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.

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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 Tuesday, Oct. 14

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Oct. 14.

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.

Today’s Mini Crossword has an odd vertical shape, with an extra Across clue, and only four Down clues. The clues are not terribly difficult, but one or two could be tricky. Read on if you need the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

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: Smokes, informally
Answer: CIGS

5A clue: «Don’t have ___, man!» (Bart Simpson catchphrase)
Answer: ACOW

6A clue: What the vehicle in «lane one» of this crossword is winning?
Answer: RACE

7A clue: Pitt of Hollywood
Answer: BRAD

8A clue: «Yeah, whatever»
Answer: SURE

9A clue: Rd. crossers
Answer: STS

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Things to «load» before a marathon
Answer: CARBS

2D clue: Mythical figure who inspired the idiom «fly too close to the sun»
Answer: ICARUS

3D clue: Zoomer around a small track
Answer: GOCART

4D clue: Neighbors of Norwegians
Answer: SWEDES

Technologies

Watch SpaceX’s Starship Flight Test 11

Technologies

New California Law Wants Companion Chatbots to Tell Kids to Take Breaks

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the new requirements on AI companions into law on Monday.

AI companion chatbots will have to remind users in California that they’re not human under a new law signed Monday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The law, SB 243, also requires companion chatbot companies to maintain protocols for identifying and addressing cases in which users express suicidal ideation or self-harm. For users under 18, chatbots will have to provide a notification at least every three hours that reminds users to take a break and that the bot is not human.

It’s one of several bills Newsom has signed in recent weeks dealing with social media, artificial intelligence and other consumer technology issues. Another bill signed Monday, AB 56, requires warning labels on social media platforms, similar to those required for tobacco products. Last week, Newsom signed measures requiring internet browsers to make it easy for people to tell websites they don’t want them to sell their data and banning loud advertisements on streaming platforms.

AI companion chatbots have drawn particular scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators in recent months. The Federal Trade Commission launched an investigation into several companies in response to complaints by consumer groups and parents that the bots were harming children’s mental health. OpenAI introduced new parental controls and other guardrails in its popular ChatGPT platform after the company was sued by parents who allege ChatGPT contributed to their teen son’s suicide.

«We’ve seen some truly horrific and tragic examples of young people harmed by unregulated tech, and we won’t stand by while companies continue without necessary limits and accountability,» Newsom said in a statement.

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One AI companion developer, Replika, told CNET that it already has protocols to detect self-harm as required by the new law, and that it is working with regulators and others to comply with requirements and protect consumers.

«As one of the pioneers in AI companionship, we recognize our profound responsibility to lead on safety,» Replika’s Minju Song said in an emailed statement. Song said Replika uses content-filtering systems, community guidelines and safety systems that refer users to crisis resources when needed.

A Character.ai spokesperson said the company «welcomes working with regulators and lawmakers as they develop regulations and legislation for this emerging space, and will comply with laws, including SB 243.» OpenAI spokesperson Jamie Radice called the bill a «meaningful move forward» for AI safety. «By setting clear guardrails, California is helping shape a more responsible approach to AI development and deployment across the country,» Radice said in an email.

One bill Newsom has yet to sign, AB 1064, would go further by prohibiting developers from making companion chatbots available to children unless the AI companion is «not foreseeably capable of» encouraging harmful activities or engaging in sexually explicit interactions, among other things.