Issues

Finding superheavy element 118 would have been a giant step in the quest for the conjectured island of nuclear stability. But now the claimed discovery is thought to have been part of a pattern of deception by one physicist that goes back to 1994.

Further studies of the two protons emitted by iron-45 can shed light on how the protons are paired within the nucleus.

Theoretical distributions of work delivered to small objects have some surprising properties recently confirmed by experiment.

Researchers have measured the intermolecular forces that help cushion our joints.

Europe’s physicists wait with a mix of optimism and skepticism to see how FP6 will affect their science.

There is a shortage of neutron sources available to US scientists, and while the SNS will help, demand is expected to eventually outstrip even that facility.

The National Research Council report considers “compelling science,” technology, and cost in recommending a wide range of missions to be launched by 2013.

The art of cancer treatment is finding the right balance between tumor control and injury to normal tissues.

By spatially varying the intensity of an x-ray beam, IMRT enables careful sculpting of radiation treatments around sensitive tissues.

Once an obscure area of academic research, proton therapy is developing into an effective treatment option for use in hospitals.

The fundamentals of cancer are the fundamentals of growth. Physics offers biology tools and techniques to attack the disease, but both sciences must work together on the basic problems of growth.

This opinion is appearing simultaneously in FermiNews and Physics Today.