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A new record for maintaining plasma burning inside a fusion reactor has been set in France, beating China's previous benchmark by 25%.France's WEST fusion reactor has shattered a nuclear fusion record set by China just a few weeks ago, marking yet another small but significant step on the road toward near-limitless clean energy.The CEA's (Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives) WEST tokamak nuclear fusion reactor maintained a steady loop of burning plasma for a record 1,337 seconds, according to a Feb. 18 announcement -- beating China's previous 1,066-second benchmark, set on Jan. 20, by 25%...Scientists have been trying...

...The frosty worlds surrounding planets like Jupiter and Saturn may indeed host life. We know there’s liquid water beneath the surface of some of them — it spews out into space on a regular basis — but we’ve yet to venture to those worlds to get a better look. Now, scientists say that the huge balls of ice around Uranus may also be a potential bastion for life....The moons of Uranus have endured impacts from objects in space, just like the rest of the worlds in our system, but there is also evidence that the moons aren’t just frozen wastelands....

Welcome to The Hobbit Hole! Fare you well! Fare you well! First thread: New Zealander builds Hobbit holeSecond thread: The New Hobbit HoleThird thread: The Hobbit Hole III - Journey to the Cross-roads! (Congratulations, we filled it up!) Fourth Thread: The Hobbit Hole IV - The Road Goes Ever On...Fifth Thread: The Hobbit Hole V - Where Many Paths and Errands Meet...Sixth Thread: The Hobbit Hole VI - And Whither Then? I Cannot Say...Seventh Thread: The Hobbit Hole VII - But not yet weary are our feet... Eighth Thread: The Hobbit Hole VIII - Still round the corner we may...