[This is mysterious. Okay here is part 2 again, slightly reformatted.
If this does not work I shall break this segment into two parts,]
Mizuno's Hydrogen Experiment
Mizuno presented the creosote in hydrogen experiment that he
presented at ICCF-14 in more detail, from a paper that has been
accepted for publication. He has made more progress recently with a
scaled up device and different catalysts, both platinum and nickel.
He hopes to present these newer results soon. Mizuno has invited me
to visit again. If the gadget works well enough, i.e. with no input
power, I hope to go to Sapporo and have a first-hand look.
Mizuno is officially retired from Hokkaido U. At Japanese national
universities, retired professors are not allowed to stick around the
campus. They usually get a job in a corporation or private
university. Mizuno's friends and former students managed to make an
exception for him, and they found him a small space to work in. He
has no salary and he has to pay out of his own pocket for newly
fabricated equipment, new instruments, and things like mass
spectroscopy performed at corporations, which can cost thousands of
dollars per run. However, this arrangement is good because it gives
him some access to instruments, experts, and discounted services and
consultation with corporations affiliated with the university. Some
of these corporations have been collaborating with Mizuno for many
years and they continue to assist him gratis. So he is better
positioned than most retired professors.
More Funding and Support, Although Political Opposition Still Strong
As I said, along with good wishes from the Physical and Chemical
societies, there seems to be an upsurge of funding in the EU and the
US, especially from the U.S. military agencies such as DARPA.
Scaramuzzi and others who have not been funded for 5 or 10 years are
now funded and back at work. U.S. Navy researchers have been doing
cold fusion for many years, "under the radar" as they themselves say.
They are more visible, openly registering at conferences and
presenting results. Regrettably, the SPAWAR Navy group did not send
anyone to the conference.
The extent of the turnaround is perhaps best illustrated by the fact
that U.S. Navy China Lake lab has even invited Melvin Miles to return
and resume his work in cold fusion. This is remarkable because when
he published positive results years ago, they punished him by
reassigning him as a stock clerk, and by attacking and ridiculing him
until he got disgusted and took early retirement. Miles was a
Distinguished Fellow of the Institute so this was extraordinarily
harsh treatment. Most of the management of the Institute has been
replaced by now, but some of the people who attacked him are still there.
To give an example of how we are not out of the woods yet, months ago
Takahashi was invited to submit a paper to a major journal. He went
to a lot of trouble to write a comprehensive paper. As he was
finishing it up a few weeks ago, plasma fusion researchers found out
about it and prevailed upon the editors to rescind the invitation. (I
hope this paper will soon be published elsewhere. Takahashi has
already granted me permission to upload it to LENR-CANR.org.) I think
this academic battle is still in the balance, and cold fusion might
still be suppressed and forgotten. Opponents show no signs of backing down.
Still, there has been a turnaround of sorts, and I have the
impression that much of it is thanks to the CBS "60 Minutes"
broadcast in April 2009. This opened many doors. Apparently, many
high level decision-makers in the scientific establishment are more
influenced by the mass media than by a body of peer-reviewed
scientific papers proving that cold fusion is real. The broadcast and
the turnaround were brought about by dedicated, patient, behind the
scenes arrangements made by some scientists who support cold fusion.
They are well known to me, but wish to remain anonymous for obvious
reasons. They are to be congratulated. The turnaround and new support
is also thanks to lectures and statements by Robert Duncan after he
was featured on "60 Minutes," and also to recent technical progress,
especially with nanoparticle gas loaded devices.
There was a vigorous debate during an open discussion period
regarding how to present the progress in cold fusion to the public
and the scientific community. (This was recorded on the DVD.) People
from funding agencies prefer to characterize the work as purely
scientific with no likely practical use. McKubre and a few others say
that there is evidence the effect may be practical, and it would
intellectually dishonest not to mention that. Plus, McKubre said he
would not devote most of his career to a scientific anomaly with no
practical significance. If he did not think cold fusion might become
a practical source of energy, he would not be involved in it. During
the "60 Minutes" program McKubre said similar things, and Duncan said
the kind of things the funding agency directors now say. I support
McKubre's side, but I grant the other side has valid points.
Renewed Interest in Japan
The ICCF-14 Japanese country history by Kasagi and Iwamura says that
research in Japan is practically moribund and that in a few years the
last researcher will retire.
<http://lenr-canr.org/acrobat/KasagiJcountryhis.pdf>http://lenr-canr.org/acrobat/KasagiJcountryhis.pdf
However, several young Japanese researchers attended the conference
and they took exception to this. They said they are expecting 20 or
30 groups to show up at JCF society meeting next April, including
many young people. They have also set a new rule that only new data
can be presented at the JCF, not a rehash of previously reported results.
I do not know why the country history is so pessimistic. Perhaps more
people have joined the field lately, or perhaps Kasagi and Iwamura
were unaware of this other research.
Proceedings May Or May Not Be Published Online
It is unclear whether the Proceedings will be made available online
or not. The Conference Chairman, Vittorio Violante, told me that the
ENEA is a giant bureaucratic organization with thousands of people in
it and he does not know what their rules are, although he works
there. (Needless to say, the ENEA has never heard of me or
LENR-CANR.org, although some ENEA researchers have gotten the
organization to grant permission to me to upload some papers, but not others.)
The conference steering committee, the IAC, formed a publication
committee consisting of Jean-Paul Biberian, Mahadeva Srinivasan and
me. The IAC told us they want us to decide: where and how they should
be published; and whether an ordinary copyright should be applied, or
a Creative Commons Attribution Licenses (CCAL) should be applied.
Apparently the ENEA is unaware of this committee and plans to publish
by their normal methods, presumably in a printed book only. A total
of 85 copies of the ICCF-10 and ICCF-11 proceedings books have sold,
so printing and selling copies of cold fusion papers, without making
them available online, is tantamount to burying them. I have written
to Violante asking him to clarify the situation and tell us whether
the committee will decide these things or the ENEA will, but he has
not yet had a chance to respond. If I have any say in the matter the
Proceedings will be made freely available in electronic format.
Too Much Spooky Food
The conference featured three gala events which is 2.5 too many for
me. In Europe these events start hours behind schedule and go way
past my bedtime, and they feature lavish quantities of haute cuisine
that smells like cat food. So I normally skip them and save the
money. In this case, either I accidently paid for these events, or
the ENEA accidentally gave me tickets for free. So out of curiosity I
attended, and stayed about as long as the (other) infants in
attendance. The company was delightful needless to say. But I think
it is a bad idea to hold such lavish events because it drives up the
cost, wastes time, and people are groggy the next day. Also this
discourages or precludes attendance by young people and grad
students. I think ICCF conferences should be held in universities in
cheap and easily accessible locations where they have cheap
restaurants and student unions conveniently located nearby. Yokohama
National University and Tsinghua U. were good choices. I do not see
why we cannot hold the conference in these places again. Rome, Italy
is too expensive and too distracting. Rome, Georgia would be too far
out of the way. Someplace like George Washington U. would be a good choice.
Next Conference
The next conference will be held in Chennai, India in early 2011. It
will be chaired by Srinivasan. As much as I like Srinivasan, I feel
this is a mistake because there is no cold fusion research underway
in India, and India is distant and inconvenient for most researchers.
A year ago I would have said the researchers will likely all be
retired, incapacitated or dead by 2011 but there were several in
attendance who are younger than me, and even some younger than my
children, so perhaps there is hope for this field after all.
- Jed
