Is Economics the Next Physical Science?
An emerging body of work by physicists addressing questions of economic organization and function suggests new approaches to economics and a broadening of the scope of physics — J. Doyne Farmer, Martin Shubik, and Eric Smith
Einstein
Versus the Physical Review
A great scientist can benefit from peer review, even while
refusing to have anything to do with it — Daniel Kennefick
Obliterating Myths About Minority Institutions
A multiyear NASA initiative for developing research partnerships
in space science demonstrates that such programs can have great success in attracting minorities
to science — Philip J. Sakimoto and Jeffrey D. Rosendhal
Doctor Atomic to Premier in San Francisco
John Adams's opera about J. Robert Oppenheimer explores the moral
crisis that gripped scientists in the days preceding the Trinity Test in July 1945.
Small Programs Survive by Pooling Students
Physics classes via interactive television can be successful, but both teaching and learning
require more work than in a traditional setting.
Math and Science Partnership Program Struggling at NSF
Congressional supporters are fighting to maintain funding for
NSF's portion of the Math and Science Partnership while the administration pushes to shift the
money to the Department of Education.
Bomb Scientists Remember Trinity
Eleven men who helped design, build, and detonate the first nuclear bomb gathered in Washington, DC, in July, 60 years after the Trinity Test, to reflect on the Manhattan Project and its legacy.
Europe to Set Particle Physics Strategy
The CERN council is taking the lead in creating a European strategy for particle physics after completion of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
Physics Olympians Compete in Spain
Salamanca, Spain, played host this past July to the 342 high-school students from 74 countries who competed in the 36th International Physics Olympiad.
Cover:
Different minerals in Earth's mantle polarize light to different extents, an effect that generates
the variety of colors shown in this photograph of a thin slice of mantle rock. Composed mostly of
olivine—a mixture of magnesium and iron silicate—the grains are a few millimeters
in size. For a report on how recent isotopic measurements of mantle rocks are shedding light on Earth's
formation and structure, turn to page 19.
