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From Supernova Physics to Fusion Energy: The Laser Experiments Changing Science — Dr. Mario Manuel

Fusion energy is no longer just science fiction — it’s becoming experimental reality. Dr. Mario Manuel, Ph.D. — General Atomics.

What if we could recreate the inside of a star — not in theory, but inside a laboratory on Earth using the world’s most powerful lasers?

Dr. Mario Manuel, Ph.D. is a plasma physicist and laser-science researcher at whose work sits at the frontier of fusion energy, laboratory astrophysics, high-energy-density physics, and advanced laser diagnostics. Trained in applied plasma physics and aerospace engineering, Dr. Manuel has spent his career developing new ways to visualize and understand the extreme electromagnetic environments created when ultra-powerful lasers interact with matter.

Dr. Manuel’s research has spanned some of the most ambitious scientific efforts underway today — from inertial fusion energy and plasma-instability control to recreating supernova-like shock waves in the laboratory and generating ultra-intense gamma-ray and particle beams using petawatt-class lasers.

Early in his career, Dr. Manuel helped pioneer advanced proton-radiography techniques capable of imaging invisible electric and magnetic fields inside laser-produced plasmas, work that opened new windows into the turbulent physics that can either enable or destroy fusion reactions.

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Collapsing stars could spawn mini-universes, offering new path to gravastars

Stars shine because atoms fuse in their interiors, releasing energy. When a very massive star has exhausted its nuclear fuel, radiation pressure can no longer provide sufficient counterforce to gravity. The star then collapses under its own mass until only a single point remains: the singularity.

While the formation of a black hole appears plausible, black holes themselves continue to pose major challenges for science. How can 10 billion solar masses concentrate at a single tiny point? How can spacetime be curved infinitely at that point, the singularity? At this stage, the laws of physics break down, making it impossible to predict what happens. Moreover, black holes conceal all information from observation: Everything, including light, disappears irretrievably beyond the event horizon.

Cells have a secret power line: How the nucleus gets its own private energy supply from mitochondria

For decades, biologists assumed a cell’s energy simply diffused to wherever it was needed. It turns out the most important destination of all has a private delivery line.

An international team of scientists led by Dr. Ivan Menendez-Montes, assistant professor at the University of Arizona, and Dr. Hesham A. Sadek, director of the Sarver Heart Center at the University of Arizona and group leader at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC), has uncovered a previously unknown mechanism through which mitochondria directly supply energy to the cell nucleus.

Published in Nature, their study demonstrates that mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell, physically dock at the control center of the cell—the nucleus—through its main gate—the nuclear pore complexes. This creates a highly efficient system for delivering energy and metabolites directly into the nucleus.

Neutron star merger simulations gain new precision with AI-driven r-process heating

Using a novel simulation model based on machine learning, an international research team at GSI/FAIR has succeeded in gaining a deeper understanding of element formation in stellar events such as neutron star mergers. For the first time, the scientists used deep learning with a neural network to model the energy release during r-process nucleosynthesis in hydrodynamic simulations. The results are published in the journal Physical Review D.

Many of the chemical elements we know are created in massive stellar events such as exploding stars or neutron star mergers. These events release incredible amounts of energy, allowing for the production of heavy nuclides. One key nuclear production process is the so-called rapid neutron-capture process, or r-process, in which free neutrons are captured by existing nuclei and converted into protons—thus creating larger, heavier atomic nuclei.

“Researchers around the world strive to make these complex reactions understandable through theoretical simulations. However, modeling all parameters requires incredible computing power, which is why the models often have to be simplified,” said Dr. Oliver Just, first author of the publication and a researcher in the Nuclear Astrophysics & Structure Department at GSI/FAIR. “Our new model, RHINE, which uses artificial intelligence, offers an efficient alternative.”

China’s Thorium Reactors

Every commercial nuclear reactor in the world runs on uranium. Uranium brings three undeniable problems. It creates weapons-grade plutonium. It melts down under pressure. Its radioactive waste lasts for tens of thousands of years.

Thorium solves all three.
Physicists have known this since the 1960s. The United States actually built a working thorium reactor. They proved the technology was viable. Then they deliberately abandoned it.

Detectability of covert fissile material production in nuclear fusion reactors via antineutrino emissions

Research and development of fusion energy has recently gained a strong impetus from private investment. While less of a proliferation risk than conventional fission systems, modified fusion systems could produce material usable in nuclear weapons. This paper examines an innovative use of antineutrino detectors to find misuse of fusion systems. Since antineutrinos are so penetrating, this technique carries near-zero interference with fusion energy system operation.

Engineered for the Future

Buildings account for 30–40 percent of global energy expenditure and more than half of global electricity consumption. But the most advanced smart buildings—those with full automation, AI controls, and on-site generation—can achieve energy reductions of 50–70 percent. Scaled across the built environment, that translates to 60–110 exajoules of energy saved per year—that’s more than the entire current energy consumption of the United States, or the total output of all the world’s nuclear power plants combined.

Transforming the buildings we already live and work in to become a part of the system itself that generates, stores, and manages energy efficiently could be the blueprint for the future of energy use, creation, and management.

Nanomagnets control diamond qubits, pointing to more scalable quantum hardware

Quantum computing, once only a theoretical possibility, promises to deliver faster, more energy-efficient computers—but only if scientists can build and scale the hardware needed to run the machines. New research from Virginia Commonwealth University brings scientists one small step closer to quantum computing at a practical scale, which could help dramatically reduce energy usage and computing times in some industries.

In the study, recently published in Nature Communications, the researchers used minuscule magnets—twice as small as the wavelength of light—to create the building blocks of quantum computing, pioneering a technique that could decrease the physical space needed to create a viable quantum computer.

“This work has the potential to advance quantum computing,” said Jayasimha Atulasimha, Ph.D., a professor of mechanical and nuclear engineering in VCU’s College of Engineering and the study’s principal investigator. “We’re solving a specific problem for spin-based quantum computing, which has the potential for scaling.”

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