Search Content Type

Search Issue | Previous Next

March 2011

Volume 64, Issue 3

Cover: The sheng shown here is a 20th-century version of a Chinese instrument whose history goes back several millennia. Each of the 17 pipes in the half-meter-tall instrument is fitted with a "free" reed that oscillates back and forth across the frame to which it is attached, giving the sheng its distinctive sound. Jim Cottingham's article, beginning on page 44, discusses acoustic features of the sheng, related Asian instruments, and the relatively modern free-reed instruments invented in the West. (Photograph by Rod Pritchard, Coe College.)

Add

View

SELECTED: Export Citations | Add to MyArticles | Email

Articles

Select this Article		Recollision physics Paul B. Corkum


		OpenURL
	+ -	Show Topic A technique that uses light to create particle collisions that create light is poised to provide unprecedented access to the inner workings of atoms and molecules.

Select this Article FREE		Acoustics of free-reed instruments James Cottingham


		OpenURL
	+ -	Show Topic Documents dating back to before 1000 BC describe a wind instrument whose reed vibrates back and forth across the frame that houses it. Nowadays, free-reed instruments inspire both scholarly study and musical innovation.

Select this Article		Politics of precision in ancient China Robert P. Crease


		OpenURL
	+ -	Show Topic Scholars have uncovered complex connections between metrology, musicology, and politics in the imperial courts of third-century China.

Letters

Feynman’s incentive prizes

Select this Article FREE		Feynman’s incentive prizes R. Fabian W. Pease


		OpenURL
		Lead Unavailable

Scientists offer opinions about their opinions

Select this Article FREE		Scientists offer opinions about their opinions James M. Kent


		OpenURL
		Lead Unavailable

Select this Article FREE		Scientists offer opinions about their opinions Brian Sutcliffe


		OpenURL
		Lead Unavailable

On the value of author indices

Select this Article FREE		On the value of author indices Jorge E. Hirsch


		OpenURL
		Lead Unavailable

Select this Article FREE		On the value of author indices Manuel Cardona and Werner Marx


		OpenURL
		Lead Unavailable

Select this Article FREE		On the value of author indices Ravi Rau


		OpenURL
		Lead Unavailable

Select this Article FREE		On the value of author indices J. Richard Gott III


		OpenURL
		Lead Unavailable

Science centers: Ambassadors to the public

Select this Article FREE		Science centers: Ambassadors to the public John Wilton Appel


		OpenURL
		Lead Unavailable

Search and Discovery

Select this Article		Gamma-ray telescopes reveal powerful flares from the Crab Nebula Bertram M. Schwarzschild


		OpenURL
	+ -	Show Topic The brief, surprising flares involved synchrotron radiation from 10 ¹⁵ -eV electrons. It’s hard to account for such rapid acceleration of charged particles to such enormous energies.

Select this Article		Time reversal produces optical focusing in scattering media Ashley G. Smart


		OpenURL
	+ -	Show Topic A technique hatched from concepts in acousto-optics and phase conjugation could be ideal for biomedical imaging and therapy.

Select this Article		Superconducting rings show hints of half-quantum vortices Johanna L. Miller


		OpenURL
	+ -	Show Topic To confirm a decades-old theoretical prediction, experimentalists have pushed the limits of mesoscopic sample manipulation and magnetization measurement.

Select this Article		Putting a new spin on quantum-dot qubits Barbara Goss Levi


		OpenURL
	+ -	Show Topic Researchers have shown that the electron spins of interest for quantum computation can be electrically controlled by spin–orbit coupling.

Select this Article		The expanding search for Majorana particles Barbara Goss Levi


		OpenURL
		Lead Unavailable

Physics Update

Select this Article		A standard candle slowly burns down Steven K. Blau


		OpenURL
		Lead Unavailable

Select this Article		Tabletop measurements of Hawking radiation Richard J. Fitzgerald


		OpenURL
		Lead Unavailable

Issues and Events

Select this Article FREE		Tiny antennas form vast radio telescope array Toni Feder


		OpenURL
	+ -	Show Topic A grassroots telescope array is taking aim at a wide range of astronomy questions, with projects in geophysics and agriculture piggybacking on its infrastructure.

Select this Article		DOE looks again at inertial fusion as a potential clean-energy source David Kramer


		OpenURL
	+ -	Show Topic As ignition experiments get under way at the National Ignition Facility, an official says the Department of Energy should be preparing for a decision on whether laser-driven fusion energy can be harnessed.

Select this Article		Obama calls for increased spending for electric vehicles and solar energy David Kramer


		OpenURL
	+ -	Show Topic Advanced batteries, high-risk energy research, and development of clean electricity would benefit from the plan outlined in the State of the Union address. The president sends Vice President Biden and other top officials out to sell that plan.

Select this Article		For underrepresented minorities, bridge programs ease transition to PhD studies Jermey N. A. Matthews


		OpenURL
	+ -	Show Topic Existing models for increasing the minuscule number of minority physics PhDs in the US include funding research experiences, forging university partnerships, and fostering a support network.

News notes

Select this Article		US—China nuclear cooperation Toni Feder


		OpenURL
		Lead Unavailable

Select this Article		Tevatron countdown Toni Feder


		OpenURL
		Lead Unavailable

Select this Article		Global online science fair Jermey N. A. Matthews


		OpenURL
		Lead Unavailable

Books

Select this Article		Quantum Man: Richard Feynman’s Life in Science David L. Goodstein


		OpenURL
		Lead Unavailable

Select this Article		Optically Polarized Atoms: Understanding Light–Atom Interactions Daniel F. V. James


		OpenURL
		Lead Unavailable

Select this Article		Introduction to Nanophotonics Peter Vukusic


		OpenURL
		Lead Unavailable

Select this Article		Nucleus and Nation: Scientists, International Networks, and Power in India Umesh Garg


		OpenURL
		Lead Unavailable

Select this Article FREE		New books


		OpenURL
		Lead Unavailable

New Products

Select this Article FREE		Focus on test and measurement Andreas Mandelis


		OpenURL
		Lead Unavailable

Obituaries

Select this Article FREE		Gerson Goldhaber Robert N. Cahn and George H. Trilling


		OpenURL
		Lead Unavailable

Select this Article FREE		Horton Guyford Stever Sheila E. Widnall


		OpenURL
		Lead Unavailable

Quick Study

Select this Article FREE		Water on the Moon Linda T. Elkins-Tanton


		OpenURL
	+ -	Show Topic The Moon is not wet like Earth, and it doesn’t have frozen icecaps like those on Mars. But it might be just a tiny bit damp, both inside and on its surface.