Issues

Molecules have more degrees of freedom than atoms do, so guiding them into the same few quantum states is a challenge.

The eagerly anticipated observation of the fractional quantum Hall effect raises hopes of seeing even more exotic behavior.

The long-held presumption that most cosmic rays are accelerated in supernova remnants has, until now, lacked convincing evidence.

Nearly a year after passage of the stimulus package, federal agencies are close to committing the entire $18.4 billion provided for basic research. But what happens when funding runs out?

By ratcheting up the sensitivity about an order of magnitude, a handful of experiments aim to see neutrinoless double beta decay and measure the neutrino mass; if unsuccessful, larger experiments would be the next step.

Agencies move tentatively to implement Obama’s plan, but Iran isn’t invited to the table, and funding is scarce.

In a dispute with more than just scientific import, Alexis Clairaut, Leonhard Euler, and Jean le Rond d’Alembert each employed their own strategies to establish that they were the first to understand a puzzling feature of the Moon’s orbit.

In topological insulators, spin–orbit coupling and time-reversal symmetry combine to form a novel state of matter predicted to have exotic physical properties.

In 1960 two rival laboratories reported the creation of lasers. Controversy over priority and proper behavior has persisted for half a century. Now three Bell Labs veterans of that confused but exciting summer tell the story as they remember it.

The observation of gravitational waves will offer astronomers a new view of the cosmos. One promising approach for detecting those spacetime perturbations relies on the precise timing of signals from radio pulsars.