A new spin on nuclei
Magnetic rotation is a new phenomenon that is forcing physicists to rethink their understanding of what goes on inside the nucleus
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Author archive
Read article: A new spin on nuclei
Selling physics to unwilling buyers: physics fact and fiction
We’ve all had the following experience. You meet someone at a party, and they ask you what you do. You tell them you are a physicist. Quickly, they change the topic. But if you ask them if they are interested in black holes, warp drives or time travel, then they are fascinated. Most people think […]
Return to Doomsday
Some 200 Indian scientists have been brave enough to defy the widespread approval and enthusiasm for the tests inside the country by expressing their “deep dismay and unhappiness at this action of the Indian government” in a statement available on the Web. In the statement the scientists caution that “the scientific and technological achievement in […]
Neutrino mass discovered
Neutrinos were first detected in 1956 by Fred Reines of the University of California at Irvine and the late George Cowan. They showed that a nucleus undergoing beta decay emits a neutrino with the electron, a discovery that was recognized with the 1995 Nobel Prize for Physics. Ever since the discovery, physicists have wanted to […]
Benefits of informal education
Delacôte suggests there are several lessons that can be applied to science popularisation in general: the emphasis must be on a ‘active experience’; the best techniques work for all age groups; the most rewarding experiences result from the integration of museum displays with school courses; and the best exhibits are produced when artists and scientists […]
ESA demands new money
Antonio Rodota, ESA’s director general, has been campaigning to increase the amount of industrial involvement in the space agency. However it has been clear for many months that there would be substantial overlap between some ESA research programmes – satellite telecommunications, Earth observation and navigation systems – and those planned by the EU. The deal […]
An evening with the Bohrs
John Ziman reviews the play Copenhagen by Michael Frayn
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Gamma-ray bursts could test quantum gravity
Gamma-ray bursts appear to be related to the deaths of massive stars. Amelino-Camelia and colleagues claim that if the difference in the arrival times of photons with different energies can be measured, they will be able to test various theories of quantum gravity. This is because some of the theories treat the vacuum as a […]
Why earthquakes stop
The barriers found on fault lines are usually regions in which a strong pinning force reduces the movement of the plates. However geologists cannot define the position of these barriers around the fault lines. Rundle et al . use a ‘stochastic Griffith theory’ to statistically calculate the distribution of barriers, and thus predict if it […]
Holographic storage sees light
Their technique works by using a process called two-colour holography. One wavelength of light records information on the crystal and another is used to read the data. Their method fires two light sources at the same time at the target. The researchers doped a lithium niobate crystal with iron and manganese to create two different […]
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