Author: Fission Today

As the previous post discussed here, the City of Berkeley was granted until 5/31/23 to file a petition for rehearing en banc to the full 9th Circuit. Yesterday, the City of Berkeley filed its Petition for Rehearing En Banc. This sets in motion a period for the 9th Circuit to review and grant or deny rehearing that can range from 21 days to more than 150 days depending on procedural action. To grant rehearing, a majority of the 29 sitting 9th Circuit Judges must vote for rehearing. If granted, the three judge panel opinion issued on 4/17/ 23 is rescinded…

Going to the moon was one thing; going to Mars will be quite another. The distance alone is intimidating. While the moon is 238,855 miles away, the distance to Mars is between 33 million and 249 million miles. The propulsion systems that got us to the moon just won’t work.Taylor Hampson, a master’s student in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE), is well aware of the problem. It’s one of the many reasons he’s excited about his NASA-sponsored research into nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP).The technique uses nuclear energy to heat a propellant, like hydrogen, to an extremely high…

A new poll in Scotland shows that voters are against giving taxpayers money to arms manufacturers. This is despite a concerted propaganda push by the UK government criticising the Scottish Government’s restrictions on funds under its control going to arms for Israel. The poll by Find Out Now showed 44% of Scottish voters opposed public money going to arms companies, around 26% supported the idea, while around 31% said they didn’t know. The poll was commissioned in the light of the Scottish Government relaxing its total ban to allow funds for arming Ukraine which wasn’t enough to satisfy UK ministers,…

Statehouse Happenings This Week: Cheers to another great week in the legislature! This week brought advocates to Topeka to join Zack Pistora on conversations about community resiliency. Our final pre-WEALTH event will be Wed/Thur of this week with Rabbi Moti Rieber on the hot topic of the session: WATER! Last week both the Senate and the House heard ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) bills. The Senate version is extreme and would cost the state KPERS system more than $3 billion dollars. The House version is more carefully tailored and would not impose any mandates on businesses nor restrict their independent decision-making.…

Nuclear physicist and MIT Professor Emeritus Lee Grodzins died on March 6 at his home in the Maplewood Senior Living Community at Weston, Massachusetts. He was 98.   Grodzins was a pioneer in nuclear physics research. He was perhaps best known for the highly influential experiment determining the helicity of the neutrino, which led to a key understanding of what’s known as the weak interaction. He was also the founder of Niton Corp. and the nonprofit Cornerstones of Science, and was a co-founder of the Union of Concerned Scientists.He retired in 1999 after serving as an MIT physics faculty member for 40 years. As a member of the Laboratory for Nuclear…

Ushering In the Age of 1A Impunity: Venezuela, Palestine, and the End of International Law. The UN’s human rights rapporteurs are under a sustained campaign of slander and sanction. And even the UN Security Council has surrendered to the U.S. empire, as evidenced by its resolution 2803 in November of 2025, endorsing the wholly unlawful and baldly colonial plans of the Trump administration for Gaza.  the hand of the Israeli regime in supporting right-wing forces and destabilizing progressive governments in the region is by now well known. Israeli weapons, surveillance technology,  intelligence, training, and influence via Israel proxies in the region have been a…

The trade association representing for-profit electric utilities hosted utility regulators alongside industry lobbyists in a luxury Fenway Park suite for a Red Sox game on the sidelines of a regulators’ conference last July, according to public records obtained by the Energy and Policy Institute. The Edison Electric Institute (EEI) is the trade association for monopoly investor-owned electric utilities. With a $100 million revenue stream, funded in part by customers across the country, EEI works to advance the interests of its utility members through lobbying, advocacy, communications, advertising, and other activities. The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), which represents…

At MIT, a strong spirit of mentorship shapes how students learn, collaborate, and imagine the future. In a time of accelerating change — from breakthroughs in artificial intelligence to the evolving realities of global research and work — guidance for technical challenges and personal growth is more important than ever. The Committed to Caring (C2C) program recognizes the outstanding professors who extend this dedication beyond the classroom, nurturing resilience, curiosity, and compassion in a new generation of innovators. The latest cohort of C2C honorees exemplify these values, demonstrating the lasting impact that faculty can have on students’ academic and personal journeys.The…

Overcoming water-related challenges is inseparable from tackling energy-related issues. It takes lots of water to generate energy, for example to cool thermal power plants and nuclear reactors. Energy, in turn, is needed for water-related activities such as drilling, transportation, purification, desalination, and wastewater treatment. Because the relationship between water and energy is so close and complex, problems such as access, scarcity, or mismanagement of one can significantly affect the other. If water is scarce, this can hamper energy production and hinder efforts to cut carbon emissions. And energy production that ignores water limitations can lead to pollution, as seen in…

Energetica doesn’t have a single optimal strategy. Success depends on a player’s location, available resources, weather conditions, and the decisions of other players.For those curious to explore these complexities further, the Energetica wiki provides a detailed breakdown of the game’s mechanics, offering a glimpse into the depth and realism of its design.Teaching through playThe educational potential of games is immense but often overlooked, especially for adult learners. Energetica demonstrates how games can be used to teach complex topics in an accessible and engaging way. During a pilot test at ETH Zürich, students showed high levels of engagement, working together to understand…