Physics Today

Physics Today

The magazine for the physics community
The freedom of confinement in complex fluids When it comes to self-assembly of photonic, drug-delivery, and biomimetic materials, big opportunities can be found in small spaces. The discovery of superconductivity A century ago Heike Kamerlingh Onnes set a new standard for physics research laboratories. But careless notebook entries have confused the story of his greatest discovery. Imaging with ambient noise Whether noise is a nuisance or a signal depends on how it’s processed. By cross-correlating noise recorded at two sensors, researchers can retrieve the waves that propagate between them and extract details about the intervening medium. Femtosecond snapshots capture atomic motion in a powdered solid A new technique sets the stage for ultrafast diffraction studies of materials that can’t easily be crystallized. Radio waves map matter without counting galaxies A new technique for charting the large-scale structure of the universe has received its first experimental demonstration Laser-generated bubbles take aim at a cell membrane Physics update 'Copilot in chief' Augustine takes on space, energy, and education Prior to his retirement in 1997, the aerospace industry executive advised five US presidents on science and technology policy. He’s still at it 13 years later. NSF speeds funding for research on BP oil spill Sopping up oil with new materials, mapping the subsurface plume, and accelerating biodegradation of the slick are among dozens of time-sensitive research projects receiving grants. Global R&D spending up, US industry spending down China, others dig more and deeper underground labs From tiny to gargantuan, experiments are in the works to exploit the shielding from cosmic rays that being deep undergroundoffers. Physics olympiad meets in Croatia Physics bachelors at work News notes Green light for ITER Web watch Empirical incompleteness and the search for a theory of everything HBCUs need better marketing Scientific societies should speak out Forging more effective conferences Bologna reforms in Germany Historical perspective on spin-polarized tunneling When Holmdel lab opened for business Inequity certain, cause disputed The Science on Women and Science The Stability of Matter in Quantum Mechanics Crafting the Quantum: Arnold Sommerfeld and the Practice of Theory, 1890-1926 Optical Metamaterials: Fundamentals and Applications The Hancocks of Marlborough: Rubber, Art, and the Industrial Revolution: A Family of Inventive Genius New books Focus on spectroscopy Indrek Martinson Robert Vivian Pound Vortices and tall buildings: A recipe for resonance Structures buffeted by steady winds experience pushes and pulls in the direction perpendicular to the wind flow. If those forces were to organize coherently, the results could be disastrous. NanoFET bioprobe

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