We’re wrapping up another year and reflecting on some of our top digital media of 2016. Check out the top five viewed videos and episodes of the ECS Podcast of the year.

Top 5 ECS Videos

The New Model for Scientific Publishing | watch

Free the Science | watch

The Critical Impact of Our Science | watch

Allen Bard in 1983 | watch

Why Join and ECS Student Chapter | watch

Top 5 ECS Podcasts

Khalil Amine on Next Generation Li-ion Batteries | listen

The Battery Guys | listen

K.M. Abraham on the Invention of Li-air and Other Lithium Batteries | listen

Science for Solving Society’s Problems Round Table | listen

Critical issues in Renewable Energy | listen

See the rest of our videos and download all episodes of the ECS podcast.

Do not miss this final opportunity to present your most recent work in one of 50 symposia covering the latest topics in in the fields of electrochemical and solid state science. In addition to longstanding symposia on batteries, semiconductors, and fullerenes, the New Orleans meeting will also cover newer areas such as sustainable materials, nature inspired systems, renewable fuels, 3D printing, flexible electronics, and the first ever Battery Student Slam.

Absolutely no abstracts will be accepted past Dec. 30, so make sure to submit your New Orleans abstract today and present your work at one of the premier technical events in the fields of electrochemistry and solid-state science!

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The National Inventors Hall of Fame was founded in 1973 and continues to honor individuals among us who strive to make the world a better place through innovation. With a simple mission to recognize inventors and invention, the National Inventors Hall of Fame announces a call for nominations for 2017 recognition.

ECS is proud to partner with the National Inventors Hall of Fame. The chair of the ECS Honors & Awards Committee serves as our representative for the four-year term; Dr. Peter Fedkiw is currently in both roles. The Honors & Awards Committee has an External Awards Subcommittee specifically designated to assist in applications such as these.

Take time to consider a scientist or engineer among us who is worthy of a nomination. View the new National Inventors Hall of Fame web site for details about the award program, the corresponding STEM education initiatives and the list of inventors whose ingenuity we take advantage of each day. Then reach out to us for assistance is the nomination process via awards@electrochem.org.

ECS has an inductee that you might be familiar with Dr. Esther Takeuchi — materials scientist, chemical engineer, ECS member since 1985 and former Society President — was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2011 for developing the battery that enabled implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs). The invention afforded Dr. Takeuchi the 2009 National Medal of Technology and Innovation.

The deadline for nominations for the class of 2018 is March 31, 2017.

John and Stephany Murray delivering nearly 300 lbs. of journals to ECS headquarters. (Click to enlarge.)

Since 1902, ECS has continuously published innovative, impactful research in the field of electrochemical and solid state science and technology. From the first publication of the Transactions of the American Electrochemical Society over 100 years ago to the over 1,700 journal papers published in the Society’s Digital Library every year, ECS has disseminated a massive amount of research since its establishment.

One ECS member happened to have a good deal of that research sitting in his basement office.

John Murray joined ECS in 1962, which is when he began receiving the paper version of the Journal of The Electrochemical Society (JES). Since then, he’s stowed the paperbound research in his basement, making sure to transfer it wherever his career took him. Now, that collection has made its way from his home in Timonium, MD to ECS headquarters in Pennington, NJ.

Cultivating a collection

Murray’s electrochemical career began at Allis-Chalmers Corp. Research Division in West Allis, WI, where he worked on catalysts and electrodes that would assist in the development of hydrogen oxygen fuel cells for NASA. When the company hit financial issues and sold its research division to Teledyne Technologies, Murray was one of just nine employees to keep his position. That took him and his wife Stephany to Timonium, MD, where they currently live.

And of course, where the around 700 pounds of ECS journals live as well.

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By: Andrew Maynard, Arizona State University and Dietram A. Scheufele, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Truth seems to be an increasingly flexible concept in politics. At least that’s the impression the Oxford English Dictionary gave recently, as it declared “post-truth” the 2016 Word of the Year. What happens when decisions are based on misleading or blatantly wrong information? The answer is quite simple – our airplanes would be less safe, our medical treatments less effective, our economy less competitive globally, and on and on.

Many scientists and science communicators have grappled with disregard for, or inappropriate use of, scientific evidence for years – especially around contentious issues like the causes of global warming, or the benefits of vaccinating children. A long debunked study on links between vaccinations and autism, for instance, cost the researcher his medical license but continues to keep vaccination rates lower than they should be.

Only recently, however, have people begun to think systematically about what actually works to promote better public discourse and decision-making around what is sometimes controversial science. Of course scientists would like to rely on evidence, generated by research, to gain insights into how to most effectively convey to others what they know and do.

As it turns out, the science on how to best communicate science across different issues, social settings and audiences has not led to easy-to-follow, concrete recommendations.

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A new issue of ECS Transactions has just been published from the 17th International Conference on Advanced Batteries, Accumulators and Fuel Cells (ABAF 2016).

The papers in this issue of ECST were presented in Brno, Czech Republic on August 28-August 31, 2016. ECST Volume 74, Issue 1 can be found here.

