In this week’s edition of The Prototype, we look at new advances in fusion power, how the new budget bill undermines clean energy, a new trick to treat autoimmune diseases and more. You can sign up to get The Prototype in your inbox here.
View of the research reactor Wendelstein 7-X
dpa/picture alliance via Getty Images
Two different fusion experiments in Europe have recently set records–and may be bringing the world closer to real fusion power. One is the Wendelstein 7-X, which is at the Max Planck Institute in Germany. The other is the Joint European Torus (JET), which was retired at the end of 2023 but whose final experimental data haven’t been published yet.
The two projects used different approaches to contain superheated plasma–isotopes of hydrogen that are hotter than the Sun’s surface–for a relatively long period of time. The Wendelstein 7-X contained it for about 43 seconds, many times more than it had been able to do before. And the JET achieved containment for nearly a full minute.
These are crucial steps to achieve a sustained and continuous fusion reaction, which is necessary to use it as a power source. The challenge is being able to control something at such high temperatures without destroying the reactor unit. Wendelstein 7-X uses a design concept called a stellarator, which holds the plasma using magnetic fields generated by superconductors. The researchers at the fusion power project now have a new goal of containing the plasma for half an hour.
P.S. There will be no edition of the Prototype next week. I’ll see you all on July 18!
Red States–And AI–Are Big Losers From Trump’s Clean Energy Massacre
Charlie Riedel/AP File
President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed the House and Senate this week. And one major consequence is that it will cut the legs out from under the renewable energy industry.
The biggest hit: The bill would quickly phase out federal tax credits that have for years enabled wind and solar developers to offset 30% or more of project costs. Yes, it could have been even worse. At the last minute, the Senate’s Republican leadership ditched a proposed excise tax on wind and solar projects using Chinese components which could have added 20% to the cost of many projects. But it left in a fast phase-out of the tax credits.
Uncertainty, and the looming end of federally subsidized tax equity financing, could plunge renewables investing into a deep freeze, says Sandhya Ganapathy, CEO of Houston-based EDP Renewables North America (which operates wind and solar plants). “It severely hamstrings the U.S. ability to meet skyrocketing power demands and dilutes its economic competitiveness on the global stage,” she says.
Read more in Forbes.
DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK: TURNING OFF CELLS IN AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES
An international team of researchers has engineered a protein capable of turning off the immune cells that attack the body in diseases such as multiple sclerosis or type 1 diabetes, without weakening the immune system as a whole. The antibody they designed attaches to the T-cells involved in these diseases in such a way that deactivates them, preventing them from attacking the body’s own cells anymore. But because it’s specific to the cells that cause disease, it doesn’t attach to other T-cells in the body, which can remain active to ward off infection, cancer and other hazards.
FINAL FRONTIER: AN INTERSTELLAR COMET ENTERS THE SOLAR SYSTEM
Astronomers have discovered a comet in our solar system that they believe came from interstellar space. This is only the third such object to have been discovered since 2017. The comet, which is about 12 miles in diameter, was first noted earlier this week. It won’t be traveling anywhere near Earth, though it will come close to Mars. It’s expected to leave the solar system in October.
WHAT ELSE I WROTE THIS WEEK
In my other newsletter, InnovationRx, Amy Feldman and I looked at the millions of patients who will lose health insurance under the new budget bill, a startup that built a hospital in India to test its AI software, a next-generation obesity drug, and more.
For the Forbes Breaking News YouTube channel, I interviewed vaccine expert Paul Offit at last week’s meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which provides recommendations regarding vaccine administration. This is the first meeting with new members appointed by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., several of whom have spread misinformation about vaccines in the past.
SCIENCE AND TECH TIDBITS
Digital startup Pi Health has built a hospital in India to demonstrate the effectiveness of its software platform, which uses AI to recruit patients to clinical trials of new drugs.
Google signed an agreement with fusion power startup Commonwealth Fusion Systems. Under the deal’s terms, Google will have access to 200 MW of power from the startup’s inaugural plant, which is being built in Virginia and expects to go online in the next decade.
SpaceX hit a rocket milestone this week, launching a Falcon 9 rocket for the 500th time on Wednesday. It was the 29th launch for the first stage of that rocket, which landed successfully.
Researchers made edible lasers, which might prove to be useful one day as sensors to monitor and track food or medicine intake.
A new gene therapy was able to restore hearing for toddlers and young adults who were congenitally deaf, though the research indicates the best results were seen in patients aged 5-8.
PRO SCIENCE TIP: HAVING NIGHTMARES? MAYBE LAY OFF DAIRY
If you’re having trouble sleeping and having bad dreams, the cheese you had before bedtime might be the culprit, according to a new study published this week in Frontiers in Psychology. To arrive at this conclusion, researchers surveyed over 1,000 college students about their sleep quality and eating habits, and found that students with lactose intolerance were more likely to have nightmares. The researchers suggest this may be because gas pains or other discomfort might impact their dreams. Next up, the scientists plan to study people from a more diverse population to determine if the findings hold.
WHAT’S ENTERTAINING ME THIS WEEK
Every Fourth of July, it’s my own personal tradition to watch the movie 1776, based on the Broadway musical. It is a fantastic, warts-and-all presentation of the Second Continental Congress and its work to finally vote for independence from Great Britain. The movie features a number of great performances, particularly Howard Da Silva as Ben Franklin, Donald Madden as John Dickinson and of course the incomparable William Daniels as John Adams.
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