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Visualization of how a stellarator’s plasma (orange) can be manipulated using a combination of permanent magnets (red and blue) and superconducting coils (grey rings).Credit: C. Zhu/PPPL
Researchers have proposed a simplified design for nuclear-fusion reactors, based on powerful permanent magnets. The prototype reactors normally require sophisticated superconducting coils to confine plasma in a way that might one day offer enormous amounts of energy. While helping his son with a science-fair project (he wanted to build a rail gun), plasma physicist Michael Zarnstorff realized that neodymium–boron magnets are now powerful enough to be used instead of superconducting coils.
Reference: Physical Review Letters paper
Features & opinion
Russia has been boosting funding and reforming its languishing scientific system in a bid to turn around the decline that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. Nature’s analysis shows that the results so far are patchy, but many scientists in Russia feel things are slowly changing for the better.
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The Washington Post | 11 min read