Issues

With three years of data, the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe has finally produced the first all-sky polarization maps of the CMB, despite polarization levels of only a few parts per 10⁷ and obscuring galactic foreground.

Muscle cells contract when the internal concentration of calcium ions shoots up. Thanks to a new molecular probe, those peaks can now be tracked in vivo.

The end of Moore’s law—the halving in size of electronic components every 18 months or so—is approaching. But the law could get a reprieve and lead to a technological and economic gold rush if non-charge-based information manipulation is attained.

China and other East Asian nations are “recasting the international S&T scene” through heavy investments in science, engineering, and mathematics.

A grass-roots effort begun 20 years ago has blossomed into today’s Asian African Association for Plasma Training. The AAAPT has helped establish vigorous plasma-related programs, including materials processing and fusion studies, around the globe.

Problems at the interface between biology and physics offer unique opportunities for physicists to make quantitative contributions to biology. Equally important, they enrich the discipline of physics by challenging its practitioners to think in new ways.

The large neutron fluxes produced in next-generation spallation facilities are likely to soon find expanded application in fields as diverse as biology, polymers, complex fluids, and geophysics.