Get excited... press conference from @ENERGY on fusion results from the US National Ignition Facility @lasers_llnl on Tuesday with a potentially HUGE #nuclearfusion announcement: FT reporting that NIF has hit scientific net energy gain!
on.ft.com/3PgDdya #TheStarBuilders Rumours have been circulating that this is what happened but I understand no official confirmation as yet—but numbers might be as much as 120% of net energy gain.

If this is true, we are witnessing a moment of history: controlling the power source of the stars is the greatest..

Nuclear fusion is much closer than you think!

A short 🧵👇🏾

(You can find pretty much everything in this thread in #thestarbuilders book: aeturrell.com/#writing) First, what is nuclear fusion? It's a reaction that literally creates new atoms from old: lighter nuclei (say types of hydrogen) are smashed together to make heavier nuclei—and LOTS of energy. And the energy comes from an equation you already know! (Yes the one by Einstein)

#economicsfest #EconTwitter: "What next for central banks?" with @bankofengland's Chief Economist Huw Pill and @jagjit_chadha. First Q: where is inflation coming from and what should central banks do about it? Huw: "we would have acted differently with the benefit of hindsight... but I think we got the big picture right" also talking about the need for humility, and that "big things" have happened. "The big story is about gas prices".

Today, @ONS & @DataSciCampus publish an article tracking the prices of the lowest-cost grocery items using web-scraping, inspired by @BootstrapCook & other campaigners who have rightly asked about the #costofliving experiences of the poorest in society. Here's what we found 🧵 First: a caveat. This is highly experimental research, as web-scraping supermarket data for 30 grocery items can go wrong in multiple ways! But even though this is experimental, we thought it was really important to talk about it and the results. 2/n
#datascience #econtwitter

#BREAKING #fusion #news: The National Ignition Facility (@LLnL) has reported a *twenty-five times* increase in energy released as compared to their 2018 world record for laser fusion: 1.3 MJ out for 1.92 MJ in, a 67.7% gain in energy!! 🤯
llnl.gov/news/national-…

#TheStarBuilders This is MASSIVE. It’s so close to energy breakeven that it’s now almost inevitable that NIF will make history and be the first to hit 100%, showing that #fusion is not just a power source for the stars, but that it *could* work on Earth too. Here I am touring the NIF with Bruno:

People think a *net energy gain* nuclear fusion experiment is a long way off (as far as the Sun, the nearest fusion reactor). Researching #TheStarBuilders, I discovered extraordinary progress... hold on to your seats for a 🧵on fusion #physics and advances in #fusionenergy! 1/n What's net energy? It's putting 1 unit of energy into a fusion machine & getting *more* than 1 unit out. Breakeven in energy = same out as was put in. Scientists refer to percentages: 100% for breakeven, >100% for net energy gain. Gain is like a single match lighting a big fire🔥

Ok, we're all tired of the neverending count, so here's something completely different:

10 less well-known code packages; the fun, the useful, and the unexpected.

🧵below.

#EconTwitter #DataScience #RStats #Python #PyData 1. Jazzit. “Ever wanted your scripts to play music while running/ on erroring out? Of course you didn’t. But here it is anyway”

Yes, Jazzit laughs at your expense when your code hits an error, here via a clip from curb your enthusiasm. github.com/Sangarshanan/j…

(see also: beepy)