AFTER being banished by many to the realms of pseudoscience, a review by the US Department of Energy is promising to bring cold fusion back in from the鈥ell, cold.
James Decker, deputy director of the department鈥檚 office of science, has pledged to review evidence from the past 15 years of research in the controversial field. The study could be completed by January 2005 and might open up the possibility of funding for cold fusion research projects.
The pledge was sparked by a letter from physicist Peter Hagelstein of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a leading cold fusion theorist, to energy secretary Spencer Abraham after an international cold fusion conference in Boston in August 2003. The letter summarised the field鈥檚 recent progress, which includes a new theoretical framework rooted in the equations that define hot fusion. The theory makes quantifiable predictions that proponents of cold fusion say have been verified experimentally.
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Insiders say that energy department scientists have also been following results in cold fusion, and laying the ground for a review for more than a year. 鈥淭here鈥檚 so much new, valid scientific evidence that it鈥檚 high time to take another look,鈥� says George Miley, professor of nuclear engineering at the University of Illinois. 鈥淚鈥檓 hopeful that a fair review will remove any remaining prejudice, so research proposals in cold fusion will finally be able to compete on their merits.鈥