The Stuff You Should Know Doin’ Science Playlist: Can Nuclear Fusion Reactors Save The World?
Stuff You Should Know
iHeartPodcasts
4.5 • 82.9K Ratings
🗓️ 19 June 2026
⏱️ 44 minutes
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Summary
The world's energy consumption is ruining the planet but for decades physicists have been working on what could solve the world's energy and climate change woes for centuries to come - nuclear fusion. Learn about building stars on Earth in this episode.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.6 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:05.6 | Hey, everybody, I'm back. |
| 0:07.2 | I first heard about ITER, which is the nuclear fusion reactor being built in Europe, |
| 0:12.1 | from a New Yorker article called Star in a Bottle by Rafi Kachadurian. |
| 0:17.3 | And if you find this episode floats your boat, I highly recommend reading that article, too. |
| 0:21.8 | The whole idea of what they're trying to do, which is to contain plasma, that crazy, intense fourth state of matter that the sun and lightning are made up of, into a chamber here on Earth, where it has no business being, really, really caught my attention. And if they can do it, |
| 0:39.8 | extremely cheap, abundant, climate-friendly energy will be unlocked for all, and who knows what |
| 0:45.2 | will follow after that. The Ider group was shooting for 2025 to start but recently changed their |
| 0:50.7 | date to 2034. You can pass the time while you wait by enjoying this episode. |
| 0:59.0 | Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from How StuffWorks.com. |
| 1:09.1 | Hey, and welcome to the podcast. |
| 1:11.8 | I'm Josh Clark. |
| 1:12.9 | There's Charles Debbie Chuck Bryant. |
| 1:14.8 | There's Jerry, who's barrel of laughs. |
| 1:18.0 | And this is stuff you should know. |
| 1:19.7 | She gave us the old quick start. |
| 1:21.2 | Yeah. |
| 1:21.7 | Like, I don't want to hear anymore. |
| 1:23.1 | I'm pressing record. |
| 1:24.1 | Yeah, she knows that shuts me up. |
| 1:26.2 | Or at least cuts off whatever conversation |
... |
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