Cold fusion, the act of producing a nuclear reaction at room temperature, has long been relegated to science fiction after researchers were unable to recreate the experiment that first "discovered" the phenomenon. But a Japanese scientist was supposedly able to start a cold fusion reaction earlier this week, which—if the results are real—could revolutionise the way we gather energy. Yoshiaki Arata, a highly respected physicist in Japan, demonstrated a low-energy nuclear reaction at Osaka University on Thursday. In front of a live audience, including reporters from six major newspapers and two tv studios, Arata and a co-professor Yue-Chang Zhang, produced excess heat and helium atoms from deuterium gas. Arata used pressure to force deuterium gas into an evacuated cell that contained a palladium and zirconium oxide mix(ZrO2-Pd). Arata said that the mix caused the deuterium's nuclei to fuse, raising the temperature in the cell and keeping the centre of the cell warm for 50 hours. Arata's experiment would mark the first time anyone has witnessed cold fusion since 1989, when Martin Fleishmann and Stanely Pons supposedly observed excess heat during electrolysis of heavy water with palladium electrodes.

When they and other researchers were unable to make it work again, cold fusion became synonymous with bad science. But the method Arata showed was "highly reproducible," according to eye witnesses of the event. If nobody calls this demonstration out as a sham, Arata might have finally found the holy grail of cheap and abundant energy—nuclear power, without its destructive heat.

View: Full Article | Source: Gizmodo

I hope he's got life insurance. Somehow I think this will be silenced by the energy companies.
We could have had say 30% of our cars running on electricity or Hydrogen by now , but the energy companies could not alow that(not to mention the oil barons).

They stand to lose trillions of dollars.

If anyone will go through anything to get the new tech they want I will put a bet on the Japanese.
But of course you all also know what this means.
The can actually build their giant robots with this.

The energy companies will go broke soon anyway and they know it.(Not to mention that oil will soon be gone) People all over the wolrd are being forced off the roads by high gas prices and the majority of the populatins are not rich and soon will not be able to afford to drive.

That being said, electric and alternative fule cars will soon rule and because of the energy needed to run these vehicles this cold fusion will be most welcome by the worlds economy. Making everyone rich. The consumer, the producer and the inventors.

I suspect that when electric and alternative fuel cars become the norm then all gas cars will be taken off the roads and this will coinside with a last ditch effort by mankind to save the environment.

oh no...not again!

If we worked on steam cars then on purely petrol cars then we would use much less oil. The steam engine uses water and bit of kerosene. You can run your house on it.

Back in the day the petrol was cheap and the cars started instantly. The steam engine cars took 15 minutes to heat up then you could drive it. It would go 40 miles on a full tank. Of course the patrol car was much more convinient and the steam engine car died away.

Cold fusion is cool. If it's true the corperations can f*** off.

I really hope this is true. It could mean a big difference to the future.

I don't know what to say, other than I hope if it's true nobody is so greedy that they'll try to supress it.

if this is true, it might be one of the greatest discoveries ever!

That says it all.

Not gonna hold my breath, though.

The Energy Corporations are not going to just roll over. Even if this is true, who do you think will own the power plants that will be built? Who do you think will own the distribution of the electricity? Who will put this technology into cars? The same people who do those things now! They are super wealthy and no startup company with cold fusion is going to put them out of business. They will buy them out, even if it requires paying a hundred times the value. Even if the corporate giants die, the same people will turn up running the new power industry.

The technology would be wonderful for saving the environment though.

I just got done posting how cool this would be if it were real

Imagine the major companies - Shell, BP etc buying this new technology.

Would be funny but it's not as if they couldn't provide a decent offer...

This would be great for us, I hope it's not just a sham.