U.S. Dept. of Energy Takes A New Look At Cold Fusion

lhouk281 writes "Technology Review is reporting that the U.S. Department of Energy has decided that recent results justify a fresh look at cold fusion. According to Peter Hagelstein, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, experiments performed under properly controlled conditions reliably produce more heat than standard theory predicts, and nuclear products show up in about the right amounts to account for this excess heat. Maybe we'll get those atomic-powered automobiles after all ..."

Comments

OMFG, what if

[Anonymous Coward]

the same crackpots who brought you an Earth that orbits the Sun, an Earth that isn't flat, blackholes, gravity waves, etc turns out to be right about "cold" fusion - say it ain't so...

Re:OMFG, what if

[Jonny Ringo]

I think they are trying for to much, they need to take baby steps and be realistic.

Start with luke-warm fusion.

Not good enough

[JudgeFurious]

I want an atomic powered FLYING car. Until they get those babies off the ground I'm not interested.

Re:Not good enough

[Esion Modnar]

I want an atomic powered FLYING car.

Yeah, it'll look great in your garage right next to your atomic powered flying pig.

Re:Not good enough

[Adriax]

atomic powered flying pig

Mmmmm, pre-nuked bacon to go...

Well..

[rijrunner]

But since it relies on dihydrogen monoxide, it'll never make it through congress

Bit late

[16K Ram Pack]

Haven't most people switched to PHP or ASP now?

WMDs and cold fusion

[britneys 9th husband]

You can't really criticize the government too much for doing this. We'll certainly have cold fusion before the Bush administration finds any WMDs.

Re:WMDs and cold fusion

[ThisIsFred]

Excellent! That means we'll have cold fusion before November 2nd.

Just say "no"

[Anne_Nonymous]

That extra heat is coming from an exogenous source: the bowl of the researcher's crack pipe.

Atomic Laptops:

[Upaut]

An atomic reaction small enough to be contained within a laptop, providing months of continual power. Really gives "BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH" a whole new meaning...

Re:Atomic Laptops:

[s.d.]

Yeah, really what I want to come from a device that sits on my lap is radiation. That'll be great...

Bah... US Dept of Energy only needs 3 people!

[Le'BottomEh]

1. A naive female scientist who writes her formula on post-it notes
2. A Russian scientist who is forced to decipher the formula on said post-it notes
3. An international spy that uses names of saints as a disguise

Don't believe me? Here's proof!

What the fark???

[WwWonka]

...and nuclear products show up in about the right amounts

About? About?

Is that the kind of "precise" measurement that will lead to three eyed fish and babys with 12 toes in twenty years?

Man, I would give a volkswagon worth of dollars to have a more precise way of measuring nuclear by-products! ;-)

Obligatory Mr. Fusion™ Post

[Compulawyer]

I'll believe it when my Mr. Fusion(TM) is using beer cans and banana peels to power the Flux Capacitor(TM) on my DeLorean(TM).

Re:Poly water

[NearlyHeadless]

Anyone remember the discovery of polywater. It was massively redidistlled water that developed weird almost homeopathing memory and strange viscosity.

Although it was considered unexplainable, repeated tests showed that the one and only thing inside the glass beaker was infact water. So it had to be a new form of water. A kind of ice-9 but for real.

It was eventually found to be accumulated soluble silica products from the glassware. Which of course was the one chemical that could not be tested for inside a glass beaker. Got people exited like cold fusion for a while, since like cold fusion is was not utterly implausible.

I remember that; I was a grad student in a chemistry lab.
One day I was going to south to visit my gal.
But I had to stay and keep watch over the equipment.
My Sal she is a spunky gal,
But I was on polywater duty all day.