DOE to reconsider cold fusion research

The Department of Energy's Office of Science is planning to do a review of research into cold fusion. Science Office officials have indicated that they will set up a board to review the appropriateness of the research, and, if satisfied about the quality of the findings, the review panel could recommend that the government fund scientists studying cold fusion. Federal support for cold fusion stopped long ago, after 1989 claims by electrochemists B. Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann that they had observed fusion in a tabletop experiment using deuterated water and palladium electrodes were found to be unverifiable. But some researchers continued working in the area, and supporters of cold fusion have been trying the make the field more acceptable (C&EN, Aug. 25, 2003, page 33). Cold fusion researchers made a presentation of latest results to Science Office Deputy Director James F. Decker at a meeting last fall, and that meeting led to the decision to review the work further.