How do you feel about these two technological breaks-through which might change your life (if you live long enough)?
Laser fusion is a way of forcing atoms together to make new atoms with the release of energy. Make a load of heavy hydrogen atoms come together to make helium and neutrons are released which produce heat energy which could power turbines. Can’t say I understand it any more than that but the Americans were over here last week claiming to be close to making this work and enlisting UK help.
I won’t be counting my free limitless energy before it’s hatched but if it’s good enough to be the basic reaction in the sun then it’s good enough for me. You can probably hang on to your shares in conventional energy firms for a while though.
I don’t understand laser fusion, but I like the sound of it.
Also last week, scientists unveiled progress being made growing meat in laboratories. Test tube burgers are not that far away thanks to the ability to grow stem cells in vitro in ways that form muscle tissue.
Now I think I do understand this a lot better than I understand laser fusion but I’m not sure that I am so keen on this idea,
I am sticking to my ‘vegetarian four days a week’ life style and under the right circumstances can easily get through a whole week with no meat. A large part of my motivation is to reduce my carbon footprint but I feel that I may be doing the world and its mammals a few more favours by cutting down on meat.
Clearly, growing meat in the lab reduces any chance of animal welfare issues as well as reducing all those greenhouse gases produced by belching cattle. And these considerations may be why PETA has offered a million dollars to those who can develop this technology. But it gives me the creeps. I’m not sure why, but this is a bit too close to’ making life for’ me. And ‘making life to eat’ is the stuff of science fiction horror.
But I’m just being unusually squeamish I guess.
Which of these new ways of powering ourselves will actually come about? And which first? And which will change our lives the more? And how do you feel about them both?
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I understand the nuclear fusion better than I understand meat in a tank! There are 3 big benefits of nuclear fusion over current fission: First, the raw materials can be found in sea water instead of needing big mining operations some of which are in countries that you would rather not rely on. Second, the quantity of energy created for a given amount of raw material is larger. Third, the by products are much less hazardous in terms of amount and duration of radiation released.
But, fusion requires immense temperatures and pressures to make it work, like those at the centre of the sun. There are now 2 plausible technologies for fusion. The one you report on here uses strong pulses of laser light to trigger the reaction. The other contains the material in a magnetic ‘bottle’ usually in the shape of a torus (doughnut) to avoid the problem of keeping the ends closed.
The US facility is leading the way in laser fusion. The leading torus is currently the Joint European Torus just down the road from me at Culham. A new, improved one called ITER is being built in France as part of another international project. For both it is great that UK (and UK educated) scientists and engineers are helping to lead the way.
The physics is basically there, but the engineering is very difficult – finding the right materials and processes to create the energy and then harness it.
Here’s a good article from the Guardian: http://t.co/1Nt0m0d
Robin – welcome and what a great first comment – thank you!
Fusion sounds interesting IF we can make it work safely. Meat from a tank also gives me the creeps Mark and what would it taste of? Meat is flavoured by the diet of the animal, hence free range tastes better, pheasant tastes like chicken used to etc. How will they solve that one?