A New Type Of Nuclear Reaction Or Just A Scam?

On January 14, 2011, 61-year-old Italian inventor Andrea Rossi staged a spectacular demonstration. In a warehouse in Bologna, he switched on a strange contraption that looked like a leg of lamb wrapped in aluminum foil. He called it the 'E-Cat,' short for 'energy catalyzer.' A mysterious reaction occurred, generating large amounts of excess heat - far more than any known chemical reaction could produce. The heat boiled water into steam. The steam could be used to spin a turbine to make electricity.
He has convinced a small army of researchers that his box can harness a new type of nuclear reaction. Typically during demonstrations the device is covered up. The device has not been independently verified. Of the January demonstration, Discovery Channel analyst Benjamin Radford wrote that 'If this all sounds fishy to you, it should. In many ways cold fusion is similar to perpetual motion machines.'