Technologies

‘Phenomenal breakthrough’: Nuclear fusion test sparks high-energy hopes

A laser blast in California creates a miniature sun for a tiny fraction of a second and ignites a self-sustaining chain reaction.

For an almost imperceptible fraction of a second on Aug. 8, massive lasers at a government facility in Northern California re-created the power of the sun in a tiny hot spot no wider than a human hair. The result is a significant step forward in the pursuit of nuclear fusion, a long-sought-after panacea for many energy and environmental challenges.

The experiment took place at the National Ignition Facility, which takes up the space of three football fields at the campus of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on the eastern edge of the San Francisco Bay metroplex. Powerful lasers there were focused onto a target the size of a BB, resulting in a reaction that threw off over 10 quadrillion watts of power.

Remarkably, that’s about 6% of the total energy of all the sunshine striking Earth’s surface at any given moment, although the powerful burst only lasted for 100 trillionths of a second. Even in that minuscule timeframe, though, scientists observed a big breakthrough: The hotspot was able to ignite a self-sustaining chain reaction, fusing more hydrogen atoms together and continuing the process of energy generation, like an internal combustion engine burning through one molecule of fuel after another to keep going.

Achieving this ignition point is a key milestone in the roadmap to fusion power.

«This phenomenal breakthrough brings us tantalizingly closeto ademonstration of ‘net energy gain’ from fusion reactions — justwhenthe planet needs it,» said Arthur Turrell, physicist and author of The Star Builders: Nuclear Fusion and the Race to Power the Planet, in a statement.

Nuclear power plants today are fueled by thereaction from nuclear fission, the process of splitting atoms to createenergy. Fusion is just the opposite: merging hydrogen atomsinto helium the same way the sun does, releasing gobs of energy in theprocess. Fusion is a sort of holy grail, because theoretically it wouldprovide a limitless source of clean energy with fewer safety and wasteconcerns compared to fission reactors.

For decades now, dozens offacilities have been experimenting with different methods. The challenge isn’tjust to achieve fusion, but to do so in a way that doesn’t require moreenergy to create the reaction than is produced as a result.

This month’s experiment was still a net negative in terms of energy in versus energy out, but it puts the science on the threshold of breaking even.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory reports that while a final analysis still needs to be peer reviewed, the initial data showed that the results yielded eight times the energy output of experiments done earlier this year and 25 times that seen in 2018.

«For reference this [is] about 1000x more energy output than we were getting when I joined the project 10 years ago,» project physicist Jayson Luc Peterson added on Twitter.

window.CnetFunctions.logWithLabel(‘%c One Trust ‘, «Service loaded: script_twitterwidget with class optanon-category-5»);

Jeremy Chittenden, co-director of the Center for Inertial Fusion Studies at Imperial College London, said in a statement that improvement in fusion energy output has accelerated over the past year, «suggesting we may soonreach moreenergy milestones, such as exceeding the energy input fromthe lasersused to kick-start the process.»

Interestingly, the National Ignition Facility is not primarily meant as a tool for fusion energy development, but rather for nuclear weapons research. Chittenden says the result should spur on other efforts focused on creating clean power.

«We have now proven it is possible to reach ignition, givinginspiration to other laboratories and start-ups around the world workingon fusion energy production to try to realize the same conditionsusinga simpler, more robust and above all cheaper method.»

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Saturday, June 28

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for June 28.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? It’s Saturday, so it’s extra-long, and might take you a while. Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

The Mini Crossword is just one of many games in the Times’ games collection. If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Detachable parts of a dress form
Answer: ARMS

5A clue: Catering container containing caffeine
Answer: TEARUN

8A clue: Climbing structure offered in pet stores
Answer: CATTREE

9A clue: Gets into town
Answer: ARRIVES

10A clue: Frédéric Chopin or Ray Charles, notably
Answer: PIANIST

11A clue: They don’t hold water
Answer: SIEVES

12A clue: ___-jerk reaction
Answer: KNEE

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: With some chance of failure
Answer: ATARISK

