This is a resend as it seems the there was a problem the first one. Horace has mentioned the continuing mystery of "mirror matter" and a possible involvement in LENR.
Is it possible that mirror matter accumulates to a greater degree at higher elevation, like at Salt Lake City. At least that hypothesis is easily falsifiable by using identical cells - one at sea level and then the same cell a mile-higher, and comparing results. Or ... 20 years ago, Bazhutov of Russia introduced the concept of the "erzion": in "Interpretation of cold nuclear fusion by means of erzion catalysis". Hands up Voticians - how many remember that notable occasion in the history of CF? Just as I thought - nada. Not to worry, Russians do not give up easily, as Napoleon and Hitler discovered to their mutual humiliation. Muons are indeed known to catalyze cold fusion, and could, in principle, be the cause of a more repeatable variety of LENR in some locations, since they arrive at the Earth's surface in cosmic showers and would have longer effective lifetimes at higher elevation. The short life time of the normal variety precludes the possibility of robust Muon catalyzed fusion in normal circumstances. But what if there were another, heavy and negative particle with much longer life, in these cosmic showers - or from a solar source? Muons would possibly have dual, even dual-dual identity. Mirror matter muons might be longer lived. The Russians call these hypothetical particles "erzions", and postulate that they could have been accumulating on the Earth's surface for a long time, maybe everywhere or maybe in places with less magnetic interference. Erzion catalysis would proceed like muon catalysis and if erzions are long lived, cold fusion is more easily explained, along with some other physical mysteries such as "Lebed-X3" energy. The result would be (4)He, thus accounting for the dearth of neutrons; some would however be emitted as secondaries. OK now here is the latest paper from Yu.N.Bazhutov Moscow State Technical University: http://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0106218 ... a reflection of a man ahead of his time? or else more Russian Scat? (you must read the paper to get the SKAT punnage). Jones