Questions and answers with Leonard Susskind and George Hrabovsky

BOOKENDS: A theoretical physicist and a self-described "professional' amateur scientist get together via the internet. Their collaboration yields a math-intensive physics primer for the ardent amateur.

How sandfish lizards swim through sand

PHYSICS UPDATE: A simple kinematic model reproduces the lizard's eel-like motion and elucidates a neurological mystery.

Growth, but no seismicity

DOWN TO EARTH: Despite appearances, the Turkish–Iranian plateau did not attain its current height by seismic faulting—at least according to a new theory.

Distinguished scholar introduces new historical material on Niels Bohr

SCIENCE AND THE MEDIA: John Heilbron illuminates "the path to the quantum atom" in Nature's celebration of the Bohr atom's centennial.

Rutgers University graduates Devinn Lambert and Kelvin Mei belong to this year

The optimism and ambition of this year's Gates scholars

DAYSIDE: A scholarship program enables students from the US and the rest of the world to pursue graduate courses—and their dreams—at Cambridge University.

Muon scattering at the Fukushima nuclear reactors

PHYSICS UPDATE: Advanced radiography could map the arrangement of fuel materials in the damaged cores and help guide the facility's dismantlement.