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Physics World magazine special issue on energy and climate change

Download a free PDF of the October 2009 issue

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Features, opinions and reviews from the world’s top physicists and professional science writers

Features

Recipes for planet formation

Nov 2, 2009 2 comments

Michael R Meyer describes how studies of extrasolar planets are helping us to understand how planetary systems form and evolve

Prince of darkness

Oct 13, 2009 5 comments

Nuclear astrophysicist Alex Murphy shares his views on the nature of dark matter and gets excited over the forthcoming restart of the ZEPLIN III detector

Wrong but useful

Oct 1, 2009 12 comments

Gavin Schmidt explains how climate models are becoming an essential tool for politicians and policymakers

"Sustainability" is the hottest topic in energy research today, but what does it actually mean? George Crabtree and John Sarrao describe what makes a technology sustainable, and outline the materials-science challenges standing between us and clean, long-lasting energy

Of gluons, atoms and strings

Sep 1, 2009

An unusual alliance between physicists who study ultrahot plasmas and ultracold atoms is yielding intriguing results – and may even lead to an experimental test for string theory, as Barbara Jacak reveals

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Opinion

Elspeth Drayson: life in the fast lane

Nov 11, 2009 1 comment

Elspeth Drayson, co-owner of motor-racing team Drayson Racing, talks about her route from physics to the pit-lane

Vitaly Ginzburg: a life in physics

Nov 3, 2009 9 comments

Vitaly Ginzburg – one of the most prominent Russian theoretical physicists of the 20th century – talks exclusively about his achievements in physics, his distrust of the church's growing role in Russian society and how the hydrogen bomb saved his life.