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Man Constructs E-Bike from 130 Thrown-Away Vapes to Draw Attention to E-Waste Issue

# Unveiling the Overlooked Value of Disposable Vape Batteries: A Wasteful Trend Unraveled

Disposable vapes have surged in popularity, yet their ecological ramifications are concerning. With millions of these gadgets tossed aside each year, they make a substantial contribution to the worldwide e-waste dilemma. What often goes unnoticed is that a majority of these “single-use” vapes actually house rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that are being discarded without reason. This article explores the ecological impacts of disposable vapes and showcases a creative initiative that reveals the hidden potential of these cast-off batteries.

## The Dilemma of Disposable Vapes

Disposable vapes are promoted as one-time-use devices, intended for disposal after the e-liquid or battery depletes. Yet, many of these gadgets incorporate rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that could be reused with proper extraction. Instead, both manufacturers and users prioritize ease of use, leading to a staggering volume of waste.

In the UK, it’s estimated that over **260 million vape batteries** are discarded each year. This statistic becomes even more alarming when considering the global perspective on vape consumption. The ecological toll is twofold: not only are these batteries contributing to the escalating e-waste crisis, but the valuable materials they encompass, like lithium, are being squandered.

### E-Waste and Its Environmental Ramifications

Lithium-ion batteries are essential for numerous contemporary technologies, including electric vehicles and renewable energy storage systems. However, the extraction and fabrication of lithium are resource-heavy processes that lead to considerable environmental repercussions. By tossing aside vape batteries, we waste these precious materials and further deplete natural resources.

Additionally, improperly discarded lithium-ion batteries can create serious environmental risks. When these batteries find their way into landfills, they may leak hazardous substances into the earth and water, threatening both human health and ecosystems. Furthermore, lithium-ion batteries can ignite if damaged, creating hazardous conditions in waste management operations.

## An Innovative Approach: Repurposing Vape Batteries

To emphasize the wastefulness of disposable vapes, **Chris Doel**, an inventive creator, initiated a distinctive project. He gathered **130 disposable vape batteries** from a music festival and transformed them into a **48-volt, 1,500-watt e-bike battery**. This DIY venture not only illustrated the possibilities of these discarded batteries but also highlighted the foolishness of discarding them.

Doel’s endeavor involved extracting the batteries, wiring them in series, and utilizing them to power an e-bike. Remarkably, the e-bike could travel **over 20 miles** with minimal pedaling, achieving speeds up to **32 miles per hour**. The entire project cost him approximately **$60** in materials, not counting the batteries, which he effectively obtained for free.

While Doel’s initiative is an intriguing showcase of the potential within vape batteries, it carries a significant caution: **do not attempt this at home**. The process of extracting and repurposing lithium-ion batteries can be hazardous, as poor handling may lead to fires, explosions, or toxic exposure. Doel himself took safety precautions, including having a fire extinguisher on hand, but he stresses that this is not a suitable project for novices.

### The Takeaway: We Are Squandering Precious Resources

Doel’s initiative serves as a strong reminder of the wastefulness inherent in disposable vapes. The batteries utilized in these devices are frequently rated for **300 cycles** or more, indicating they could be recharged and reused numerous times. Instead, they are thrown away after just one use, exacerbating the growing e-waste issue.

The ecological ramifications of this waste are considerable. In the US alone, it is projected that **11.9 million disposable vapes** were sold in March 2023. The lithium within these devices could generate enough power for **2,600 electric vehicles**, underscoring the extent of the squandered resources.

## Why Are Vast Numbers of Vape Batteries Discarded?

The concern surrounding disposable vapes goes beyond consumer habits; it also involves regulatory issues. In the UK, a ban on disposable vapes is set for **June 2025**, but the scenario in the US is more intricate. The **Food and Drug Administration (FDA)** has permitted only a select few vape products, while disposable vapes often navigate around regulatory challenges.

Numerous disposable vapes are produced in China and sold under different brand names to escape regulatory oversight. For instance, the well-known brand **Elf Bar** has changed its name multiple times to continue offering its products in the US. This regulatory gray area has enabled thousands of new vape products to flood the market, further contributing to the e-waste crisis.

