The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current, December 14, 2022, Image 12

Historic Oregon Newspapers

The Bulletin., December 14, 2022, Page 12, Image 12

Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR

About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 14, 2022)

Prev Page of 14 Next Prev Issue Text PDF JP2 (1.4 MB) Clip/Print Image

Return to Top

Prev Page of 14 Next Prev Issue

Newspaper Page TextA12 THE BULLETIN • WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2022 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022 TONIGHT TODAY HIGH 33° THURSDAY LOW 12° 29° 9° Clear to partly cloudy and cold Chilly with clouds and sun TEMPERATURE High Low Normal Record 41° 59° in 1924 23° -22° in 1919 PRECIPITATION 24-hour total 0.00" Record 2.20" in 2015 Month to date (normal) 0.25" (0.86") Year to date (normal) 4.62" (9.42") Barometric pressure at 4 p.m. 30.11" SUN, MOON AND PLANETS Rise/Set Today Thursday Sun 7:32am/4:27pm 7:33am/4:27pm Moon 10:41pm/12:03pm 11:45pm/12:23pm Mercury 9:06am/5:38pm 9:07am/5:41pm Venus 8:36am/5:18pm 8:38am/5:20pm Mars 3:31pm/7:13am 3:26pm/7:07am Jupiter 12:37pm/12:32am 12:33pm/12:28am Saturn 11:09am/9:09pm 11:05am/9:06pm Uranus 2:18pm/4:35am 2:14pm/4:31am Last New First Full Dec 16 Dec 23 Dec 29 Jan 6 Tonight's sky: The Geminids Meteor Shower peaks. Source: Jim Todd, OMSI UV INDEX TODAY 10 a.m. Noon 2 p.m. 4 p.m. 1 1 2 0 The higher the AccuWeather.com UV Index ™ number, the greater the need for eye and skin protection. 0-2 Low, 3-5 Moderate; 6-7 High; 8-10 Very High; 11+ Extreme. ROAD CONDITONS For web cameras of our passes, go to www.bendbulletin.com/webcams I-84 at Cabbage Hill: Cloudy and cold today with a bit of snow. Rather cloudy tonight. US 20 at Santiam Pass: Clouds and sun today. Mainly clear tonight. Clouds and sun tomorrow. US 26 at Gov't Camp: Clouds and sun today. Partly cloudy tonight. Clouds and sun tomorrow. US 26 at Ochoco Divide: Chilly today with times of clouds and sun. Mainly clear tonight. ORE 58 at Willamette Pass: Times of clouds and sun today. Partly cloudy and cold tonight. ORE 138 at Diamond Lake: Chilly today with clouds and sun. Clear to partly cloudy tonight. SKI REPORT 38° 26° Increasing cloudiness EAST: Mostly cloudy and colder today; a bit of snow in the north. Cold in the south tonight. NATIONAL Hood River Tuesday Today Thursday Tuesday Today Thursday City Hi/Lo/Prec. Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W City Hi/Lo/Prec. Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W City Portland Astoria 45/39/0.00 46/29/s 45/31/s La Grande 37/31/0.00 31/15/sn 28/9/pc Prineville La Pine 29/14/0.00 33/8/pc 30/8/pc Baker City 37/25/0.00 30/8/sn 25/6/pc Redmond Medford 40/29/Tr 46/26/pc 43/27/pc Brookings 49/39/0.00 52/38/s 54/37/pc Roseburg Newport 45/32/Tr 46/28/s 46/32/s Burns 28/6/0.00 24/-5/c 18/-7/c Salem North Bend 48/33/Tr 49/31/s 50/31/pc Eugene 44/33/0.00 43/29/s 39/25/pc Sisters Ontario 43/35/0.00 29/15/sn 27/14/c Klamath Falls 25/8/0.00 30/7/pc 26/5/pc The Dalles Pendleton 39/29/0.00 31/22/sn 30/17/c Lakeview 28/4/0.00 32/4/pc 26/-1/pc Weather(W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice, Tr-trace Tuesday Hi/Lo/Prec. 40/30/0.00 30/10/0.00 33/9/0.00 41/34/0.00 45/29/0.00 35/8/0.00 44/29/0.00 Today Hi/Lo/W 45/30/pc 33/9/pc 33/9/pc 43/30/pc 42/27/s 34/13/pc 37/25/c Thursday Hi/Lo/W 41/29/pc 28/4/pc 30/4/pc 41/30/pc 