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A local affiliate of CBS reports:
General Atomics is scheduled on Friday to unveil a 1,000-ton superconducting electromagnet to be used in a 35-nation fusion energy study. According to General Atomics, the Poway-built device that's powerful enough to lift an aircraft carrier out of the water will be showcased at a news conference in Poway.
The electromagnet will be used in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor experiments in France, in which scientists will try to create a burning plasma that demonstrates the feasibility of fusion energy. Clean fusion energy has been a holy grail for researchers looking for alternatives to standard nuclear energy and carbon-based fuels. Scientists say fusion energy does not create long-term waste products or meltdown risks.
General Atomics is more well-known for their Predator and Reaper military drones. As much negativity is swirling around these parts about the military industrial complex, there could be much potential benefit from the technological progress General Atomics and others are making. What do you all think?
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Monday April 13 2015, @04:23PM
So, what would happen if a human (wearing nothing magnetic) stood next to this thing when it was turned on? Anything interesting?
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 3, Informative) by VortexCortex on Monday April 13 2015, @05:46PM
People who asked questions like yours also clicked on Transcranial Stimulation. [wikipedia.org]
Depending on the frequency and intensity of the EM field involved different effects have been observed according to declassified documents from the US government. [wired.com]
Everything from mood alteration, visual hallucinations, induced schizophrenia, or (if specifically modulated) a form of telepathy is possible through EM stimulation. What would most likely happen is visual hallucinations corresponding to the magnetic pattern via interaction with your visual cortex (usually in the form of flashes or bands of white and/or coloured "light").
Note that everything interacts with electro magnetic fields to some degree. Even water can be picked up by a strong magnet if the ice is close enough to absolute zero.
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Monday April 13 2015, @06:30PM
I was thinking more of the physical effects. Would it, say, slowly crush a man to death while still giving him time to give up the names of his fellow MI6 agents?
This has nothing to do with a volcano I just bought.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk