From Oil to Supernovae

With the BP oil disaster still in the headlines, and America's still nervous feelings about conventional nuclear power, the fact that we are possibly on the verge of creating fusion has inexplicably managed to stay out of the public news. This is mostly because the project, which started back in 1997, ran into problems along the way, which is regrettable, but normal for new, highly technical situations like this. Although it's five years behind schedule and far over budget, it was dedicated last year and has already fired a successful test run this year. This summer, they may create a tiny star in this massive lab experiment, which would dissipate in a tiny supernovae, creating more energy than was used to create it. That's nuclear fusion with a net energy gain, once thought impossible, even laughable. While the use of such a power source would still probably be decades away, it's what we should be striving for, not continuing to drilling into the seafloor so we can occasionally cause such calamities as is currently ruining the coast of Louisiana. Drill, baby, drill, right?