This remends me of HB11 fusion that has been discussed here before.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aneutronic_fusion

> I find the failed theories of the 1800s inspiring, and the recent ones merely depressing, since for decades I’ve had to watch seemingly intelligent scientists cling to these recent theories despite their lack of success.

what’s he referring to here? String theory?

The author says "an ordinary beryllium nucleus, 8Be, is made of 4 protons and 4 neutrons". This is absolutely untrue as 9Be is the "ordinary" beryllium nucleus. It is in fact one of the best and lowest mass examples of nuclear "magic numbers" having inconsistencies.

8Be has a halflife of attoseconds and a mass greater than two alpha particles therefore isn't even a bound state. I'd be hard pressed to even attach the label nucleus to it in the sense that an atom could form around it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryllium-8

That extra neutron is somewhat important.