Innovation

As portable electronics pack more features, they're rapidly outstripping the ability of batteries to fuel them. Lithium ion batteries, now used in nearly all laptops, mobile phones and Blackberrys, have eked out 8.5% annual improvement in the length of time between recharges - but left unchecked, the demand for portable power will climb 26% per year, according to the Boston Consulting Group. Our wireless world, it turns out, is anything but. "We're tethered," says Donald Sadoway, a professor of materials science and reigning battery guru at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology. "We spend all our time hunched over, looking for an outlet. It's like we've printed Gutenburg Bibles, but all the Bibles are still chained to trees.