Physics, anyone? Contemplating the analytical mechanics of tennis rackets may improve your game but it's no substitute for practice -- Howard Brody
Diffusing near-infrared light provides new mechanisms for clinical diagnosis of tissue structure and function -- Arjun Yodh and Britton Chance
Under financial and social stress, the nation's research universities are redefining their objectives. The roundtable panel gives the universities the close scrutiny that physicists usually apply to their own science
Supersymmetric QCD sheds light on quark confinement and the topology of 4-manifolds. A new analytic computational technique has been developed in a wide class of supersymmetric Yang-Mills models. In physics the technique provides some of the first general exact results in four-dimensional quantum field theory, including a quantitative description of confinement via magnetic monopole condensation. In mathematics the topological study of smooth four-dimensional manifolds has been revolutionized.
Applications of high-temperature superconductors approach the marketplace. Eight years after transition temperatures first exceeded that of liquid nitrogen, high-Tc superconductors are being used in magnetometer sensors, prototype filters for cellular-phone base stations and magnetic resonance applications. Further progress in thin-film technology and electronics could lead to applications for high-Tc materials such as nondestructive testing, medical and geophysical sensors, communications, and multichip modules.
APS Makes Its Way to San Jose in March
Galvin panel suggests rescuing labs from DOE mismanagement and excesses
After Republican takeover of Congress, White House backs off rejoining UNESCO
National Academy panel finds "health" of science fields defies measurement
James Madison University to eliminate physics major, terminate contracts. As the faculty and the administration at James Madison University battle over a restructuring that removes the physics major from the curriculum, physicists elsewhere might ask, Can it happen here?
Inventions born of necessity offer new tools for the blind to study and do science. New ways of rendering advanced mathematics are removing a major barrier to the pursuit of science by the blind.
Congressional Fellows add their expertise to the political process. Sponsored by AIP, AGU and APS, physicists help to develop and review legislation on issues ranging from nuclear waste to patent law. Past participants in the program report a gratifying experience.
Meeting them on their own ground -- Ralph Baierlein
Granular Matter: An Interdisciplinary Approach, edited by A. Mehta (reviewed by R. W. Cahn)
Self-Assembling Amphiphilic Systems, G. Gompper and M. Schick (reviewed by S. Milner)
Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos: With Applications to Physics, Biology, Chemistry and Engineering, S. H. Strogatz (reviewed by R. F. Fox)
Introduction to Cosmology, M. Roos (reviewed by J. Silk)
Biomedical Particle Accelerators, W. Scharf (reviewed by J. A. Deye)
Introduction to Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions, L. P. Csernai (reviewed by T. L. Trueman and P. D. Bond)
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