iend ship medical supplies to Russia. "Later on, we discovered that the material could be used to store energy," says Baldwin, who then formed a company- Columbus, Ohio-based Dynelec-to explore the technology's potential. Baldwin boasts that Dynaglass is a remarkable power source. A Dynaglass battery, he says, is infinitely rechargeable and might be able to generate up to 30 times more energy than a lead-acid battery of comparable size and weight. The device, which can be produced in a wide range of sizes, also contains no acids or other dangerous chemicals, making it pollution free. "It just reacts like glass," Baldwin says. But since Dynaglass isn't brittle like ordinary glass, it's durable and won't shatter when dropped. While a working Dynaglass battery would be warmly received by mobile device manufacturers and users, Keith Keefer, a scientist based in Richland, Washington, is skeptical that Baldwin's technology is all that it's purported to be. He notes that several inventors have created similar devices, and that none of the devices has lived up to its promise. "No one has ever really made it work," he says. Yet Baldwin is looking to interest manufacturers in his technology. "A glass producer could use this to enter the energy industry at practically no addi- tional cost," he says. 8.2.2 lon Trek Mobile phones, CD players, and flashlights all wear down batteries far faster than we might wish. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, however, have over- come another barrier to building more powerful, longer-lasting lithium-based batteries. The team, led by inorganic chemist Thomas Luther, has discovered how lithium ions move through the flexible membrane that powers their patented rechargeable lithium battery. Luther describes the translucent polymer membrane as an "inorganic version of plastic kitchen wrap." The team, including chemists Luther, Mason Harrup, and Fred Stewart, created it by adding a ceramic powder to a mate- rial called MEEP [bi