42/26/s 31/11/pc 31/23/c 90s 100s 110s NATIONAL WEATHER -10s -0s 0s 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s Base 38-38 52-52 49-49 43-43 64-78 42-46 69-69 31-45 28-39 77-135 0-80 55-55 55-70 70s 80s NATIONAL EXTREMES TUESDAY (for the 48 Tuesday City Hi/Lo/Prec. Abilene 67/51/0.12 Akron 40/30/0.00 Albany 34/9/0.00 Albuquerque 39/24/0.00 Anchorage 20/5/0.06 Atlanta 51/48/0.00 Atlantic City 43/27/0.00 Austin 80/67/Tr Baltimore 44/30/0.00 Billings 19/13/0.10 Birmingham 57/54/0.00 Bismarck 30/28/0.43 Boise 35/20/0.00 Boston 41/26/0.00 Bridgeport, CT 41/22/0.00 Buffalo 34/23/0.00 Burlington, VT 30/10/0.00 Caribou, ME 24/15/0.02 Charleston, SC 57/42/0.00 Charlotte 49/37/0.00 Chattanooga 57/40/0.00 Cheyenne 19/11/0.02 Chicago 38/35/0.00 Cincinnati 45/30/0.00 Cleveland 40/32/0.00 Colorado Springs 30/23/0.01 Columbia, MO 54/35/1.05 Columbia, SC 53/39/0.00 Columbus, GA 58/54/0.00 Columbus, OH 41/34/0.00 Concord, NH 37/11/0.00 Corpus Christi 85/70/0.00 Dallas 69/62/0.75 Dayton 40/34/0.00 Denver 24/20/0.17 Des Moines 41/32/1.21 Detroit 35/30/0.00 Duluth 32/29/0.00 El Paso 51/36/0.05 Fairbanks 9/-13/Tr Fargo 33/30/0.53 Flagstaff 28/12/0.03 Grand Rapids 34/30/0.00 Green Bay 35/33/0.00 Greensboro 43/31/0.00 Harrisburg 39/27/0.00 Hartford, CT 39/10/0.00 Helena 24/12/0.00 Honolulu 84/73/Tr Houston 79/67/0.03 Huntsville 56/49/0.00 Indianapolis 43/32/0.00 Jackson, MS 71/60/0.00 Jacksonville 68/53/0.00 Today Thursday Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W 59/32/s 52/31/s 40/37/c 44/33/r 32/21/s 36/32/pc 41/21/pc 40/21/s 22/19/sn 27/0/c 53/50/t 59/37/sh 45/33/s 49/45/r 69/38/pc 65/38/s 44/31/pc 47/41/r 28/15/c 27/17/c 65/44/r 56/37/sh 28/17/sn 21/12/sn 27/15/sn 23/12/pc 39/32/s 42/39/pc 37/29/s 41/39/pc 33/25/pc 37/35/sn 31/26/pc 39/32/pc 38/34/sn 37/26/c 61/58/c 72/43/r 47/42/sh 51/35/r 52/46/r 58/36/sh 25/13/sn 21/9/c 45/35/r 40/30/sf 49/43/r 48/32/c 42/38/c 44/33/r 38/13/pc 31/13/s 49/30/s 37/25/c 48/46/c 66/37/r 65/54/t 65/37/sh 44/40/r 51/31/r 34/24/s 41/32/pc 74/41/pc 70/51/s 60/37/pc 54/34/s 44/42/r 49/32/r 38/12/c 33/10/pc 39/28/c 34/21/sf 39/36/c 47/31/r 31/29/sn 32/25/sn 51/29/pc 53/30/s 15/-2/pc 10/-25/sn 34/29/sn 31/18/sn 34/5/s 36/8/s 39/35/r 43/31/r 37/33/sn 37/26/sn 47/38/sh 42/33/r 39/29/pc 35/35/sn 36/23/s 39/35/pc 27/9/sn 21/9/sf 83/66/pc 83/68/pc 67/42/pc 66/41/s 61/43/r 56/34/pc 48/36/r 45/29/c 70/43/r 62/37/s 76/63/c 73/44/t Amsterdam Athens Auckland Baghdad Bangkok Beijing Beirut Berlin Bogota Budapest Buenos Aires Cabo San Lucas Cairo Calgary Cancun Dublin Edinburgh Geneva Harare Hong Kong Istanbul Jerusalem Johannesburg Lima Lisbon London Madrid Manila 34/27/s 61/57/c 71/64/r 73/57/c 86/68/s 32/16/s 70/60/sh 30/19/s 65/46/pc 33/30/c 89/69/s 76/47/pc 75/60/s 29/9/c 84/76/c 38/25/s 33/23/s 47/39/r 81/61/t 56/51/r 53/48/c 59/50/c 76/57/t 78/66/c 61/52/t 36/24/c 56/48/t 87/78/t Shown are today’s noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. Rain Showers Snow Flurries Ice Warm Front Stationary Front Cold Front Source: OnTheSnow.com 32/23/0.00 64/52/0.02 83/60/0.14 72/55/0.00 84/72/0.00 27/17/0.00 72/64/0.00 30/25/0.00 66/46/0.01 36/23/0.00 79/63/0.00 79/57/0.00 72/63/0.00 34/5/0.00 84/67/0.00 37/28/0.02 28/17/0.00 33/27/0.21 82/61/0.08 58/53/0.04 46/45/0.37 63/50/0.00 71/59/0.06 76/66/0.00 67/63/1.37 35/28/0.00 61/54/1.15 90/79/0.06 41/24/s 69/57/pc 75/66/r 70/54/pc 86/70/s 33/8/pc 70/61/sh 29/23/pc 66/44/pc 