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A disaster strikes, and evacuation orders are issued. But what happens if those orders don’t reach people at risk? In recent years, as fires raged in parts of California, domestic workers and groundskeepers continued to show up in affected neighborhoods, even though the residents had already cleared out. The reason? Nobody had thought to contact the many lower-income workers who came into those communities each day to earn a living.

Guests at the Planet Word Museum in Washington, D.C., have fun learning about language. A $440,000 NSF grant is funding a partnership between UMD, Howard University, Gallaudet University and the museum to expand public understanding about the science of language. Photo by DuHon Photography, courtesy of Planet Word

The energy contained within lithium-ion batteries has the potential to reshape the technology of the future battlefield, creating a worldwide demand for key lithium-ion battery materials such as lithium, cobalt and nickel, posing a supply problem for future production.