[brightcove videoID=ref:phw.live/2015-01-08-new-issue-synthesizing-speech/1 playerID=106573614001 height=330 width=500]
By Matin Durrani
The first issue of Physics World magazine of 2015 is now out online and through our app.
As I outline in the video above, this issue looks at the challenges of synthesizing artificial human voices. Another feature explores the little-known Jesuits who boosted astronomy in China in the 17th century. And don’t miss our exclusive interviews with Fabiola Gianotti, who takes over from Rolf-Dieter Heuer as director-general of the CERN particle-physics lab early next year, and with Mark Levinson, the former physicist who directed the film Particle Fever about what particle physicists get up to.
We also have a fascinating feature about how you can help in understanding cosmic rays simply using your mobile phone. While most “citizen-science” projects involve people analysing data collected by “real” scientists, two new apps will let you collect data using your phone itself. Indeed, the people behind one of the apps think we’d need just 825,000 phones to gather as much data as are obtained using the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina.
If you’re a member of the Institute of Physics (IOP), you can now enjoy immediate access to the new issue with the digital edition of the magazine on your desktop via MyIOP.org or on any iOS or Android smartphone or tablet via the Physics World app, available from the App Store and Google Play. If you’re not yet in the IOP, you can join as an IOPimember for just £15, €20 or $25 a year to get full access to Physics World both online and through the apps.
For the record, here’s a rundown of what is in the January issue.
• Taking the helm – Set to take over as the 16th director-general of CERN in January 2016, Fabiola Gianotti talks to Michael Banks about how she will get ready for the role
• Shutdowns and start-ups – What is the meaning of ceremonies that take place when major pieces of scientific equipment are shut down? Robert P Crease investigates
• Using toys to teach physics – Beverley Taylor says that using everyday toys to explain concepts in physics is a powerful way to teach the subject
• Dialling up the cosmos – New apps allow smartphone users to join the hunt for ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays. Edwin Cartlidge asks whether networks of these miniature particle detectors might outperform huge multi-million-dollar observatories
• Synthesizing speech – Samuli Siltanen explains how solving an “inverse problem” will improve the quality of life of people who can’t speak and have to use voice synthesizers – particularly women and children, whose only current option is to sound like an adult male
• How West met East in Chinese astronomy – The development of early modern astronomy in China is filled with fascinating characters and strange tales. Richard de Grijs reveals details of research into the people behind this tumultuous period that has, until now, been known to only a handful of dedicated scholars
• Nature’s known unknowns – Seth Stein reviews The Dynamics of Disaster by Susan W Kieffer
• To infinity, beyond and back again – Tushna Commissariat reviews the film Interstellar as well as companion book The Science of Interstellar by Kip Thorne
• A “static” business – John Chubb built his own small business developing electrostatic measuring instruments. Now retired, he relates his company’s story and the lessons he learned from running it
• Once a physicist – Mark Levinson, the PhD physicist who directed the film Particle Fever
• Physics is plural – In this month’s Lateral Thoughts, Brian Ridley explains the different types of physics that are out there
