Sonofusion

an interesting article from the nytimes describing the process of sonofusion, or bubble fusion. in this process, sound waves are used to expand and collapse small bubbles, raising their temperatures drastically and thereby making fusion possible within them. the image above explains the process quite nicely. apparently quite a bit of research is going on in this field, though no energetically efficient systems seem to have been created. (image credit: nytimes)

as an endnote to this post, i am compelled to point out that the idea of bubble fusion clearly fascinates me since i am, indeed, a woman: women and bubbles.