Issues
Physics Update
Second Material Found that Superconducts in a Ferromagnetic State
At first glance, ferromagnetism and superconductivity look incompatible, but that hasn’t turned out to be the case.
Magnetically Confined Fusion Breaks a Pressure Barrier
If plasmas can be held at higher pressures, the potential fusion power output is significantly greater.
Reference Frame
Letters
Issues and Events
Convocation at Snowmass Looks into the Future of US High-Energy Physics
A 500-GeV electron-positron linear collider, most particle physicists believe, should be the next big accelerator.
Russia Banks on Importing Nuclear Waste
Domestic and international opposition may scuttle the survival strategy of Russia’s nuclear industry.
New NIH Institute Seeks to Serve Physicists and Engineers in Medicine
Now that medical imagers and bioengineers have succeeded in getting their own NIH institute, they have to fill its coffers and define its role both at NIH and in the wider scientific community.
Articles
The Constant yet Ever-Changing Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics
In this age of globalization, the ICTP continues to stem the brain drain of physicists from developing nations while at the same time responding to new scientific challenges.
Communication in a Disordered World
Rather than decreasing efficiency, scattering can actually increase the information transfer rate for cell phones and other wireless microwave communication devices. Mesoscopic physics helps explain how.
Two Revolutions in K-8 Science Education
Today’s science education, which teaches all students to do science and think like scientists, has depended on the involvement of scientists and their societies. It must continue to do so.