A recent Australian article on John Bockris, including some archival footage.
Abstract
"We study the fusion of a proton with a nucleus with the emission of two photons at low incident energy of the order of eV or smaller. We use a step model for the repulsive potential between the proton and the nuclei. We consider the reaction both in free space and inside a medium. We make a simple model for the medium by assuming a hard wall potential beyond a certain length scale. This essentially leads to discretisation of the energy spectrum which is expected inside a medium and is seen both for a crystalline lattice structure and for amorphous materials. We use second-order perturbation theory to compute the transition rate. We find that the rate in free space is very small. However, in the medium, the rate may be substantial. Hence, we conclude that nuclear fusion reactions may take place at low energies at observable rates."
Unfortunatelly this work once again missed to consider also 2D surfaces.
Abstract
"We study the fusion of a proton with a nucleus with the emission of two photons at low incident energy of the order of eV or smaller. We use a step model for the repulsive potential between the proton and the nuclei. We consider the reaction both in free space and inside a medium. We make a simple model for the medium by assuming a hard wall potential beyond a certain length scale. This essentially leads to discretisation of the energy spectrum which is expected inside a medium and is seen both for a crystalline lattice structure and for amorphous materials. We use second-order perturbation theory to compute the transition rate. We find that the rate in free space is very small. However, in the medium, the rate may be substantial. Hence, we conclude that nuclear fusion reactions may take place at low energies at observable rates."
A toy model for low-energy nuclear fusion
Tennenbaum's nuanced take on ITER..
same old same old hot fusion focus,,
Even if it is a fiasco
"Once completed, ITER will generate a wealth of knowledge in plasma physics and other areas, and serve as an invaluable test-bed for fusion-relevant technologies......
Noticed new term for me 'scientific breakeven equivalent'. They should be given the scientific equivalent of 25M https://www.geekwire.com/2023/…-for-demo-reactor-in-b-c/
08 Aug 2023
From the macroscopic to the microscopic physical properties of the world around us, condensed-matter and materials-science research have a huge impact on daily life. And yet the field remains on the periphery of popular-physics outreach – especially compared to astronomy and big science.
What’s the matter with condensed matter? Getting past the relative obscurity of solid-state physics in the public eye
08 Aug 2023
From the macroscopic to the microscopic physical properties of the world around us, condensed-matter and materials-science research have a huge impact on daily life. And yet the field remains on the periphery of popular-physics outreach – especially compared to astronomy and big science.
Power density, especially when it's condensed in materials, has always been a thing we humans covet. It seems apparent that our social science are part of the physical sciences and perhaps is firstly principled for our progression as a species. Re-engineer our socioeconomic design to align with sharing in abundance rather than coveting scarcity, and condensed matter physics will be more likely to emerge from the veil of private self interest groups. Of course this is a choice we all have to take as individuals who participate in a collective of humanity.
Thank you for the great read and I hope I was clearly able to convey my opinion on the matter... whatever that is worth to whoever is reading this. 
Kakalios
"To my fellow condensed-matter and materials science colleagues, I encourage each of you to share your research far and wide, and engage with the public as often as you can."
Kakalios will get some sharing on various LENR condensed matter physics.
(I assume these discussions will be moved to another thread, in due course)
I think this highlights a few overlapping problems with regards both to Condensed Matter research, and the perception of science in general.
On a pure marketing/PR level, the term "Condensed Matter Science" is not only nebulous, but "sounds boring". It evokes an image of dull people staring at lumps and blobs of stuff, and scratching their heads. In the PR world, "Real Scientists" think about Black Holes, Dark Matter, the Big Bang, and the Higgs Boson.
However, on a more fundamental level, CM also suffers from the idea of "Science as a Religion" - where all things that are classed as "mundane" are claimed to be "understood", and there are relatively few "officially sanctioned mysteries". As condensed matter appears to fall into the realm of the mundane, it forces researchers into a double-bind over how to describe their areas of study to the general public.
The infamous 1894 quote from Albert Michelson (often wrongly attributed to Lord Kelvin) shows that the problem is far from new.
