Editor's choice

Big-science supplement

Oct 3, 2011

Download the Physics World supplement looking at the challenges of building and designing next-generation "big-science" facilities

In depth: November 2008

Plans for dealing with the torrent of data from the Large Hadron Collider’s detectors have made the CERN particle-physics lab, yet again, a pioneer in computing as well as physics. Andreas Hirstius describes the challenges of processing and storing data in the age of petabyte science

Jenoptik looks to solar for future growth

Michael Mertin is the man responsible for Jenoptik's recent restructure and securing future growth. Jacqueline Hewett asks him how heavily photovoltaics features in these plans

Plasmonics propagates into new optical fields

Marie Freebody speaks to Niek van Hulst about the potential wealth of applications for plasmonics

Menlo takes frequency combs to the masses

Nadya Anscombe discovers how Nobel prize winning research has been turned into a practical product

Optical tweezers: where physics meets biology

Joost van Mameren explains how quantitative force measurements by optical tweezers can unravel the mechanical properties of biological molecules

Measuring ultrashort pulses needs precision

Marie Freebody speaks to Rick Trebino about the intricacies of measuring ultrashort pulses and how the devices that characterize such pulses can be commercialized

Phoenix unlocks the icy history of Mars

Jacqueline Hewett speaks to Peter Smith, the principal investigator on NASA's Phoenix mission to Mars

Opinion

Has Bush been good for science?

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As US President George W Bush’s eight-year term in office comes to an end, his official science advisor John H Marburger argues that science in the US is flourishing following a decade of increased federal spending

Beauty and the beast

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In his 100th column for Physics World, Robert P Crease examines the Large Hadron Collider – the biggest physics experiment of all time – and wonders whether we can call it “beautiful”