IEEE.orgIEEE Xplore Digital LibraryIEEE StandardsMore Sites
      Sign InJoin IEEE
      Delving for Joules in the Fusion Mines
      Share
      FOR THE TECHNOLOGY INSIDER
      Explore by topic
      AerospaceArtificial IntelligenceBiomedicalComputingConsumer ElectronicsEnergyHistory of TechnologyRoboticsSemiconductorsSensorsTelecommunicationsTransportation
      IEEE Spectrum
      FOR THE TECHNOLOGY INSIDER

      Topics

      AerospaceArtificial IntelligenceBiomedicalComputingConsumer ElectronicsEnergyHistory of TechnologyRoboticsSemiconductorsSensorsTelecommunicationsTransportation

      Sections

      FeaturesNewsOpinionCareersDIYThe Big PictureEngineering Resources

      More

      Special ReportsCollectionsExplainersPodcastsVideosNewslettersTop Programming LanguagesRobots Guide

      For IEEE Members

      Current IssueMagazine ArchiveThe InstituteTI Archive

      For IEEE Members

      Current IssueMagazine ArchiveThe InstituteTI Archive

      IEEE Spectrum

      About UsContact UsReprints & PermissionsAdvertising

      Follow IEEE Spectrum

      Support IEEE Spectrum

      IEEE Spectrum is the flagship publication of the IEEE — the world’s largest professional organization devoted to engineering and applied sciences. Our articles, podcasts, and infographics inform our readers about developments in technology, engineering, and science.
      Join IEEE
      Subscribe
      About IEEEContact & SupportAccessibilityNondiscrimination PolicyTermsIEEE Privacy Policy
      © Copyright 2023 IEEE — All rights reserved. A not-for-profit organization, IEEE is the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity.

      IEEE websites place cookies on your device to give you the best user experience. By using our websites, you agree to the placement of these cookies. To learn more, read our Privacy Policy.

      view privacy policy accept & close

      Enjoy more free content and benefits by creating an account

      Saving articles to read later requires an IEEE Spectrum account

      The Institute content is only available for members

      Downloading full PDF issues is exclusive for IEEE Members

      Access to Spectrum's Digital Edition is exclusive for IEEE Members

      Following topics is a feature exclusive for IEEE Members

      Adding your response to an article requires an IEEE Spectrum account

      Create an account to access more content and features on IEEE Spectrum, including the ability to save articles to read later, download Spectrum Collections, and participate in conversations with readers and editors. For more exclusive content and features, consider Joining IEEE.

      Join the world’s largest professional organization devoted to engineering and applied sciences and get access to all of Spectrum’s articles, archives, PDF downloads, and other benefits. Learn more →

      CREATE AN ACCOUNTSIGN IN
      JOIN IEEESIGN IN
      Close

      Special offer: Join IEEE now for 2023 and save 50%!

      IEEE Members receive 12 print issues of IEEE Spectrum and enjoy PDF downloads, full access to our archive with thousands of in-depth articles, and other exclusive content and features. Join IEEE today for 2023 and save 50%!

      JOIN IEEE
      TopicDecember 2022MagazineEnergyTypeThe Big Picture

      Delving for Joules in the Fusion Mines

      The Joint European Torus, a precursor to ITER, Blasts Toward a Fusion Future

      Willie Jones
      22 Nov 2022
      3 min read
      the big pictureenergyentanglementcamerabionic hand

      The Big Picture features technology through the lens of photographers.

      Every month, IEEE Spectrum selects the most stunning technology images recently captured by photographers around the world. We choose images that reflect an important advance, or a trend, or that are just mesmerizing to look at. We feature all images on our site, and one also appears on our monthly print edition.

      Enjoy the latest images, and if you have suggestions, leave a comment below.

      Shot of Nuclear Fusion

      An old saw regarding the multitude of dashed hopes about fusion energy’s promise goes “Fusion is 30 years away—and it always will be.” After decades of researchers predicting that fusion was just around the corner, a team at the UK Atomic Energy Authority (which hosts the Joint European Torus [JET] plasma physics experiment) did something that suggests scientists are homing in on exactly which corner that is. In February 2022, the JET experimenters induced the single greatest sustained energy pulse ever created by humans. It had twice the energy of the previous record-setting blast, triggered a quarter century earlier. A doubling every 25 years is far behind the pace of the microchip improvements described by Moore’s Law. But that hasn’t dampened enthusiasm over an alternative energy source that could make fossil fuels and their effect on the environment relics of a bygone era. In the foreground of the picture is a trainee learning how to use the systems involved in accomplishing the feat.

      Leon Neal/Getty Images

      Turning Drones into Scones

      What has two wings, can reach a person stranded in a disaster zone, and doubles as a source of precious calories when no other food is available? This drone, designed and built by a team of researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), has wings made entirely of laser-cut rice cakes held together with “glue” made from gelatin. The EPFL group says it plans to keep refining the edible aircraft to improve its aeronautics and enhance its nutritional profile.

      EPFL

      Metasurface Weaves Entangled Photons

      Creating the quantum mechanical state of entanglement (in which paired atoms influence each other from across vast distances) has heretofore been reminiscent of the story of Noah’s ark. The tried-and-true method for entangling photons (by shining light through a nonlinear crystal) puts them in this state two by two, the way the animals are said to have boarded the ark. The ambition of quantum researchers has been to expand these connections from pairs to parties. And it seems they’ve figured out how to reliably entangle multiple photons in a complicated web, using half-millimeter-thick metasurfaces covered with forests of microscopic pillars. This, say experts, will not only greatly simplify the setup needed for quantum technology but also help support more-complex quantum applications.

      Craig Fritz

      Colossal Camera Coming to Chile

      In a world obsessed with miniaturization, it’s almost shocking when, every now and then, a big deal is made of something, er, big. That is certainly the case with the new camera being built for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile. When the camera is delivered and set up in May 2023, its 1.57-meter-wide lens will make it the world’s largest device for taking snapshots. The gargantuan point-and-shoot instrument will capture images of a swath of the sky seven times the width of the moon.

      Jacqueline Ramseyer Orrell/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

      Bionic Hands Haven’t Fully Grasped Users’ Needs

      When we’re carrying out our quotidian activities, most of us rarely stop to think about what marvels of engineering our arms and hands are. But for those who have lost the use of a limb—or, like Britt Young, the woman pictured here, were born without one—there’s hardly ever a day when the challenges of navigating a two-handed world are not in the forefront of their thoughts. In Young’s October 2022 IEEE Spectrum cover story, she discusses these challenges, as well as how the bionic-hand technology intended to come to the rescue falls short of designers’ and users’ expectations.

      Gabriela Hasbun. Makeup: Maria Nguyen for Mac Cosmetics; Hair: Joan Laqui for Living Proof

      The Conversation (1)
      Ashok Deobhakta13 Jan, 2023
      SM

      So very exciting and interesting!

      0 Replies Hide replies
      Show More Replies
      About IEEEContact & SupportAccessibilityNondiscrimination PolicyTermsIEEE Privacy Policy
      © Copyright 2023 IEEE — All rights reserved. A not-for-profit organization, IEEE is the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity.