In fact, it seems to me now - in retrospect - that there was a strong sub-theme at ICCF-17 on Rhenium. Why? Well, it is group 7 and has massive valence electron flexibility, and is a Mills catalyst - but note that in contrast to Miles we have the results of an Re alloy with Pd that is spectacular, and most of all gives us an RF signature. I think the emphasis on Rhenium in many of these papers is misplaced - and instead manganese should perform better, as both are group 7 - and Re is rarer than palladium where as Mn is cheap ... but anyway - these NRL results are important and beg to be expanded on.
Of course, it should be noted that almost 2/3 of natural Re is 187Re which is a radioactive beta emitter with a multi-billion year half-life. In a way this also ties into the thread yesterday on a possible connection to Ed Storms suggestion of a mysterious radiation associated with LENR which can alter decay rates. This could be similar to what is seen in solar astronomy. As noted yesterday - the solar neutrino rate does not vary noticeably due to massive solar flares. Instead another kind of radiation precedes flares, and is measureable on earth as accelerated decay rates. That unexplained kind of radiation could possibly correspond to what Storms describes. Curiously the same radiation could also be involved in other anomalies - and excess heat with rhenium alloys could be one of them. The mystery radiation itself would not need to be measureable in its own right - only its effect on the neutrino flux. Thus, the close analogy to the Aharonov-Bohm effect (if one needs a close analogy, and I think it helps in this case). Jones
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