Nuclear fusion powers the Sun, and if we could harness it here on Earth we would benefit from a clean and abundant source of energy. However, creating a fusion power plant remains a formidable technical challenge.

This episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast features an interview with Nick Hawker, who is co-founder and CEO of First Light Fusion. Recently, the UK-based company has achieved fusion in the lab using a new technique that involves firing a projectile at a deuterium target. Hawker talks about projectile fusion and how the company plans to develop the technology so that it could be used in a power plant.

Also this week, Physics World’s Margaret Harris explains how alien civilizations could be using quantum signals to communicate with us on Earth.