Priorities are a priority
Ideally you would consult a list of priorities and decide accordingly, taking into account national strengths, weaknesses and needs. But the chances of finding such a list of priorities are slim. Most...
Ultraviolet catastrophe?
Synchrotron radiation is now used routinely in many areas of science. Many research groups, especially in physics, chemistry and biology, base large parts of their research programmes on the use of th...
Holes in a final theory?
Reviewed by Bernard Carr. There are a some ideas in science – usually those that try to extend it in unorthodox directions, or which trespass too far into the domain of metaphysics – that ...
Clouds over Kyoto
Even if levels had increased over the previous two years, it was surely not beyond the wit of the world’s most technologically advanced countries to reduce them by the end of the decade. The dif...
Science studies – what’s wrong?
Physicists form a rather closed group of people. You may occasionally talk to a chemist or a mathematician, but how often do you cross the campus to speak to people working in the relatively new acade...
Fusion energy: the agony, the ecstasy and alternatives
Fusion – the release of nuclear binding energy from light nuclei and its practical exploitation – has been a major world research discipline for the past four decades. It promises to be an...
New look, same standards
“Evolution not revolution” was the motto as we set about redesigning Physics World earlier this year. After nine years with the same design we felt that a new look was long overdue –...
Labour disappoints
The Labour government in the UK has certainly moved quickly since it was swept into power at the start of May. At first it was window-dressing – “call me Tony” the new prime minister...
Laser highlights
The many achievements and uses of the electron have been widely celebrated this year. Photonics has not yet had the impact of electronics, although the interdisciplinary subject of optoelectronics und...
Off the beaten track
Point your Web browser at http://www.agacooker.com/disc.html and you will learn how Gustav Dalen, the Swedish inventor who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1912, invented the Aga cooker to release h...
