Table of Contents April 2006

Features

Lessons from Hydrodynamic Turbulence
Turbulent flows, with their irregular behavior, confound any simple attempts to understand them. But physicists have succeeded in identifying some universal properties of turbulence and relating them to broken symmetries — Gregory Falkovich and Katepalli R. Sreenivasan

Erskine Williamson, Extreme Conditions, and the Birth of Mineral Physics
A series of papers published between 1916 and 1923 broke new ground in materials research and laid the foundation for modern studies of planetary interiors — Russell J. Hemley

Albert Einstein in Leiden
During World War I, this university town in neutral Holland was, for Einstein, a respite from the abhorrent chauvinism of German academia. Leiden was also the home of his father figure Hendrik Lorentz and of his dear and tragic friend Paul Ehrenfest — Dirk van Delft

Departments

Physics Update

Letters

The Value of Einstein's Mistakes

Unintended Impact of Author Impact Factor

Search & Discovery

Evidence of Exotic Trimers Sought and Found in Ultracold Gas of Cesium Atoms
Long-predicted three-atom states form fleetingly when an external magnetic field is tuned to the right resonance.

Acoustic-Waveguide Sonar Finds Enormous Fish Shoals
Overfishing has devastated the oceans' stock of fish. Backscattered echoes of low-frequency signals may provide an accurate census of that stock.

Gravitational Microlensing Reveals the Lightest Exoplanet Yet Found
Earth-like planets halfway across the galaxy can disclose themselves by bending light from background stars.

Is There a Slowing in the Atlantic Ocean's Overturning Circulation?
A shift in the pattern of ocean currents might signal a long-term trend, or it might simply reflect large, natural fluctuations.

Issues & Events

Astronomer Unearths Evidence of Scientific Tradition in Africa
Thebe Medupe, a rising star in South Africa's astronomy community, hopes his work will attract other young blacks into science and technology.

To Redefine Kilogram, Experiments Must Weigh In
Once a discrepancy between experiments disappears, the definitions of the kilogram and three other units will be updated to keep pace with scientific measurement capabilities.

Sound Research Aids the Deaf

Bodman Offers Hydrogen Road Map

News Notes

Web Watch

Special Report: Bush Budget Boosts Funding for Physical Sciences in FY 2007; NSF, DOE, and NIST Would All Do Well

OPINION

A Scientific Point of View — Evalyn Gates

Books

When Physics Became King, I. R. Morus (reviewed by R. M. Brain)

A Modern Introduction to Quantum Field Theory, M. Maggiore (reviewed by J. Distler)

Death Rays, Jet Packs, Stunts and Supercars: The Fantastic Physics of Film's Most Celebrated Secret Agent, B. Parker, and The Physics of Superheroes, J. Kakalios (reviewed by R. Muller)

Sculptured Thin Films: Nanoengineered Morphology and Optics, A. Lakhtakia and R. Messier (reviewed by D. K. Paul)

China and Albert Einstein: The Reception of the Physicist and His Theory in China 1917–1979, D. Hu (reviewed by K. Ito)

New Books

New Products

Focus on Materials

We Hear That

American Astronomical Society Names New Executive Officer

Shinn Is New AVS President-Elect

Kraynik Elected SoR President

AAS Hands Out Eight Awards; Seven Win Division Prizes

AGU Selects Winners of Three Journalism Awards

National Academy of Engineering Names New Inductees

NAS Honors Contributors to Science

In Brief

Obituaries

Joseph Rotblat

Morris Cohen

George Hsing Kwei

Anatoly Ivanovich Larkin

Job Opportunities