Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Fusion Energy Breakthrough

For the first time ever, scientists have been able to produce a nuclear fusion reaction that generates a net energy gain. This is, according to the Washington Post, “a major milestone in the decades-long, multibillion-dollar quest to develop a technology that provides unlimited, cheap, clean power.” This scientific breakthrough—which could ultimately support impoverished areas with power, and contribute to the fight against climate change—is set …

Smriti Keshari + Eric Schlosser’s 59-Minute Immersive Multimedia Experience, “the bomb”

An experimental film that warns of impending doom from the more than 13,000 nuclear warheads globally

the bomb—created by Smriti Keshari and Eric Schlosser—debuted in 2016, on the final night of the Tribeca Film Festival. The audience, standing huddled, watched as electronic band The Acid performed an album-length sonic experiment over a 360-degree visual accompaniment: archival footage and apocalyptic (yet informative) animations about nuclear weapons. Then it toured other festivals—the Berlin Film Festival, Glastonbury—and eventually appeared online for at-home viewers. Now, …

Link About It: This Week’s Picks

5,700-year-old chewing gum, pertinent plant discoveries, 2019's biggest innovations and more inspiration from the web

2019 Plant Discoveries Include a Cancer-Fighting Fungus and More 102 plants and eight fungi were officially named by experts at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in 2019 (roughly 2,000 new species are named worldwide every year). Among the roster of the recently identified are a few additions with remarkable attributes, including a bamboo fungus from Yunnan that can fight cancer; a “miracle” berry, from the …