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Physics World September 2016

Physics World September 2016

Breathe easy: how breath can reveal crowd behaviour

The cover story this month reveals the fascinating new field of “crowd breath research”, which can shed light on how cinema audiences react during the changing scenes in a movie. The issue also shows how to do crystallography without crystals, explains how first data from the Gaia spacecraft could revolutionize astronomy, and contains Robert P Crease’s Critical Point column on why science denial is one of the most important issues in the US presidential campaign.

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Photo of areas affected by science denial: climate change, food technology, health and energy opinion

Fighting science denial

Photo of the Gaia spacecraft, which consists of a large circular plate with a cylinder in the middle, superimposed on an image of the Milky Way galaxy feature

A billion pixels, a billion stars

Three people in cinema seats, with popcorn and drinks, have a surprised or scared look on their faces feature

Every breath we take

Photo of Iceland's Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon on a night with aurora present. The lagoon is dotted with icebergs that appear purple under the purple-green light of the aurora review

Adventures in search of auroras

Colour-enhanced transmission electron micrograph showing radiation damage to chromosomes. The chromosomes appear as dark blobs with tendrils and bits and pieces of material scattered around the field of view review

The risks and rewards of radiation

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