Issues

In the search for the island of stability expected to lie not far beyond the heaviest known elements, it will help to have good measurements of nuclear binding energies along the way.

Certain high-purity solid materials can be cooled by an all-solid-state laser-based system.

Hydrogen bonds that hold croconic acid crystals together are responsible for the material’s high spontaneous polarization and strong ferroelectric effect.

Magnetic and nonmagnetic isotopes behave differently in chemical reactions initiated by sunlight.

The multinational, multicultural, multibillion-dollar fusion test reactor is set to get back on track with a shorter-than-proposed additional delay.

High-T _c superconductor cables would provide interregional access to renewable energy.

Board instructs NSF to select “truly transformational” research proposals and advises White House to ensure that US retains international leadership in key fields.

Swollen with stimulus monies, 2010 R&D totals are a tough act to follow. And the president’s call for a spending freeze points to austere times ahead.

Phase space has been called one of the most powerful inventions of modern science. But its historical origins are clouded in a tangle of independent discovery and misattributions that persist today.

Three iconic laboratories constructed in 1966 reveal how architectural design and scientific culture can help—or hinder—a building’s ability to adapt to the changing discipline it serves.

Thanks to recent advances in materials research, magnetic tunnel junctions that control the flow of polarized electrons are poised to revolutionize information technology.

Astronomical observations have established that the universe consists almost exclusively of matter, with just a tiny amount of antimatter. A key problem in particle physics and cosmology is to understand that asymmetry.