News: Brooklyn Dude Does Gucci by Day, Nuclear Fusion by Night

Upon first glance, one may think Mark Suppes is just another thirty-something-year-old dude living in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. However, the Gucci web designer by day has a significant (to say the least) project-in-progress by night. The amateur scientist bicycles to a non-descript building in Brooklyn to chip away at his homemade nuclear fusion reactor.

BBC reports:

"Mr Suppes, 32, is part of a growing community of 'fusioneers' - amateur science junkies who are building homemade fusion reactors, for fun and with an eye to being part of the solution to that problem.

He is the 38th independent amateur physicist in the world to achieve nuclear fusion from a homemade reactor, according to community site Fusor.net. Others on the list include a 15-year-old from Michigan and a doctoral student in Ohio.

Mr Suppes has spent the last two years perfecting his reactor: 'I was inspired because I believed I was looking at a technology that could actually work to solve our energy problems, and I believed it was something that I could at least begin to build,' Mr Suppes told the BBC.

While they might un-nerve the neighbours, fusion reactors of this kind are perfectly legal in the US." (Read more)

Makes the rest of us D.I.Y.ers feel like ... inconsequential fiddlers. For more details on Suppes' project, check out his extensive interview with Gizmodo.