Nuclear fusion happened today on earth!!!

Oh, so someone finally said, "hey, it's been 20 years and 200 billion dollars - fuse something or shut it down". And, the response was, "uh, we fused something today". Two people at the facility mated.

Um....no.

So what'd they get for all that money?

For 4 billion they got a brief sustained fusion reaction. More energy out than put in. That's about 1 one thousandth of the price of the iraq/Afghanistan war

the sun has been doing it for ...well..ever

also, they've been doing that shit here for awhile, if only for a fraction of a second

I'm doing that in my fireplace right now.

I listened to Ed Moses rail on about this at a Long Now symposium a couple years ago, while fascinating it seemed it would be further into the future that the technologies would manifest . what really bothered me most was that the money and focus was leaning towards military applications, inescapable when dealing with Livermore Labs.

they have the budget, So you do their work.
We are all whores.

I'd say it on par with the Manhattan project, or putting things into orbit. This has the chance to change the world more than those things did.

Cold fusion has worked for years...

This is truly fascinating news, why does a snowstorm thread get pinned but not this?!

Also, poster above, cold fusion has not happened yet.

BUT. This, today. This is the first known real example of fusion on Earth, and the potential implications are so exciting

There is no evidence of this.

I know right?! This is anti-doom.

I know right?! This is anti-doom.

They have performed fusion before, now today may have been the first example of a net positive energy output, which is an important milestone nonetheless. But they have fused deuterium before. The problem is controlling the plasma, I once heard a scientist at the lab say its like holding jello with rubber bands. And then how do you extract that heat energy while containing the reaction.

Like I said excellent progress nonetheless

Iraq and Afghanistan have never been at war.

The US cost.

Progress yes, but I'd say it's a milestone moment. How long did it take for fission to take off, and be beneficial?