Laser Fusion: More Energy Out Than In

7min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

The chapter discusses the National Ignition Facility in the United States, which last year was the first to produce more fusion energy than went into the nuclear fusion attempt. They explain that the facility uses 192 laser beams to fire onto a frozen pellet of deuterium and tritium, resulting in fusion and the release of energy. This chapter highlights the excitement and reliability of this development.

In this episode:

01:55 “Oh GPT”

In the first of our festive songs, we pay homage to LLMs, the generative AI chat bots which have taken 2023 by storm.

05:32 Twenty questions

In this year’s festive game, our competitors try to guess some of the biggest science stories of the year, solely by asking yes/no questions.

24:40 “Warming night”

In our final song this year, we take stock as 2023 is named the hottest year since records began. As worsening climate change continues to threaten lives, can science provide hope for the future?

28:24 Nature’s 10

Every year, Nature’s 10 highlights some of the people who have shaped science. We hear about a few of the people who made the 2023 list.

News feature: Nature’s 10

Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.