8 Scientific Breakthroughs That Will Change The World
8. Artificial Energy
It might not seem like it when you see cars rumbling past or factories belching out smoke, but we, as a species, are still pretty much reliant on "natural" forms of energy. Although most people's instinct would be that natural = better, this is definitely not a good thing, as we deplete resources faster than they can be replaced and poison the planet as a cheeky bonus. Fossil fuels have got us where we are today, but now it's time to move on and actually create our own energy. At the National Ignition Facility, scientists are working on developing a way to produce energy from nuclear fusion but essentially creating an artificial star on earth. Using Einstein's most famous equation, E=mc2, scientists are able to produce massive amounts of energy from tiny amounts of matter when two hydrogen atoms are fused into a helium atom under the intense conditions of the fusion chamber. At the moment, nuclear energy comes in the form of nuclear fission. This compared to nuclear fusion is much more dangerous and wasteful, producing radioactive waste that remains harmful for tens of thousands of years. Fusion, on the other hand, mostly produces small amounts of helium (an element that has lots of scientific and medical applications) and any radioactive products that are produced only remain remotely harmful for around 50 years. There is also little to no danger of meltdown in a fusion reactor. In comparison to our dwindling supply of fossil fuels, fusion energy is generated using two abundant isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium and tritium, that can be extracted from seawater and lithium. At the moment, scientists are trying to make the reaction self-sustaining and therefore viable, but a breakthrough in nuclear fission would completely revolutionise the way we power our civilisation, having an impact greater than that of the industrial revolution nearly two centuries ago.
