[[{"id":"phhg4e\/node\/225063","site":"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/","hash":"phhg4e","entity_id":225063,"entity_type":"node","bundle":"basic_content","bundle_name":"Basic content","ss_language":"und","path":"node\/225063","url":"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/lucky-donkey-theory","path_alias":"lucky-donkey-theory","label":"How To Build A Home Fusion Reactor","content":"<div class=\"media media-element-container media-default full-width\"><img class=\"full-width\" typeof=\"foaf:Image\" width=\"1000\" height=\"672\" alt=\"\" data-smsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/small_1x_\/public\/2010_fusion160_of_226.jpg?itok=o0f2odSN\" data-medsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/medium_1x_\/public\/2010_fusion160_of_226.jpg?itok=DM8CWYv3\" data-lgsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/large_1x_\/public\/2010_fusion160_of_226.jpg?itok=rg2CpIC8\" data-xlsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/xl_1x_\/public\/2010_fusion160_of_226.jpg?itok=CfWxp52p\" src=\"\/sites\/all\/modules\/bonnier\/sandcastle\/images\/placeholder.gif\" \/><noscript><img class=\"full-width\" typeof=\"foaf:Image\" width=\"1000\" height=\"672\" alt=\"\" data-smsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/small_1x_\/public\/2010_fusion160_of_226.jpg?itok=o0f2odSN\" data-medsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/medium_1x_\/public\/2010_fusion160_of_226.jpg?itok=DM8CWYv3\" data-lgsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/large_1x_\/public\/2010_fusion160_of_226.jpg?itok=rg2CpIC8\" data-xlsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/xl_1x_\/public\/2010_fusion160_of_226.jpg?itok=CfWxp52p\" src=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/medium_1x_\/public\/2010_fusion160_of_226.jpg?itok=DM8CWYv3\" \/><\/noscript><div class=\"caption-wrapper indent\" style=\"\">\n  <div class=\"field-credit\">\n    <p>Tom Clynes<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"field-title\">\n    <p>Taylor Wilson at the control panel of his fusor<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/tomclynes.com\/the-boy-who-played-with-fusion\/\">The Boy Who Played With Fusion<\/a> <em>had its beginnings in 2010 when, as a contributing editor at PopSci, I discovered a small and unusual community of makers, high-energy hobbyists who were taking on both the formidable theory and the precision engineering of applied nuclear science. The idea that self-taught amateurs outside the Big Science world of billion-dollar laboratories were tinkering with nukes\u2014fusing atomic nuclei, transmuting elements, constructing atom-smashing machines in DIY laboratories\u2014was both intriguing and unsettling. As members of this guarded clique began to open up to me, one of them mentioned Taylor Wilson, a fourteen-year-old boy from Texarkana who had just become one of only thirty-two individuals on the planet to build a working nuclear fusion reactor, a miniature sun on Earth.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p><em>Now, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/science\/article\/2012-02\/boy-who-played-fusion\/\">article I wrote then about Taylor<\/a> has blossomed into a book.<\/em> <a href=\"http:\/\/tomclynes.com\/the-boy-who-played-with-fusion\/\">The Boy Who Played with Fusion<\/a> <em>is a science adventure, a story of audacity, perseverance, and passion\u2014and a boy whose world seems to have no limits. This excerpt, from Chapter 16: The Lucky Donkey Theory, recounts the first attempts of amateur high-energy scientists to achieve nuclear fusion.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>In a way, the amateur nuclear fusion movement began at the intersection of science and science fiction. In the mid-1990s, an electrical engineer and aspiring science-fiction writer named Tom Ligon heard that the physicist Robert Bussard was living and working just two miles from his Virginia home.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cSome people still think Bussard is a fictional character,\u201d Ligon says, \u201cbut it turns out that he was quite real.\u201d In the mid-1950s, Bussard worked at Los Alamos in the Nuclear Propulsion Division, designing nuclear rocket engines. He coauthored two books on nuclear-powered flight and in 1960 proposed the \u201cinterstellar ramjet,\u201d which would scoop up interstellar ionized hydrogen and funnel it into a nuclear fusion reactor whose output would propel a spaceship forward. Though Bussard thought his design was at least two hundred years from feasibility, the interstellar ramjet (also called the Bussard ramjet) became a fixture in science fiction, used to propel space travelers in Larry Niven\u2019s and Poul Anderson\u2019s novels and the Starfleet starships in the Star Trek universe.<\/p>\n\n<p>Bussard went on to become assistant director at the Controlled Thermonuclear Reactions Division of what was then the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. The division had settled on magnetic confinement as its mainline fusion program, but Bussard saw more promise in a fusion reactor he called a polywell (a combination of polyhedron and potential well ), which overcame some of the inefficiencies of the Farnsworth-Hirsch fusion reactor, which is often called a fusor. Fusors use an electric field to accelerate ions toward collisions so forceful that their nuclei fuse, releasing a burst of energy.