38/35/c 79/60/pc 78/48/s 76/59/s 32/8/c 86/71/s 37/25/s 34/24/s 44/38/r 80/61/t 62/57/r 61/57/r 63/51/s 79/59/t 77/66/c 60/54/sh 37/25/s 53/43/sh 88/78/t Ranching Fusion Continued from A11 Continued from A11 That’s equivalent to remov- ing 1.3 billon cars from the road for one year. “We know ranchers can be part of the climate solution while also supporting clean water and wildlife habitat,” said Dan Probert, marketing director for Country Natu- ral Beef. “We’ve seen it, and we’ve done it. Now we’re go- ing to measure it, track it and prove it.” The first step, Probert said, is to gather baseline data from each individual ranch, with help from Sustainable Northwest. Dallas Hall Defrees, regen- erative ranching program di- rector for the nonprofit, said that work involves assessing bare ground, composition of grasses, soil organic matter and water infiltration, among other metrics for healthy eco- systems. Once the initial data is in hand, Defrees said they can then prescribe specific man- agement practices for ranches to improve — things like rotating cows to avoid over- grazing pastures, and adding cover crops to avoid erosion and water runoff. After five years, Defrees said they will revisit each ranch to quantify the benefits. “I think a lot of times, ranchers are focused on the task at hand,” she said. “So, I think it’s really beneficial to But researchers said the an- nouncement marked a signifi- cant advance nonetheless. “It’s almost like it’s a starting gun going off,” said professor Dennis Whyte, director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a leader in fusion research. “We should be pushing towards making fusion energy systems available to tackle climate change and energy security.” Kim Budil, director of the Livermore Lab, said there are “very significant hurdles” to commercial use of fusion technology, but advances in recent years mean the technol- ogy is likely to be widely used in “a few decades” rather than 50 or 60 years as previously expected. Fusion works by pressing hydrogen atoms into each other with such force that they combine into helium, releas- ing enormous amounts of en- ergy and heat. Unlike other nuclear reactions, it doesn’t create radioactive waste. President Joe Biden called the breakthrough a good ex- ample of the need to continue to invest in research and de- velopment. “Look what’s going on from the Department of Energy on the nuclear front. There’s a lot of good news on the horizon,” he said at the White House. Billions of dollars and de- cades of work have gone into fusion research that has pro- duced exhilarating results — for fractions of a second. Previously, researchers at the National Ignition Facility, the division of Lawrence Liver- more where the success took place, used 192 lasers and temperatures multiple times hotter than the center of the sun to create an extremely brief fusion reaction. The lasers focus an enor- mous amount of heat on a small metal can. The result is a superheated plasma environ- ment where fusion may occur. Riccardo Betti, a professor at the University of Rochester and expert in laser fusion, said there’s a long road ahead be- fore the net energy gain leads to sustainable electricity. He likened the break- through to when humans first George Plaven/Capital Press Cows graze in pasture at Dan Barnhart’s small ranch near Philomath. Members of Country Natural Beef have