Fusion energy smashes world record

BBC Inside Science

BBC

Technology, Science

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 10 February 2022

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week the UK-based JET Laboratory broke its 25-year-old record for energy extracted by nuclear fusion - the process that powers the stars. Using temperatures 10 times hotter than the sun, nuclear fusion has the potential to provide vast amounts of energy at a very low carbon cost. But re-creating the power of the stars here on earth is no easy feat, and Roland Pease has been in Culham, speaking to the scientists at the forefront of this breakthrough. We discuss the Advanced Research and Invention Agency ( ARIA. The ARIA bill is about to go through the final stages of parliamentary approval and will have a budget of £800 million to play with over four years. But it’s not without its critics. Many in the science community have questioned ARIA’s transparency and accountability to the public, because the government have decided to exempt ARIA from Freedom of Information Requests. We hear from UKRI head Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser and Professor of Research Policy James Wilsdon. And from blue skies research to blue seas research, scientists have found a surprising seabed community that lives in the cold nutrient-sparse waters under the central arctic ocean: giant sponges. And it turns out these resourceful organisms have been feasting on the thousand-year-old remains of now-extinct worms. We hear from Teresa Maria Morganti from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology and Autun Perser from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, let me ask you, sir, have you heard George's podcast?
0:06.1	Me and Ben Brick are back with a blast, this time with stories from Africa's past.
0:11.0	Not too distant, unsolved mysteries, unsung hero's from untold histories, I'm trying
0:16.9	to make sense of the present day, join me on this journey by pressing play.
0:24.1	Before you get stuck into this episode, I want to tell you about some changes we're making
0:34.4	to where you can find this podcast. From next month, you can hear Inside Science 28 days
0:40.4	before anyone else for free on BBC Sounds. If you haven't already, you can download the BBC
0:46.7	Sounds app to listen to Inside Science first. It's easy. Once you're there, you'll find even more
0:52.9	podcasts that are available on sounds before anywhere else, live BBC Radio and exclusive music
0:59.1	mixes. Just search for Inside Science, subscribe and you'll get brand new episodes in the My
1:05.4	Sound section of the app every week. I told you it was easy. No, let's get back to the podcast.
1:11.6	Hello there. Coming up over the next half hour, you may have eaten stuff from the fridge that's
1:16.8	passed its best before. We meet the organism that happily feasts on the carcasses of worms that
1:22.4	died thousands of years ago. We had the indication from a cruise in 2011 where one physical sample
1:28.8	was taken by another ship from this location that there might be some life on top of this
1:33.2	seamount and what we found when we put our camera down was not just some life but a really
1:37.7	abundant community of sponges totally covering the seamount. And the new UK agency for funding
1:44.2	High Risk Higher Award research isn't even open yet and it's already proving controversial.
1:49.8	We investigate. But first, let's talk nuclear. Scientists are claiming a major breakthrough
1:56.1	in the quest to develop practical nuclear fusion as the UK-based jet laboratory has smashed
2:02.0	its record for the energy extracted by smashing together two forms of hydrogen,
2:06.8	tritium anduterium. Nuclear fusion is often touted as the holy grail of energy sources.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.