Space magnetism may solve secrets of fusion energy

USA Today Online

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2008-02-06-space-magnetism-fusion_N.htm

By Jeremy Hsu, space.com

February 6, 2008

New discoveries about magnetic field lines and the first-ever
direct observation of their reconnection in space are offering
hope that scientists will learn how to unlock fusion power as
an energy source in the future.

"The reconnection processes in the [Earth's] magnetosphere
and in fusion devices are the same animal," said JAMES DRAKE,
a University of Maryland physicist....

During a sabbatical at the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-
BERKELEY, THE THEORETICAL PHYSICIST happened to work
in the same office as TAI PHAN, AN OBSERVATIONAL
PHYSICIST who was looking at magnetic field data from
the European Space Agency's Cluster satellites.

"I was doing theory, Tai was doing data and we suddenly
saw this correspondence," Drake marveled. "It was purely
accidental."...