If necessity is the mother of invention, perhaps luck or experimentation is the father, as this remarkable student-made rechargeable battery discovery illustrates. Doctoral candidate Mya Le Thai at the University of California was playing around in the lab when she found a method to make batteries last for hundreds of years.

A team of researchers at UCI had been experimenting with nanowires for potential use in batteries, these were thin and fragile with a tendency to crack and break down with too many recharges. When Thai coated a set in manganese dioxide and a Plexiglas-like electrolyte gel, suddenly up to tens of thousands of cycles, in some cases even hundreds of thousands, were possible (compared to a few hundred for normal laptop batteries). Instead of batteries being the thing needing replacement, they could suddenly be the thing that outlasts the devices they power.

“She started to cycle these gel capacitors, and that’s when we got the surprise,” said Reginald Penner, chair of the university’s chemistry department. “She said, ‘this thing has been cycling 10,000 cycles and it’s still going.’ She came back a few days later and said ‘it’s been cycling for 30,000 cycles.’ That kept going on for a month. The big picture is that there may be a very simple way to stabilize nanowires of the type that we studied If this turns out to be generally true, it would be a great advance for the community.”

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As far as flashlights go, we don’t really expect much. We want them to provide a light in the dark and maybe accompany us on journeys, but they aren’t exactly a multi-tasking tool. The ZeroHourXD is one rugged flashlight that might change the way you think about this essential piece of survival gear.

The waterproof ZeroHourXD puts out an impressive 1,000 lumens of light and can do so for up to six hours. The flashlight comes with three rechargeable batteries; the modular nature of the batteries makes it easier to change them out once they’re used up and allows you to carry along extras wherever you go. You can use the flashlight with one, two, or all three batteries.

But the cool part of the ZeroHourXD is that it can also be used as a gadget charger. One of the battery packs includes a dual USB charger that can charge two gadgets at once. With full batteries, it can charge an iPhone seven times, a Samsung Galaxy five times, or an iPad Air two times.

Although the ZeroHourXD can be used as a flashlight and charge a gadget or two at the same time, the battery power will obviously diminish faster the more you multi-task. But in the case that you don’t need a flashlight, you can use the charging module on its own.

The company says their sources of inspiration were the classic Maglite and the iconic lightsaber. There are different body modules that can be added on to make the body of the flashlight longer to fit your specific needs. Removing the innards of one of the battery packs creates a watertight capsule that can hold matches, medicine, keys, and other necessities.

The flashlight comes with a variety of end caps: a carabiner cap, flat cap, and open cap. They allow you to keep the USB ports open or covered as the situation calls for; additional removable USB covers keep the USB ports. Following a successful Kickstarter campaign, the ZeroHourXD is now available for $225 (US).

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There is no shortage of devices out there meant to help you enjoy a good old cup of coffee anywhere and anytime. But Hey Joe, developed by a duo of Atlanta-based entrepreneurs, is a little different. It doesn’t just hold your hot coffee for you or simply keep it warm; it lets you brew your mug whenever and wherever you please with nearly no waste.

Hey Joe consists of two reservoirs with a coffee pod in between. The top reservoir holds up to 14 ounces of water. When you’re getting ready to go to work, class, hiking, or wherever your day is taking you, you fill up the water chamber and pop in a proprietary Hey Joe coffee pod. A detachable, USB-rechargeable battery pack is installed at the bottom to provide the mug with power.

Later, when you’re ready to brew, you just have to push the button. One push brews the coffee at 140 degrees F; two pushes bumps the temperature up to 155 degrees F, and three pushes will get you a cold-brewed cuppa. All told, you’ll only wait a maximum of about three minutes for your fresh coffee. If your java gets cold and you want to warm it up, another push of the button will activate the internal heat plate which will heat your coffee up for you back to the perfect temperature.

One of the inventors’ goals was to cut down on waste generated by taking coffee on the go. To that end, their proprietary coffee pods are wrapped in biodegradable packaging that contains flower seeds. After you tear open one of the envelopes containing a coffee pod you can plant the wrapper and grow some lovely flowers. You can also use your own coffee sans pod in the Hey Joe, but the inventors don’t recommend it as it tends to cause a bit of a mess.

The project soared past its crowdfunding goal on Kickstarter, where pledges of $49 got you a Hey Joe system and an additional $20 could score you 40 coffee pods included with the mug. As of the time of publication they are still accepting pre-orders at $49, so if you’ve ever been out away from home and didn’t want to spend $6 for a cup of tasty joe, this is the time to jump on the chance to revolutionize the way you drink coffee.

The post Super Convenient Mug Brews Coffee Whenever, Wherever first appeared on Gajitz.