Quote
While it is never safe to affirm that the future of Physical Science has no marvels in store even more astonishing than those of the past, it seems probable that most of the grand underlying principles have been firmly established and that further advances are to be sought chiefly in the rigorous application of these principles to all the phenomena which come under our notice. It is here that the science of measurement shows its importance — where quantitative work is more to be desired than qualitative work. An eminent physicist remarked that the future truths of physical science are to be looked for in the sixth place of decimals.
When dealing with the public, all scientists are subconsciously bound by the rule that they should never say anything that could destroy the credibility of the one true religion. This means that outside of the "officially sanctioned mysteries" scientists must claim to be able to explain to the layman "how the world works" - and must always defend the position of "rational science" as a bastion against such enemies as ignorance, superstition, and delusion.
It then becomes awkward for scientists to admit to anyone outside of their particular speciality that there are fundamental aspects of some lump of matter, or blob of liquid, that are still unknown. Worse still, the scientists who do work outside that speciality, feel driven to maintain the illusion that "the science is understood" when anything about that topic is questioned by members of the public or by media commentators.
The above article is a classic example of this. Notice that the only aspects of "condensed matter" that are described as mysteries are related to such things as high energy physics and gravity waves. Whereas the "mundane" aspects of condensed matter can simply be "explained" to the public.
Rising energy costs, supply shortages and extended delivery times triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia–Ukraine war have had a ‘profound effect’ on science facilities across Europe, according to a key body that advises European policymakers on research infrastructure.
The European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructure (Esfri) notes in its latest report that synchrotrons have been the most affected by these challenges, with five out of 10 reporting a planned interruption of operations. The report is based on responses to a survey sent to research facilities in December 2022.
According to the 116 survey responses, the most common issue faced was the impact on finance caused by increased energy costs, with energy-intensive sites such as synchrotrons, computing centres, accelerator-driven particle sources, neutron facilities, research reactors, and lasers being the worst affected.
Another issue was the shortage of key supplies, including the gases helium-3, nitrogen, argon and xenon, and materials previously supplied by the Russian Federation, including rare isotopes of calcium and cobalt.
Delivery times have also increased substantially, with some critical equipment taking over six months to arrive on site. Esfri notes that this is having a direct impact on timelines for the construction and upgrades of infrastructure projects and is ultimately affecting scientific output.
ohn Collier, director of the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Central Laser Facility (CLF), says that the supply chain problems described in the report were issues he and his colleagues were experiencing on ‘a daily basis’. ‘They manifest themselves in two ways; the first is just straightforward availability of stuff, which has gone from relatively straightforward pre-Covid, pre-Ukraine war to really quite complex,’ says Collier.
‘The second thing is cost, which for certain components has seen eyewatering increases compared to the pre-Covid world,’ he adds. ‘It’s almost like capacity has gone, stocks have gone, availability of raw materials has dwindled … it’s impacted the capacity of organisations to deliver.’
Cristina Hernandez-Gomez, who heads up CLF’s high-power lasers division, says that the loss of expertise due to people retiring or leaving work during the Covi-19 pandemic has also contributed to delays. ‘We ordered some crystals from the US … [but] they had lost two people that were experts in growing these crystals,’ she says. ‘They had to grow the crystal three times [and] it failed three times – which means now this crystal is 18 months late.’
Many of the materials required by major research facilities are bespoke and therefore only available from a small number of suppliers. Hernandez-Gomez says that for some components CLF has started approaching new suppliers to see if they can build them to the same specification so that it would have multiple suppliers to draw on. ‘But every approach you take that is novel comes with a price tag,’ she adds.
‘We had some critical components that we sourced in Ukraine, and that that has been held up,’ says Collier. ‘To their credit the Ukrainians managed to eventually get this stuff out to us through Lithuania, but it was non-trivial – it’s probably taken a year plus.’Collier also highlights the impact that Covid-19 lockdowns had on being able to supply and install equipment. We installed a big laser [at the European XFEL] – a £10–12 million piece of kit, which took us 3 years to manufacture,’ says Collier. ‘We shipped it about two weeks before we had to go into [the first Covid-19] lockdown. [It] then took several years to get it installed and commissioned – we just did the first experiment using it a few months ago.’
