Fewer, better meetings

I Hate Meetings! Ten Rules to Make Them More Effective.

Size does matter (for magnetoresistance effects)

In a paper appearing in Nature's Scientific Reports, Dr Ramesh Mani, professor of physics and astronomy at Georgia State University, reports that a giant magnetoresistance effect depends on the physical size of the device in the GaAs/AlGaAs semiconductor system.

10 ways to motivate anyone

Understand the unique brain and personality types of your employees to keep them invested in work. You'll see amazing results.

Are ideas to cool the planet realistic?

The deliberate large-scale manipulation of the Earth's environment, called geoengineering, could be one way to cool the Earth or help reduce levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Thomson Reuters 2013 Top 100 Global Innovators

The Thomson Reuters Top 100 global innovators represent the vanguard of 21st century innovation. They are a group of businesses and research institutions that recognize that great ideas are only half of the strategic equation. The other essential component is the protection of those ideas with intellectual property rights, so they can be commercialized and leveraged around the world – therefore reaching their full potential.

Oxide Film Growth - Molecular Beam Epitaxy and Pulsed Laser Deposition Face-off for Supremacy

This tutorial at this year's Fall MRS Meeting will cover the fundamentals of how epitaxial interfaces in complex oxides are fabricated, specifically addressing the strengths and weaknesses of pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The tutorial is suitable for scientists interested in an introduction to modern oxide film growth, but also provides direct comparisons from both the MBE and PLD communities regarding the strengths of each technique.

MAGCIS - Monatomic and Gas Cluster Ion Source

The Thermo Scientific™ MAGCIS™ dual mode ion source enables depth profiling analysis and surface cleaning of both soft and hard materials on the same XPS instrument. Switching between gas cluster sputtering and monatomic sputtering is handling completely by the Avantage data system, and can be done in a matter of seconds.

Tiny 'LEGO brick' -style studs make solar panels a quarter more efficient

Rows of aluminium studs help solar panels extract more energy from sunlight than those with flat surfaces.

Using heat to make magnets

EPFL scientists have provided the first evidence ever that it is possible to generate a magnetic field by using heat instead of electricity. The phenomenon is referred to as the Magnetic Seebeck effect or ‘thermomagnetism’.

PLD of Fe38.5/Pd61.5 films

Nice review article in JVSTA by on PLD of Fe38.5/Pd61.5 films by the University of Virginia Fitz-Gerald Group

A chameleon in the physics lab

Vanadium dioxide shows infrared camouflage effects on insulator – metal transition

Who’s in control?

Whilst experts in embedded systems still argue, Toyota have been found liable for a 2007 fatal car crash. Bugs in the source code relating to the throttle control being highlighted. As we move towards self-driving cars it is not just software and electronic reliability issues that need addressing. A recent conference on intelligent transport systems discussed how self-driving cars deal with “exceptions”. Is there a danger that the technology will over de-skill the task of driving? How does the self-driving car recognise a crisis beyond its program capabilities and safely hand over control to the human driver?

Probably not 42

It is not quite the same as Deep Thought which took 7.5 million years to compute and check its answer. Nor is quark decay quite the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything - though certainly a part. Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory have been using super computers to crunch the numbers since 1964. Gratifyingly after this time working on matter antimatter symmetry calculations they think that they have solved half of the problem. 

Whistle while you work

Computational fluid dynamics was never my forte but I make a mean cup of tea. A team at the University of Cambridge have addressed an issue that thwarted acoustic scientists for years, namely how does a kettle whistle? Apparently the answer lies in pressure pulses that form steam vortices that produce sound. I wonder Oolong the research took?

Noble intentions

The last Will and Testament of Alfred Bernhard Nobel is an interesting read. I am favourably drawn to a man who leaves an annuity to his former gardener.  The 1895 will set up the funds to endow annual prizes in the five areas of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and champions of peace. Interestingly mathematics was not included and there was no mention of economics. Nobel’s clearly stated desire was that all the prizes were to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind. It is perhaps open to debate how well this first objective is being met alongside his further aim, in the area of physics, of apportioning a prize to the person who shall have made the most important discovery or invention within the field of physics. Over one hundred years later are we being true to both of Nobel’s wishes?