Boron

Most current fusion power projects require tritium – an incredibly scarce and problematic fuel. TAE is targeting cheaper, safer hydrogen-boron (H-B) fusion, and it's just announced a world-first measurement of H-B fusion in magnetically confined plasma.

This remarkable anti-ship weapon would run an innovative boron-powered ramjet engine that works in both air and water. Supersonic in the air and supercavitating under the water, it could strike farther and faster than any conventional torpedo.

Scientists in the US have introduced a new player to the world of 2D materials in the form of an ultra-thin, ultra-strong material they've dubbed borophane, which they see one day finding use in advanced forms of electronics.

Generally, water repellent objects and those that attract or absorb water have very different microscopic-level attributes. Now researchers have discovered a way to use a single type of material to perform both functions, switching between the two simply by applying electric current.