Happy new year and welcome to the start of what, I hope, will be a fantastic new decade for you, your friends and family.
To get the 2020s off to a cracker, why not check out the new edition of Physics World magazine, which is available in digital and print formats.
There’s something for everyone, including Rachel Brazil on physicists trying to gauge changes in public opinion, Jonatan Pena Ramirez and Henk Nijmeijer on the mystery of why pendulums can swing in synch, and Kate Ravilious examining whether biomass is as green as you might at first glance think.
Plus we’ve got an exclusive interview with Didier Queloz, who shared last year’s Nobel Prize for Physics for discovering the first exoplanets, while Robert P Crease unveils a new research field in the decade ahead. And James McKenzie looks at Juicero and other bad business models.
Remember that if you’re a member of the Institute of Physics, you can read the whole of Physics World magazine every month via our digital apps for iOS, Android and Web browsers. Let us know what you think about the issue on Twitter, Facebook or by e-mailing us at pwld@ioppublishing.org.
For the record, here’s a run-down of the full issue.
• Searching for new worlds – After sharing the 2019 Nobel Prize for Physics for the discovery of the first exoplanet, Didier Queloz talks to Rebecca Pool about the future of planetary exploration
• Towards a sustainable future – Dave Elliott says that, while renewable energy has rapidly progressed over the past decade, more needs to be done to help limit the impact of climate change
• Bad business models – Some business models might seem crazy. But they’re not mad if they work, as James McKenzie explains
• Transmogrified physics – Robert P Crease seeks your input on an entirely new realm of phenomena
• The physics of public opinion – Rachel Brazil investigates how physicists are trying to predict the dynamics of shifting opinions using laws that describe the physical world
• Biomass energy – green or dirty? – The conversion to biomass energy has played a key role in reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. But is this renewable energy source really as green as we first thought? Kate Ravilious investigates
• The secret of synchronized pendulums – The fact that pairs of moving pendulums can become synchronized was first observed by the great Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens back in the 17th century. But as Jonatan Pena Ramirez and Henk Nijmeijer explain, synchronized pendulums still have today’s researchers scratching their heads
• We still don’t understand physics – Chanda Prescod-Weinstein reviews Cosmological Koans: a Journey to the Heart of Physics by Anthony Aguirre
• Agustina Ruiz Dupont: the greatest physicist you’ve never heard of – James Dacey reviews the documentary film El Enigma Agustina directed by Emilio J García and Manuel González
Your top festive books: the December 2019 issue of Physics World is now out
• You are what you eat – Joe McEntee visits Leeds to talk to Megan Povey about a career devoted to the science of food
• Once a physicist – Jon Newey, from physics to electricals
• True, but not real – Michael Berry on truth, reality and rainbows
