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Print edition: October 2008
Features
Two decades and counting...
Opening this special issue marking the 20th anniversary of the launch of Physics World, Matin Durrani says that the magazine still has a vital role to play in the electronic age
Ending the great drought
For more than 20 years, particle theory has left experiment far behind in its wake. Michael Riordan hopes that the Large Hadron Collider will help bring particle physics back to its experimental roots
The global-village pioneers
Paul Ginsparg, who founded the arXiv e-print archive, recounts the early days of the Web and looks at how it has changed scientific communication
Pop science's big bang
Stephen Hawking’s book A Brief History of Time, first published 20 years ago, reshaped the science publishing landscape. John D Barrow charts the rise of the popular-science book and looks at the huge impact of Hawking’s bestseller on popular culture
Map of physics
Corporate interests
Bell Labs, once the epitome of synergy between fundamental and applied physics, is about to close its basic-research department. Jennifer Ouellette investigates how this reflects industrial physics today
Life at the frontier
Physics has traditionally been viewed as a grand quest to understand the building blocks of matter and the forces holding them together. But as Robert P Crease argues, the reality is no longer that simple
The new geography of science
China, Brazil, India and other emerging superpowers are reshaping the scientific landscape and breaking the US–Europe hegemony. James Wilsdon reports on the new balance of power in physics
Quanta
Lightning Bolt
Animal magnetism
It's a dog's life
Fat lot of good
Frontiers
Quantum repeater demonstrated
Stars dodge black holes
Atoms do a clover to the 'bose-nova'
Holey sheet stops sound
Pulsar signal for phones
News & Analysis
The day the world watched
Caucasus conflict challenges US space policy
Jefferson lab receives upgrade boost
Dark-matter 'paparazzi' exposed
NASA selects new Mars mission
China due for its first spacewalk
Satellites to provide broadband
Science sidelined in US presidential campaign
Physicist falls foul of US export law
Bubble-fusion professor loses faculty post
Medical-isotope supply hit by production problems
Proton-beam technique dates fine wine
Editorial
Physics World turns 20
Careers
Have PhD, will travel
Life as a postdoctoral researcher offers opportunities for making independent contributions to science, but there are pitfalls too, as Margaret Harris explains
US trio win national medals
Calling all extraterrestrial researchers
Nominees sought for Institute awards
Movers and shakers
Lateral Thoughts
The science that never was