<\/p>\n\n<p>. Bussard\u2019s reactor used a negatively charged plasma field instead of a negatively charged wire grid to attract and accelerate the positively charged ions. Bussard started a small tech company, funded by the military, to pursue his polywell design.<\/p>\n\n<p>Ligon dropped by with his r\u00e9sum\u00e9. \u201cNobody was there,\u201d Ligon remembers, \u201cbut the sign . . . declared that it was the Energy\/Matter Conversion Corporation. I slipped my propaganda under the door, smiling as I got the connection to Einstein\u2019s famous formula.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>Bussard called him back, and Ligon went to work for EMC2, which built several polywell prototypes between 1994 and 2006. With the final prototype, Bussard felt that he\u2019d solved the remaining major physics problems and he reported exponential efficiency improvements. But as the Iraq War consumed the military\u2019s resources, the military defunded polywell research. Bussard raised private capital to build a polywell power plant.<\/p>\n\n<p>Bussard passed away in 2007. \u201cHe was convinced when he died,\u201d says Ligon, \u201cthat he had achieved a significant breakthrough.\u201d U.S. Navy researchers may have been similarly convinced, since they restarted the polywell program after Bussard\u2019s death and brought it to Los Alamos. Taylor and his friend and fellow fusioneer Carl Willis are among the few outsiders who\u2019ve seen the next-generation polywell machine; since their visit to the laboratory, the project has been classified.<\/p>\n\n<p>In 1998, Ligon built an almost-functional Farnsworth-Hirsch reactor and brought it to a meeting of amateur high-energy scientists at Richard Hull\u2019s home near Richmond. \u201cWhile I was standing in awe of Richard\u2019s mighty Tesla coil,\u201d Ligon says, \u201cthe others were falling madly in love with the idea of building their own tabletop hot fusion reactors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<h6>\u201cWhere people usually fall short is in their neutron-detection methods.\u201d<\/h6>\n\n<p>The next year, Hull\u2019s fusor became the first outside a research laboratory to achieve a verified nuclear fusion reaction. Others in the community followed, and founded an online forum to share resources with people like Willis, who in 2003 became the tenth person to build a working reactor. In addition to Fusor.net\u2019s role as an information clearinghouse, the forum has become the de facto verification body for claims of amateur nuclear fusion success.<\/p>\n\n<p>Fusor.net\u2019s fusioneers list has three levels. Scroungers are just starting out, gathering components and\/or assembling parts. Plasma Club membership requires evidence of plasma production. Neutron Club applicants must provide rock-solid proof of fusion in the form of images and a full data disclosure regarding setup, conditions, and neutron-detection systems. \u201cMany of the people who get the idea to build a fusion reactor have that long-shot sci-fi edge,\u201d Willis says, but the technical challenges quickly weed out those who aren\u2019t serious about mastering nuclear theory and engineering. \u201cYou can\u2019t fake your way into the Neutron Club,\u201d says Willis.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cWhere people usually fall short is in their neutron-detection methods,\u201d says Hull. There\u2019s a lot of back-and-forth questioning and answering, which serves as an informal but tough peer-review process.<\/p>\n\n<p>Taylor added his name to the Scroungers list soon after Willis, who helps administer the Fusor.net site, suggested that Taylor build a fusor. Taylor became an increasingly frequent presence on the site\u2019s technical forums. \u201cEveryone was incredibly generous and willing to give advice and let me bounce ideas off them,\u201d Taylor says. \u201cThere\u2019s not too many sources of know-how for some things, like vacuum issues, for instance. Vacuum is almost a black art; I mean, who goes to school for it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>But at first, none of the forum contributors had any clue that they were communicating with a twelve-year-old.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Read the 2012 PopSci story, \"<a href=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/science\/article\/2012-02\/boy-who-played-fusion\">The Boy Who Played With Fusion<\/a>,\" and\/or <a href=\"http:\/\/tomclynes.com\/the-boy-who-played-with-fusion\/\">get the book<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","teaser":"<div class=\"media media-element-container media-default full-width\"><img class=\"full-width\" typeof=\"foaf:Image\" width=\"1000\" height=\"672\" alt=\"\" data-smsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/small_1x_\/public\/2010_fusion160_of_226.jpg?itok=o0f2odSN\" data-medsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci","ss_name":"Paul Adams","tos_name":"Paul Adams","ss_name_formatted":"Paul Adams","tos_name_formatted":"Paul Adams","is_uid":162,"bs_status":true,"bs_sticky":false,"bs_promote":true,"is_tnid":0,"bs_translate":false,"ds_created":"2015-06-11T18:39:40Z","ds_changed":"2015-06-11T21:38:05Z","ds_last_comment_or_change":"2015-06-11T21:38:05Z","bs_field_sponsored":false,"bs_field_custom_page":false,"bs_field_display_social":true,"bs_field_feed_builder_exclusion":false,"bs_field_display_author_bio":true,"bs_field_display_bottom_recirc":true,"bs_field_display_off_ramp":true,"ts_field_credit":"by