Issues
Readers’ Forum
Commentary: The social science of creativity and research practice: Physical scientists, take notice
Search and Discovery
Particle storage ring enables a role reversal in proton capture
A novel technique for measuring nuclear reaction cross sections may yield long-sought parameters for short-lived isotopes.
A quantum squeezed state of a mechanical resonator has been realized
Manipulating zero-point fluctuations may pave the way for ultraprecise measurements of forces and positions.
Slow-growing pebbles lead to fast-growing Jupiters
Planet-formation simulations produce the right number of gas giants in our outer solar system.
Issues and Events
Is US headed for a glut of a critical medical isotope?
Each of four prospective producers of molybdenum-99 says it can satisfy at least half of US demand for the short-lived substance.
A FAIR deal: Member countries break impasse on stalled antiproton and ion research center
Antiproton researchers—who are responsible for the “A” in FAIR—are especially relieved that the project will stay intact.
NSF reconfigures nanoscience network
Centers are spread more evenly across the country and include environmental and Earth sciences.
Academies seek regulatory relief for university research
Committee report urges agencies to trim and standardize their grant-application requirements.
Articles
Arch and scaffold: How Einstein found his field equations
In his later years, Einstein often claimed that he had obtained the field equations of general relativity by choosing the mathematically most natural candidate. His writings during the period in which he developed general relativity tell a different story.
What every physicist should know about string theory
Some of nature’s rhymes—the appearance of similar structures in different areas of physics—underlie the way that string theory potentially unifies gravity with the other forces of nature and eliminates the ultraviolet divergences that plague quantum gravity.
Granular crystals: Nonlinear dynamics meets materials engineering
The freedom to choose the size, stiffness, and spatial distribution of macroscopic particles in a lattice makes granular crystals easily tailored building blocks for shock-absorbing materials, sound-focusing devices, acoustic switches, and other exotica.
Books
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Obituaries
Don Lynn Anderson
Susumu Okubo
Robert Homer Simpson
Quick Study
The Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse
Many physicists and physics students have seen videos of the famous bridge disaster that occurred 75 years ago this month. Some of what they saw was misleading.