Projectile fusion offers new path to clean energy, quantum communications for alien civilizations

Physics World Weekly Podcast

Nuclear fusion powers the Sun, and if we could harness it here on Earth we would benefit from a clean and abundant source of energy. However, creating a fusion power plant remains a formidable technical challenge.

This episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast features an interview with Nick Hawker, who is co-founder and CEO of First Light Fusion. Recently, the UK-based company has achieved fusion in the lab using a new technique that involves firing a projectile at a deuterium target. Hawker talks about projectile fusion and how the company plans to develop the technology so that it could be used in a power plant.

Also this week, Physics World’s Margaret Harris explains how alien civilizations could be using quantum signals to communicate with us on Earth.