Our cover feature looks at the new but little-known field of “speleophysics” or “the physics of caves”. For the small band of researchers who brave the journey underground, being a speleophysicist is almost the perfect job. Armed with helmets, ropes, torches and boots, they’re able to combine their love of physics with a fascination for the nether world. Caves are almost the last parts of the Earth that have not yet been explored. Questions range from how underground caves get sculpted into the shapes we see today to how they will grow and evolve in the future. There are also practical matters at stake, including the role caves play in shifting water underground as part of the water cycle.
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