7 ms·

The MIT Club of Northern California posted a video a few years ago on this exact topic and reactor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkpqA8yG9T4 https://www.you

The MIT Club of Northern California posted a video a few years ago on this exact topic and reactor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkpqA8yG9T4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkpqA8yG9T4 This thing came out of MIT, at least according to the video, and was really the collective efforts of a bunch of MIT grad students who made the breakthrough partially by taking a very Silicon Valley startup approach of using off-the-shelf parts, experimenting with new ideas, and starting small. I don't know if Professor Whyte framed it that way to appeal to the crowd or not.

aqme28 6y ago
I haven't seen that one, but here's another talk on the same topic in the context of fusion energy broadly, by some people involved https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0KuAx1COEk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0KuAx1COEk
elihu 6y ago
Here's a more recent (1 year old) talk that gives a bit of a progress update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY6U4wB-oYM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY6U4wB-oYM
- Kliment 6y ago
  Here is an even more recent (last month) update https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8uYNhevRtk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8uYNhevRtk tl;dw: SPARC is on track to Q=9, and there will be a magnet demonstrator in June, this year
  - dylan604 6y ago
    How in January 2021 after a full year of pandemic lockdowns and video conferences, has someone hosting something like this not invested in a microphone?
    - strstr 6y ago
      They are a post-doc? They probably don’t see it is a priority in their budget.
    - tjr225 6y ago
      Most laptops and phones already have a microphone or two.
      - fy20 6y ago
        You missed "rather terrible". The other day someone on our sales team did a presentation to the company, and they used the microphone on a $3 headset - I practically couldn't hear half the things they said because the audio was so muffled. This is someone who has calls with people all day! If you record any audio or make calls with people outside your organisation, for the love of God, please invest in some sort of microphone upgrade. Even the $20 no-name Chinese microphones you get on Amazon are miles better than what is built into laptops.
        callesgg 6y ago
        While I agree with you get a better microphone. Buying Chinese crap is a lottery I bought my self a Chinese condenser microphone 60usd that thing is worse than my iPhone headset. My lesson when it comes to buying quality is to only buy name brand things.
        anoncake 6y ago
        > If you record any audio or make calls with people outside your organisation, ... please ask your employer to invest in some sort of microphone upgrade. Unless you're self-employed, paying for work equipment is not your responsibility.
        numpad0 6y ago
        Sound dampening as well. Fabric lined partitions, just sitting angled to walls, etc. $3 headset isn’t the end of the world by itself but capping at $3 total invested in setup is surely going to ruin the sound.
azernik 6y ago
As far as I can tell that framing is probably for crowd appeal. The real breakthrough here is the availability of high-magnetic-field superconductors, which push the size requirements for break-even down a lot and so put construction costs in reach of private investment. (This is why MIT is at the center of the work - they have a really good materials science program that's good at working with these finicky ReBCO tapes.)

aqme28 6y ago

I haven't seen that one, but here's another talk on the same topic in the context of fusion energy broadly, by some people involved https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0KuAx1COEk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0KuAx1COEk

elihu 6y ago

Here's a more recent (1 year old) talk that gives a bit of a progress update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY6U4wB-oYM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY6U4wB-oYM

Kliment 6y ago
Here is an even more recent (last month) update https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8uYNhevRtk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8uYNhevRtk tl;dw: SPARC is on track to Q=9, and there will be a magnet demonstrator in June, this year
- dylan604 6y ago
  How in January 2021 after a full year of pandemic lockdowns and video conferences, has someone hosting something like this not invested in a microphone?
  - strstr 6y ago
    They are a post-doc? They probably don’t see it is a priority in their budget.
  - tjr225 6y ago
    Most laptops and phones already have a microphone or two.
    - fy20 6y ago
      You missed "rather terrible". The other day someone on our sales team did a presentation to the company, and they used the microphone on a $3 headset - I practically couldn't hear half the things they said because the audio was so muffled. This is someone who has calls with people all day! If you record any audio or make calls with people outside your organisation, for the love of God, please invest in some sort of microphone upgrade. Even the $20 no-name Chinese microphones you get on Amazon are miles better than what is built into laptops.
      - callesgg 6y ago
        While I agree with you get a better microphone. Buying Chinese crap is a lottery I bought my self a Chinese condenser microphone 60usd that thing is worse than my iPhone headset. My lesson when it comes to buying quality is to only buy name brand things.
      - anoncake 6y ago
        > If you record any audio or make calls with people outside your organisation, ... please ask your employer to invest in some sort of microphone upgrade. Unless you're self-employed, paying for work equipment is not your responsibility.
      - numpad0 6y ago
        Sound dampening as well. Fabric lined partitions, just sitting angled to walls, etc. $3 headset isn’t the end of the world by itself but capping at $3 total invested in setup is surely going to ruin the sound.

azernik 6y ago

As far as I can tell that framing is probably for crowd appeal. The real breakthrough here is the availability of high-magnetic-field superconductors, which push the size requirements for break-even down a lot and so put construction costs in reach of private investment. (This is why MIT is at the center of the work - they have a really good materials science program that's good at working with these finicky ReBCO tapes.)