(February 5, 2010) When I saw The Lancet's recent retraction of Dr. Wakefield's famous paper linking vaccines to autism, I couldn't help thinking back to 1989 when Fleischmann and Pons were widely attacked and discredit over their demonstration of cold fusion technology.

These two brilliant physicists had accomplished the seemingly impossible: They had caused fusion to take place at low temperatures, producing both excess heat energy as well as the helium artifacts proving that low-energy nuclear reactions had taken place.

The conventional physics community went berserk. They attacked Fleischmann and Pons relentlessly, attempting to destroy their character and any scientific credibility they might have held. They paraded a gang of "hot fusion" scientists through the mainstream media, telling everyone it was "impossible" to create nuclear fusion at tabletop temperatures.

Through a repetition of lies, they convinced the world that Fleischmann and Pons were frauds.

Hot fusion, you see, is big business.