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Good morning, everyone. Damian Garde here, filling in for Ed Silverman at Pharmalot’s satellite campus along the East River, where today’s cup of stimulation is filled not with coffee but rather a smoothie of curious color and questionable contents (what exactly is an “adaptogen”?). Anyway it’s Friday, as you’re almost certainly aware, and here are some tidbits to help you through the waning hours of another working week. …

German lawmakers passed a bill that would more than double the discount on branded medicines drugmakers must provide to the government, Reuters reports . The policy, part of an effort to plug a sizable budget gap in the country’s health insurance system, would increase the mandatory rebate from 7% to 15.5%. Industry groups have said the bill, if it clears Germany’s upper chamber, would deter investment and imperil the country’s access to new medicines.

The rapid rise of China’s biotech industry has led some American drug developers to do their work in near total secrecy, the Wall Street Journal observes . U.S. startups are increasingly loath to publish early data, disclose their scientific ambitions, or even publicize which diseases they hope to treat, all in fear that nimble Chinese firms will use that information to whip up competing drugs and beat them to the punch of starting clinical trials.

Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…

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I'm loyal to several airlines, alliances and loyalty programs when I book flights — and for good reason. It's how I earn the points and miles that can pay for my next trip and help me reach elite status to enjoy perks like complimentary checked baggage, priority boarding and even the occasional upgrade.

The problem is that no single airline, or even airline alliance, flies to every destination I want to reach. That used to leave me with a frustrating and confusing process of piecing together a trip myself across a string of airline websites and browser tabs, cross-referencing layover times and baggage policies before calculating the total costs.

These days, I start with Skyscanner, which pulls together results from more than 1,000 travel providers in a single search. From figuring out where to go in the first place to tracking prices to booking accommodations, cars and flights, it's the closest thing I've found to a tool that actually covers the full journey while keeping my loyalty benefits intact.

Here's how I use it.

Related: Save with 1 search: How Skyscanner simplifies trip planning

How Skyscanner works across your whole trip

ANGUS MORDANT/BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES When you don't know where you want to go: Explore Everywhere

Sometimes I know I want to travel, but I haven't landed on a destination. That used to mean an hour of Googling flight prices to a dozen cities before I'd find something that made sense for my budget and schedule.

Skyscanner's Explore Everywhere feature significantly cuts that process. Search from your home airport without a destination, and it maps out options with prices across the calendar, letting you find where your budget takes you rather than forcing you to pick first and price-check second.

Flights, accommodations and cars all in one place

Once I know where I'm going, I want to see the real cost of the trip, not just the flight. Skyscanner lets you search accommodations and car rentals alongside flights, which sounds simple but changes how you plan. You're not piecing together numbers from three different platforms; you're comparing the full trip picture before you commit to any of it.

For loyalty travelers, using Skyscanner to find flights works the same as booking directly: since Skyscanner searches traditional revenue tickets from more than 1,000 travel providers and sends you to book with the supplier, you'll still earn miles and keep your status perks.

Price Alerts: stop refreshing, start booking

One habit I've mostly broken: compulsively rechecking flight prices after I find a route I like. Skyscanner's Price Alerts let you set a watch on a specific route and get notified when prices move, which means you can step away from the search and trust that you'll know when it's time to book. For trips I'm planning weeks or months out, this has saved me a lot of wasted refresh cycles.

Beyond the booking: planning tools that actually help

JAROMIR/GETTY IMAGES Skyscanner's utility doesn't stop at search. Flexible Date Search is helpful when your dates are flexible, and you want to find the cheapest travel window. Flight Tracker is useful closer to departure, where you can track your flight to stay on top of delays, departure and arrival gates, check-in desks and even which belt your checked baggage will be delivered to.

There's also a data side worth knowing about. Skyscanner publishes travel insights, including its Smarter Summer Report and ongoing Travel Trends, which track where people are going, when prices tend to shift, and where value is emerging. For anyone who likes to plan with a little more information than gut instinct, it's a useful resource.