Tom Clynes\n","ts_bonnier_summary":"\n  <div class=\"field-body\">\n    <a href=\"http:\/\/tomclynes.com\/the-boy-who-played-with-fusion\/\">The Boy Who Played With Fusion<\/a><em>had its beginnings in 2010 when, as a contributing editor at PopSci, I discovered a small and unusual community of makers, high-energy<\/em>&hellip;  <\/div>\n","ts_bonnier_eyebrow":"<div class=\"primary-channel-eyebrow\"><a href=\"\/tags\/diy\">DIY<\/a><\/div>","timestamp":"2016-08-02T15:27:38.633Z","bm_field_display_off_ramp":[true],"bm_field_feed_builder_exclusion":[false],"sm_field_gallery_items":["0"],"sm_field_image":["http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/small_4x3\/public\/2010_fusion160_of_226.jpg?itok=ZErjtO3-"],"sm_field_gallery_display":["gallery_none"],"bm_field_sponsored":[false],"bm_field_display_social":[true],"sm_field_customhtml_display":["customhtml_none"],"bm_field_custom_page":[false],"bm_field_display_bottom_recirc":[true],"sm_field_sponsor_label":[""],"sm_field_credit":["by Tom Clynes"],"bm_field_display_author_bio":[true],"sm_field_subtitle":["The tale of a teen physics prodigy\n"],"im_field_tags":[62,204651,215561,204260,64,212427,62,215562,201916,204088,212918],"im_vid_1":[62,204651,215561,204260,64,212427,62,215562,201916,204088,212918],"sm_field_video_display":["video_none"],"tid":[62,204651,215561,204260,64,212427,62,215562,201916,204088,212918],"sm_field_primary_channel":["diy"],"sm_vid_Tags":["Science","fusion","taylor wilson","Features","DIY","Energy","Science","prodigies","books","excerpts","editor&#039;s picks"],"sm_field_layout_standard":["right-sidebar"],"spell":["How To Build A Home Fusion Reactor","<div class=\"media media-element-container media-default full-width\"><img class=\"full-width\" typeof=\"foaf:Image\" width=\"1000\" height=\"672\" alt=\"\" data-smsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/small_1x_\/public\/2010_fusion160_of_226.jpg?itok=o0f2odSN\" data-medsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/medium_1x_\/public\/2010_fusion160_of_226.jpg?itok=DM8CWYv3\" data-lgsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/large_1x_\/public\/2010_fusion160_of_226.jpg?itok=rg2CpIC8\" data-xlsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/xl_1x_\/public\/2010_fusion160_of_226.jpg?itok=CfWxp52p\" src=\"\/sites\/all\/modules\/bonnier\/sandcastle\/images\/placeholder.gif\" \/><noscript><img class=\"full-width\" typeof=\"foaf:Image\" width=\"1000\" height=\"672\" alt=\"\" data-smsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/small_1x_\/public\/2010_fusion160_of_226.jpg?itok=o0f2odSN\" data-medsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/medium_1x_\/public\/2010_fusion160_of_226.jpg?itok=DM8CWYv3\" data-lgsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/large_1x_\/public\/2010_fusion160_of_226.jpg?itok=rg2CpIC8\" data-xlsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/xl_1x_\/public\/2010_fusion160_of_226.jpg?itok=CfWxp52p\" src=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/medium_1x_\/public\/2010_fusion160_of_226.jpg?itok=DM8CWYv3\" \/><\/noscript><div class=\"caption-wrapper indent\" style=\"\">\n  <div class=\"field-credit\">\n    <p>Tom Clynes<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"field-title\">\n    <p>Taylor Wilson at the control panel of his fusor<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/tomclynes.com\/the-boy-who-played-with-fusion\/\">The Boy Who Played With Fusion<\/a> <em>had its beginnings in 2010 when, as a contributing editor at PopSci, I discovered a small and unusual community of makers, high-energy hobbyists who were taking on both the formidable theory and the precision engineering of applied nuclear science. The idea that self-taught amateurs outside the Big Science world of billion-dollar laboratories were tinkering with nukes\u2014fusing atomic nuclei, transmuting elements, constructing atom-smashing machines in DIY laboratories\u2014was both intriguing and unsettling. As members of this guarded clique began to open up to me, one of them mentioned Taylor Wilson, a fourteen-year-old boy from Texarkana who had just become one of only thirty-two individuals on the planet to build a working nuclear fusion reactor, a miniature sun on Earth.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p><em>Now, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/science\/article\/2012-02\/boy-who-played-fusion\/\">article I wrote then about Taylor<\/a> has blossomed into a book.<\/em> <a href=\"http:\/\/tomclynes.com\/the-boy-who-played-with-fusion\/\">The Boy Who Played with Fusion<\/a> <em>is a science adventure, a story of audacity, perseverance, and passion\u2014and a boy whose world seems to have no limits. This excerpt, from Chapter 16: The Lucky Donkey Theory, recounts the first attempts of amateur high-energy scientists to achieve nuclear fusion.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>In a way, the amateur nuclear fusion movement began at the intersection of science and science fiction. In the mid-1990s, an electrical engineer and aspiring science-fiction writer named Tom Ligon heard that the physicist Robert Bussard was living and working just two miles from his Virginia home.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cSome people still think Bussard is a fictional character,\u201d Ligon says, \u201cbut it turns out that he was quite real.