So maybe humanity isn't doomed

As you may know, I have been following this story with interest and growing excitement. Despite the low odds, I haven't seen anything that smells fishy -- other than the low odds themselves, which is a major caveat. Nevertheless......

From the NextBigFuture blog:

Brian Ahern getting 8 Watts for over four days of operation in a Low Energy Nuclear Process


Brian Ahern replicated the work of Arata where Arata got small amounts of power without adding any power into his cold fusion set up.

Brian Ahern received his PhD in material science from MIT, holds 26 patents and was a senior scientist for 17 years in research and development at USAF Rome Lab at Hanscom Air Force Base.

Brian Ahern is attempting replications of Rossi and Forcardi and he is getting 8 watts of continuous power output (for over four days of operation) from 10 grams of metal nanopowder. The good news is there is no radiation detectable above background levels . It is also worthy to note that there were no precious metals involved the alloy was Zr66%-Ni21%-Cu13%. The Zirconium becomes Zirconium dioxide when it is baked.

An email at vortex where Ahern provides some description of the processes he used that generated 5 watts for a few days

There is an as yet undisclosed spillover catalysts that amplifies the process. The LENR community is directing its attention to this nanoscale opportunity.

So Brian Ahern is getting some success replicating Rossi and Focardi. Brian Ahern plans to make some adjustments to what he is doing to attempt to get the higher power levels that Rossi and Forcardi have claimed to achieved over the last year or so.