Tokamak Memes

Finally, fusion cuisine that actually requires 100 million degrees Celsius to prepare. That's one spicy tuna roll. The tokamak—a donut-shaped nuclear fusion reactor—looks suspiciously like nigiri when held with chopsticks. Just don't expect this particular dish to solve your hunger or the world's energy crisis anytime soon. Physicists have been saying "fusion power is just 20 years away" for the last 60 years. Pairs well with a side of unfulfilled scientific promises.

The fusion physicist's version of "we have food at home" hits different! Top panel: Kid begging for plasma (the cool, exotic fourth state of matter used in fusion research). Middle panel: Mom saying no because there's already plasma... in a hospital bag (boring medical plasma). Bottom panel: The "plasma at home" is actually the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator - a twisted donut-shaped fusion reactor that confines superheated plasma using magnetic fields to potentially unlock clean energy. It's like asking for a toy car and getting a Ferrari in your garage!

The physicist, represented by the dog, is about to make deuterium and tritium isotopes collide in a nuclear fusion reaction. Just like the dog is eagerly eyeing these tiny figurines, fusion researchers have been staring at these hydrogen isotopes for decades, desperately hoping they'll finally produce more energy than they consume. The eternal "fusion is just 20 years away" struggle continues while the rest of us wait for clean unlimited energy. Some physicists have been watching these isotopes so long they've developed the same expression as this dog.

Scientists discussing fusion reactors is like watching toddlers discover cookies. "I made a new way to generate energy!" says the first researcher, expecting applause. The second researcher, barely awake: "New... or steam?" Then comes the technical knockout - helion fusion reactors generate current directly without boiling water like those basic tokamak reactors. The bottom panels capture that rare moment when a physicist experiences actual human emotion. Revolutionary energy tech that doesn't involve glorified kettles? Groundbreaking stuff. Next they'll tell us fusion is only 20 years away... again.

Stars out here flexing on our billion-dollar fusion reactors like they're not even trying! While humans are building ITER and NIF—massive facilities with lasers and magnets and cooling systems—stars are just casually fusing hydrogen with nothing but gravity and their own mass. The ultimate flex: "You need a $22 billion machine to do what I accomplish with basic gravitational collapse?" Talk about efficiency gap! Next time you look up at the night sky, remember you're watching the OG fusion reactors that didn't need a PhD committee or government funding to get the job done.