New for 2016: issues of ECST can also be purchased in the NEW ECS ONLINE STORE as full-text digital downloads.

By: Ellen Finnie

Nature announced on December 8 that Elsevier has launched a new journal quality index, called CiteScore, which will be based on Elsevier’s Scopus citation database and will compete with the longstanding and influential Journal Impact Factor (IF).

Conflict of interest

One can hardly fault Elsevier for producing this metric, which is well positioned to compete with the Impact Factor. But for researchers and librarians, there are serious concerns about CiteScore. Having a for-profit entity that is also a journal publisher in charge of a journal publication metric creates a conflict of interest, and is inherently problematic. The eigenfactor team Carl T. Bergstrom and Jevin West have done some early analysis of how Elsevier journals tend to rank via CiteScore versus the Impact Factor, and conclude that “Elsevier journals are getting just over a 25% boost relative to what we would expect given their Impact Factor scores.” Looking at journals other than Nature journals – which take quite a hit under the CiteScore because of what Phil Davis refers to as Citescore’s “overt biases against journals that publish a lot of front-matter” — Elsevier journals still get a boost (15%) in comparison with Impact Factor.

Perpetuating problems of journal prestige in promotion and tenure

But more broadly, the appearance of another measure of journal impact reinforces existing problems with the scholarly publishing market, where journal brand as a proxy for research quality drives promotion and tenure decisions. This tying of professional advancement, including grant awards, to publication in a small number of high prestige publications contributes to monopoly power and resulting hyperinflation in the scholarly publishing market. Indeed, I was recently informed by a large commercial journal publisher that a journal’s Impact Factor is a key consideration in setting the price increase for that title—and was the first reason mentioned to justify increases.

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Lithium-ion batteries supply billions of portable devices with energy. While current Li-ion battery designs may be sufficient for applications such as smartphones and tablets, the rise of electric vehicles and power storage systems demands new battery technology with new electrode materials and electrolytes.

ECS student member Michael Metzger is looking to address that issue by developing a new battery test cell that can investigate anionic and cationic reactions separately.

Along with Benjamin Strehle, Sophie Slochenbach, and ECS Fellow Hubert A. Gasteiger, Metzger and company published their new findings in the Journal of The Elechemical Society in two open access papers.

(READ: “Origin of H₂ Evolution in LIBs: H₂O Reduction vs. Electrolyte Oxidation” and “Hydrolysis of Ethylene Carbonate with Water and Hydroxide under Battery Operating Conditions“)

“Manufacturers of rechargeable batteries are building on the proven lithium-ion technology, which has been deployed in mobile devices like laptops and cell phones for many years,” says Metzger, the 2016 recipient of ECS’s Herbert H. Uhlig Summer Fellowship. “However, the challenge of adapting this technology to the demands of electromobility and stationary electric power storage is not trivial.”

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Janine Mauzeroll is an associate professor at McGill University, where she leads a research group focused on topics ranging from electrochemistry in organic and biological media to electronically-conducting polymers. Her work combines experimental and theoretical electrochemical methods and applies them to biomedical and industrial problems such as multidrug resistance in human cancer cells, neurotransmitter release, biosensor design, and high-speed scanning electrochemical microscopy. Mauzeroll has recently been named a new technical editor of the Journal of The Electrochemical Society, concentrating in the Organic & Bioelectrochemistry Topical Interest Area.

What do you hope to accomplish in your role as Technical Editor?
I see no greater need than the one related to the promotion of fundamental research as a necessary partner to applied and industry driven science. As Technical Editor, I will put emphasis on complete experimental and full disclosures to generate “go to” manuscripts.

Moving forward, I hope to convince established researchers to continue sending in manuscripts by offering them visibility, such as special issues in or keynote addresses at symposiums. We need to seek out new researchers and deliver on our promise to provide a respectful and efficient review.

How has the rise of open access changed the current scholarly publishing model?
The rise of open access is a game changer and step forward for science. Strongly influenced by funding agencies, who have financed the publishing costs related to figures, covers and, general publishing costs, it is now a requirement in several countries that all publicly funded research be open access. In removing this budgetary constraints, we promote a publishing model focused on a desired target audience and impact.

Additionally, ECS’s Free the Science initiative will lead to a more general access to reliable and good scientific information, which is a basic requirement for further innovation and discoveries. In removing these constraints, more resources are being diverted to supporting the pillars of our research: students and fellows. Knowledge sharing basically forces us to move away from our protectionism inclinations and focus on our next great idea.

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Silly putty isn’t just for kids anymore.

Researchers in Ireland combined the classic kid’s toy with a special form of carbon to create a new material that has potential applications in medical devices such as heart monitors.

About 70 years ago, scientists came up with the recipe for silly putty as a substitute for rubber. The resulting formula yielded strange properties, but not many applications. However, by taking the strange silly putty formula and mixing it with graphene, the new mixture showed remarkable electrical, bouncy, liquid-like properties.