Cold Fusion

Does anyone wonder what happened to Cold Fusion? I do. A lot. It had the hype. The cool movie. The high-yield potential. Then... nothing. Fizzle, not fusion. Heck, even Elisabeth Shue's made a comeback.

Doing a search on Google, it's the third item on the search with nothing in the sidebar advertisements urging you to "Buy Cold Fusion at Amazon" or "Cheap Cold Fusion" or "Hot Deals on Cold Fusion". And what the search does reveal is the wikipedia entry.

It's sad, really. A once burgeoning field relegated to the pathological sciences. To the X-Files subdivision of the Department of Energy. It was all the rage and now, bringing it up, seems to enrage scientists.

Where did it go wrong? Is it still possible? From what I've read, the only reason it's not possible is because no one has been able to do it. Since when did science abandon the mentality likened to that parent who pushes and pushes their talented, but not great kid through sports and traveling all-star teams?

When did science get cold feet?

So There's Some Uncertainty

ATOMIC PARTICLE COLLIDER COULD DESTROY WORLD.

That was the byline on cnn.com yesterday. Uh, click. Come to find out there's this particle collider, and it could destroy the world. Seems it's rather large at 17 miles across and 330 feet below the surface. Seems it cost almost $10 billion dollars. And it seems it could destroy the world. Have you heard of the Large Hadron Collider?

Needless to say I've been reading up on strangelets, micro-black holes and every other wiki accessible theory applicable out of quantum mechanics. So what are the odds the world could get sucked into a black hole or turn into a lump of steaming space poo a la Vonnegut's Ice-Nine scenario? Well, there's a nonzero chance.

What exactly is a nonzero chance? 1 in 50 million. The odds of winning the lottery. But, uh, people win the lottery. Here's another breakdown of the odds.

Of course, in a brilliant piece in the NY Times on this, there's also a chance for Don Quixote to make a return. You have to love the Uncertainty Principle.

Aside: I'm reading the NY Times article last night and what does the first line encompass? A quote from the book I'm about to read that I quoted from yesterday. It's an obscure book, so referencing it is quite random. Coincidences like that... well... it's always a little fascinating.