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Listening for Deuterium

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the but-can-you-dance-to-it dept.

jose parinas writes "Researchers at MIT made the first radio detection of deuterium, an atom that the scientists claim is key to understanding the beginning of the universe." It turns out the actual detection wasn't the key, but filtering out all of the RF 'pollution' produced by nearby gadgets.

2 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. This is pretty cool. by ikkonoishi · · Score: 1, Insightful

    If they can find a good way to locate large amounts of deuterium they will be one step closer to making nuclear fusion a viable source of energy.

    Deuterium reacts well with Tritium in fusion to produce a large amount of energy.

  2. Re:Is that the Real Discovery? by CDMA_Demo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I doubt anyone will win a Nobel prize for this discovery but your question falls in the same line as: "what good is the discovery of black holes", or "what good is the knowledge of how many types of stars are there" -- (O, B, A, F, G, K, M).
    Science has been at work for ages, and many discoveries are made just for sake of curiosity. Do you feel curious only about useful things? Your question above gives away the answer to mine...