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cover: Look closely at this twilight scene along the bank of the Charles River in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and you’ll see that something is amiss. The reflected images of the clouds, the trees, and Harvard University’s Eliot House clock tower are shifted out of place. Those abnormalities are the result of digital alteration, but a team of Harvard researchers has demonstrated how plasmonic antennas can be used to achieve the same effect in real life. See page 12 to learn more about how the researchers are rewriting the laws of reflection and refraction. (Image courtesy of Nanfang Yu.)

Articles

Select this Article		Roaming reactions: The third way Joel M. Bowman and Arthur G. Suits


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	+ -	Show Topic Chemists have long held that there are two ways in which a molecule can break apart. But recent results show a third possibility, and its discovery may have far-reaching implications.

Select this Article FREE		Watery Enceladus John Spencer


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	+ -	Show Topic In 1980, telescopes revealed that one of Saturn’s rings is centered at the orbit of Enceladus, a medium-sized Saturnian moon. It was the first hint that Enceladus is a world like no other.

Select this Article		Problems with problem sets James Trefil and Sarah Swartz


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	+ -	Show Topic Undergraduate physics problem sets and textbook examples often assume prior knowledge that is more common in men than in women. Could that difference be deterring women from pursuing careers in physics?

Readers' Forum

Environmental impacts of shale-gas production

Select this Article FREE		Environmental impacts of shale-gas production Daniel J. Soeder


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Select this Article FREE		Environmental impacts of shale-gas production Joseph Kapusta


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Fluid dynamics and Pollock’s paint applicators

Select this Article FREE		Fluid dynamics and Pollock’s paint applicators Michael Nauenberg


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Select this Article FREE		Fluid dynamics and Pollock’s paint applicators Helen A. Harrison


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Select this Article FREE		Fluid dynamics and Pollock’s paint applicators Andrzej Herczyński, Claude Cernuschi, and L. Mahadevan


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Energy threat from overpopulation

Select this Article FREE		Energy threat from overpopulation Albert A. Bartlett


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Siphoning off the last word

Select this Article FREE		Siphoning off the last word Glen Davidson


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Search and Discovery

Select this Article		Squeezed light reduces noise at a gravitational-wave observatory Johanna L. Miller


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	+ -	Show Topic A decades-old idea—tinkering with light’s quantum fluctuations to make a large interferometer even more sensitive—has now been implemented.

Select this Article		Phase-shifting surfaces bend the rules of ray optics Ashley G. Smart


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	+ -	Show Topic Researchers have outlined a recipe for fashioning subwavelength optical components from plasmonic antennas.

Select this Article		Opaque atoms turn transparent in the vacuum field of an optical cavity R. Mark Wilson


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	+ -	Show Topic A subtle quantum interference effect may offer a path to engineering all-optical logic gates and switches.

Select this Article		High-frequency electrolysis begets spontaneously combusting nanobubbles Ashley G. Smart


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	+ -	Show Topic The key is to feed the bubbles a balanced diet of hydrogen and oxygen before they have a chance to grow.

Physics Update

Select this Article		Shedding light on chiral substrates Jermey N. A. Matthews


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Select this Article		Meniscus lithography and Moiré patterns Richard J. Fitzgerald


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Select this Article		Tiny, tangled wires keep photons from reflecting Steven K. Blau


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Issues and Events

Select this Article FREE		Science in Japan gets back on its feet Toni Feder


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	+ -	Show Topic Looking ahead, a central question will be whether to continue relying on nuclear power.

Select this Article		Universities seek culture change for improved STEM teaching David Kramer


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	+ -	Show Topic The Association of American Universities is pushing to institute new methodologies, but success will require big changes by academic departments.

Select this Article		An observatory that comes home every morning David Kramer


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Select this Article		Taking the pulse of magnet labs Toni Feder


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	+ -	Show Topic As fields get stronger and electronics improve, demand for pulsed magnets is growing; the newest lab is in China.

Select this Article FREE		Weather data gap is forecast as satellite is delayed David Kramer


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	+ -	Show Topic A new polar-orbiting satellite is only a temporary fix for a more durable spacecraft that has been starved of funding.

Select this Article		NSF launches family-friendly initiative Toni Feder


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Select this Article		Solar Decathlon has wetlands and wool but little sunshine David Kramer


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Books

Select this Article FREE		Collective Animal Behavior Leah Edelstein-Keshet, Reviewer


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Select this Article FREE		Once Before Time: A Whole Story of the Universe Marcelo Gleiser, Reviewer


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Select this Article FREE		Dance of the Photons: From Einstein to Quantum Teleportation Aaron D. O’Connell, Reviewer


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Select this Article FREE		Complex Webs: Anticipating the Improbable H. Eugene Stanley, Reviewer


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Select this Article FREE		New books


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New Products

Select this Article FREE		Focus on materials Andreas Mandelis


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	+ -	Show Topic The descriptions of the new products listed in this section are based on information supplied to us by the manufacturers. PHYSICS TODAY can assume no responsibility for their accuracy. For more information about a particular product, visit the website at the end of the product description.

Obituaries

Select this Article FREE		Britton Chance P. Leslie Dutton


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Select this Article FREE		Steven Alan Orszag Carl Bender, Uriel Frisch, Katepalli Sreenivasan, and John Wettlaufer


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Quick Study

Select this Article		Gobbling up light with an antilaser A. Douglas Stone


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	+ -	Show Topic An unappreciated symmetry of electrodynamics enables experimenters to fabricate coherent perfect absorbers, devices that act like lasers run backward.