Nobel Prize winner calls for ethics oath
At a meeting last week on "Science & Responsibility", Joseph Rotblat, winner of the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize, called for scientists to sign the equivalent of a 'hippocratic' oath
Author archive
Glass floppy disks?
Aluminium alloys are widely used as a substrate in magnetic disks, but the demand for higher storage and faster access times require better materials. A replacement material would need to offer a thinner substrate, a higher recording density, a very smooth surface, and a high degree of flatness. Originally platinum alloys were considered to be […]
Modelling electron orbits
In 1911 Niels Bohr used quantum theory to explain how negatively charged electrons could remain in certain orbits without radiating energy. Patent 5695344 describes an educational demonstrator that simulates the theoretical orbital motion of electrons around the nucleaus of various elements. The device works by magnetically deflecting a series of wires. Inside a container is […]
Royal observatory could be split up and sold off
All 115 staff at the 320-year-old Royal Greenwich Observatory (RGO) in Cambridge stand to lose their jobs, after a management buy-out was rejected last week
Highlights of the year
This year saw many advances in physics. PhysicsWeb has compiled a list of ten highlights (in no particular order) of 1997
Holes in a final theory?
Reviewed by Bernard Carr. There are a some ideas in science – usually those that try to extend it in unorthodox directions, or which trespass too far into the domain of metaphysics – that seem to produce very extreme reactions. Depending on their philosophical propensities, people either passionately embrace or vehemently reject them, but they […]
Bone breakthrough
One of the holy grails of medicine is the production of a compound that help speeds up the regeneration of bone. Toshiyuki Ohnishi and Nobuhiro Moriyama, have patented a material they claim can do so. The bone inducing material comprising a piezoelectric porous membrane. It has been known for sometime that bone has piezoelectric properties, […]
Climate summit agrees to greenhouse gas cuts
Industrialized countries have agreed to cut their emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide by 5.2% below 1990 levels
Still moving images
When we walk across a room, our eyes automatically adjust to keep objects in focus. The eyeballs swivel in their sockets to compensate for the movement. Professional camera operators use a harness containing a bulky set of counter-weights to achieve the same effect. In aircraft, a series of spinning mirrors or mechanical scanning devices are […]
European defence companies asked to merge
In an effort to compete against US defence companies, the UK, French and German governments have called on European defence companies to merge into a single company
Copyright © 2025 by IOP Publishing Ltd and individual contributors