in all seriousness, this just seems to be grad students having fun...
note the "unknown probability of success". why can't the probability be calculated? because based on known assumptions, it's 0. that means for the probability to be above 0, some of our assumptions have to be wrong (ie new physics). is it possible? are genies real? could be. we'd have to rub all the lamps to check. despite the fact that genies have not been "disproven", nobody seriously considers systematically rubbing lamps because of the cost:benefit. similarly, serious physicists don't even consider exploring cold fusion. but i see no problem at all with research going on at this level and any good scientist should be equally curious and skeptical
Where are the dead grad students?
Oh, there aren't any? Then there's no 'cold fusion' taking place.
Grad students are remarkably hard to kill. Deprive them of sleep, food, and water. Expose them to high radiation levels and dangerous chemicals. They even survive brief periods of vacuum. Grad students are like academic tardigrades.
Tardigrades get paid better.
Tardigrades are generalized grad students.
Despite the macabre tone of this comment, this is one of those rhetorically famous criticisms of cold fusion so don't discount it because it seems sensationalist or something... Seriously why has no one died from radiological causes from cold fusion study?