ADVERTISING | JOBS | BUYERS GUIDE | EVENT CALENDAR | REQUEST PRODUCT INFO

Table of Contents November 2004

Features

Detecting Illicit Radioactive Sources
Drawing on technologies from fields as diverse as space physics and nuclear medicine, scientists are fast developing instruments to search for material that terrorists might use to fashion dirty bombs or a nuclear device — Joseph C. McDonald, Bert M. Coursey, and Michael Carter

Ethics and the Welfare of the Physics Profession
Responding to a survey by an APS task force on ethics, younger members of the physics community have raised significant concerns about the treatment of subordinates and about other ethical issues — Kate Kirby and Frances A. Houle

Trust and the Future of Research
For many years, physicists were in denial that unethical conduct was a problem in their profession. But an erosion or neglect of trust and professional responsibility can threaten the research enterprise, often in subtle ways — Caroline Whitbeck

From the Archives: The Scientist's Code of Ethics
The fact that a scientist spends a good deal of his time in studies from which he tries to exclude moral judgments, the author of this article points out, does not mean that the scientist and his activity will not be subject to moral judgment — Wayne A. R. Leys

Departments

Physics Update

Reference Frame

Computational scenarios — Leo P. Kadanoff

Letters

Long− Term Energy Solutions: The Truth Behind the Silent Lie

Ben Franklin in His Own Words

Correction

Search & Discovery

Solid helium−4 in Bulk Doesn't Go With the Flow
New observations of an apparent superfluid component close loopholes in an earlier experiment, but present their own set of mysteries.

New Experiments Demonstrate Quantum Optics on a Chip
Researchers achieve coherent coupling between a superconducting quantum bit and a single microwave photon.

Three Newly Discovered Exoplanets Have Masses Comparable to Neptune's
Unlike Neptune and Uranus, the ice giants of our solar system, the new planets may be rocky "super−earths."

Issues & Events

Building a Cyclotron on a Shoestring
Starting when he was an undergrad, Tim Koeth built a 12−inch cyclotron. Now he is in grad school and his creation is used in a senior−level lab class.

LANL Resumes Work, Morale Stays Low
G. Peter Nanos, the director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, addresses employees at a lab−wide meeting.

New Hughes Center a Biological Reflection of the Old Bell Labs
Geneticist Gerald Rubin sat in the nondescript conference room of a leftover building that once belonged to a now−defunct software company and talked like a scientist possessed by a vision.

Publishers Sue US Treasury
In a bid to lift restrictions on publishing works by authors in embargoed countries such as Cuba, Iran, and Sudan, a group of US publishers and authors' associations is suing the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. The suit, filed on 27 September, says OFAC's regulations violate the Trading with the Enemy Act, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and the First Amendment.

Bush Gives Bement NSF Nod
President Bush congratulates Arden Bement.

News Notes

Russia to ratify climate protocol; New nanocenters; Science board nominations; NAS taps atmospheric scientist.

Web Watch
Cryogenics and Fluids Branch; NuDat 2.0; IEEE Virtual Museum

Opinion

Let's Revive the Study of Fluids— Ben J. Korgen

Books

Everything's Relative: And Other Fables From Science and Technology, T. Rothman (reviewed by R. March)

Biological Physics: Energy, Information, Life, P. Nelson with M. RadosavljeviÆ and S. Bromberg (reviewed by S. Doniach)

Light−Emitting Diodes, E. F. Schubert (reviewed by D. Bour)

Cochlear Implants: Fundamentals and Applications, G. Clark (reviewed by C.−P. Richter)

The Cold Wars: A History of Superconductivity, J. Matricon and G. Waysand (reviewed by M. Tinkham)

New Books

Cover: Two years ago, high−profile violations of research integrity rocked the physics community. Those cases engendered much discussion, not only of blatant deceptions but also of far more subtle ethical questions. In this issue we present three articles exploring research ethics. The first two offer analyses by physicists (page 42) and a philosopher (page 48). The third (page 55), reprinted from 1952, provides a different perspective.

Request product info

COMPANY SPOTLIGHT