As portable electronic devices such as laptops and smartphones get more robust, consumers would like for batteries to keep pace. But rechargeable batteries -- Lithium-ion (Li-ion) being among the most popular - haven't done that. They are 25 year old technology powering things produced this year.

Japanese researchers from a prive sector-government team report an advance in Li-ion battery technology that they describe as a major breakthrough. They fabricated a cathode (positive electrode) of lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO₂) in which the compound's individual grains are aligned in a specific orientation. The researchers claim that this yields a significantly higher-performing battery than one with a randomly-oriented LiCoO₂ cathode.

Special labels for foods that have genetic modification and are not organically processed have been the target of initiatives and legislative efforts recently. While a recent survey found that only 7 percent of people felt labeling GMOs was very important to them, that number climbed to 59 percent when they were reminded about genetically modified foods.

Do we process language we hear without regard to anything about the speaker?

Perhaps or perhaps not. A small psychological experiment using University of Kansas undergraduates who were paid to participate and spoke Spanish found that the sex of a speaker affected how quickly listeners identified words grammatically - evidence that even higher-level processes are affected by the speaker. 14 of the participants were female and 6 were male.

When mother mice compete socially for mates in a promiscuous environment, their sons play hard - they also die young.

More urinary pheromones attract more females but smelling sexier shortens their lives.

An unusually large find, more 600 stamp seals and cylinder seals, have been found so far in an ancient sanctuary
of the storm and weather god Jupiter Dolichenus
in Turkey.

The stamp seals and cylinder seals as well as scarabs, made of glass, stone and quartz ceramics, were mostly crafted in a high-quality manner. Following the restoration work, the finds were handed over to the relevant museum in Gaziantep in Turkey. 

The FDA is investigating a multi-state outbreak of E. coli O157 illnesses possibly linked to pre-packaged salad products.  26 cases of illness were reported in 3 states, Arizona, California, and Washington.  

On November 10, 2013, the the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced that Glass Onion Catering, a Richmond, Calif. establishment, is recalling approximately 181,620 pounds of ready-to-eat salads and sandwich wrap products with fully-cooked chicken and ham because some of these products have been linked to the illnesses through epidemiological and traceback investigation.