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  • 🔋 Xiaomi's ‘bulletproof’ battery coating, radio jets stretching 6 mn light-years spark mass extinction fear, new EV battery material charges in seconds

🔋 Xiaomi's ‘bulletproof’ battery coating, radio jets stretching 6 mn light-years spark mass extinction fear, new EV battery material charges in seconds

Plus: Scientist’s ‘disturbing’ behavior, death threats at Antarctic base prompts probe

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Xiaomi’s entry into the electric vehicle market is making waves, and a recent viral video showcasing the durability of their battery technology is turning heads.

The viral video captures the moment a watermelon remains unscathed after being dropped from the sixth floor of Xiaomi’s car factory.

According to Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun, the protective coating on the watermelon is the same one used on the battery packs of the SU7 Ultra, the company’s latest electric vehicle. Dive deeper into this Must-Read.

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Xiaomi claims this “bulletproof” battery coating enhances durability by resisting punctures, tears, and abrasions, significantly improving the SU7 Ultra’s safety performance in crash tests compared to other EVs.

Additionally, Xiaomi has strengthened its CTB (Cell-to-Body) battery system with structural, thermal, and electrical safety features. These include a 14-layer protective reinforcement, ultra-high-strength steel beams, a 7.8m² cooling system, aerogel insulation, an AI-driven Battery Management System (BMS), and cloud-based monitoring.

The Xiaomi SU7 Ultra launched in China in February 2025, and as the company’s flagship sedan, it delivers an impressive 1,138 kW (1,526 hp) and 1,770 Nm of torque with its dual HyperEngine V8s and single HyperEngine V6.

Some supermassive black holes found in giant elliptical galaxies become the source of colossal radio jets — powerful streams of charged particles ejected at nearly the speed of light. Such jets contain enormous amounts of radiation capable of changing the fate of their host galaxies.

While these jets are generally believed to exist only in elliptical galaxies, researchers have now discovered a spiral galaxy with colossal jets spanning an astonishing six million light-years.

This finding raises concerns as it suggests that our home, the Milky Way, which is also a spiral galaxy, could experience similar radiation in the future.

Scientists in China have improved the battery’s charging time without sacrificing energy capacity or battery lifespan. Using a new material, they have improved ion mobility, which enables faster charging.

The team engineered crystalline material called niobium tungsten oxide (NbWO) to accelerate the charging process. The new material is expected to be helpful for many applications that require charging lithium-ion batteries within one minute.

Researchers found that the fast-charging nature of such material originates from an interesting rate-dependent lattice relaxation process associated with the Jahn-Teller effect.

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