Paleontology provides insights into the history of the planet, from the origins of life billions of years ago to the biotic changes of the Recent. The scope of paleontological research is as vast as it is varied, and the field is constantly evolving. In an effort to identify “Big Questions” in paleontology, experts from around the world came together to build a list of priority questions the field can address in the years ahead. The 89 questions presented herein (grouped within 11 themes) represent contributions from nearly 200 international scientists. These questions touch on common themes including biodiversity drivers and patterns, integrating data types across spatiotemporal scales, applying paleontological data to contemporary biodiversity and climate issues, and effectively utilizing innovative methods and technology for new paleontological insights. In addition to these theoretical questions, discussions touch upon structural concerns within the field, advocating for an increased valuation of specimen-based research, protection of natural heritage sites, and the importance of collections infrastructure, along with a stronger emphasis on human diversity, equity, and inclusion. These questions offer a starting point—an initial nucleus of consensus that paleontologists can expand on—for engaging in discussions, securing funding, advocating for museums, and fostering continued growth in shared research directions.

Three-dimensional (3D) battery architectures have emerged as a new direction for powering microelectromechanical systems and other small autonomous devices. Although there are few examples to date of fully functioning 3D batteries, these power sources have the potential to achieve high power density and high energy density in a small footprint. This overview highlights the various architectures proposed for 3D batteries, the advances made in the fabrication of components designed for these devices, and the remaining technical challenges. Efforts directed at establishing design rules for 3D architectures and modeling are providing insight concerning the energy density and current uniformity achievable with these architectures. The significant progress made on the fabrication of electrodes and electrolytes designed for 3D batteries is an indication that a number of these battery architectures will be successfully demonstrated within the next few years.

Widespread applications of thermoelectric materials are limited due to low efficiency. Currently, the most widely used thermoelectric devices consist of alloys based on Bi2Te3. In such devices, the thermoelectric figure-of-merit (ZT) of bulk Bi2Te3 has been increased through doping. It is postulated that further enhancements in ZT may be attained by engineering the microstructure of the material to enhance carrier mobility while suppressing the phonon component of the thermal conductivity. This may be achieved by fabricating Bi2Te3 in the form of one-dimensional (1D) nanowires. We have deposited nanowires of Bi2Te3 with two different diameters (200 nm and 40 nm) by electrodeposition into porous anodic alumina. Characterization of the Bi2Te3/porous Al2O3 composite materials has been accomplished using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) has been used to determine the stoichiometry of the wires.