Solid-state lithium metal batteries are facing huge challenges under practical working conditions1,2. Even when the ionic conductivity of composite solid-state electrolytes is increased to 1 mS cm-1, it is still difficult to realize long-life cycling of solid-state batteries above a current density of 1 mA cm-2 and an areal capacity of 1 mAh cm-2 (ref. 3). The fundamental cause is the brittle nature of the solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) with sluggish lithium-ion transport and the resulting lithium dendrites and severe side reactions. Here we report a ductile inorganic-rich SEI that retains its structural integrity while allowing easy ion diffusion at high current densities and areal capacities. The ductility of the SEI is ascribed to the Ag2S and AgF components, which are formed by a substitution reaction between Li2S/LiF in the SEI and AgNO3 in the dielectric composite electrolytes. Even at a high current density of 15 mA cm-2 and an areal capacity of 15 mAh cm-2, a symmetrical lithium cell with such an SEI has a long cycle life of over 4,500 hours. Furthermore, the ductile SEI also works over 7,000 hours at -30 °C, even under practical conditions of 5 mA cm-2 and 5 mAh cm-2.

Each year, snakebite envenoming claims thousands of lives and causes severe injury to victims across sub-Saharan Africa, many of whom depend on antivenoms derived from animal plasma as their sole treatment option1. Traditional antivenoms are expensive, can cause adverse immunological reactions, offer limited efficacy against local tissue damage and are often ineffective against all medically relevant snake species2. There is thus an urgent unmet medical need for innovation in snakebite envenoming therapy. However, developing broad-spectrum treatments is highly challenging owing to the vast diversity of venomous snakes and the complex and variable composition of their venoms3. Here we addressed this challenge by immunizing an alpaca and a llama with the venoms of 18 different snakes, including mambas, cobras and a rinkhals, constructing phage display libraries, and identifying high-affinity broadly neutralizing nanobodies. We combined eight of these nanobodies into a defined oligoclonal mixture, resulting in an experimental polyvalent recombinant antivenom that was capable of neutralizing seven toxin families or subfamilies. This antivenom effectively prevented venom-induced lethality in vivo across 17 African elapid snake species and markedly reduced venom-induced dermonecrosis for all tested cytotoxic venoms. The recombinant antivenom performed better than a currently used plasma-derived antivenom and therefore shows considerable promise for comprehensive, continent-wide protection against snakebites by all medically relevant African elapids.

At more than 200 years, the maximum lifespan of the bowhead whale exceeds that of all other mammals. The bowhead is also the second-largest animal on Earth1, reaching over 80,000 kg. Despite its very large number of cells and long lifespan, the bowhead is not highly cancer-prone, an incongruity termed Peto's paradox2. Here, to understand the mechanisms that underlie the cancer resistance of the bowhead whale, we examined the number of oncogenic hits required for malignant transformation of whale primary fibroblasts. Unexpectedly, bowhead whale fibroblasts required fewer oncogenic hits to undergo malignant transformation than human fibroblasts. However, bowhead whale cells exhibited enhanced DNA double-strand break repair capacity and fidelity, and lower mutation rates than cells of other mammals. We found the cold-inducible RNA-binding protein CIRBP to be highly expressed in bowhead fibroblasts and tissues. Bowhead whale CIRBP enhanced both non-homologous end joining and homologous recombination repair in human cells, reduced micronuclei formation, promoted DNA end protection, and stimulated end joining in vitro. CIRBP overexpression in Drosophila extended lifespan and improved resistance to irradiation. These findings provide evidence supporting the hypothesis that, rather than relying on additional tumour suppressor genes to prevent oncogenesis3-5, the bowhead whale maintains genome integrity through enhanced DNA repair. This strategy, which does not eliminate damaged cells but faithfully repairs them, may be contributing to the exceptional longevity and low cancer incidence in the bowhead whale.