The fusion energy industry heats up, and other stories
Welcome to Ramin’s Space, the newsletter from science writer and editor Ramin Skibba. You can read more about the newsletter here. If you like it, please consider subscribing and sharing this post.
Startups Gamble on Fusion Energy
I’m seeing lots of talk and hype of fusion companies these days, and the tiny industry has grown rapidly over the last couple years, especially throughout the United States. But could fusion energy actually work? We’ve heard promises before, from “cold fusion” to the continually delayed ITER project in France.
In my latest piece for Undark magazine, I dig into the details and assess the possibility of fusion reactors being built and generating electricity on the grid in a decade or so. I also consider the potential environmental impacts, compared to the well-known impacts and safety risks of nuclear (fission) power. I’m skeptical that fusion could be a climate solution, but maybe it does have potential.
In other writing…
The real point of space exploration, by Shannon Stirone in Slate
The search for medicine’s Holy Grail, about fake blood by Nicola Twilley in the New Yorker
Ed Yong wants to show you the hidden reality of the world, an interesting interview by David Marchese in NYT Magazine
How to build a human, a compelling investigation of a forensics company, by Jordan Smith in The Intercept
Grave Mistakes: The History and Future of Chile’s ‘Disappeared,’ by Fletcher Reveley in Undark magazine, about the grim work of forensic researchers in the country
The unnatural history of Bird Flu, by Brandon Keim in Nautilus magazine
Loud, angry, and Indigenous: Heavy metal takes on colonialism and climate change, a unique story by Taylar Dawn Stagner in High Country News
Wild Clocks, an essay about chronobiology and the concept of time in nature, by David Farrier in Emergence magazine
Requiem for my ancestor’s fig tree, by Algerian poet Samira Negrouche, and Being is Not a Fable, by Colombian poet Giovanni Quessep, in the new issue of Guernica magazine
What I’m reading: Orbital, a novel by Samantha Harvey
Looking back: One year ago, I wrote in Undark magazine about people mapping the destruction of the majority of homes and infrastructure in Gaza. Now during an unstable ceasefire, many Palestinian survivors have returned to find rubble and more food insecurity waiting for them, while Israeli politicians and President Trump call for their ethnic cleansing.
More about me: I’m a science writer, editor, and journalist based in the Bay Area. I was WIRED magazine’s space writer until December 2023, and before that I worked as a freelance writer and an astrophysicist. You can find me at my website, raminskibba.net, and on Twitter and Bluesky. I’m also former president of the San Diego Science Writers Association (SANDSWA) and on the board of the National Association of Science Writers (NASW), though the opinions I express are mine alone. If someone has forwarded this email to you, you’re welcome to subscribe too.