Rahul Mandal, the researcher who won TV’s Great British Bake Off last year, is the star of the August 2019 issue of Physics World magazine with a tasty look at the science of baking.
Based at the University of Sheffield in the UK, Mandal explains how a good understanding of physics, chemistry and biology helped him to scoop the prize – and could improve your baking too. You can read his feature here too.
Elsewhere in the issue, Jess Wade and Maryam Zaringhalam discuss the impact of poor diversity in physics and examine efforts to create a more level playing field, including those by the Institute of Physics, which publishes Physics World.
And finally, if you thought objects, like the Starship Enterprise, look shorter when moving at high speed due to length contraction, think again. If you could observe such an object, it would – bizarrely – appear rotated, as David Appell makes clear.
You can enjoy the entire August 2019 issue of Physics World magazine via our digital apps for iOS, Android and Web browsers (membership of the Institute of Physics required). 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 what’s in the issue.
• The real fall-out from Chernobyl – While HBO’s TV mini-series Chernobyl has been a hit with viewers, Una Davies warns that it risks amplifying fears over nuclear power
• From humble beginnings – James McKenzie reflects on what hi-tech start-up businesses need to get off to a flying start
• China’s next big thing – Work has just begun on China’s first fourth-generation synchrotron-radiation source. Robert P Crease gets a sneak preview of what’s in store on a visit to Beijing.
• Ready, set bake – Baking is like a scientific experiment, combining the reactions of chemistry, the processes of biology and the laws of physics. Rahul Mandal, a metrology researcher by training, talks about how his scientific thinking helped him become a baker and win The Great British Bake Off in 2018
• Why we need to keep talking about equality in physics – The lack of diversity among physicists is an ongoing problem – and, while it persists, physics will fail to achieve its full potential. Jess Wade and Maryam Zaringhalam discuss the implications of poor diversity in the field and how it could be overcome
• The invisibility of length contraction – The idea that objects contract in length when they travel near the speed of light is a widely accepted consequence of Einstein’s special relativity. But if you could observe such an object, it wouldn’t look shorter at all – bizarrely, it would seem to have been rotated, as David Appell explains
• Chernobyl: a drama out of a crisis – Hamish Johnston reviews Chernobyl, directed by Johan Renck and written by Craig Mazi
• Reality check – Hugh D Reynolds reviews The Case Against Reality: How Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes by Donald D Hoffman
• Brain waves – Gary Green has spent his career working at the interface between physics, neuroscience and medicine. He speaks to Margaret Harris about starting a company, York Instruments, to commercialize a new brainimaging technology
• Behind the scenes at the printer – Kate Gardner visits Warners in Bourne, Lincolnshire