### The Hurdles of Recycling Vape Batteries

One reason behind the high rate of vape battery disposal is the challenges associated with recycling them. In the US, liquid nicotine is classified as hazardous waste by the **Environmental Protection

Researchers Witness Black Hole Devouring Matter at 40 Times the Expected Rate

### The Accelerated Expansion of Supermassive Black Holes: An Unprecedented Feeding Spree

Supermassive black holes, possessing masses that are millions to billions of times heavier than the Sun, are situated at the cores of nearly all galaxies. For many years, their existence was attributed to the concept that they had billions of years to consume surrounding matter, slowly increasing to their colossal dimensions. Nonetheless, as advanced telescopes have gazed further into the cosmos, uncovering galaxies from earlier periods, astronomers have identified supermassive black holes that emerged far sooner than anticipated. This has prompted a challenging inquiry: how did these black holes experience such rapid growth in such a brief duration?

Recent findings from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) might shed light on this mystery. A recently detected black hole, LID-568, seems to have been accumulating matter at an incredible pace, surpassing theoretical boundaries by a factor of 40 for millions of years. This revelation could clarify how certain black holes expanded so swiftly in the early universe.

#### The Eddington Limit: A Hypothetical Barrier on Black Hole Expansion

As matter spirals into a black hole, it generally creates an accretion disk, a rotating mass of gas and dust that becomes heated through friction and collisions. The increasing temperature results in radiation emission, which subsequently exerts pressure on the neighboring matter. This radiation pressure can push away material before it can plunge into the black hole, effectively restricting how much matter the black hole can ingest. This threshold is referred to as the **Eddington Limit**.

The more massive the black hole, the greater its Eddington Limit, indicating it can ingest more matter before radiation pressure hinders further expansion. However, this cap poses a dilemma in accounting for the swift growth of early supermassive black holes. If black holes are limited by the Eddington Limit, how did they attain such substantial sizes in such a brief period post-Big Bang?

#### Surpassing the Eddington Limit: A Rare but Feasible Phenomenon

Although the Eddington Limit imposes a theoretical ceiling on black hole growth, there are circumstances under which black holes can transcend this limit. If matter falls directly into the black hole with minimal time spent in the accretion disk, the black hole can expand more rapidly than the Eddington Limit would typically permit. However, achieving this necessitates a unique arrangement of gas clouds that is unlikely to endure for more than a few million years.

This poses a puzzle in depicting the emergence of supermassive black holes. The usual method for black hole formation—such as the gravitational collapse of a massive star—only yields black holes a few times the solar mass. Even with the merging of black holes and extraordinarily massive stars in the early universe, most black holes would initiate with masses close to 100 times that of the Sun. Theoretical frameworks propose that certain black holes may form directly from collapsing gas clouds, bypassing star formation and resulting in black holes with mass equivalents of 10,000 suns. Yet, this process remains speculative.

#### LID-568: A Black Hole’s Feeding Spree

The black hole LID-568, initially detected by the Chandra X-ray Observatory, presents a potential resolution to this conundrum. LID-568 radiates immensely in X-rays, indicating it is feeding at an exceptionally high rate. Infrared images from the JWST reveal that the light emitted from LID-568 primarily originates from its accretion disk, rather than from stars in its host galaxy.

Spectroscopic evaluations indicated that we observe LID-568 as it existed roughly 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang. Situated within a dwarf galaxy, researchers estimate its mass to be about one million times that of the Sun based on hydrogen emissions. Despite its relatively modest mass in comparison to other supermassive black holes, LID-568 exhibits brightness far exceeding predictions, suggesting it is consuming matter at a rate significantly surpassing the Eddington Limit.

Indeed, estimates propose that LID-568 is ingesting matter at 40 times the Eddington Limit. This implies that the black hole has been engaged in a feeding frenzy for millions of years, facilitating its rapid growth.

#### Indicators of Strong Outflows

One of the most captivating discoveries from the JWST observations is the identification of two jets of material traveling at impressive speeds—over 500 kilometers per second—emanating from the black hole. These jets extend for thousands of light-years and are likely the result of powerful outflows propelled by the intense radiation from the black hole. The existence of these outflows indicates that LID-568 has been emitting radiation at such an extreme level for over ten million years.

