Can We Really Build The SUN ON EARTH?

So, this site in the south of France is about to simultaneously become the hottest and coldest points in our known universe. Scientists here are trying to crack an almost impossible process called nuclear fusion, effectively recreating the same thing that's happening inside our sun, but right here on earth in a chamber that's being built called the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor or ITER. If they pull it off, it could change the world by creating a limitless supply of clean energy and effectively ending our use of fossil fuels. The reactor itself, known [snorts] as a tokamak, will work by heating hydrogen fuels to extreme temperatures until they form something called plasma and nuclear fusion begins to occur. A process that releases huge amounts of heat that can be harnessed to turn turbines and produce energy. At the same time, superconducting magnets around the machine will work to suspend the plasma in a vacuum. Now, inside the tokamak, where the plasma is, will reach a temperature of around 150 million degrees Celsius. That's 10 times hotter than the core of our sun and will become the hottest points in our known universe. Meanwhile, the superconducting magnets just a few feet away are going to be cooled to a temperature of minus 268. 6°C, becoming the coldest point in our known universe. Two extreme records broken, not out in the cosmos, but here in Provence. It's all been made possible by one of the world's biggest construction projects. A vast megabuild that's unfolding on a site the size of Monaco. Walking through this place is extraordinary. The scale of the concrete, steel, engineering, and ambition really does overwhelm you and brings home the amazing power that construction has to change our world. You can learn more about ITER and my visits there in my new book Megabuilds, out now and available at the link in my bio.