[Waldozer]

The DoE has been convinced that enough credible evidence from authorative sources (like the Navy Research Laboratory, for instance, see http://www.spawar.navy.mil/sti/publications/pubs/tr/1862/tr1862-vol1.pdf) exists to justify their re-evaluation of their obviously flawed 1989 conclusions reached concerning "cold fusion" research.

Is this political news? What would happen if we could tell the Arab nations to look for other customers for their oil? What are the chances that "cold fusion" will get a fair hearing among die-hard skeptics and cynics, many of whom have built their careers on science that would be shaken to its foundation, and whose income comes from competing research or oil? What are the chances that the dominant media will provide a shred of objectivity in their coverage after all buying into the pathological skepticism like that expressed in Time Magazine's millenium issue in which Fleischman and Pons were pictured next to Joseph Mengele and labeled 'Frauds of the Millenium,' betraying a glaring ignorance of the vast contributions of these two scientists.

How good is the evidence? I worked for an ex-MIT engineering professor on this matter for two years and learned a lot. My opinion, however, pales in significance with that of the impeccably credentialed scientists who express unreserved believe that the original claims of Fleischmann and Pons have been demonstrated in spades, contrary to what this article says.

If the public is to know the evidence, the DoE re-evaluation hearings must be open to the public. The public must shed the naive belief that scientists are above politics. Don't be snowed. It is not that hard to understand. Please opine for open hearings at DoE!

[BenLurkin]

What do you make of this from Popular Mechanics? Battery Taps Water

Photo by University of Alberta

A radically new type of battery takes advantage of the way water molecules line up when they come in contact with glass. The electrokinetic microchannel battery, developed by Larry Kostiuk and his colleagues at the University of Alberta, makes use of the fact that water molecules have positive and negative ends.

Glass takes on a positive charge wherever it touches water, explains Kostiuk. Conversely, the negative-charged ends of all the water molecules line up facing the glass container. In the battery, water flows through glass channels, producing electricity along the channel walls.

"Each channel contributes less than a nanoamp," says Kostiuk. "But you can gang together as many as you need." The prototype shown here cranks out 2 microamps.

[Citizen Tom Paine]

Electrochemistry is a "black art" requiring a lot of hands on experience. Lets hope there is a new energy source out there which we may put in our basements to generate heat and electricity.

[Diogenesis]

BUMP for cold fusion which generates helium 4 from deuterium.
and is a better source of net future energy than gasoline or hydrogen or ethanol (has to do with mc2)
Cold fusion demonstrations and research meeting in Cambridge MA during the week of August 23, 2003
including the FR thread entitled "Cold fusion gets cold shoulder from many scientists"

---

Many US and labs overseas have reproduced it.
There was an open demo this Summer attended by FReepers.
At that meeting, Mitshubishi and Toyota presented their recent results.

Click for info to how Mitsubishi and Toyota and others continued research

Theoretical Framework for Anomalous Heat and 4He in Transition Metal Systems

Deuteron Fluxing and the Ion Band State Theory

Calorimetric Principles and Problems in Pd-D2O Electrolysis

Anomalous Effects in Deuterated Systems, Final Report

Thermal and Nuclear Aspects of the Pd/D2O System, Vol 1

Thermal and Nuclear Aspects of the Pd/D2O System, Vol 2

"...California is experiencing rolling blackouts due to power shortages.
Conventional engineering, planned ahead, could have prevented these
blackouts, but it has been politically expedient to ignore the inevitable.
We do not know if Cold Fusion will be the answer to future energy needs,
but we do know the existence of Cold Fusion phenomenon through
repeated observations by scientists throughout the world.
It is time that this phenomenon be investigated
so that we can reap whatever benefits accrue from additional scientific understanding.
It is time for government funding organizations to invest in this research"
Dr. Frank E. Gordon
Head, Navigation and Applied Sciences Department
Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, San Diego

[Ides of March]

If "cold fusion" really is a source of low cost, unlimited energy, then government intervention is not necessary, epecially for such low-cost, benchtop research as "cold fusion." Government only has to subsidize the losing technology; the winners are self-sustaining in a capitalist society. Therefore the hearings are a waste of time and money.

[dennisw]

It could be that the capital expenses of cold fusion generation of electricity dwarf the power output.

[PatrickHenry]

Slow news day. Ping.

[boris]

I followed the Cold Fusion issue for many years.

I will only note that the Japanese--no fools--continued to issue patents in the field, and still do so to this very day.

--Boris

[templar]

As simple as the 'cold fusion' process is reputed to be, and as simple as research into it and development of applications would seem to be, I'm surprised someone isn't cranking cold fusion generators, hot water heaters, home heating units, etc. out in their garage for retail sale. Unless, of course, it (cold fusion) is a failure or just a laboratory measurement trick and curiosity.

[Doctor Stochastic]

An applied current dissociates the deuterium, and deuterons load into the palladium.

Spectrographic results I have see show that the deuterium isn't dissociated (which is weird term for the author to use, ionize would make more sense in this context). The deuterium inside the palladium is just ordinary D2 sitting there. Same for platinum and titanium.

[GretchenM]

fyi

[alnitak]

I think we'd better get cracking on this, or the Arabs will beat us to it!