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Print edition: August 2009
Features
The Earth – for physicists
Scientists are beginning to understand the extent to which the evolution of our planet has been shaped by collisions, bombardments and catastrophes. John Baez tells the violent history of a pale-blue dot
Beyond the wonder material
The remarkable properties of graphene — a one-atom-thick sheet of carbon that was first isolated in 2004 — have produced a wave of discoveries in fundamental physics. But its new chemical cousin, graphane, may prove more amazing still, as Kostya Novoselov explains.
A tale of two minds
The Pakistani theorist Abdus Salam was the first Muslim scientist to win a Nobel prize. So why, wonders Gordon Fraser, have Salam’s achievements gone largely ignored by his homeland, whereas India has treated its great mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan so differently?
Quanta
Who's new at the Zoo?
Stage fright
The map and trap rap
Bang goes the waste
Frontiers
Feynman's 'quantum walk' observed
Seeing inside bones
Sand drips like water
DNA sifts nanotubes
Clothes that can see
News & Analysis
UK physics hit by fresh funding cuts
Universities give record level of support to the UK economy
Canadian reactor delays add to agency's troubles
Extension for Spanish reactor fails to satisfy operator
Fledgling site challenges arXiv server
Public praise for science
The Copernicium revolution
Japan completes space lab
Pakistan boosts science budget
Science road map unveiled
Physicist sentenced for export violation
Japan accelerates ahead
Editorial
Braced for bad times
Forum
Threats to ultra-high-field MRI
A new European directive designed to prevent workers from being exposed to high magnetic fields could potentially have a severe impact on research into magnetic resonance imaging, warns Denis Le Bihan
Critical Point
Religion explained
Robert P Crease uncovers the secret of the conflict between science and religion in responses to a Physics World survey
Feedback
A bunch of Bologna
Supporting research in a recession
Out of time
Comments from physicsworld.com
Fraud, misinformation and the open culture
Still wishful on fusion
Fiddling on the roof
Reviews
How Britannia beat the waves
Revenge of the mathematicians
Revisit your enthusiasm
Careers
Scientists in the newsroom
Media fellowships can help physicists improve the way that they communicate their results to the outside world, and also offer valuable insights into how the other half live, as Helen Czerski describes
Once a physicist: Conrad C Lautenbacher Jr
Retired US Navy Vice Admiral Conrad C Lautenbacher Jr served as the administrator of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from 2001 to 2008
Blue-LED developer bags award
Swiss physicist wins first Bell Prize
Stellar-evolution pioneer honoured
Movers and shakers
Lateral Thoughts
Blame it on the butterfly