begun collecting baseline data for a new regenerative ranching program, called Grazewell. look at the science over a five- year period to see, was this thing I was doing working? Was it working as well as I was hoping?” About 40 ranches will be enrolled in Grazewell each year, starting with members of Country Natural Beef and several tribe-owned ranches. The USDA grant also covers educational programs, train- ing and peer-to-peer working groups for producers. For Barnhart, he said his ranch will likely be enrolled in 2023. He raises about 60 yearling cows each year for Country Natural Beef. Barnhart already practices rotational grazing, dividing his pasture into smaller pad- docks where cows graze for a few days before they are moved. This allows forage in grazed paddocks time to regrow, increasing the land’s productivity. “The soil here is the basis of what my farm will pro- duce,” Barnhart said. “The better care I can take of the Chipmaker Continued from A11 “Unfortunately, it was out of our hands.” Oregon is competing with other states for a share of $52 billion in federal CHIPS Act money, subsidies approved by Congress to help shore up the domestic semiconductor in- dustry. Improving the state’s standing against other possi- ble locations for chip industry expansion been a top priority for U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and outgoing Gov. Kate Brown in particular. On Monday, Gov.-elect Tina Kotek said she supports a state investment of $200 mil- lion to $300 million to make Oregon more attractive to chipmakers through tax in- Microchip Technology photo Microchip Technology’s Gresham factory, known as Fab 4, employs nearly 900. The company has decided to not to build a $5 billion chip factory as it previously announced. centives, industrial land read- iness and workforce develop- ment. Microchip’s decision not to City Juneau Kansas City Lansing Las Vegas Lexington Lincoln Little Rock Los Angeles Louisville Madison, WI Memphis Miami Milwaukee Minneapolis Nashville New Orleans New York City Newark, NJ Norfolk, VA Oklahoma City Omaha Orlando Palm Springs Peoria Philadelphia Phoenix Pittsburgh Portland, ME Providence Raleigh Rapid City Reno Richmond Rochester, NY Sacramento St. Louis Salt Lake City San Antonio San Diego San Francisco San Jose Santa Fe Savannah Seattle Sioux Falls Spokane Springfield, MO Tampa Tucson Tulsa Washington, DC Wichita Yakima Yuma Tuesday Hi/Lo/Prec. 36/34/0.08 58/41/0.98 36/31/0.00 51/36/0.00 50/33/0.00 54/38/0.49 64/47/2.02 62/44/0.00 50/34/0.00 36/34/0.05 65/46/0.01 82/64/0.00 39/38/0.00 36/34/0.14 61/35/0.00 78/61/0.00 40/25/0.00 43/24/0.00 43/39/0.00 62/49/0.56 47/35/0.73 77/60/0.02 63/39/0.00 42/33/0.36 42/26/0.00 55/45/Tr 38/30/0.00 38/20/0.00 41/20/0.00 50/30/0.00 19/16/0.20 38/29/0.00 46/39/0.00 35/18/0.00 54/30/0.00 52/35/0.38 33/28/0.28 79/69/Tr 60/42/Tr 54/38/0.00 56/36/0.00 34/10/0.00 60/50/0.00 43/32/0.00 37/32/0.53 28/21/Tr 56/41/0.49 80/61/0.00 53/38/0.05 65/50/0.74 45/32/0.00 55/50/0.32 35/13/0.00 60/39/0.00 Today Thursday Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W 41/37/r 39/32/r 41/27/pc 35/22/sf 40/34/r 43/30/r 51/35/s 52/35/pc 53/43/r 51/31/pc 36/25/c 33/18/sf 54/35/pc 52/32/s 62/44/pc 61/45/pc 56/44/r 51/33/pc 44/32/r 35/26/sf 60/38/r 52/35/s 82/72/pc 85/69/pc 44/36/r 41/28/sf 37/31/c 34/25/sn 58/41/r 53/35/pc 78/51/t 63/46/s 40/32/s 40/38/r 42/31/s 42/40/r 46/40/c 