Discovery Revives Hopes for Cold Fusion

Researcher believes limitless energy source may be on horizon

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 24, 2009 2:42 AM CDT

(Newser) – A new lab discovery holds promise that cold fusion could become a reality, according to a US Navy researcher. The chemist—whose report was greeted with skepticism in the scientific world—says her new process created highly energized neutrons in a reaction that could someday provide almost limitless amounts of cheap energy from seawater, reports the Houston Chronicle.

Nuclear fusion at low temperatures has long been a holy grail for scientists seeking clean energy sources, but a surge of interest in the field 20 years ago has waned as researchers' claims to have created cold fusion proved impossible to replicate.

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A claim that fusion has been created at room temperatures could open the door to almost limitless supplies of cheap energy if it can be verified. (Shutterstock)

The energy produced by stars comes from fusion rather than splitting atoms, an effect some scientists have been trying to reproduce on Earth. (©judy_breck)

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Fusion could produce the effect they see, but there's no plausible explanation of how fusion could occur in these conditions.
- Paul Padley, a physicist at Rice University who reviewed the Navy scientist's work

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Discovery Revives Hopes for Cold Fusion