Issues
Readers’ Forum
Search and Discovery
Surprising upper limit on the electron’s electric dipole moment
A new null result challenges favored expansions of particle theory’s standard model.
Nonlinear microscopy looks beneath the surface of historic artwork
For the first time, it’s possible to create depth-resolved images of a painting without damaging it.
A fruit-fly gene network may be tuned to a critical point
Precise measurements of fluctuations and correlations in gene expression levels reveal some striking behavior.
Issues and Events
Geoscientists seek to save HAARP
With ionospheric modification, scientists can do plasma-physics experiments that are impossible in the lab.
Grid-scale battery research flows with ARPA–E support
The agency is funding more than 20 projects, including flow batteries, aimed at reducing the cost of storing energy from wind and solar sources and smoothing variations in peak power generation.
Articles
Probing the accelerating universe
The Dark Energy Survey’s map of 200 million galaxies will help determine if cosmic acceleration is driven by a cosmological constant, by a new and dynamic form of energy, or by physics beyond the scope of general relativity.
Evaluating musical instruments
Scientific measurements of sound generation and radiation by musical instruments are surprisingly hard to correlate with the subtle and complex judgments of instrumental quality made by expert musicians.
Nuclear proliferation and testing: A tale of two treaties
Despite progress in reducing stockpiles after the end of the Cold War, the disturbing actions of some nations could spread nuclear weapon capabilities and enlarge existing arsenals.
Books
Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety
Understanding the Universe: An Inquiry Approach to Astronomy and the Nature of Scientific Research
New Products
Obituaries
Hui-Chun Liu
Kenneth Noble Stevens
Quick Study
Dynamics of a skydiver’s epic free fall
In October 2012 Felix Baumgartner fell farther and faster than anyone before him. The forces he experienced during his flight can be readily analyzed, thanks to the GPS data collected during his jump.