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.
How to publish a scientific comment
Nov 2, 2009 4 comments
Rick Trebino relives the time he tried – and failed – to have a comment published in a scientific journal
The lure of synchrotrons
Nov 2, 2009 1 comment
Robert P Crease asks how sound are the arguments that the next generation of synchrotron sources are an essential tool for meeting the energy challenge?
Human spaceflight: science or spectacle?
Nov 2, 2009 2 comments
The big debate: David Clements and Ian Crawford spar over whether human spaceflight is worth the effort
Publicize or perish
Oct 1, 2009 16 comments
Joseph Romm urges scientists to do much more to warn the public of the dangers of climate change
Challenges in tackling climate change
Oct 1, 2009 5 comments
In order to limit global warming by reducing carbon emissions, Lord Browne argues that the biggest barriers to a low-carbon economy in the UK are not scientific or technological but political
Your best unit
Sep 2, 2009 10 comments
Robert P Crease discusses the origin of some units of measurement, and asks for your favourites
Illuminating physics for students
Sep 2, 2009 2 comments
David Griffiths says that the role of a physics teacher should be to illuminate the subject's intrinsic interest, beauty and power – and warns that attempts to make it more marketable using gimmicks, false advertising or dilution are bound to be counterproductive
Plan B for climate change
Sep 2, 2009 8 comments
Techniques to manipulate the Earth's climate are now rightly entering mainstream debate
Religion explained
Jul 31, 2009 14 comments
Robert P Crease uncovers the secret of the conflict between science and religion in responses to a Physics World survey
Threats to ultra-high-field MRI
Jul 31, 2009 2 comments
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
The call of the wild
Jul 1, 2009 1 comment
Robert P Crease talks to a former string theorist who found what he wanted in science when he applied the tools of physics to fundamental questions in biology
How physics can inspire biology
Jul 1, 2009 4 comments
Alexei Kornyshev thinks that physicists and biologists are now working more closely together than ever before, but that barriers to closer collaboration still exist
In praise of Darwin
Jul 1, 2009 1 comment
Darwin was no physicist, but his approach to science will be familiar to us