\u201d In the mid-1950s, Bussard worked at Los Alamos in the Nuclear Propulsion Division, designing nuclear rocket engines. He coauthored two books on nuclear-powered flight and in 1960 proposed the \u201cinterstellar ramjet,\u201d which would scoop up interstellar ionized hydrogen and funnel it into a nuclear fusion reactor whose output would propel a spaceship forward. Though Bussard thought his design was at least two hundred years from feasibility, the interstellar ramjet (also called the Bussard ramjet) became a fixture in science fiction, used to propel space travelers in Larry Niven\u2019s and Poul Anderson\u2019s novels and the Starfleet starships in the Star Trek universe.<\/p>\n\n<p>Bussard went on to become assistant director at the Controlled Thermonuclear Reactions Division of what was then the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. The division had settled on magnetic confinement as its mainline fusion program, but Bussard saw more promise in a fusion reactor he called a polywell (a combination of polyhedron and potential well ), which overcame some of the inefficiencies of the Farnsworth-Hirsch fusion reactor, which is often called a fusor. Fusors use an electric field to accelerate ions toward collisions so forceful that their nuclei fuse, releasing a burst of energy.<\/p>\n\n<p>. Bussard\u2019s reactor used a negatively charged plasma field instead of a negatively charged wire grid to attract and accelerate the positively charged ions. Bussard started a small tech company, funded by the military, to pursue his polywell design.<\/p>\n\n<p>Ligon dropped by with his r\u00e9sum\u00e9. \u201cNobody was there,\u201d Ligon remembers, \u201cbut the sign . . . declared that it was the Energy\/Matter Conversion Corporation. I slipped my propaganda under the door, smiling as I got the connection to Einstein\u2019s famous formula.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>Bussard called him back, and Ligon went to work for EMC2, which built several polywell prototypes between 1994 and 2006. With the final prototype, Bussard felt that he\u2019d solved the remaining major physics problems and he reported exponential efficiency improvements. But as the Iraq War consumed the military\u2019s resources, the military defunded polywell research. Bussard raised private capital to build a polywell power plant.<\/p>\n\n<p>Bussard passed away in 2007. \u201cHe was convinced when he died,\u201d says Ligon, \u201cthat he had achieved a significant breakthrough.\u201d U.S. Navy researchers may have been similarly convinced, since they restarted the polywell program after Bussard\u2019s death and brought it to Los Alamos. Taylor and his friend and fellow fusioneer Carl Willis are among the few outsiders who\u2019ve seen the next-generation polywell machine; since their visit to the laboratory, the project has been classified.<\/p>\n\n<p>In 1998, Ligon built an almost-functional Farnsworth-Hirsch reactor and brought it to a meeting of amateur high-energy scientists at Richard Hull\u2019s home near Richmond. \u201cWhile I was standing in awe of Richard\u2019s mighty Tesla coil,\u201d Ligon says, \u201cthe others were falling madly in love with the idea of building their own tabletop hot fusion reactors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<h6>\u201cWhere people usually fall short is in their neutron-detection methods.\u201d<\/h6>\n\n<p>The next year, Hull\u2019s fusor became the first outside a research laboratory to achieve a verified nuclear fusion reaction. Others in the community followed, and founded an online forum to share resources with people like Willis, who in 2003 became the tenth person to build a working reactor. In addition to Fusor.net\u2019s role as an information clearinghouse, the forum has become the de facto verification body for claims of amateur nuclear fusion success.<\/p>\n\n<p>Fusor.net\u2019s fusioneers list has three levels. Scroungers are just starting out, gathering components and\/or assembling parts. Plasma Club membership requires evidence of plasma production. Neutron Club applicants must provide rock-solid proof of fusion in the form of images and a full data disclosure regarding setup, conditions, and neutron-detection systems. \u201cMany of the people who get the idea to build a fusion reactor have that long-shot sci-fi edge,\u201d Willis says, but the technical challenges quickly weed out those who aren\u2019t serious about mastering nuclear theory and engineering. \u201cYou can\u2019t fake your way into the Neutron Club,\u201d says Willis.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cWhere people usually fall short is in their neutron-detection methods,\u201d says Hull. There\u2019s a lot of back-and-forth questioning and answering, which serves as an informal but tough peer-review process.<\/p>\n\n<p>Taylor added his name to the Scroungers list soon after Willis, who helps administer the Fusor.net site, suggested that Taylor build a fusor. Taylor became an increasingly frequent presence on the site\u2019s technical forums. \u201cEveryone was incredibly generous and willing to give advice and let me bounce ideas off them,\u201d Taylor says. \u201cThere\u2019s not too many sources of know-how for some things, like vacuum issues, for instance. Vacuum is almost a black art; I mean, who goes to school for it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>But at first, none of the forum contributors had any clue that they were communicating with a twelve-year-old.