A Bit Beyond Erector Sets And Tinker Toys

I'm not mechanically inclined - I haven't the patience. My solution for things is to hit it with a hammer, bang in on the floor, or flag the neighbor when he's walking the dogs and ask if he can fix it. But this, originally reported in June, is fascinating:

A New York web designer for fashion house Gucci surprised his neighbors by revealing he built a nuclear reactor in a Brooklyn warehouse, the BBC reported Wednesday.

Mark Suppes, a 32-year-old amateur physicist with a passion for sustainable energy, constructed the $40,000 homemade fusion reactor in his spare time.

He is the 38th independent physicist in the word to achieve nuclear fusion from a self-built reactor and forms part of a growing community of "fusioneers." These brainiacs are trying to discover how to produce energy by fusion, a process that currently consumes more energy to run than it creates.

Read the full article here

I wish these folks luck - if they can make it work a home nuclear generator would beat solar and windmills all to heck.  However, I would prefer that they make sure that what they are doing is safe before tinkering around with nuclear materials - meltdowns on the kitchen stove might concern the neighbors.

STOCKHOLM (AP) -- A Swedish man who was arrested after trying to split atoms in his kitchen said Wednesday he was only doing it as a hobby.

Richard Handl told The Associated Press that he had the radioactive elements radium, americium and uranium in his apartment in southern Sweden when police showed up and arrested him on charges of unauthorized possession of nuclear material.

 More here.