Multicity and self-transfer fares: what they are and why your loyalty is safe

Not everyone's travel is a simple round-trip with one airline. My travels have taken me across the globe from Finland to Fiji, and I'm often searching for complex itineraries that one airline, alliance or partnership might not be able to offer. Skyscanner has come to the rescue many times with neat multicity search results (on specific dates, or flexible ones), allowing me to fly into one city on one airline and out of another city on a different airline.

If you're planning a trip to Europe, it can be a huge time-saver not to have to backtrack to the city you flew in on just to fly back home.

Not everyone knows this, but Skyscanner also displays self-transfer fares right alongside regular results. These itineraries stitch together two or more flights, usually combining airlines that don't sell tickets together or aren't even partners — and because no single airline site will show you a route that relies on a carrier outside its network, Skyscanner is often the only place they appear. It clearly labels these fares and tells you in advance whether you'll need to switch airports, which is handy in cities like London, New York or Tokyo.

The loyalty question also comes up a lot, and the answer is better than most people expect. Unlike booking a flight directly through a third-party travel platform , Skyscanner helps you find the flight where you can still book directly with the airline, so you'll receive all perks and mileage earning as usual.

Bottom line

The best travel planning tool reduces chaos throughout the process, and Skyscanner does just that with destination discovery, flight and hotel and car comparison, price tracking and broader planning tools all in one place.

Plus, the destinations that don't show up on a single airline's website are often exactly the ones that Skyscanner's clever self-transfer fares can unlock.

By finding and combining flights from airlines that don't normally sell tickets together into one booking, I can reach places a single carrier can't get me to, keep my loyalty on the legs where it makes sense and earn points and miles on both flights when both are full-service airlines.

Whether you're a points maximizer or a flexible traveler chasing value, Skyscanner's worth making it your first stop.

Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.

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Researchers in China have announced a radical sodium metal battery (SMB) design that can fully charge in just four minutes and will retain its capacity for years of use.

SMBs are a form of ultrafast-charging, stable batteries that scientists say could one day be a cheap alternative to today's lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, which rely on geographically concentrated metals and easily catch fire. SMBs also differ from sodium-ion (Na-ion) batteries in that they use a metallic sodium anode rather than a graphite or hard carbon anode.

However, SMBs remain largely theoretical because they are prone to a type of degradation known as dendrite formation. This is when the sodium ions passing through the electrode deposit onto the highly reactive, pure-metal sodium anode in spiky, stalagmite-like structures. Over time, this forms a bridge between the cathode and the anode, short-circuiting the battery.

Dendrite formation is especially common in sodium batteries because sodium is a highly reactive metal. When charge runs through a Li-ion, Na-ion, or sodium metal battery, the anode always reacts with the electrolyte to form an oxide layer known as the SEI. This is typically 10 to 50 nanometers thick — about as wide as a small virus — but generally harmless. But with sodium, the SEI often cracks, forming bumps that attract sodium ions, which pile into dendrites.

Now, researchers say they have solved this issue by using a tough, quasi-solid gel electrolyte — dubbed Sn-FB QSE — which strengthens the battery against punctures and provides a semisolid internal structure that prevents dendrites from forming. They outlined their findings in a study published May 21 in the journal Nano-Micro Letters .

To confirm the longevity of this approach, the scientists charged and discharged the battery for over 6,000 hours without dendrites short-circuiting the battery. They also noted that when they charged the battery from zero to 100% capacity in just four minutes, it retained electrical charge, measured in milliampere-hours per gram (mAh g –1 ), of 80.1. This is the equivalent of around half that retained in Li-ion batteries.

When charged at a slightly slower rate of zero to 100% in 20 minutes, the battery retained 90% of its charge capacity over 2,000 cycles — matching the theoretical limits for Li-ion batteries , the scientists said in the study. This slower speed lowered the cost and improved the safety.

This is notable because the scientists achieved this in the new battery while still charging it quicker than Li-ion batteries can be charged. This is relevant because charging speed remains a sticking point for battery deployment in electric vehicles (EVs). The fastest charging EV today is the BYD Denza, which the Chinese automaker says can go from 10-70% in just five minutes. But this requires highly specialised, 1MW proprietary chargers.

