|
On the Cover:
Modern film-making techniques have advanced
well beyond the days of models and toys in
front of green screens. But have the accuracy
and sophistication of science content kept up?
Scientists are playing an increasing role, consulting
with scriptwriters (see The Wrong Stuff) to keep bad
physics out of movies and TV.
Photo-illustrations: Reidar Hahn and Fred Ullrich,
Fermilab
October/November 2007:
Click here to view the pdf of this issue.
|
|
|
Editorial: Access to Science
The public has always been interested in
science and physicists need to keep
finding new ways to satisfy that interest.
|
Commentary: Herman Winick
The sesame project has made steady
progress in spite of the fact that scientists
from both Islamic countries and Israel
face criticism–and sometimes more–from
people who deplore cooperation with
the “enemy.”
|
Signal to Background
Rowing Lake Geneva; partying for peace;
high-voltage scarecrow; strangely familiar
time machine; innocent bystander
drowns in physics spam; indecent equation;
letters; call for physics license
plates; corrections.
|
Free for All
Forget about paying for journal subscriptions.
If a new proposal takes hold,
particle physics journals would get their
funding from labs, libraries, and agencies
that sponsor research, and readers could
peruse them for free.
|
On the Trail of Cosmic Bullets
Do the most energetic particles in the
universe come from super-massive
black holes? New results from the Pierre
Auger Observatory make that case.
|
The Wrong Stuff
When bad physics pops up in a movie or
TV show, scientists try to set things right.
|
Day in the Life: DUSEL Mine Tour
“The nine-hour review ended in the late
evening and we made our way in the dark
to Fortune Bay Resort, a hotel/casino
on Lake Vermillion. The main outdoor sport
seemed to be drunken snowmobiling on
the frozen lake at night.”
|
Deconstruction: Author List
When a giant collaboration publishes the
results of an experiment, the names
of the authors alone can take up two or three
pages.
|
Essay: Emily Saltijeral-DeMar
“The elevator ride was bumpy and slow, and
when the door finally opened I was in
a place much different than I expected. It
reminded me a bit of the Bat Cave.”
|
Logbook: Dark Energy
In fall 1997, the High-z Supernova Search
Team calculated the mass of the universe
and discovered that the universe was
expanding faster and faster. How could
that be?
|
Explain it in 60 Seconds: Jets
Jets are sprays of particles that fly out from
certain high-energy collisions. Physicists
hope to use the most energetic jets to
look inside the quarks that make up protons.
|
|
