Chasing the Con Man

An interesting (if somewhat long) article in PopSci about chasing down Andrea Rossi, one of the leading con men behind LENR (Low Energy Nuclear Reactions) -- formerly known as cold fusion. There are still people pushing at it because there are still a few true believers left in the bleachers. And those believers have money, some of it our tax money. I find it quite worrying that one of them is the chief scientist at Langley Research Center:

On the last day of the conference, Dennis Bushnell, chief scientist at Langley Research Center, summed up the state of LENR research. Guys like Rossi play a crucial role, for better or for worse. “This will go directly from the garage, the Edisonian experiments, to market, bypassing the science and the rigorous engineering research,” Bushnell said. “And there are major investors ready to move on this—an amazing number—given a credible third-party seal of approval. I mean, this can move fast. If we ever get a credible assessment in the kilowatt range”—one kilowatt will power ten 100-watt lightbulbs—“the world changes overnight.” Bushnell paused and took a sip of water. “We have so screwed up this planet,” he said, raising his voice. “This is one of the few things I know of that’s capable for atoning for our sins.” (emphasis mine)

So one of the senior scientists in NASA is an environmentalist wacko and a misanthrope. That's just great.

Remind me again why we're still funding NASA?