FIRED UP

摘要

Winter is uncompromising on the plains of north-east Germany. Today a keen wind is blowing in unchecked from the Baltic, and ears are hidden beneath woolly hats. But there is also a brightness in the air, and a cheek-tingling warmth. The sun is out. An orb of burning gas 150 million kilometres away is doing its business. How we would love to bring that searing power a little closer to home. Harnessing nuclear fusion, the process that fuels the sun, would mean practically limitless, carbon-free energy - no small deal in a warming world. Trouble is, we have been pursuing this dream for five decades or more. Always, it has seemed another five decades away. Our technology simply does not allow us to reliably command the stars.