Is That a Fusion Reactor in Your Pocket?

This is very cool...ummm...or maybe it's hot, I dunno...from yesterday's New York Times:

In a surprising feat of miniaturization, scientists are reporting today that they have produced nuclear fusion - the same process that powers the sun - in a footlong cylinder just five inches in diameter. And they say they will soon be able to make the device even smaller.

While the device is probably too inefficient to produce electricity or other forms of energy, the scientists say, egg-size fusion generators could someday find uses in spacecraft thrusters, medical treatments and scanners that search for bombs.

This story has also been picked up here and here. There's a tutorial on fusion here.