The majority of the world’s rechargeable batteries are now made using lithium-ion. Most rely on a combination of different rare earth metals such as cobalt or nickel for their electrodes. But around the world, teams of researchers are looking for alternative – and more sustainable – materials to build the batteries of the future.

In this episode, we speak to four battery experts who are testing a variety of potential battery materials about the promises they may offer.

Featuring Laurence Hardwick from the University of Liverpool, Robert Armstrong from the University of St Andrew's, Ulugbek Azimov from Northumbria University and Bill Yen from Stanford University.

Applications are now open for early career researchers to submit their projects for the Prototypes for Humanity 2025 awards and showcase in Dubai.

This episode was written and produced by Gemma Ware with assistance from Mend Mariwany and Katie Flood. Sound design and mixing by Eloise Stevens and theme music by Neeta Sarl. Read the full credits for this episode and sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.

If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation.

 Across Europe, far-right movements are gaining ground. By normalising nationalist rhetoric and challenging democratic institutions, these parties raise comparisons with former periods of fascism on the continent. Between 1943 and 1945, when Nazi forces occupied northern Italy, ordinary people in towns and villages across the country took up arms against fascism in one of Europe’s largest resistance movements. Now, 80 years later, in many of these same towns, anti-fascist sentiment remains unusually strong.

In this episode, we speak to political scientist Juan Masullo at Leiden University, who’s been finding out about the enduring legacy of these partisan movements.

This episode was hosted by Gemma Ware and written and produced by Mend Mariwany. Sound design and mixing by Eloise Stevens and theme music by Neeta Sarl. Read the full credits for this episode and sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.

If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation.

The language from European leaders was fawning and obsequious. At one point, the head of Nato, Mark Rutte, even called Donald Trump “daddy”. But when the US president left the Nato summit in late June, there was a sigh of relief that he had not made any more angry criticism of the alliance.

And after months of American pressure, Nato members agreed to increase their spending on defence to 5% of GDP by 2035.

 So how did Europe become so unable to defend itself that it was forced to resort to outright flattery of an American president?

In this episode, we report from the recent Siena Conference on the Europe of the Future in Italy about how the EU dropped the ball on its own defence and what its options are now. Featuring Ana E. Juncos, professor of European politics and the University of Bristol in the UK, Francesco Grillo, academic fellow at Bocconi University in Italy, and François Lafond, former assistant professor at  Sciences Po University in France and a former advisor to the Western Balkans.

This episode was written and produced by Gemma Ware with assistance from Katie Flood and Mend Mariwany. Sound design and mixing by Eloise Stevens and theme music by Neeta Sarl. Read the full credits for this episode and sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.

If you like the show, please consider donating to The Conversation, an independent, not-for-profit news organisation.