The researchers propose that, while the Maunder Minimum may have contributed to the Little Ice Age, it did not cause it. Several large volcanic eruptions nudged the climate into a cooler state, where feedbacks kept it for several centuries.

The basic goal of the research was to see if something like a cockroach could generate enough electricity from stored sugars to power electronic devices.

Compared to rapid quenching of PPMA, MAPLE produces a glass with a significantly higher transition temperature (about 40°C hotter), meaning the same material is stable at higher temperatures. Using index of refraction measurements, the researchers also determined the glass to be about 60 percent of the density achieved using other techniques, meaning it’s a much lighter weight material. Despite the significant reduction in weight, the MAPLE-deposited PPMA showed no substantial loss in rigidity: the lighter glass is as strong as glasses produced using quenching.

One thing that lets me down about inertial confinement fusion is that the implosion that gets the fusion reaction going also acts to stop the fusion. One idea for improving the fusion reaction that has been floating around for a while is to use magnetic fields in place of lasers to increase the efficiency of the fusion burn. But until recently, no one could figure out how to make it work properly.

And yet, we must never forget that our causal beliefs are defined by their limitations. For too long, we’ve pretended that the old problem of causality can be cured by our shiny new knowledge. If only we devote more resources to research or dissect the system at a more fundamental level or search for ever more subtle correlations, we can discover how it all works. But a cause is not a fact, and it never will be; the things we can see will always be bracketed by what we cannot. And this is why, even when we know everything about everything, we’ll still be telling stories about why it happened. It’s mystery all the way down.