As others have mentioned there are indeed still major issues to solve. But, they are slowly crawling to the answer (for some reason the US has just a "little bit" of interest in this--though if they go ahead and name their scientists as the sole awesomeness that thought how to make this a reality one day... I will truly hate my government for sure...

Hopefully, this reactor can give us some good data (and also hopefully was built with new processes across the board; again giving the scientists more data) on what's working better and what's failing either worse or @the same rate... There are about three main issues that need to be solved before we can call it "somewhat quits" (but, even after that, this would be a machine that needs a careful eye and constant monitoring).

I'm looking forward to the International Committee's Fusion Reactor in 2019~, called: ITER. It'll kind of be the "LHC" of the fusion world... They probably will figure out the issue with radiation destroying/eating away the guards/shields on the insides for the plasma.

These things are definitely awesome to see...

What Neil deGrasse Tyson and some of the other scientists/doctors (myself include) have are saying is that the IDEA of GMO's is a great one. The fact that we can engineer our foods to get the traits we want or add additional beneficial traits is an incredibly useful tool. We've already engineered rice that is able to produce vitamin A, which has been a huge help for places with vitamin A deficiencies and we can engineer potatoes to absorb less fats and oils when we fry them, there is also a professor at SUNY-ESF who is using GMO's to try and save the American Chestnut tree from extinction.

GMing is simply another tool in humanity's struggle to survive. First it was finding which foods were safe to eat, then it was breeding organisms within species to make inbred organisms that had the traits we wanted (think cattle, dogs, cats, corn, banana's; some of these things are more inbred than the Hapsburgs), then we starting creating our own hybrids across different species, and now we have GMO's.

However, what I object to is the current corporate use of GMO's to exploit farmers over patents, and breed for traits that people do necessarily need. NdT I'm sure is not advocating for that, but is advocating for the use of transgenic organisms/GMO's to solve some of the world's most pressing issues.

GMO's are probably the most powerful tool we have to curb world hunger, and mal-nutrition, and it could also be the thing that allows humans to venture beyond the solar system. What the Sift seems to be objecting to, and the rest of the "developed" world is the use of GMO's by greedy corporations who care more about turning a profit than solving world problems (there isn't very much money in feeding the needy and hungry). They are the one's making what appear to me more or less useless and potentially dangerous GMO's. Turn your anger away from GMO's specifically and narrow it to the ill use of GMO's by greedy corporations.

Lastly, the argument that "we don't know what they'll do" is for the most part unfounded, there are a decent amount of studies (find them yourself sorry) which show that GMO's in general won't cause harm (though it really depends on what you're trying to make). The same argument was made about the LHC "We don't know what will happen when we turn it on!" but everyone was fine.

Dammit, where's the rest? What about the LHC??

You are joking, of course. The LHC from the moon would have the apparent diameter of half of a human hair held at arm's length. Also, it's underground with very little surface presence.

Here you go:
*related=http://videosift.com/video/Decay-the-full-movie-Shot-inside-the-LHC

DECAY Official Trailer: A LHC zombie movie has been added as a related post - related requested by dingens on that post.

Decay - the full movie. Shot inside the LHC has been added as a related post - related requested by dingens.

Someone mark this related video to be, well, related http://videosift.com/video/Decay-the-full-movie-Shot-inside-the-LHC

This is a related video but I don't know how to invoke the magic spell
http://videosift.com/video/DECAY-Official-Trailer-A-LHC-zombie-movie

"Speaking to a packed audience Wednesday morning in Geneva, CERN director general Rolf Heuer confirmed that two separate teams working at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are more than 99 percent certain they've discovered the Higgs boson, aka the God particle—or at the least a brand-new particle exactly where they expected the Higgs to be.

The long-sought particle may complete the standard model of physics by explaining why objects in our universe have mass—and in so doing, why galaxies, planets, and even humans have any right to exist."

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/07/120704-god-particle-higgs-boson-new-cern-science/

Some poor research assistant is going to be running tests at the LHC looking for extra dimensions when suddenly a resonance cascade will rip dimensional seams, devastating the facility. Aliens from another dimension known as Xen will enter the facility through these dimensional seams. A funny talking guy dressed in a suit and brief case will start appearing at random as you battle your way out of the facility! You will soon discover the secretly developed gravity gun and use it to solve puzzles with your new friend, Facility Policeman Barney! Portals of orange and blue will bend the laws of physics! A plague will take the world by surprise, turning everyone into rabid zombies!

oh wait, that's just Valve.

>> ^direpickle:

>> ^Payback:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperion_Cantos
The "Big Mistake of '08" would be a black hole that dropped into the earth.

In no way are the Hyperion novels "shit scifi!" I will fight people!


I didn't notice that criteria until after I answered. I retract Mr. Simmons' work.

In reply to this comment by shveddy:
Obviously I'm joking, but brownie points if anyone can tell me which shit scifi novel I read in high school put the idea of internally orbiting black holes destroying the earth in my mind.

I remember that being a plot complication in James Hogan's Thrice Upon A Time.

>> ^Payback:

>> ^shveddy:
See! See! I knew it! They're making mini black holes that are going to end up in long parabolic orbits through the earth, gobbling up a bit more of the earths mass with each passing until there is nothing left but a hollow shell. Aah, stop playing God!
Obviously I'm joking, but brownie points if anyone can tell me which shit scifi novel I read in high school put the idea of internally orbiting black holes destroying the earth in my mind. I can vividly recall it being a very important plot point to some book I've read, I just can't remember where I got it from.
Love these PHD comics, keep posting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperion_Cantos
The "Big Mistake of '08" would be a black hole that dropped into the earth.


In no way are the Hyperion novels "shit scifi!" I will fight people!

>> ^shveddy:

See! See! I knew it! They're making mini black holes that are going to end up in long parabolic orbits through the earth, gobbling up a bit more of the earths mass with each passing until there is nothing left but a hollow shell. Aah, stop playing God!
Obviously I'm joking, but brownie points if anyone can tell me which shit scifi novel I read in high school put the idea of internally orbiting black holes destroying the earth in my mind. I can vividly recall it being a very important plot point to some book I've read, I just can't remember where I got it from.
Love these PHD comics, keep posting.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperion_Cantos

The "Big Mistake of '08" would be a black hole that dropped into the earth.