, we just have to fly the aeroplane.”

He noted that the sodium bicarbonate by-product could be a boon for our oceans, potentially neutralising their acidity—a side effect of greenhouse gas emissions.

Prof Chiang highlighted the safety advantages of the new fuel cell, describing it as “inherently safer” than many conventional batteries.

He pointed out the need for caution with sodium metal due to its high reactivity and the necessity of keeping it secure. Like lithium batteries, sodium poses a risk of spontaneous combustion when in contact with moisture.

Prof Chiang remarked: “Whenever you have a very high energy density battery, safety is always a concern, because if there’s a rupture of the membrane that separates the two reactants, you can have a runaway reaction. But in this fuel cell, one side is just air, which is dilute and limited.

“So you don’t have two concentrated reactants right next to each other. If you’re pushing for really, really high energy density, you’d rather have a fuel cell than a battery for safety reasons.”

Although currently only a small-scale prototype exists, Prof Chiang believes scaling up the system for commercial use should be “quite straightforward”.

A team of researchers has already established Propel Aero, a company aimed at advancing this technology. Their envisioned system would operate using a refillable cartridge filled with liquid sodium metal, securely sealed for use.

When it’s exhausted, it would be taken back to a refilling station and replenished with fresh sodium.