Most EVs charge much slower — Tesla representatives say its Model 3 can recharge from 10-70% in approximately 15 minutes using Tesla’s own 250kW flash chargers, but representatives from the EV routing platform Zapmap say the same vehicle will take 90 minutes to charge to 80% on 50kW chargers.

Indeed, most batteries used for modern technologies, such as smartphones and EVs, are Li-ion. However, Li-ion batteries are expensive to produce because they contain the hard-to-obtain metals lithium and cobalt, and they are prone to catching fire.

Increasingly, battery manufacturers are looking to bring Na-ion batteries to commercial scale because they are cheaper and safer. However, they are heavier and larger than Li-on batteries.

SMBs are the focus of intense research because they theoretically combine the best of both types of batteries. Because SMBs use a sodium anode, rather Na-ion batteries that use graphite or hard carbon anode, they are lighter and cheaper to produce and therefore much more comparable to Li-ion in terms of size and weight. They are also safer because they operate using sodium ions, which are bulky and cannot flow to breaches in a battery wall fast enough to cause thermal runaway. This is the self-sustaining chain reaction that causes batteries to ignite when damaged.

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If the issues of dendrite formation and stability at lower temperatures can be resolved, replicated and scaled, SMBs could reshape the economics of battery deployment over the next decade, the scientists said.

SMBs could be excellent choices for EVs in public transport or within commuter cars, the scientists belive, because although they have lower ranges than Na-ion and Li-ion vehicles do, they charge faster. However, they won't be available for some time, either in vehicles or smaller devices like consumer electronics.

That's because devices like smartphones are subject to harsh temperature changes that affect the internal chemistry of batteries that rely on gel electrolytes. The research must first be replicated before manufacturers feel comfortable using pure sodium metal in place of well-understood graphite configurations.

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Xbox claims that reports of there being only one person in Texas left working on id Software 's id Tech engine are inaccurate.

Reports emerged that as part of the devastating layoffs at id Software – which saw 136 of the studio's 185 staff members laid off – the team working on the id Tech engine was affected massively. Yesterday, it was claimed that this was so widespread that only one person was left working on the engine at id Software's main Richardson, Texas studio. However, in a statement given to Kotaku , an Xbox spokesperson says this is inaccurate

"There are dozens of people working on id Tech across multiple locations," the spokesperson says , adding: "Reports that there's only one person left in Texas are inaccurate." That being said, it is unconfirmed just how many people are left working on the tech.

Kotaku's source said they weren't sure how the engine could be patched due to the breadth of the layoffs, saying: "The institutional knowledge is just not there." The same source said: "id Tech as a technology is probably dead forever."

Derek Best, former principal VFX artist at id Software who worked on the latest Doom trilogy as part of his 12 year tenure at the studio, claimed the studio has been relegated "to support studio size," while saying Microsoft was responsible for "nuking a team into the dirt" and "throwing out massive technological achievements."

Alongside these comments, Best noted that "the VFX team was eliminated down to one single artist with no lead or producer." As for the engine, he also mentioned that "the engine programmer responsible for the massive gains in VFX pipeline improvements (like all the particle editor work) was let go as well," adding that "all devs that had Houdini knowledge for procedural modeling or cached animations were wiped out." Best said: "All the work for Doom: The Dark Ages in that program has gone to waste with no one to carry it on."

Pitches for a co-op Doom, a new Perfect Dark, and a John Wick-inspired cyberpunk game were cooking at id Software before Microsoft layoffs reportedly led to 136 job cuts.

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Once a year, a jury convenes to select the best album to come out of Canada, and they award that album with the Polaris Music Prize. Yves Jarvis’ All Cylinders won the award last year, and past honorees include Arcade Fire, Feist, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Caribou, Fucked Up, Kaytranada, and Backxwash. This year's Polaris Prize will be awarded at Toronto's Massey Hall in a special Sep. 22 ceremony, featuring performances from many of the nominees. The Polaris people have just unveiled the shortlist of 10 albums up for this year's prize, and you will be happy to learn that masked Quebec math-rock absurdists Angine De Poitrine were not snubbed.

The post Polaris Music Prize Announces 2026 Shortlist appeared first on Stereogum .