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Read the 2012 PopSci story, \"<a href=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/science\/article\/2012-02\/boy-who-played-fusion\">The Boy Who Played With Fusion<\/a>,\" and\/or <a href=\"http:\/\/tomclynes.com\/the-boy-who-played-with-fusion\/\">get the book<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","Science fusion taylor wilson Features DIY Energy Science prodigies books excerpts editor&#039;s picks","by Tom Clynes\n","\n  <div class=\"field-body\">\n    <a href=\"http:\/\/tomclynes.com\/the-boy-who-played-with-fusion\/\">The Boy Who Played With Fusion<\/a><em>had its beginnings in 2010 when, as a contributing editor at PopSci, I discovered a small and unusual community of makers, high-energy<\/em>&hellip;  <\/div>\n","<div class=\"primary-channel-eyebrow\"><a href=\"\/tags\/diy\">DIY<\/a><\/div>"],"tm_vid_1_names":["Science fusion taylor wilson Features DIY Energy Science prodigies books excerpts editor&#039;s picks"]},{"id":"phhg4e\/node\/227440","site":"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/","hash":"phhg4e","entity_id":227440,"entity_type":"node","bundle":"tout","bundle_name":"Tout","ss_language":"und","path":"node\/227440","url":"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/extreme-science-0","path_alias":"extreme-science-0","label":"Extreme Science","content":"","teaser":" http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/extreme-science ","ss_name":"bonnier-admin","tos_name":"bonnier-admin","ss_name_formatted":"bonnier-admin","tos_name_formatted":"bonnier-admin","is_uid":1,"bs_status":true,"bs_sticky":false,"bs_promote":false,"is_tnid":0,"bs_translate":false,"ds_created":"2011-12-10T14:51:38Z","ds_changed":"2015-12-10T17:13:24Z","ds_last_comment_or_change":"2015-12-10T17:13:24Z","bs_field_sponsored":false,"ts_bonnier_eyebrow":"<div class=\"primary-channel-eyebrow\"><a href=\"\/tags\/science\">Science<\/a><\/div>","timestamp":"2016-08-02T15:34:39.981Z","sm_field_subtitle":["Come with Popular Science's extreme-science video correspondent to three of the world's wildest destinations.\n"],"sm_field_image":["http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/small_4x3\/public\/images\/tout-images\/2015\/12\/xsci.jpg?itok=jzEvXoZ7"],"bm_field_sponsored":[false],"im_field_tags":[204260,212918,212416,63,215359,62],"im_vid_1":[204260,212918,212416,63,215359,62],"sm_field_sponsor_label":[""],"tid":[204260,212918,212416,63,215359,62],"sm_field_primary_channel":["science"],"sm_vid_Tags":["Features","editor&#039;s picks","Space","Technology","Extreme Science","Science"],"tm_vid_1_names":["Features editor&#039;s picks Space Technology Extreme Science Science"],"spell":["Extreme Science","","Features editor&#039;s picks Space Technology Extreme Science Science","<div class=\"primary-channel-eyebrow\"><a href=\"\/tags\/science\">Science<\/a><\/div>"],"sm_field_redirect":["{\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.popsci.com\\\/extreme-science\",\"title\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.popsci.com\\\/extreme-science\",\"attributes\":{\"rel\":\"nofollow\"},\"display_url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.popsci.com\\\/extreme-science\"}"]},{"id":"phhg4e\/node\/223820","site":"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/","hash":"phhg4e","entity_id":223820,"entity_type":"node","bundle":"basic_content","bundle_name":"Basic content","ss_language":"und","path":"node\/223820","url":"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/smart-necklace-analyzes-what-goes-down-your-throat","path_alias":"smart-necklace-analyzes-what-goes-down-your-throat","label":"Smart Necklace Analyzes What Goes Down Your Throat","content":"<div class=\"media media-element-container media-default full-width\"><img class=\"full-width\" typeof=\"foaf:Image\" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\" alt=\"\" data-smsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/small_1x_\/public\/device1.jpg?itok=gDN9WsqE\" data-medsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/medium_1x_\/public\/device1.jpg?itok=bqk2TB5u\" data-lgsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/large_1x_\/public\/device1.jpg?itok=-HNuCvF1\" data-xlsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/xl_1x_\/public\/device1.jpg?itok=RCXeMZq1\" src=\"\/sites\/all\/modules\/bonnier\/sandcastle\/images\/placeholder.gif\" \/><noscript><img class=\"full-width\" typeof=\"foaf:Image\" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\" alt=\"\" data-smsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/small_1x_\/public\/device1.jpg?itok=gDN9WsqE\" data-medsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/medium_1x_\/public\/device1.jpg?itok=bqk2TB5u\" data-lgsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/large_1x_\/public\/device1.jpg?itok=-HNuCvF1\" data-xlsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/xl_1x_\/public\/device1.jpg?itok=RCXeMZq1\" src=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/medium_1x_\/public\/device1.jpg?itok=bqk2TB5u\" \/><\/noscript><div class=\"caption-wrapper indent\" style=\"\">\n  <div class=\"field-title\">\n    <p>WearSens Necklace<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><p data-ptag=\"added-wrapper\"> \nYou\u2019ve said it. I\u2019ve said it. \u201cI\u2019ll just have one more bite.\u201d Then, half a cheesecake\u00a0later, we were both liars.