How the pistol shrimp inspired a fusion startup

There are some who believe that energy gain from fusion will always be just out of reach, a mirage on the horizon that humanity is doomed to pursue forever in vain. However, the promise of limitless clean energy is difficult to ignore. It’s an elusive prize that attracts some of science and engineering’s brightest minds, not to mention vast sums of investment. But as billions are spent in the search for energy’s Holy Grail, UK startup First Light Fusion is aiming to crack the code on a shoestring, and do so within just a few short years.

In theoretical terms, the basic science behind fusion is relatively straightforward. Hydrogen isotopes (deuterium and tritium) are forced together to form helium, expelling vast amounts of neutron energy as they fuse. While the physics may be simple, creating the conditions for the reaction to occur is anything but. It’s the same process that powers stars, where enormous temperatures and pressures are at work. Replicating those conditions on Earth is a huge challenge, and one that has spawned massively complex machines such as ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) in France and the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator in Germany.