From powering your 3 AM doom-scroll to preventing actual doom (climate change), batteries are the unsung heroes who quietly run the world. We journey from the oil crisis of the '70s to Nobel Prize-winning lithium-ion tech that made your smartphone possible – and might save the planet. We'll explore how these tiny energy lunchboxes evolved from exploding prototypes to $300k Tesla packs, and now cost $7k (a 97% price drop). Meet the scientists who cracked the code, and peek into a future of solid-state batteries and sodium-ion rivals. Plus: why your remote lasts forever, your phone dies by 4 PM, and what happens when you toss batteries in the bin (spoiler: landfill fires). One battery to power them all – if we can recycle responsibly and mine ethically. Because even Frodo needed a power bank for that walk to Mordor. 🔋⚡

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