57/43/r 48/28/s 43/24/s 37/27/c 32/19/sf 80/65/c 79/56/t 64/43/pc 64/48/pc 53/30/c 38/26/pc 41/30/s 41/40/r 55/37/s 58/41/pc 41/33/pc 39/34/r 39/30/pc 40/31/pc 38/27/s 41/37/c 51/41/sh 55/37/r 20/12/sn 20/12/sf 44/20/s 39/16/pc 46/35/c 48/36/r 32/24/pc 35/32/sn 52/30/pc 51/30/pc 57/34/r 42/29/pc 33/24/sn 29/12/pc 69/37/pc 69/40/s 61/44/pc 63/47/pc 54/41/pc 54/41/pc 56/36/pc 55/34/pc 36/18/s 35/14/s 67/63/c 71/43/r 43/31/pc 43/31/pc 29/23/sn 32/13/sn 29/15/sn 23/15/c 49/28/s 41/25/pc 82/69/c 78/60/t 52/30/s 57/38/s 48/31/s 45/27/s 44/35/pc 45/40/r 41/25/pc 40/21/pc 28/14/c 27/15/c 62/40/s 64/46/pc 89/65/0.03 75/50/0.00 32/14/0.00 36/31/0.55 76/61/0.04 81/70/0.02 77/51/0.00 57/46/0.02 13/9/0.21 27/9/0.00 36/25/0.00 91/77/0.36 53/45/0.22 91/59/0.00 72/70/0.22 46/19/0.22 37/29/0.10 54/36/0.00 86/76/0.64 18/16/0.14 78/56/0.04 61/59/0.37 73/58/0.00 50/44/0.03 30/18/0.00 39/34/0.00 33/19/0.00 28/27/0.12 87/68/t 76/55/s 34/29/s 24/13/sn 78/59/s 81/70/sh 74/47/pc 50/32/sh 13/6/pc 31/24/s 32/28/sn 79/67/pc 60/45/r 88/58/s 71/60/pc 29/19/sn 26/16/pc 48/31/pc 85/75/r 18/4/sn 74/56/sh 62/60/r 67/57/pc 57/38/pc 31/28/pc 41/29/s 30/26/sn 23/21/c INTERNATIONAL contiguous states) National high: 91° at Kingsville, TX National low: -13° at Bryce Canyon, UT Precipitation: 2.04" at Camden, AR T-storms Rather cloudy and cold with a little snow TRAVEL WEATHER Umatilla 37/25 Rufus Hermiston 38/25 36/23 36/25 Arlington Hillsboro Portland Meacham Lostine 37/27 45/26 45/30 30/14 Wasco 33/18 Enterprise Pendleton The Dalles CENTRAL: Chilly Tillamook 31/15 34/23 31/22 Sandy 37/25 McMinnville 49/29 today; mostly cloudy, Joseph Heppner La Grande 44/32 Maupin Government 45/30 except sunnier in the 31/15 33/17 Camp 32/19 Condon 34/24 Union Lincoln City south. 32/26 38/24 31/17 Salem 47/30 Spray Granite Warm Springs 42/27 Madras 33/21 Albany 32/12 Newport Baker City 35/18 34/13 Mitchell 46/28 43/27 30/8 WEST: Patchy fog in Camp Sherman 32/22 Redmond Corvallis John Yachats Unity the morning; clouds 35/12 33/9 43/27 Day Prineville 46/29 34/12 and sun, but sunnier Ontario Sisters 35/10 Paulina 31/16 29/15 in central parts today. Florence Eugene 34/13 Brothers 27/9 Bend Vale Patchy clouds tonight. 48/31 43/29 30/6 Sunriver 33/12 28/15 Nyssa 30/7 Hampton Cottage La Pine 29/16 Juntura Oakridge Grove 33/8 28/2 OREGON EXTREMES Coos Bay Burns 28/3 44/29 42/29 Fort Rock 49/30 Riley 24/-5 TUESDAY Crescent 29/8 27/-2 High: 49° 33/8 Bandon Roseburg Christmas Valley Jordan Valley at Brookings Beaver Frenchglen Silver 50/30 43/30 31/6 27/7 Low: 4° Marsh Lake 28/2 Port Orford 33/9 30/8 at Lakeview Grants Burns Junction Paisley 51/32 Pass 26/2 Chiloquin 33/3 48/31 Rome Medford 34/10 Gold Beach 46/26 28/4 53/36 Klamath Fields Ashland McDermitt Lakeview Falls Brookings 30/3 47/26 30/7 28/2 52/38 32/4 Seaside 47/28 Cannon Beach 47/29 28° 10° Cloudy and chilly Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. Astoria 46/29 TUESDAY 33° 20° Low clouds In inches as of 5 p.m. Tuesday Ski resort New snow Anthony Lakes Mtn 0 Hoodoo Ski Area 0 Mt. Ashland 1 Mt. Bachelor 0 Mt. Hood Meadows 0 Mt. Hood Ski Bowl 1 Timberline Lodge 0 Willamette Pass 3 Aspen / Snowmass, CO 7 Mammoth Mtn. Ski, CA 8 Palisades Tahoe, CA 0 Park City Mountain, UT 6 Sun Valley, ID 1 MONDAY OREGON WEATHER Bend Municipal Airport through 5 p.m. Tue. Tuesday 34° 18° SUNDAY 38° 30° 31° 19° Cold with times of sun and clouds Partly sunny