The Most Incredible Science Events Of 2016

Germany’s Successful Fusion Reactor

For decades, science fiction authors have predicted the Earth would soon be powered entirely by fusion reactors. This type of nuclear technology has so far evaded real-world scientists due to the technical difficulties of maintaining a stable temperature inside fusion reactors. This technology was finally made a reality in 2016, when a team of German and American scientists successfully tested the Wendelstein 7-X (W 7-X) stellarator, an advanced nuclear fusion reactor which creates conditions similar to those on the surface of the Sun. The reactor uses powerful magnetic fields to create a spiral-shaped field of 100-million-degree-Celsius (180 million degree Fahrenheit) plasma.