![[IOP]](http://images.iop.org/cws/icons/themes/phw/colophon-small.png){kind=icon}
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
The road to sustainability
Oct 1, 2009 1 comment
"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
Engineering the climate
Sep 1, 2009 11 comments
Geoengineering has so far been something of a taboo topic for climate scientists. Peter Cox and Hazel Jeffery explain why it is now time to take it seriously
Voyager heads for interstellar space
Aug 25, 2009 1 comment
Richard Corfield celebrates the 20 year anniversary since NASA's Voyager mission left the solar system and began the second leg of its epic journey — an exploration of interstellar space
Diamond coatings are branching out
Jul 31, 2009
Chris Walker looks at some of the uses of a novel amorphous diamond material
RGA User Group offers broad appeal
Jul 31, 2009
Robin Hathaway explains how a user group provides a forum for sharing experiences and discovering new ways to exploit the powerful diagnostic features of residual gas analysers across a wide range of applications
Chamber simulates space on Earth
Jul 31, 2009
Stan Grisnik describes how NASA’s huge craft-testing facility can recreate the vacuum conditions of space.
The Earth – for physicists
Jul 31, 2009 6 comments
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
Darwin’s legacy
Jul 1, 2009 13 comments
Born 200 years ago, Charles Darwin is rightly celebrated for his work explaining the origin of species. But in setting a new standard for what an explanation of nature should be like, he also had a huge impact on physics and cosmology, as Leonard Susskind explains
The quantum life
Jul 1, 2009 10 comments
The idea that quantum mechanics can explain many fundamental aspects of life is resurging, as Paul Davies reveals
The unique universe
Jun 2, 2009 39 comments
Many cosmological theories not only see our universe as one of many but also claim that time does not exist. Lee Smolin argues against the timeless multiverse
Electromagnetic software accelerates ahead
May 26, 2009
Hamish Johnston explains how software born in an accelerator lab is now being used for everything from medical physics to invisibility cloaks