OT (Is it?) - The Beat Goes On - Printable Version
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OT (Is it?) - The Beat Goes On - Genuine Realist - 12-18-2020
Item - Major Breakthrough in Fusion Technology
Item - US Plans to Build Fusion Reactor
And how does this relate to covid? Only that these are infinitely more important stories. I do believe a century from now there will be universal agreement on that fact.
RE: OT (Is it?) - The Beat Goes On - BostonCard - 12-18-2020
We are about 50 years from commercial nuclear fusion, as we have been for the last 70 years.
On the flip side, we have a ginormous working fusion machine that makes more power than we could ever hope to use. And we've gotten a lot better at using it:
![[Image: avg_cost_of_energy.jpg]](http://solarcellcentral.com/images/avg_cost_of_energy.jpg)
By the way, if you are interested, the Economist had a recent podcast on all the major scientific papers that were big deals but were overlooked because of COVID-19.
https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2020/12/16/fascinating-science-stories-overlooked-this-year
A few of the ones I'd highlight:
Cancer screening in a blood test: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17316-z
Room temperature superconductors: https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/10/14/1010370/room-temperature-superconductivity/
Why there's more matter than anti-matter: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2177-0
BC
RE: OT (Is it?) - The Beat Goes On - Genuine Realist - 12-18-2020
(12-18-2020, 09:05 PM)BostonCard Wrote: We are about 50 years from commercial nuclear fusion, as we have been for the last 70 years.Cynic.
On the flip side, we have a ginormous working fusion machine that makes more power than we could ever hope to use. And we've gotten a lot better at using it:
By the way, if you are interested, the Economist had a recent podcast on all the major scientific papers that were big deals but were overlooked because of COVID-19.
https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2020/12/16/fascinating-science-stories-overlooked-this-year
A few of the ones I'd highlight:
Cancer screening in a blood test: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17316-z
Room temperature superconductors: https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/10/14/1010370/room-temperature-superconductivity/
Why there's more matter than anti-matter: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2177-0
BC
About 30 years. The progress made in creating the magnetic fields necessary to control the heat has been monumental.
FWIW, there were skeptics about practical fission a century ago. Then WWII came along, the best physicists in the world gathered in the United States, and Fermi did it at Chicago in 1941.
RE: OT (Is it?) - The Beat Goes On - Goose - 12-18-2020
Reminds me of "Gallium-arsenide is the semiconductor of the future, and always will be."
RE: OT (Is it?) - The Beat Goes On - Genuine Realist - 12-18-2020
(12-18-2020, 09:42 PM)Goose Wrote: Reminds me of "Gallium-arsenide is the semiconductor of the future, and always will be."The point is to diffuse the apocalyptic ambiance that is too much with us.
The world is moving along, and very rapidly. The Chinese story is the more significant one. An actual artificial sun, if only for a few seconds. Shades of Fermi. Incredible even ten years ago.