Fusion energy isn’t a pipe dream anymore. The bid to make it practical should begin now

The timeline of history is etched not just by wars and revolutions but also by moments when science yields a discovery that forever changes the course of humanity. It appears we’re at precisely one of those moments. At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, scientists reproduced the power of the sun, a massive milestone that opens the door for the kind of fusion found in stars to one day power the world’s homes, businesses, cars and economies. The holy grail behind this achievement came in the form of “net energy gain,” the creation of a nuclear reaction that yielded more energy...