See what kind of technology we could have if we more liberally funded studies like this?

http://opa.yale.edu/news/article.aspx?id=7358
Key point: When the gold nuclei, traveling at 99.999% of the speed of light, smashed together, the plasma that resulted was so energetic that a tiny cube of it with sides measuring about a quarter of the width of a human hair would contain enough energy to power the entire United States for a year.