Scientists say they have achieved small-scale nuclear fusion in a tabletop experiment, using tried and true techniques that are expected to generate far less controversy than past such claims.This latest experiment relied on a tiny crystal to generate a strong electric field. While the energy created was too small to harness cheap fusion power, the technique could have potential uses in medicine, spacecraft propulsion, the oil drilling industry and homeland security, said Seth Putterman, a physicist at the University of California at Los Angeles.Putterman and his colleagues at UCLA, Brian Naranjo and Jim Gimzewski, report their results in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature.41. Held up to ridiculePrevious claims of tabletop fusion have been met with skepticism and even derision by physicists.42. Sound theoretical basisFusion experts said the UCLA experiment will face far less skepticism because it conforms to well-known principles of physics.43. Energy in waitingFusion power has been touted as the ultimate energy source and a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels like coal and oil. Fossil fuels are expected to run short in about 50 years.44. Process of fusionIn the UCLA experiment, scientists placed a tiny crystal that can generate a strong electric field into a vacuum chamber filled with deuterium gas, a form of hydrogen capable of fusion. Then the researchers activated the crystal by heating it.45. Commercial usesUCLA’s Putterman said future experiments will focus on refining the technique for potential commercial uses, including designing portable neutron generators that could be used for oil well drilling or scanning luggage and cargo at airports.In the Nature report, Putterman and his colleagues said the crystal-based method could be used in "microthrusters for miniature spacecraft." In such an application, the method would not rely on nuclear fusion for power generation, but rather on ion propulsion, Putterman said."As wild as it is, that s a conservative application, "he said.[A] In fusion, light atoms are joined in a high-temperature process that frees large amounts of energy. It is considered environmentally friendly because it produces virtually no air pollution and does not pose the safety and long-term radioactive waste concerns associated with modern nuclear power plants, where heavy uranium atoms are split to create energy in a process known as fission.[B] The resulting electric field created a beam of charged deuterium atoms that struck a nearby target, which was embedded with yet more deuterium. When some of the deuterium atoms in the beam collided with their counterparts in the target, they fused. The reaction gave off an isotope of helium along with subatomic particles knoun as neutrons, a characteristic of fusion. The experiment did not, however, produce more energy than the amount put in--an achievement that would be a huge breakthrough.[C] Another technique, known as sonoluminescence, generates heat through the collapse of tiny bubbles in a liquid. Some scientists claim that nuclear fusion occurs during the reaction, but those claims have sparked sharp debate.[D] In a Nature commentary, Michael Saltmarsh of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory said the process was in some ways "remarkably low-tech," drawing upon principles that were first recorded by the Greek philosopher Theophrastus in 314 B. C.. "This doesn’t have any controversy in it because they’re using a tried and true method," David Ruzic, professor of nuclear and plasma engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, told The Associated Press. "There’s no mystery in terms of the physics."[E] In one of the most notable cases, Dr. B. Stanley Pons of the University of Utah and Martin Fleischmann of Southampton University in England shocked the world in 1989 when they announced that they had achieved so-called cold fusion at room temperature. Their work was discredited after repeated attempts to reproduce it failed.[F] The technology also could conceivably give rise to implantable radiation sources, which could target cancer cells while minimizing damage to healthy tissue. "You could bring a tiny crystal into the body, place it next to a tumor, turn on the radiation and blast the tumor," Putterman told MSNBC. com. 43
Passage TwoEach semester, Andrew Tom receives a term bill outlining his expenses: tuition, dorm fee, student center fee, recreation fee, resident activity fee, health insurance. If only the rest of his expenses were as easy to quantify."It’s like you start out the semester with plenty of money and then $ 20 for dinner out here and $100 at the department store there, it’s gone," said Tom, a Northeastern University third-year student. "And there are so many things you need like toothpaste or laundry detergent (洗涤剂) that you don’t think about until you get here and need it."From the books lining their shelves to the fashionable clothes filling their closets, college students say the expenses of a college education go well beyond tuition and a dining hall meal plan. Many say they arrive on campus only to be overwhelmed by unexpected costs from sports fees to the actual price of a slice of pizza.Balancing a job with schoolwork, especially at colleges known for their heavy workloads like Harvard and MIT, can be tough. So can the pressure students often feel to financially keep pace with their friends."When you get dragged along shopping, you’re going to spend money; if you get dragged to a party and everyone wants to take a cab but you’re cheap and want to take a bus. Chances are you"ll end up sharing the fee for the cab," said Tom. "I guess you could say no, but no one wants to be the only one eating in the snack bar while your friends are ont to dinner. "Max Cohen, a biology major at MIT, said he is accustomed to watching fellow students spend $ 40 a night to have dinner delivered or $ 50 during a night out at a bar. During the school’s recent spring break, friends on trips for the week posted away messages that read like a world map—Paris, Rome, Tokyo. "Meanwhile I stay home and work," said Cohen. "I didn’t realize when I came here how much money I would spend or how hard I would have to work to get by."It is a lesson some younger students learn quickly. Others, surrounded by credit card offers, go into debt, or worse, are forced to leave school."A lot of people don’t think twice about how much they spend," said a first-year student at MIT, "and you feel the pressure sometimes to go along with them." According to the passage, many college students ().
A. have to work hard in their studies
B. suspend their studies in order to work
C. depend on their families for all the expenses
D. are under great financial pressure