This 1998 article also helps show the race for cold fusion:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/6.11/coldfusion.html
What the original 1989 experiment produced was probably something more along the lines of a chemical reaction. In my understanding of how the universe produces energy it requires heat (random motion of atoms), or in one simple word "jiggling". This occurs in the formation of stars where the force of gravity pulls clouds of matter together thereby increasing the gravity and pulling in more matter, which causes ever increasing pressure/heat (jiggling atoms). When the temperature reaches 18 million degrees Fahrenheit nuclear fusion begins and thus a star is born. The heat of a star can produce elements up to iron, but the heavier elements aren't possible without the tremendous, but brief, superheat of a supernova.
The concept of cold fusion borders on science fiction. Alchemy (changing lead into gold for example) was a myth of the ancient world. Today we know that requires the heat of a star, and we can't replicate such temperatures here on earth, which is basically what cold fusion is supposed to do. So from what I understand, cold fusion would be more then just an energy source, but a way to change an atom into another atom. Imagine the ability to interchange elements. For example gold could be manufactured.
There are some new radical ideas coming out of science. One has shown mathematically that exceeding light speed is theoretically possible. It involves reaching near light speed and getting caught in the event horizon of a rotating black hole, thereby increasing your speed beyond that of light from the perspective of normal space. This is simple terms is like throwing a ball down the corridor of a moving bus. The maximum speed you can throw the ball is amplified by the speed the bus is traveling when measured by a person standing on the sidewalk.
Another weird concept involves artificially distorting space in a laboratory condition by the means of some sort of array of energy beams (sorry I had trouble comprehending what they were). The space within the tunnel of beams becomes distorted; or rather time within them is slowed down. The general idea is that once this device is turned on, time at one end is near frozen, and a message could be transmitted from one end to the other which is in the past. The past being as far back as when the device was first activated. I really had trouble understanding this but found it interesting.
