Beyond science!

[eloic]

U.S. to announce fusion energy ‘breakthrough’

Scientists hit a key milestone in the quest to create abundant zero-carbon power through nuclear fusion. But they still have a long way to go.​

By Evan Halper and Pranshu Verma

December 11, 2022 at 9:29 p.m. EST

A target pellet inside a hohlraum capsule with laser beams entering through openings on either end, seen in an illustration. The beams compress and heat the target to the necessary conditions for nuclear fusion to occur. (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory/AP)


The Department of Energy plans to announce Tuesday that scientists have been able for the first time to produce a fusion reaction that creates a net energy gain — a major milestone in the decades-long, multibillion-dollar quest to develop a technology that provides unlimited, cheap, clean power.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/12/11/fusion-nuclear-energy-breakthrough/

 

[cheapchips]

Best way to look at NIFs results is probably as experimental results that are useful to those companies pursuing inertial fusion? A better/cheaper/electricity producing version of NIF isn't exactly waiting in the wings.

 

[WhiningKhan]

I find it amusing that still in this day and age, people notice they have discovered something when their equipment breaks up unexpectedly.

 

[eloic]

5 Cancer Vaccines to Watch in 2024​

Published: Nov 20, 2023 By Sruthi S. Balakrishnan

Pictured: Vaccine bottles/iStock, May Lim
Several cancer vaccine candidates are flying through clinical trials with promising results. Unlike traditional vaccines that aim to prevent a disease from occurring, therapeutic cancer vaccines train the patient’s immune system, enabling T cells to patrol the body for cancer cells and destroy them. Progress in personalized medicine has made it easier and much more affordable to sequence patient genomes, pull out unique cancer signatures and make vaccines encoding these neoantigens.
BioSpace compiled a list of five cancer vaccines in mid- to late-stage development and sought insights from two experienced researchers on their respective merits.

https://www.biospace.com/article/5-cancer-vaccines-to-watch-in-2024/

I love that, even if slow, there's progress in this field.

 

[eloic]

Here’s how scientists reached nuclear fusion ‘ignition’ for the first time​

The experiment, performed in 2022, also revealed a never-before-seen phenomenon

Here’s how scientists reached nuclear fusion ‘ignition’ for the first time

The first fusion experiment to produce an energy excess required meticulous planning and also revealed a long-predicted heating phenomenon.

www.sciencenews.org