I often am attracted to articles about cold fusion and vacuum energy and the like - typically as a manufestation of a curious subsect of fringe science.

But MSNBC has posted an article saying the best known cold fusion claim has passed another round of tests, and it's starting to attract more attention.

I'm not sure what to think - the safe bet is that it's a fake - but wouldn't that be cool if it wasn't.

Italian cold fusion machine passes another test

The physicists who were invited to the demonstration in April gave the E-Cat a solid thumbs-up. It produced too much excess heat to have been originating from a chemical process, they wrote in their report, adding that, "The only alternative explanation is that there is some kind of a nuclear process that gives rise to the measured energy production."

In the intervening months, Rossi has built a large version of his device that combines many smaller cold fusion modules. At the demo in October, after an initial energy input of 400 watts into each module, each one then produced a sustained, continuous output of 10 kilowatts (470 kW altogether) for three to four hours.