His revolutionary claim is for a novel nuclear process known as bubble fusion, or sonofusion. He said that it may lead to a new source of clean nuclear energy.

University of Illinois chemistry professor Kenneth Suslick is one of those accusing Taleyarkhan of scientific fraud.

However, not a single investigation report concurs with Suslick’s statements to the media and to investigators. Suslick declined to comment to New Energy Times in our earlier investigations.

Science skeptics commonly believe that a failure to replicate a novel phenomenon confirms the claimed phenomenon’s nonexistence. It does not. Failure to replicate means failure to replicate.

Failure to replicate could imply that a) the claimed phenomenon does not exist, b) the claimed phenomenon is not sufficiently understood by the originator, c) the claimed phenomenon is not sufficiently understood by the replicator, d) the replicator lacked the skill or tools to perform a successful replication, e) the originator did not want the replicator to succeed or f) the replicator did not want to confirm the originator’s work.

For example, an attempted replication of Taleyarkhan’s work at UCLA, sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, was scuttled by physics professor Seth Putterman and his colleagues. New Energy Times exposed this on Pages 49-56 in our Special Report on Bubble Fusion/Sonofusion. Putterman declined to comment to New Energy Times in our earlier investigations.

Scientists frequently help journalists expose bogus claims. Putterman helped Nature journalist Eugenie Reich in this manner, with the idea that Taleyarkhan’s claims were bogus. However, no proof of science fraud or mistakes has been confirmed; yet the Reich articles were twisted and written in such a way as to jeopardize Taleyarkhan’s reputation and career.

Journalists always question the motives of sources and try to identify potential conflicts. In her articles, Reich failed to report that Putterman was a direct competitor of Taleyarkhan’s for both funds and fame and that a longstanding competition to be the first to achieve bubble/sonofusion had been running.

Our Special Report reveals Putterman’s close collaboration with Reich as well as the details of this bubble battle.

Science skeptics might assume that Taleyarkhan and a few of his colleagues working on the frontiers of science are guilty of science misconduct. However, these skeptics would be unlikely to suspect that top administrators from one of the most prominent U.S. universities are guilty of negligence, malfeasance and harassment.

Welcome to Bubblegate.

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