Japanese scientists claim to have come up with duplicable cold fusion.
This would be extremely cool (heh) if true; but I ain’t holding my breath. Still, the end of oil dependence would be nice.
How much palladium and zirconium oxide is there in the world? Wiki says palladium is somewhat rare. So, that means even if this does work, there are still significant hurdles.
It’s still super exciting though!
Yeah, I wondered that too. Wouldn’t it suck if this actually worked but there wasn’t enough raw material to make it practical? Or the pollution generated as a side-effect (for whatever reason) was worse than coal or oil? 
Palladium? Wasn’t that the key ingredient in the Iron Man chest battery widget?
Even if this version of cold fusion works, would it really result in the end of oil dependency?
What about all thos millions of machines, autos, and other mechanical wonders that need lubrication?
I don’t know how cheap electricity is going to lube all those mechanical devices in the world, but I’d be delighted to be shown
Feh… no problem. Snail slime.
Easy. You put the oil-producing gene from anchovies into kids from third-world countries.
Yeah. I got the distinct impression that they were implying that his chest battery/Appleby’s flasher was actually a mini-cold-fusion reactor.
Yes. It’s very hard to find Have Gun, Will Travel on cable anywhere.
If we were to stop burning oil and just use it for lubrication and plastics, it would last practically forever.
Besides, if you have unlimited free electricity, you can synthesise oil starting with raw materials from plants.