Nuclear fusion is the process where light atomic nuclei combine to form heavier ones, releasing a gargantuan amount of energy. This very reaction is what powers the Sun and all other stars. Deep inside a star, extreme gravity and temperatures of millions of degrees force hydrogen nuclei to overcome their natural repulsion and fuse into helium. The mass of the resulting helium is slightly less than the combined mass of the original particles, and this lost mass is converted into pure radiative en

China just completed the world’s largest superconducting magnet built for a fusion reactor. Why is that a big deal? Because fusion reactors need incredibly powerful magnets to confine plasma heated to more than 100 million°C. The stronger and more capable those magnets become, the closer researchers can get to making fusion energy practical at scale. Sources to learn more: Chinese Academy of Sciences / Institute of Plasma Physics (ASIPP) “World’s Largest Fusion Magnet Completes Test” ITER “Magne