\n\n<\/p><p>A new smart necklace aims to rid us of our eating sins by automatically guessing the portions and contents of our meals. The device is called WearSens, and it was developed by UCLA engineers to provide more accountability over what we devour.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cThe obesity epidemic hinges on knowing what people consume, and knowing if dieters actually change their eating habits,\u201d says <a href=\"http:\/\/nutrition.psu.edu\/foodlab\/barbara-rolls\">Barbara Rolls<\/a>, professor of nutritional sciences at Pennsylvania State University, who wasn\u2019t involved in creating the device. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/health\/archive\/2012\/02\/the-importance-of-portion-control\/253580\/\">Cut portions,<\/a> and you can cut the pounds.<\/p>\n\n<p>Success stories with nutrition programs like Jenny Craig rely on subscribers keeping honest diaries. But people are human. They fib or struggle to remember the exact details of every meal.<\/p>\n\n<p>WearSens tackles some of those issues by tracking vibrations near the neck. Your upper chest is a cavern that rumbles with every gulp of food and breath of air. The necklace sports piezoelectric sensors that are sensitive to mechanical disturbances. As food or liquid moves down the throat, it creates quakes that rise to the skin around the neck, and the sensors record the tremors. Each food makes a distinctive pattern. If you eat something soft and moist, then your chewing and swallowing sound different than when you eat something hard and crispy.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cTo personalize the device, we ask a new wearer to eat a 3-inch Subway sandwich and then sip down a 12-ounce drink,\u201d says UCLA electrical engineer and co-developer <a href=\"http:\/\/er.cs.ucla.edu\/people.htm\">Majid Sarrafzadeh<\/a>. These vibration data are then transmitted to a smartphone app, which learns to sense solids and liquids and then stores an individual\u2019s swallowing patterns.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"media media-element-container media-default full-width\"><img class=\"full-width\" typeof=\"foaf:Image\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1005\" alt=\"\" data-smsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/small_1x_\/public\/nabil1.png?itok=X7_Qfz3O\" data-medsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/medium_1x_\/public\/nabil1.png?itok=iV7Msd6D\" data-lgsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/large_1x_\/public\/nabil1.png?itok=y9QWNplm\" data-xlsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/xl_1x_\/public\/nabil1.png?itok=HyJk3Cky\" src=\"\/sites\/all\/modules\/bonnier\/sandcastle\/images\/placeholder.gif\" \/><noscript><img class=\"full-width\" typeof=\"foaf:Image\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1005\" alt=\"\" data-smsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/small_1x_\/public\/nabil1.png?itok=X7_Qfz3O\" data-medsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/medium_1x_\/public\/nabil1.png?itok=iV7Msd6D\" data-lgsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/large_1x_\/public\/nabil1.png?itok=y9QWNplm\" data-xlsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/xl_1x_\/public\/nabil1.png?itok=HyJk3Cky\" src=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/medium_1x_\/public\/nabil1.png?itok=iV7Msd6D\" \/><\/noscript><div class=\"caption-wrapper indent\" style=\"\">\n  <div class=\"field-title\">\n    <p>WearSens<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<p>In a <a href=\"http:\/\/dx.doi.org.oca.ucsc.edu\/10.1109\/JSEN.2015.2402652\">study<\/a> published in <em>IEEE Sensors Journal<\/em>, the team show that these readings could accurately distinguish between solid and liquid foods along with hot and cold drinks with about 90 percent accuracy. It could also precisely distinguish hard and soft foods--sandwiches, nuts, chips, chocolate or hamburger patties--about three-quarters of the time. The app can then track a person\u2019s daily diet, or buzz when a person misses a meal or is dehydrated.<\/p>\n\n<p>WearSens has been field tested with 30 subjects and a small menu, but he wonders it will be able to detect the thousands of ingredients and foods that make up the human diet. \u201cIt's an interesting study, no doubt, but I want to see how it performs in a larger community,\u201d says electrical engineer <a href=\"http:\/\/eng.ua.edu\/people\/esazonov\/\">Edward Sazonov<\/a> of the University of Alabama. Sazonov\u2019s team is developing a rival Bluetooth device that uses piezoelectric sensors to measure chew patterns in the jaw, and records a picture diary of what people eat.<\/p>\n\n<p>However, the WearSens may be destined for a different path, according to Sarrafzadeh and his partners Nabil Alshurafa and Haik Kalantarian. Though shrinking portions and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.livescience.com\/38694-keeping-calories-from-juice-in-check.html\">tracking liquids in diet<\/a> can aid nutrition, the team wants to explore whether WearSens could help other medical conditions.<\/p>\n\n<p>The team has preliminary (unpublished) evidence that WearSens can detect when a person swallows a pill or smokes cigarettes. So the device might assist a patient who wants to adhere to a medicine schedule or a smoker that wants to quit. It could even send alerts to a family member or a doctor to catch slip-ups or cheaters.