October 1998 Contents

ARTICLES

The Global Electric Circuit

An electric current totaling one kiloamp worldwide flows from thunderstorms in the troposphere into the ionosphere and magnetosphere, eventually returning to the ground through the fair-weather atmosphere and closing via lightning -- Edgar A. Bering III, Arthur A. Few and James R. Benbrook

Advanced Techniques in Physical Forensic Science

Ultrasensitive mass spectrometry is now being applied in forensic investigations -- Patrick Grant, David Chambers, Louis Grace, Douglas Phinney and Ian Hutcheon

New Magnetic Superconductors: A Toy Box for Solid-State Physicists

Rare earth nickel borocarbide compounds are rekindling interest in the decades-old question of how superconductivity and magnetism coexist, and some remarkable answers are emerging -- Paul C. Canfield, Peter L. Gammel and David J. Bishop

DEPARTMENTS

Search and Discovery

• At long last, a Bose-Einstein condensate is formed in hydrogen

• Because hydrogen atoms interact quite weakly, they are at the same time desirable and difficult candidates for the low temperature collapse into a common quantum ground state predicted in the 1920s

• Giant air shower array shows cosmic-ray spectrum violating Greisen cutoff

• The highest-energy cosmic rays appear to be thumbing their noses at what was thought to be an inviolable upper limit.

• Long-pulse 60-tesla magnet starts routine operation at Los Alamos

• With the long-pulse 60 tesla magnet now running at Los Alamos, you can study electrical and magnetic properties of many materials.

Washington Reports

• In pep talk to staffs, Richardson and Colwell outline new directions for research agencies

• Once lost in space, SOHO is found; NASA and ESA struggle to revive it

• Drell's retirement evokes memories of dual career as physicist and humanist

• Washington briefings: A missile test tests CTBT; Reacting to the Chernobyl fallout; NSF's $60 million

• Internet windfall

Physics Community

• High school students will soon join in the hunt for high-energy cosmic rays

• Using high school-based detectors, students in North America will be able to participate in ongoing cosmic-ray research.

• Cross-disciplinary survey offers snapshot of science PhD employment

• Europe's radio astronomers score in spectrum battle

• Faraday cages make train travel quieter

• Congressional fellows bring science to government

• Airliner crash claims lives of two physicists

• Web Watch

Books

Conceptual Foundations of Quantum Physics: An Overview from Modern Perspectives, D. Home (reviewed by J. T. Cushing)

Time's Arrows and Quantum Measurement, L. S. Schulman and Time's Arrows Today: Recent Physical and Philosophical Work on the Direction of Time, edited by S. F. Savitt (reviewed by J. L. Lebowitz)

Intermediate Physics for Medicine and Biology, R. K. Hobbie, (reviewed by E. V. Mielczarek)

The Internet for Scientists, K. O'Donnell and L. Winger and The World Wide Web for Scientists and Engineers: A Complete Reference for Navigating, Researching and Publishing Online, B. J. Thomas (reviewed by S. Bachrach)

The Quantum Beat: The Physical Principles of Atomic Clocks, F. G. Major (reviewed by H. Hellwig)

Computational Physics, N. J. Giordano and An Introduction to Computational Physics T. Pang (reviewed by J. M. Blondin)

Quantum Chromodynamics and the Pomeron, J. R. Forshaw and D. A. Ross (reviewed by C. R. Schmidt)

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics: From Air Pollution to Climate Change, J. H. Seinfeld and S. N. Pandis (reviewed by K. Noone)

Quantum Optics, M. O. Scully and M. S. Zubairy (reviewed by P. W. Milonni)

Plus ...

Our regular sections: Physics Update, Letters, New Products, We Hear That, and Information Exchange.