All right, so there are a few other elements involved — namely, hydrogen (you know hydrogen) and boron, which Live Science tells us is a complicated multi-purpose element that plants use as a nutrient, but that’s also commonly used in the nuclear industry. HB11 has developed a process that uses a high-tech laser to “speed up” hydrogen until it collides with boron and starts the fusion reaction. The element of luck comes at play because the laser-accelerated hydrogen is by no means a homing missile. As Warren McKenzie, HB11’s managing director, puts it: “You could say we’re using the hydrogen as a dart, and hoping to hit a boron, and if we hit one, we can start a fusion reaction.” Should the reaction happen, it “throws off” positively charged helium atoms, and the charge is collected as electricity. 

Despite this rather … less than convincing description, the idea was developed by Emeritus Professor Heinrich Hora, who says he has been investigating laser-based boron fusion for over 40 years, so he probably has at least some idea of what he’s talking about. Besides, McKenzie notes that HB11’s oddly luck-based approach is actually “more precise” than heat-based fusion designs, seeing as those basically just heat everything and “hope that something will collide.” So, there’s a thing we all learned today: Apparently, words like “luck” and “hope” play a surprisingly large part in energy production.