Issues
Letters
Search and Discovery
Discoverers of giant magnetoresistance win this year’s physics nobel
The discovery ignited an explosion of research into how electrons flow through magnetic materials. It also boosted the storage capacity of disk drives.
Nobel chemistry prize honors career in surface science
Gerhard Ertl’s efforts did much to shape the way researchers study surface-catalyzed chemical reactions.
New experiments fuel debate over the nature of high-T c superconductors
A central issue is whether an observed energy gap seen above the critical temperature T c is related to or different from the superconducting gap seen below T c
Physics Update
Issues and Events
Climate changes for peace prize winners
The award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize delighted scientists and the public but underscored the US government’s lack of action to reduce global warming.
Cold plasmas enter the biomedical arena
With a host of prototype devices headed for the biomedical market, cold plasmas could become the hot new trend in cutting-edge health care.
White LEDs poised for global impact
Cities around the world are discovering that solid-state lighting costs less and produces fewer greenhouse emissions than incandescent or fluorescent lights.
Articles
String theory in the era of the Large Hadron Collider
The relationship between string theory and particle experiment is more complex than the caricature presented in the popular press and weblogs.
Geodetic laser scanning
Producing surface maps at submeter resolution, even over heavily forested terrain, GLS can reveal the fine structure of such features as faults, landslides, and drainage patterns.
The Copernican myths
The real story of how the scientific and religious establishments greeted the Copernican revolution is quite different from the folklore. And it’s a lot more interesting.
Opinion
Books
Lasers in the Preservation of Cultural Heritage: Principles and Applications
Spinning Flight: Dynamics of Frisbees, Boomerangs, Samaras, and Skipping Stones
New Products
Obituaries
Ralph Asher Alpher
Wolfgang Kurt Hermann Panofsky
Quick Study
Snow and ice crystals
Highly dendritic snowflakes are an aesthetic source of wonder, but the greater challenge for physicists lies in understanding the “simpler” prismatic and planar forms.