Piercing the gloom surrounding the shift to non-carbon energy sources and the transitional costs involved is a glimmer of light. We have seen it before, but it has invariably been snuffed out. It is nuclear fusion, the Holy Grail of power generation, the same process that fuels the sun and other stars. Scientists have been trying for 50 years to replicate the intense heat required to bring about the molecular reaction necessary for fusion. There was a moment when two researchers claimed they had discovered cold fusion, which would have solved the world’s energy problems overnight, but it was not to be. While the prospect of achieving fusion has always been at least 30 years away, there have been indications recently that serious advances are now being made. The Jet laboratory, near… Source link

Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen gave a rare update on the often delayed Tesla Roadster. The designer says that Tesla is still “feverishly” working on the electric hypercar that will be an “exciting flying machine.” The new generation of the Roadster has been one of the most delayed programs at Tesla. When first unveiling the next-generation Tesla Roadster in 2017, CEO Elon Musk said that it would come to market in 2020. Tesla started taking reservations at the unveiling event for the impressive electric supercar that goes zero to 60 mph in 1.9 seconds with over 600 miles of range. People who wanted to be first in line to get the vehicle had to put down between $50,000 and $250,000 in deposits. The vehicle program was later delayed, and the CEO said that it… Source link

The 59 megajoules of fusion-generated energy is double the previous record set in 1997 The Joint European Torus (JET) facility in Oxfordshire has broken new nuclear fusion energy records in a major breakthrough on the elusive power source. A group of scientists and engineers from the EUROfusion consortium achieved a record-breaking 59 megajoules of sustained fusion energy, marking a new milestone in the quest for a large-scale safe, sustainable, efficient and low-carbon energy supply. The energy, created by smashing together two forms of hydrogen, was more than double the previous record achieved in 1996 at the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and lasted for a five-second period. Using fusion energy, the process that gives the sun its power, JET reached temperatures ten times… Source link

The 59 megajoules of fusion-generated energy is double the previous record set in 1997 The Joint European Torus (JET) facility in Oxfordshire has broken new nuclear fusion energy records in a major breakthrough on the elusive power source. A group of scientists and engineers from the EUROfusion consortium achieved a record-breaking 59 megajoules of sustained fusion energy, marking a new milestone in the quest for a large-scale safe, sustainable, efficient and low-carbon energy supply. The energy, created by smashing together two forms of hydrogen, was more than double the previous record achieved in 1996 at the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and lasted for a five-second period. Using fusion energy, the process that gives the sun its power, JET reached temperatures ten times… Source link

For some of us, the idea of parallel Universes sparks our wildest dreams. If there are other Universes where certain events had different outcomes — where just one crucial decision went a different way — perhaps there could be some way to access them. Perhaps particles, fields, or even people could be transported from one Universe to another, enabling us to live in a Universe that’s better, in some ways, than our own. These ideas have a foothold not only in science fiction, but in theoretical physics as well, from the infinity of possible outcomes from quantum mechanics to ideas related to the Multiverse. But do these ideas have anything to do with observable, measurable reality? Recently, a claim has surfaced asserting that we’ve found evidence for parallel Universes from the… Source link

Amid the continued rally in oil prices, Saudi Aramco raised its official selling price for crude exported to Asia, with its flagship Arab Light cargos for March up by $0.60 per barrel to a total $2.80 per barrel premium over the benchmark. According to Bloomberg, this is the highest price for Arab Light since March 2020, just before the pandemic struck, devastating demand and with it, prices. Oil prices right now are at the highest in years, with Brent crude touching $94 per barrel in Asian trading today and West Texas Intermediate trading at over $92 per barrel for the first time since 2014. This week, however, reports that the United States and Iran might be nearing a deal on Iran’s nuclear program and U.S. sanctions caused fluctuations in oil prices. If Iran sanctions… Source link

I will pass over lead drinking water pipes, where we are making real progress in replacing them. We still have leaded aviation fuel for smaller, propeller-driven planes. But nobody actually denies that lead is poisonous any more, and electric airplanes are coming. Sufficient unto the day is the nonsense thereof. Me, with H/T to Jesus. Now, I can’t lay out all of these stories in detail. I hope you will be OK with me giving you the names of the lies, and one or two links each. Google would be happy to give you lots more links, and Wikipedia can give you long lists of references to the real science. How Cloaked Science Works These are metastasizing cancers on our minds. They require advanced chemotherapy that can gradually kill them off without making us too sick at having to… Source link

Honoured for his work: GV Health director of intern training and emergency department senior medical officer Dr Carolyn Kamenjarin, executive director of medical services and chief medical officer Dr John Elcock, Dr Harvey Chong and GV Health chief executive Matt Sharp. A medical intern who helped overhaul an IT program for clinical staff has been named the recipient of GV Health’s inaugural Michael Kamenjarin… Source link

Rendered image of Arc reactors and Spiderman from the Ringer There is a great commercial from Audi where Spiderman goes to a science fair. When he and his friend, Ned arrive they realise they are up against some very serious competition. A simple electric motor they built may not be worth the judges time, so they set out to ask for help from agent Thomas to borrow the greatest electric motor of all time found right inside and black Audi e-tron GT sports car. Peter and Ned then present the electric motor inside the car for the judges and they impress them enough to win second place. Why second place? The first place went to a talented duo that made and jump starting power bank for the Arc reactor out of two potatoes. Genius! It’s that ingenuity that I see in Audi that inspires me to write… Source link

My wife and I have been watching The Americans recently. It’s set in the early 1980s and tells the story of two Soviet KGB intelligence officers posing as an American married couple living in a suburb of Washington, DC. The Cold War politics feel pretty distant but the setting is very familiar. I have to remind myself when watching it that 1980 was forty years ago. It’s as far removed from today as it is from 1940. The world changed a lot between 1940 and 1980. Has it changed that much since then? There are of course fewer screens in The Americans than there are today. No smartphones and no tablets, though there are many TVs. But the rooms, the houses, the offices, the restaurants all look and feel largely the same. The planes are the same. The trains are the same. I’m not making an… Source link