<\/p>\n\n<p>The team is also planning a project with a UCLA lung transplant surgeon that will use the necklace to remotely measure the breathing patterns of those who receive transplants. Abnormal breathing could signal that a recipient\u2019s body is rejecting the organ long before a patient has to visits the emergency room.<\/p>\n","teaser":"<div class=\"media media-element-container media-default full-width\"><img class=\"full-width\" typeof=\"foaf:Image\" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\" alt=\"\" data-smsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/small_1x_\/public\/device1.jpg?itok=gDN9WsqE\" data-medsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci","ss_name":"Paul Adams","tos_name":"Paul Adams","ss_name_formatted":"Paul Adams","tos_name_formatted":"Paul Adams","is_uid":162,"bs_status":true,"bs_sticky":false,"bs_promote":true,"is_tnid":0,"bs_translate":false,"ds_created":"2015-03-04T20:00:29Z","ds_changed":"2015-03-04T20:05:02Z","ds_last_comment_or_change":"2015-03-04T20:05:02Z","bs_field_sponsored":false,"bs_field_custom_page":false,"bs_field_display_social":true,"bs_field_feed_builder_exclusion":false,"bs_field_display_author_bio":true,"bs_field_display_bottom_recirc":true,"bs_field_display_off_ramp":true,"ts_field_credit":"Nsikan Akpan\n","ts_bonnier_summary":"\n  <div class=\"field-body\">\n    You\u2019ve said it. I\u2019ve said it. \u201cI\u2019ll just have one more bite.\u201d Then, half a cheesecake\u00a0later, we were both liars.\n\nA new smart necklace aims to rid us of our eating sins by&hellip;  <\/div>\n","ts_bonnier_eyebrow":"<div class=\"primary-channel-eyebrow\"><a href=\"\/tags\/health\">Health<\/a><\/div>","timestamp":"2016-08-02T15:24:10.625Z","bm_field_display_off_ramp":[true],"bm_field_feed_builder_exclusion":[false],"sm_field_gallery_items":["0"],"sm_field_image":["http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/small_4x3\/public\/device1.jpg?itok=N1l5nkst"],"sm_field_gallery_display":["gallery_none"],"bm_field_sponsored":[false],"bm_field_display_social":[true],"sm_field_customhtml_display":["customhtml_none"],"bm_field_custom_page":[false],"sm_field_sponsor_label":[""],"bm_field_display_bottom_recirc":[true],"sm_field_credit":["Nsikan Akpan"],"bm_field_display_author_bio":[true],"sm_field_subtitle":["Sensors gauge food intake as you swallow\n"],"im_field_tags":[212430,62,212918,212047,60,200367,200299,203719,213460],"im_vid_1":[212430,62,212918,212047,60,200367,200299,203719,213460],"sm_field_video_display":["video_none"],"tid":[212430,62,212918,212047,60,200367,200299,203719,213460],"sm_field_primary_channel":["health"],"sm_vid_Tags":["Health","Science","editor&#039;s picks","wearables","Gadgets","medicine","food","eating","Diet"],"sm_field_layout_standard":["right-sidebar"],"spell":["Smart Necklace Analyzes What Goes Down Your Throat","<div class=\"media media-element-container media-default full-width\"><img class=\"full-width\" typeof=\"foaf:Image\" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\" alt=\"\" data-smsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/small_1x_\/public\/device1.jpg?itok=gDN9WsqE\" data-medsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/medium_1x_\/public\/device1.jpg?itok=bqk2TB5u\" data-lgsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/large_1x_\/public\/device1.jpg?itok=-HNuCvF1\" data-xlsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/xl_1x_\/public\/device1.jpg?itok=RCXeMZq1\" src=\"\/sites\/all\/modules\/bonnier\/sandcastle\/images\/placeholder.gif\" \/><noscript><img class=\"full-width\" typeof=\"foaf:Image\" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\" alt=\"\" data-smsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/small_1x_\/public\/device1.jpg?itok=gDN9WsqE\" data-medsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/medium_1x_\/public\/device1.jpg?itok=bqk2TB5u\" data-lgsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/large_1x_\/public\/device1.jpg?itok=-HNuCvF1\" data-xlsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/xl_1x_\/public\/device1.jpg?itok=RCXeMZq1\" src=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/medium_1x_\/public\/device1.jpg?itok=bqk2TB5u\" \/><\/noscript><div class=\"caption-wrapper indent\" style=\"\">\n  <div class=\"field-title\">\n    <p>WearSens Necklace<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><p data-ptag=\"added-wrapper\"> \nYou\u2019ve said it. I\u2019ve said it. \u201cI\u2019ll just have one more bite.\u201d Then, half a cheesecake\u00a0later, we were both liars.\n\n<\/p><p>A new smart necklace aims to rid us of our eating sins by automatically guessing the portions and contents of our meals. The device is called WearSens, and it was developed by UCLA engineers to provide more accountability over what we devour.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cThe obesity epidemic hinges on knowing what people consume, and knowing if dieters actually change their eating habits,\u201d says <a href=\"http:\/\/nutrition.psu.edu\/foodlab\/barbara-rolls\">Barbara Rolls<\/a>, professor of nutritional sciences at Pennsylvania State University, who wasn\u2019t involved in creating the device. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/health\/archive\/2012\/02\/the-importance-of-portion-control\/253580\/\">Cut portions,<\/a> and you can cut the pounds.