Feed Editor 29 Jun 2010 12:03:04 CDT The American Physical Society Weekly NewsBrief provides industry-specific news and information to leading professionals in physics. Delivered weekly, the publication keeps professionals informed of topics that impact the field of physics. http://www.multibriefs.com/briefs/aps/rss.xml en The periodic table is set to get bigger, now that three labs have independently made atoms of element 114. There's still one big uncertainty though -- should it be classified as a metal or as a noble gas? In February, an element with 112 protons in its atomic nucleus was recognized and named copernicium by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). A similar honor should shortly be on the way for element 114. Read the associated Physical Review Letters papers here and here. 29 Jun 2010 12:03:04 CDT http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4c1fbc8d1665a 1 The efficiency of solar cells could be increased to more than 60% from the current limit of just 30% according to new work by scientists in Minneapolis and Texas. The new work involves capturing the higher-energy sunlight that is normally lost as heat in conventional devices using semiconductor nanocrystals, or quantum dots. 29 Jun 2010 12:03:04 CDT http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4c28b85c11317 2 After the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) settled into orbit around the red planet in 1997, a magnetometer on board began sending back measurements that have puzzled planetary scientists ever since. A section of the Martian crust appeared to consist of long 'stripes' of iron-bearing minerals permanently magnetized with alternating orientations. Clearly, an ancient dynamo imprinted its field in the rock during the planet's early history. But why the stripes? 29 Jun 2010 12:03:04 CDT http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4c28b873c3d50 3 Three-dimensional movies are everywhere these days, and the novelty is poised to become a big-screen mainstay. Now the field of microscopy is getting into the act, too, but the end product is very different from 3-D movies such as Toy Story 3 or Avatar. 29 Jun 2010 12:03:04 CDT http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4c28b89b4bc65 4 If a theoretical force-carrying, subatomic particle were to materialize in the universe and no one were around to hear it, would it make a sound? Existential aspects aside, physicists at the Large Hadron Collider believe that the elusive Higgs boson, should it prove to be real, will most definitely make a sound, and they plan to be around to hear it. In fact, that's one of the ways they plan to detect the so-called "God Particle," and they've simulated the sounds a Higgs boson might make so they can listen for its arrival. 29 Jun 2010 12:03:04 CDT http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4c28b8c7cb7d9 5 Antimatter is powerful stuff, but is it a genuine mirror image of matter? The coldest antiprotons ever made take us a step closer to finding out. 29 Jun 2010 12:03:04 CDT http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4c28b9037cb01 6 South African physicists working to protect data networks at the World Cup hope to provide something that no goalkeeper can promise: perfect defense. They're tapping the laws of physics to prevent hackers from monitoring videos, emails and phone calls relayed between Durban's Moses Mabhida Stadium and a nearby operations center for police, firefighters, and military personnel. 29 Jun 2010 12:03:04 CDT http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4c28b924f2f92 7 A close look at climate change research papers and their reception by the scientific community holds important lessons about peer review and climate science, and why it can be a difficult area for the public to follow.  29 Jun 2010 12:03:04 CDT http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4c28b8e528432 8 Recent neutrino data may require physicists to pursue a fundamentally new direction in their thinking about subatomic particles and the origin of matter in the universe. 29 Jun 2010 12:03:04 CDT http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4c28d8abdbc56 9 The world's largest telescope, currently under construction more than a mile beneath the Antarctic ice, is on schedule to be completed next year, according to a researcher at the University of Wisconsin, the lead institution for a scientific project called IceCube. 29 Jun 2010 12:03:04 CDT http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4c28d8cfd50ff 10