Hello, SFIA audio listeners. In this month's Nebula exclusive, Big Alien Theory,

we're asking the reason alien civilizations might be rare is because most aliens are huge.

To hear it and every episode early and add free, plus hours of bonus content,

check out go.nebola.tv slash Isaac Arthur and use my code, Isaac Arthur.

This episode is brought to you by Brilliant.

Contrary to popular belief, nuclear energy does not give you superpowers, which is a bit disappointing.

As a consolation prize, though, it does offer a near unlimited supply of clean and safe energy.

Thank you. supply of clean and safe energy. So today we're back to discussing the future of nuclear energy to focus in on thorium, an energy

source often heralded as the cleaner and safer successor to traditional nuclear power,

and the gateway to humanity's independence from fuels that are in short supply or environmentally dangerous.

Many others view thorium as little more than a pipe dream or even a dangerous distraction

from pursuing other options like solar or wind or geothermal, some argue it even distracts

from improvements to more traditional nuclear fission or its longer weighted upgrade, nuclear fusion.

So which of these is right?

Is it a miracle power source, an overhyped alternative or a dangerous distraction?

We will be exploring the science of thorium power and its future today, here on Science

of Futurism with Isaac Arthur, and I'm your host the aforementioned

Isaac Arthur. Today's going to be a lengthy and maybe a bit of a technical discussion,

so you may want to get a drink and a snack, and don't forget to hit the like and subscribe

buttons while you're at it. So we should probably start with the basics first, like what

is Thorium and what brought it into the public eye.

Well, Thorium, named for Thor, the god of thunder and lightning, is probably a good

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