<\/p>\n\n<p>Success stories with nutrition programs like Jenny Craig rely on subscribers keeping honest diaries. But people are human. They fib or struggle to remember the exact details of every meal.<\/p>\n\n<p>WearSens tackles some of those issues by tracking vibrations near the neck. Your upper chest is a cavern that rumbles with every gulp of food and breath of air. The necklace sports piezoelectric sensors that are sensitive to mechanical disturbances. As food or liquid moves down the throat, it creates quakes that rise to the skin around the neck, and the sensors record the tremors. Each food makes a distinctive pattern. If you eat something soft and moist, then your chewing and swallowing sound different than when you eat something hard and crispy.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cTo personalize the device, we ask a new wearer to eat a 3-inch Subway sandwich and then sip down a 12-ounce drink,\u201d says UCLA electrical engineer and co-developer <a href=\"http:\/\/er.cs.ucla.edu\/people.htm\">Majid Sarrafzadeh<\/a>. These vibration data are then transmitted to a smartphone app, which learns to sense solids and liquids and then stores an individual\u2019s swallowing patterns.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"media media-element-container media-default full-width\"><img class=\"full-width\" typeof=\"foaf:Image\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1005\" alt=\"\" data-smsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/small_1x_\/public\/nabil1.png?itok=X7_Qfz3O\" data-medsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/medium_1x_\/public\/nabil1.png?itok=iV7Msd6D\" data-lgsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/large_1x_\/public\/nabil1.png?itok=y9QWNplm\" data-xlsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/xl_1x_\/public\/nabil1.png?itok=HyJk3Cky\" src=\"\/sites\/all\/modules\/bonnier\/sandcastle\/images\/placeholder.gif\" \/><noscript><img class=\"full-width\" typeof=\"foaf:Image\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1005\" alt=\"\" data-smsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/small_1x_\/public\/nabil1.png?itok=X7_Qfz3O\" data-medsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/medium_1x_\/public\/nabil1.png?itok=iV7Msd6D\" data-lgsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/large_1x_\/public\/nabil1.png?itok=y9QWNplm\" data-xlsrc=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/xl_1x_\/public\/nabil1.png?itok=HyJk3Cky\" src=\"http:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/medium_1x_\/public\/nabil1.png?itok=iV7Msd6D\" \/><\/noscript><div class=\"caption-wrapper indent\" style=\"\">\n  <div class=\"field-title\">\n    <p>WearSens<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<p>In a <a href=\"http:\/\/dx.doi.org.oca.ucsc.edu\/10.1109\/JSEN.2015.2402652\">study<\/a> published in <em>IEEE Sensors Journal<\/em>, the team show that these readings could accurately distinguish between solid and liquid foods along with hot and cold drinks with about 90 percent accuracy. It could also precisely distinguish hard and soft foods--sandwiches, nuts, chips, chocolate or hamburger patties--about three-quarters of the time. The app can then track a person\u2019s daily diet, or buzz when a person misses a meal or is dehydrated.<\/p>\n\n<p>WearSens has been field tested with 30 subjects and a small menu, but he wonders it will be able to detect the thousands of ingredients and foods that make up the human diet. \u201cIt's an interesting study, no doubt, but I want to see how it performs in a larger community,\u201d says electrical engineer <a href=\"http:\/\/eng.ua.edu\/people\/esazonov\/\">Edward Sazonov<\/a> of the University of Alabama. Sazonov\u2019s team is developing a rival Bluetooth device that uses piezoelectric sensors to measure chew patterns in the jaw, and records a picture diary of what people eat.<\/p>\n\n<p>However, the WearSens may be destined for a different path, according to Sarrafzadeh and his partners Nabil Alshurafa and Haik Kalantarian. Though shrinking portions and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.livescience.com\/38694-keeping-calories-from-juice-in-check.html\">tracking liquids in diet<\/a> can aid nutrition, the team wants to explore whether WearSens could help other medical conditions.<\/p>\n\n<p>The team has preliminary (unpublished) evidence that WearSens can detect when a person swallows a pill or smokes cigarettes. So the device might assist a patient who wants to adhere to a medicine schedule or a smoker that wants to quit. It could even send alerts to a family member or a doctor to catch slip-ups or cheaters.<\/p>\n\n<p>The team is also planning a project with a UCLA lung transplant surgeon that will use the necklace to remotely measure the breathing patterns of those who receive transplants. Abnormal breathing could signal that a recipient\u2019s body is rejecting the organ long before a patient has to visits the emergency room.<\/p>\n","Health Science editor&#039;s picks wearables Gadgets medicine food eating Diet","Nsikan Akpan\n","\n  <div class=\"field-body\">\n    You\u2019ve said it. I\u2019ve said it. \u201cI\u2019ll just have one more bite.\u201d Then, half a cheesecake\u00a0later, we were both liars.\n\nA new smart necklace aims to rid us of our eating sins by&hellip;  <\/div>\n","<div class=\"primary-channel-eyebrow\"><a href=\"\/tags\/health\">Health<\/a><\/div>"],"tm_vid_1_names":["Health Science editor&#039;s picks wearables Gadgets medicine food eating Diet"]}]]