MSNBC has just posted a short story by Natalie Wolchover of Life’s Little Mysteries about the E-Cat entitled, “Italian cold fusion machine passes another test“. Interestingly, the article’s subtitle — “Despite a world of skepticism about E-Cat and other devices, proof is adding up” — indicates a positive spin we have not seen in other recent articles.
Walchover notes that the physicists who have attended demonstrations of the E-Cat put on by Rossi have all come away with a recognition that something unusual is happening in the energy catalyzer. She quotes the conclusion of the report of physicists Giuseppe Levi, David Bianchini, Carlo Leonardi, Hanno Essén, Sven Kullander, Andrea Rossi and Sergio Focardi who attended a demonstration in March 2009 who said that chemical processes could not account for the amount of heat coming from the E-Cat. “The only alternative explanation,” they wrote, “is that there is some kind of a nuclear process that gives rise to the measured energy production.”
The article includes comments by MIT’s Peter Hagelstein, a long-time researcher in the field of cold fusion who, again, seems guardedly positive. He says, “There is not sufficient reliable information available about the E-cat for a rational opinion to be made yet, in my view . . . I am of the view that Rossi’s claims probably should be taken seriously until such time as we have sufficient information that provides confirmation or refutation.”
Hagelstein’s concluding remarks are particularly interesting. He seems to be issuing a challenge to the scientific and governmental community when he says, “Are physicists generally, and DoE in particular, so sure that excess power in such experiments is impossible that the very large number of experimental results which show an excess heat effect clearly should continue to be ignored?”
This piece is another indication that people who have taken a careful and open-minded look at the evidence coming from Andrea Rossi and his associates are realizing that his claims cannot easily be dismissed.