2D clue: Prepare for a new job, maybe
Answer: RETRAIN

3D clue: Midday Broadway showing
Answer: MATINEE

4D clue: Goal of a noted reality show set on an island
Answer: SURVIVE

6D clue: Witherspoon who portrayed June Carter in «Walk the Line»
Answer: REESE

7D clue: Lodgings for larks
Answer: NESTS

8D clue: Souvenir from a baseball game
Answer: CAP

Technologies

Facing Billions in DMA Fines, Apple Lets EU iPhone Users Install Apps Outside the App Store

A last-minute rule change lets European iPhone owners download apps from rival stores and developer websites, while introducing new fees that Apple hopes will satisfy regulators in Brussels.

In a scramble to sidestep penalties that could soar into the billions, and with Brussels regulators watching closely, Apple has agreed to let Europeans download iPhone apps from outside its own App Store.

With just hours left before an EU compliance deadline, the company said residents of the 27-nation bloc will soon be able to grab apps from rival marketplaces or straight off a developer’s website. The change rolls out later this year with iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6, and also lets users set a different browser engine and choose a third-party wallet at checkout.

For everyday EU iPhone owners, that means the download button could pop up in more places than just Apple’s storefront. After you select the new setting, iOS shows a one-time permission sheet confirming you’re leaving Apple’s marketplace. The app then passes a quick notarization scan meant to weed out malware. Apple notes that off-store downloads work only inside the EU, and disappear if you stay outside the bloc for more than 30 days.

Cost to developers

Developers do gain fresh distribution freedom, but there’s a price tag. A new two-tier Store Services fee asks for 5% of outside sales in exchange for basic services like app reviews and support in what’s called Tier 1, or 13% for the full bundle of perks, including automatic updates and App Store promotions in Tier 2.

Apple will take a 5% «Core Technology Commission» on any purchase made outside its own payment system. That new cut will phase out the current €0.50-per-download fee and become the sole charge across the EU when a unified pricing model arrives on Jan. 1, 2026.

Apple insists «more than 99%» of devs will pay the same or less under the revamped math.

Why now?

In April, the European Commission fined Apple €500 million ($585 million) for blocking developers from steering users to cheaper payment options, and warned that daily penalties of up to 5% of global revenue could follow if it failed to comply.

Throughout the back-and-forth, Apple has accused the commission of «moving the goalposts» on what counts as compliance, with a spokesperson saying the company has invested «hundreds of thousands of hours» to meet the EU’s evolving demands.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney blasted the 5% tier as a «malicious compliance scheme» that «makes a mockery of fair competition.»

If regulators decide Apple still hasn’t gone far enough, the iPhone maker could face steeper sanctions, or even be forced to separate its App Store business.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for June 27, #1469

Here are hints — and the answer — for today’s Wordle No. 1,469 for June 27. Some players need a new starter word now.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle isn’t too tough, but somehow, it has a starting letter I never seem to guess. Some posters on Reddit say it was one of their starter words, so now they’re in the market for a new way to begin the game. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has no repeated letters.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

There are two vowels in today’s Wordle answer.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with P.

Wordle hint No. 4: Placement

The two vowels are next to each other.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to something that is not decorated and is simple.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is PLAIN.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, June 26, No. 1468 was OFFER.

Recent Wordle answers

June 22, No. 1464: THRUM

June 23, No. 1465: ODDLY

June 24, No. 1466: ELITE

June 25, No. 1467: COMFY

Will Wordle run out of words?

When Wordle began, creator Josh Wardle used a list of five-letter words he’d shared with his partner, picking only the words they recognized. While that’s more than 2,000 words, more than half of them have already been used.

Wordle editor Tracy Bennett admitted that the game will eventually have to come to grips with the fact that the word list is not eternal.

«One possibility is that we could recycle old words at some point, like when we get close to the end,» Bennett told a Wordle player on TikTok.

She also said the editors might throw all the words back in and reuse them, or allow plurals, or past tense, something that’s not done now.