Rajeev Pattathil, a group leader at CLF, says that he is particularly worried about the future impacts these challenges will have. Let’s say something was costing £100k a few years ago, it’s now almost £400k,’ he explains. ‘That extra £300k would have gone on developing new technology to make the facility more internationally competitive … instead you have to invest that extra £300k in making sure that you can run the facilities – this will have a knock-on impact in future.’
The Esfri report makes several recommendations aimed at the European Commission and national policymakers to address these challenges, including developing response plans that would reduce energy consumption at major facilities as well as taking action to increase resilience and prepare for future crises. The report also highlights the need to set up specific measures to support the Ukrainian research community. Esfri also suggests allocating additional funds and energy price capping for the most energy-intensive research infrastructure. However, Collier believes that additional funding in the UK is ‘unlikely at any significant level’. ‘We’re approaching a spending review – the tea leaves are saying it’ll be a one-year flat cash rollover until the general election has passed,’ he says. ‘I think the situation is going to remain pretty constrained for at least for the next year, 18 months.’
In the meantime, Collier says it will be necessary for research facilities to re-optimise their plans to minimise delays and, in some cases, choose not to pursue certain activities to make critical savings. ‘We have been buffered because we hold an inventory of spare components so by and large we’ve been able to weather that, [but] the cost of replacement is greater and therefore [it means] you won’t do something for the future, and that’s where the impact will be felt.’
Let’s say something was costing £100k a few years ago, it’s now almost £400k,’ he explains.
The FM/R/JF/B mafia has taken over tight control over many businesses during the pandemic. Prices for wood products - for example - did raise 2..3x despite there is 2x more wood on the market due to pine beetle damage in Canada. So now they decided to burn down the Canadian forests to justify the prices... Same for energy, that should not raise more than 30%, what is the real price increase for the minor fossil part ... except for the corrupt German gas junkies....
So factually people pay tribute to the mafia and in research nobody asks why...
According to the 116 survey responses, the most common issue faced was the impact on finance caused by increased energy costs, with energy-intensive sites such as synchrotrons, computing centres, accelerator-driven particle sources, neutron facilities, research reactors, and lasers being the worst affected.
Of course High Energy Research is not the only casualty. It's a complex world.
This came today within the Anthropocene institute newsletter.
Let’s vote for this to enhance Cold Fusion visibility. It includes Solid State Fusion and one of the panelists is Yoshino from Clean Planet.
Strange coincidence seen in the article linked above by Frogtail:
a statement, attributed to chief executive, Andrea Rossi. “In the current economic climate, it simply does not make sense to incur the additional cost of running and maintaining the Class 90s when we have an alternative fleet of Class 66 locomotives at our disposal”
Interview with LENR advocate
James Martinez.
Another interview where part of it talks about Brillouin demonstration
at ICCF 24.Starts at 3 minute mark.
Scalene; New open source tool dramatically speeds up Python
A team of computer scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amhers, led by Emery Berger, recently unveiled a prize-winning Python profiler called Scalene. Programs written with Python are notoriously slow-up, to 60,000 times slower than code written in other programming languages - and Scalene works to efficiently identify exactly where Python is lagging, allowing programmers to troubleshoot and streamline their code or higher performance.
Programs written with Python are notoriously slow-up, to 60,000 times slower than code written in other programming languages
60,000 times!?! That is astounding. It must be an emulator of an emulator of an emulator. An Intel processor emulating a Zilog Z80 that emulates an IBM 360 that runs code written for an IBM 1410. 60,000 is some kind of world record -- an accomplishment in its own right.
A blog article by "Jean Louis Van Belle" who discovered the domain at RNBE, and exchanged at an ISCMNS call.
Maybe is he there, or some members know him well.
