With some of the most powerful machines ever built, scientists are trying to refine delicate, subatomic mechanics to achieve a pivotal milestone: getting more energy out of a fusion reaction than they put in. And they make the case for not only continuing fusion research, but aggressively expanding and investing in it - even if it won’t light up the power grid anytime soon.
They talk about their recent progress and why fusion energy remains such a challenge. The latest episode of Unexplainable, Vox’s podcast about unsolved mysteries in science, asks scientists about their decades-long pursuit of a star in a bottle. But despite its promise, fusion is often treated as a scientific curiosity rather than a must-try moonshot - an actual, world-changing solution to a massive problem. With global average temperatures rising and energy demands growing, the quest for fusion is timelier than ever: It could help solve both these problems at the same time. It would produce no greenhouse gases and minimal waste compared to conventional energy sources.
THERMO NUCLEAR TIME MASS TORRENT
It’s a technology that could safely provide an immense and steady torrent of electricity, harnessing abundant fuel made from seawater to ignite the same reaction that powers the sun. Still, the enormous potential of fusion makes it hard to ignore. Yet almost every time researchers make an advance, the goal posts seem to recede even farther in the distance. Scientists have been studying the physics of fusion for a century and working to harness the process for decades. To build a fusion reactor is essentially to create an artificial star. Fusion energy is perhaps the longest of long shots.
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