Scientists shed new light on cold fusion

Researchers at a meeting of the American Chemical Society in Chicago this week said the phenomenon now known as low energy nuclear reaction, is supportable by "rigorous, repeatable experimental data," the ACS said in a release.

Nearly a dozen scientists presented their findings at Thursday's meeting.

When the concept of cold fusion was introduced in 1989 it was hailed as a "scientific breakthrough with the potential to solve the world's energy problems by providing a virtually unlimited energy source," the ACS said.

Subsequent experiments, however, largely failed to replicate the initial findings.

One of the original scientists behind the concept reported new evidence Thursday that the excess heat generated by cold fusion is nuclear and not the result of calorimetric errors.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International