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Issues
September 1998
ISSN 0031-9228
EISSN 1945-0699
Physics Update
Letters
Search and Discovery
Small‐World Networks Can Provide a New Tool to Study Diverse Systems
Physics Today 51 (9), 17–18 (1998);
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.882433
If you are well connected and take a few shortcuts, you might be able to model systems in physics, biology, chemistry or computer science.
Search at SLAC Finds No Millicharged Particles
Physics Today 51 (9), 18–21 (1998);
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.882434
No established theory excludes the possibility of particles with charges a thousand times smaller than the electron's. So why not look for them, especially when you already have just the right accelerator?
Articles
Rubbing and Scrubbing
Physics Today 51 (9), 22–27 (1998);
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.882435
Though simply expressed, the laws of friction encapsulate a host of microscopic and nanoscopic phenomena whose elucidation has become one of the most fascinating pursuits in applied physics.
The Sokal Hoax: At Whom Are We Laughing?
Physics Today 51 (9), 29–34 (1998);
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.882436
The philosophical pronouncements of Bohr, Born, Heisenberg and Pauli deserve some of the blame for the excesses of the postmodernist critique of science.
Meetings
Washington Reports
Experts Dispute CIA Assessment of Missile Threat and Raise Demands in Congress For Defense System
Physics Today 51 (9), 43–44 (1998);
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.882438
Computer and Communications Panel Urges Doubling Funds for Long‐Range Research and More Teaching Faculty
Physics Today 51 (9), 44 (1998);
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.882439
Senate Confirms Heads of DOE, OSTP and OMB After Holding Nominations Hostage Over Ducks
Physics Today 51 (9), 45 (1998);
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.882440
Physics Community
Physicists Question US Sanctions on Scientific Collaborations with India and Pakistan
Physics Today 51 (9), 49–50 (1998);
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.882444
Opinion
Books
Bombshell: The Secret Story of America's Unknown Atomic Spy Conspiracy
Physics Today 51 (9), 61–62 (1998);
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.882450
The Einstein Tower: An Intertexture of Dynamic Construction, Relativity Theory and Astronomy
Physics Today 51 (9), 62–64 (1998);
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.882451
