DTN 128: The Nuclear Battery Revival

Plus: Martian metals, Starship success, China's growing brain-computer interface industry, AI-simulated disasters, oxygen made in space, transplanting pig lungs, and more.

August 29, 2025

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“The typical Silicon Valley 'ship fast' approach doesn't work for software that must be correct. There's no margin for error. We need to build something not only high quality but transparent enough that users can verify it works correctly. They need to trust it not because we say so, but because we can show them the analysis and let them verify the results themselves.”

“The allure of nuclear batteries is still their extraordinarily long life-spans: several decades and, with proper fuel choice, possibly centuries. They could also deliver more energy in packages that weigh less than those of chemical batteries. The question is, who’s going to buy them?…The technology works, it has many advantages over chemical batteries, and it can be utilized safely. But what very few companies have been able to do is find a new market for these batteries and make a product that has an impact. Part of the problem is that there is no good solution to the need to track these sources and make sure they are disposed of properly at the end of the battery’s life.”

Researchers gave these succulents in the Echevaria genus a glow up by injecting them with luminescent particles. Image: Liu et al./Matter

Researchers in China created bioluminescent plants by injecting succulent leaves with phosphor particles containing strontium aluminate. This glow-in-the-dark effect is created by the particles ability to absorb energy from light at one wavelength, store it, and gradually re-emit it at a different wavelength for several hours. One material the scientists injected into the succulents absorbed ultraviolet and blue light, and re-emitted it as green light. Compared to genetically engineered bioluminescent plants, phosphor injected plants span a wide variety of colors and hues. The scientists have applied for a patent on their technology with the hopes it can be used as  a “living light system” capable of replacing light bulbs. (via Scientific American)

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