From these observations, researchers speculate that LID-568 began with a mass around 100 times that of the Sun. Throughout its feeding frenzy,

Robert Zemeckis’ Newest Film Employs AI Technology to Rejuvenate Tom Hanks and Robin Wright

# AI De-Aging in Hollywood: The Case of *Here* and the Future of Film Technology

On November 1, 2024, TriStar Pictures launched *Here*, a $50 million film helmed by Robert Zemeckis that has attracted attention not just for its engaging storyline but also for its innovative application of artificial intelligence (AI) in visual effects. Featuring Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, the film utilizes real-time AI-driven facial transformation techniques to depict the actors over a span of 60 years. This represents one of the pioneering full-length Hollywood productions to utilize AI-enhanced visual effects, establishing a new benchmark for the film sector.

## The Story Behind *Here*

*Here* adapts the 2014 graphic novel by Richard McGuire. The narrative takes place mainly in a singular living room in New Jersey yet traverses various time periods, delving into the lives of different characters who have occupied the space through the years. Instead of casting different performers to represent the characters at various ages, the creative team decided to employ AI to adjust the appearances of Hanks and Wright throughout the cinematic experience.

The de-aging technology implemented in *Here* was crafted by Metaphysic, a visual effects firm specializing in instantaneous face swapping and aging effects. During production, the crew utilized two screens: one displaying the actors as they looked in reality and another featuring their AI-altered, age-appropriate representations. This setup enabled filmmakers to observe the de-aged images of the actors in real time, marking a significant shift from the conventional post-production-heavy visual effects process.

## How AI De-Aging Works

Metaphysic’s de-aging technology is based on tailored machine-learning models that have been trained on frames from the previous works of Hanks and Wright. This dataset comprises a diverse array of facial movements, skin textures, and appearances subjected to different lighting situations and camera angles. By scrutinizing this information, the AI is capable of producing immediate face transformations that accurately portray the actors at varying ages, thus eliminating the lengthy manual post-production efforts that traditional CGI typically demands.

In contrast to older de-aging methods that depended on frame-by-frame adjustments, Metaphysic’s technique leverages real-time AI processing. The system assesses facial landmarks and correlates them with trained age variations, delivering transformations almost instantly. This breakthrough permits filmmakers to witness the effects during shooting, cutting down on both time and expenses associated with traditional visual effects.

“You couldn’t have made this movie three years ago,” Zemeckis remarked to *The New York Times*. Conventional visual effects for such sophisticated facial modification would have necessitated hundreds of artists and a budget akin to a Marvel extravaganza. In comparison, Metaphysic’s AI models facilitate a more streamlined and budget-friendly process, enabling high-quality outputs with fewer resources.

## AI in Hollywood: A Growing Trend

While *Here* marks a major achievement in AI-driven de-aging, it is not the inaugural film to explore this technology. In 2023, *Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny* implemented a custom system known as Flux to de-age Harrison Ford. Nevertheless, this approach required infrared cameras for facial data capture during filming, followed by significant post-production work using older images of Ford. In contrast, Metaphysic’s AI models can perform transformations without added hardware, yielding results in real time.

The adoption of AI in filmmaking is extending beyond mere visual effects. Companies like Runway are pioneering text-to-video generation tools, while others, such as Callaia, are developing AI systems for script analysis and pre-production tasks. However, the increasing utilization of AI in Hollywood has ignited discussions regarding its effects on the sector, especially among unions advocating for actors and writers.

## Union Concerns and Industry Debates

The premiere of *Here* coincides with a period when Hollywood studios are investigating various AI applications, though amidst significant debate. The Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA) have both raised alarms about the potential for AI to supplant human creativity in fields such as scriptwriting and acting. Recent union contracts have established strict limits on the integration of AI into creative workflows, yet numerous industry veterans feel that the technology’s impact is unavoidable.

“Everyone’s nervous,” commented Susan Sprung, CEO of the Producers Guild of America, to *The New York Times*. “And yet no one’s quite sure what to be nervous about.” The swift advancement of AI technology has left many in the industry pondering its long-term consequences, particularly regarding job security for actors, writers, and other creative individuals.

The SAG-AFTRA strike in 2023 underscored these apprehensions, with union leaders cautioning that AI could one day replace human performers. Although the strike resulted in certain restrictions on AI usage, the technology continues to develop, and its presence in Hollywood is anticipated to expand in the forthcoming years.

## AI in Future Films

Metaphysic’s technology has already been utilized in other