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AUSTIN, Texas — A team of engineers led by 94-year-old John Goodenough, professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin and co-inventor of the lithium-ion battery, has developed the first all-solid-state battery cells that could lead to safer, faster-charging, longer-lasting rechargeable batteries for handheld mobile devices, electric cars and stationary energy storage.

Source: Lithium-Ion Battery Inventor Introduces New Technology for Fast-Charging, Noncombustible Batteries | UT News | The University of Texas at Austin

I try and switch up the topics a bit to remind us that Not All News Is Bad applies everywhere, but this one’s too good to pass up. I’ve long held that a breakthrough in battery technology would enable advances that we can only dream of today, and it looks like we’re getting a step closer. Safer. Faster. Longer lasting. Sure, there’s the potential to increase the range of electric vehicles, but I suspect that’s just the tip of an iceberg of possibilities.

And, yes, this is the 94 year old I want to be when I grow up.

This is massive move to cut emissions in the busy city.

Source: China’s capital is replacing tens of thousands of taxis with electric cars to fight pollution – Mashable

I drive an electric car myself, so this speaks to me on several levels. Yes, this is a small step, and it’ll take some time to have an impact. And, indeed, there are hurdles to be overcome. But I strongly believe that our future is electric, and it’s reassuring to see a place with such a serious pollution problem take a dramatic and important step.

Is there a doctor in the house? It was a plane, but a woman’s cries for help Monday were answered all the same — by around 20 medical professionals on board, officials said.

Source: Plane Passenger Falls Ill on Flight Full of Doctors – via MSN

I don’t think this could be planned any better; twenty doctors heading home from a convention! What great good fortune.

This anonymous good samaritan didn’t mind that her kind gesture came with a $750 price tag – she just wanted to help out a father in distress.

Source: Stranger Buys $750 Plane Ticket for Distraught Father’s Child – Good News Network

What a generous way to turn an unfortunate situation into a happy one. Well done!

Passersby in Saddle Brook, N.J., ran to help an 89-year-old woman avoid an onrushing train headed her way. (Daily Voice Bergen County)

Source: Watch the ‘miracle on Market Street’: Good Samaritans whisk woman, 89, from path of onrushing train – The Washington Post

I’ll be honest … I’m not sure I could have done it. I’d probably be frozen in horror. Further quoting the linked article:

Saddle Brook Police Chief Robert Kugler called the good Samaritan rescue ‘the miracle on Market Street,’ reported News 12 New Jersey.

‘It proves to me that our society is full of good people,’ Kugler told the TV station,

Indeed, it does.

Source: Quebec grocery stores first in Canada to send unused produce to food banks | Globalnews.ca

Programs like this are actually more difficult that we might expect, mostly due to having to deal with quality and health issues. But the fact remains a tremendous amount of food is discarded, and these types of efforts can be win-win for everyone involved.

Peak cuteness achieved.

Source: Patrick Stewart Can’t Get Enough Of His New Foster Pit Bull | The Huffington Post

You had me at Patrick Stewart. And “foster”. Seriously, there’s so much to learn and love from this story, it’s hard to know where to begin. Stewart is who I want to become when I [forget to] grow up. Fostering dogs – Pit Bulls, Corgis, whatever – takes a special kind of person. I have no doubt that Captain Picard meets the criteria, and then some. What a happy dog. What a lucky dog.

A Winnipeg truck driver is thanking a woman who jumped on her horse and brought him coffee and a hot meal while he was stranded on highway 10 south of Brandon.

Source: Stranded truck driver thankful for Minto woman who delivered coffee, food on horseback | CTV News Winnipeg

Sometimes low-tech solutions really are the best. 🙂

British doctors eliminate the disease in two infants with incurable cancer by utilizing a medical first gene-editing techniques.

Source: Two Infants Cured of Terminal Cancer by Breakthrough Gene-Editing Therapy | Big Think

I’m a little uncomfortable using the word “cure” whenever it comes to cancer, but regardless this – “one of them has been cancer-free for a year and another for 18 months” – is promising progress regardless of how you label it. Whenever I hear the phrase “bio-engineering”, this is the type of thing that comes to mind.

A Facebook Messenger conversation could help you start a new life.

Source: Parking ticket chat bot now helps refugees claim asylum via engadget

This isn’t as much about the politics of the situation as it is the way the technology is being repurposed. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the day-to-day ways we use tech and how it makes our lives easier and perhaps entertains. Or, apparently, lets us avoid parking tickets. No, what’s cool here is that technology developed for one purpose is being used for something of a more humanitarian nature. I love the practical application of something that we might otherwise consider frivolous.

Techie nitpick: the article refers to an AI (Artificial Intelligence). My take is it’s more likely a simple expert system – a series of questions and answers that lead to different outcomes, directions, and results based on the answers made along the way. Artificial? Sure. Intelligence? Not so much. Useful? Absolutely.