Definition
Plain language
The discredited claim that nuclear fusion can happen in a jar on a lab bench at room temperature.
As stated in the literature
Claimed low-energy nuclear reactions in electrochemical cells, originating with Pons and Fleischmann (1989); never independently replicated and rejected by mainstream physics.
Also called: low energy nuclear reactions, LENR
Why it matters: It remains the standard illustration of a spectacular result that vanishes the moment other labs try to reproduce it.
For example, the original claim was that running electricity through a jar of heavy water with a palladium electrode produced more heat than the electricity put in.
Heard on the show
“Ask any frontier model whether cold fusion is real and it says no.”Episode 240 — Frontier Models Designed Follow-Ups To Fraudulent Papers 93% Of The Time