Taking things apart is often a lot easier than putting them back together. For example, we cracked our first hydrogen atom more than 50 years ago, and have been harnessing energy from nuclear fission ever since. But joining atoms together has proved much more difficult. Recreating on earth the process that occurs at the centre of the sun was never going to be easy. But if it can be achieved the prize is momentous - a virtually unlimited energy source, without fission's downside of long-lasting radioactive waste. This, say the scientists, is the real answer to our impending energy crisis.
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