and cold ALMANAC SATURDAY FRIDAY build a new factory represents a major setback to those ef- forts. It’s not clear that any other chipmaker is consider- soils, the better production I have.” From a consumer perspec- tive, Probert said Grazewell will allow the co-op to show how ranchers are taking care of their land. “All of us as ranchers are going to have to be able to tell the story of the good things we’re doing on the ground,” Probert said. “Grazewell will be just one more attribute that will set us apart from ev- eryone else, and that gives us leverage in the meat case.” ing an Oregon project on that scale, though HP Inc. said in October that it will bring some manufacturing jobs back to Corvallis if it wins a share of the CHIPS Act money. Still, Claiborne said the work Oregon did pursuing Microchip and preparing for more semiconductor invest- ment could open the door to other projects. She accompa- nied Brown on a trade mission to Asia this fall, and Claiborne said some businesses there might build Oregon factories. “Oregon has received in- terest from both Japanese and South Korean companies,” Claiborne said. “The state is now ready, or will be ready, for these projects that we are working on that are in the pipeline.” Mecca Mexico City Montreal Moscow Nairobi Nassau New Delhi Osaka Oslo Ottawa Paris Rio de Janeiro Rome Santiago Sao Paulo Sapporo Seoul Shanghai Singapore Stockholm Sydney Taipei City Tel Aviv Tokyo Toronto Vancouver Vienna Warsaw 89/68/s 74/53/s 38/32/c 21/18/c 79/60/s 84/71/s 73/47/pc 50/36/pc 18/8/s 36/30/pc 35/26/sn 82/70/s 62/56/r 97/57/s 77/62/c 26/20/sn 37/15/pc 55/42/s 83/75/t 12/2/c 70/57/pc 69/64/r 71/59/s 52/41/pc 38/32/sn 41/31/c 32/29/sn 28/15/pc “Ignition allows us to replicate for the first time certain conditions that are found only in the stars and the sun.” — Jennifer Granholm, U.S. Secretary of Energy learned that refining oil into gasoline and igniting it could produce an explosion. “You still don’t have the en- gine, and you still don’t have the tires,” Betti said. “You can’t say that you have a car.” The net energy gain achievement applied to the fusion reaction itself, not the total amount of power it took to operate the lasers and run the project. For fusion to be viable, it will need to produce significantly more power and for longer. It is incredibly difficult to control the physics of stars. Whyte said the fuel has to be hotter than the center of the sun. The fuel does not want to stay hot — it wants to leak out and get cold. Containing it is a challenge, he said. The achievement of net en- ergy gain isn’t a huge surprise from the California lab be- cause of the progress it had al- ready made, according to Jer- emy Chittenden, a professor at Imperial College in London specializing in plasma physics. But, he said, “that doesn’t take away from the fact that this is a significant milestone.” One approach to fusion turns hydrogen into plasma, an electrically charged gas, which is then controlled by humongous magnets. This method is being explored in France in a collaboration among 35 countries called the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, as well as by researchers at the Massa- chusetts Institute of Technol- ogy and a private company. Last year the teams work- ing on those projects on two continents announced signif- icant advancements in the vi- tal magnets needed for their work.