🐚 Mother of pearl-inspired material, Deep-sea energy vaults, AI hackers targeting government

We’re Live: Plug in and go: the future of seamless EV charging with Lin Su Fa

In this episode of Lexicon, we speak with Lin Sun Fa, CEO of Emobi, about the invisible infrastructure revolutionizing EV charging. From AI-driven reliability scores to secure digital identities and cloud-based authentication, learn how Emobi is building a seamless and secure EV charging experience—no apps or cards required.

🎧️ Tune in now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or our website!

Engineers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign created a new protective material. Seashells by the seashore, if you remember the tongue-twister, inspired the reactive material that doesn’t just take a hit but adapts to it.

 Each layer is designed to react differently, and all the layers work together to soften the blow. They reverse-engineered nature and even developed a method to program individual layers to work together under stress.

Out of all the materials, mother of pearl stood out as the one to work with. Dive deeper into this Must-Read.

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MUST-READ

🐚 World’s smartest shell? New armor material reacts in real time to crashes and impacts

Scientists have long admired how well mother-of-pearl absorbs force without cracking. Nacre is made of microscopic layers that make it hard and surprisingly tough. Engineers designed synthetic layers that respond in a coordinated, adaptive way.

They made multilayered materials, each layer capable of exhibiting different properties and behaviors. This approach marks a shift from earlier approaches that treated layers as isolated or static.

In the new design, the layers actively collaborate, changing how force travels through the material.

⚡ Germany’s underwater energy vaults could be the world’s next power storage giant

Researchers at Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute are planning to submerge massive concrete spheres in the ocean to explore how deep-sea pressure can be harnessed to store energy in the short to medium term.  

Since 2011, the team has been deploying giant empty concrete spheres sunk hundreds of feet beneath the ocean surface to test the waters on this new frontier. The spheres function as fully charged storage units.

When the valve opens, seawater flows inside, driving a turbine connected to a generator that feeds electricity into the grid. And they’re working.

🚨 FBI warns AI hackers are impersonating US officials to infiltrate government

Unidentified subjects are using AI to target senior US officials with fake messages, and the cyber campaign is growing. It uses AI-generated voice and text messages to impersonate senior U.S. government officials.  

The brand new scheme, active since April 2025, tries to deceive federal and station officials into giving up sensitive personal information and account access. The FBI warned the government not to trust any message from “an official senior US official.”

Signs of AI-generated content include distorted facial features, lagging audio, and unusual phrasing.

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