Features
Rereading
Einstein on Radiation
The concepts of spontaneous and stimulated emission
are well known from Einstein’s 1917 paper
on radiation, but his theory of radiation comprises
many other concepts—the paper is a treasure
trove of physics — Daniel Kleppner
Integrated
Simulation of Fusion Plasmas
Magnetically confined plasmas, with their many
coupled phenomena, pose great difficulties to
computer modelers. Several initiatives worldwide
are working to meet the challenges — Donald
B. Batchelor
Infrared
Detectors for Astrophysics
Recent advances in materials, system architectures,
and microfabrication have spawned a new generation
of detectors that can image infrared sources
at speeds and spatial resolutions orders of
magnitude greater than was possible just a decade
ago — Paul L. Richards and Craig R.
McCreight
US Visa
Difficulties Are Lessening, but More Must Be
Done 
Security concerns remain paramount in the handling
of US visas for international students and scientists,
but efforts by science and education organizations
to improve the process seem to be paying off
— Amy Flatten
Departments
Issues & Events
National Academies
Committee Sets Steps for Bringing Best Science
Advice to Washington
The president's science adviser needs higher
status, and candidates for science advisory
boards should not be asked their political
party or who they voted for, the National
Academy of Sciences says in a new report.
After Serious
Accident, SLAC Experiments Remain Shut Down
and DOE Report Faults Lab’s Safety Oversight
All the accelerators and storage rings at
SLAC have been shut down since 11 October,
when an electrical accident at the laboratory
severely injured an electrician working for
a subcontractor.
Publishing
Restrictions Eased, but Not Rescinded
US publishers may conduct normal publishing
activities with private citizens in Cuba,
Iran, and Sudan, countries under US economic
embargo, according to a 15 December 2004 ruling
by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign
Assets Control.
Countries Race
to Launch Moon Missions
A new wave of lunar research is beginning with more than seven spacecraft prepped, planned, or arriving in orbit from the US, Japan, Europe, India, and China.
Wave Power
Wins Siemens Westinghouse Competition
Aaron Goldin, a 17-year-old high-school student
from San Diego County, California, has won
the individual category of the Siemens Westinghouse
Competition in Mathematics, Science, and Technology.
News Notes
Changes at DOE, NASA.
Web Watch
RealClimate; Slush; Virtual Solar Observatory
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Cover: In a magnetically
confined plasma, magnetic field lines, such
as those depicted in gray, form closed surfaces.
An example is the hot-plasma surface shown in
red. In this simulation, the surface is tilted
a bit off center, which indicates the onset
of an instability. To see how the instability
progresses and to learn about worldwide efforts
to achieve plasma simulations that integrate
physics at widely separated time and space scales,
see the article by Don Batchelor on page
35. (Image courtesy of Wonchull Park, Princeton
University Plasma Physics Laboratory.
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