Here is an article about the possible use of new technology for old purposes.  Apparently, a physicist in Florida managed to store electrical energy in a magnetic system as opposed to a chemical system.  With the amount of energy potentially being stored this way, it seems to me that it could be a much more efficient use of materials, and this could be HUGE for the future with so many things that we'd like to run on batteries; cars, portable electronics, portable tools, and even alternative-energy-households that develop energy when it's windy or sunny, and store the excess in batteries until it's calm or dark.  We should be throwing millions of dollars of research at this.