April 2010 Issue of Physics and Society Newsletter

The April 2010 issue of Physics and Society Newsletter is now available online.

In particular, one of the issues that could be a major problem some time soon and have not received the publicity that it deserves, is the issue on the isotopes production, especially the medical isotopes that will experience a severe shortage. This is discussed in a brief article in the newsletter, so it will give you a quick intro and update on the problem if you're not aware of it already. I've mentioned this potential problem in relation to particle accelerators.

Zz.

Forum on Physics and Society Newsletter - January 2009

The January 2009 issue of the APS Forum on Physics and Society is now available online.

It looks like the issue of climate change, and APS's involvement in it, is continuing. Read Robert Levine's article in the newsletter.

Zz.

Forum on Physics and Society Oct. 2008 Newsletter

The APS Forum on Physics and Society Oct. 2008 newsletter is now online. Hopefully, it doesn't generate the same brouhaha has the July issue.

In this issue, they addressed the controversy generated in the July issue with the Monckton's "article". Because of that debacle, the newsletter now carries this disclaimer:

"This contribution has not been peer refereed. It represents solely the view(s) of the author(s) and not necessarily the views of APS."

This is to prevent certain unscrupulous individuals from using it as if it has been peer-reviewed (you know we are talking about you, Lord Monckton). There are other things being clarified as stated in the Editor's comment:

Our editorial comments in the July 2008 issue include the following statement: “There is a considerable presence within the scientific community of people who do not agree with the IPCC conclusion that anthropogenic CO2 emissions are very probably likely to be primarily responsible for the global warming that has occurred since the Industrial Revolution.” In fact, we have not polled any scientific community (e.g., the climate research community, the physics community, or the general science community) as to the extent of its consensus regarding human-activity-caused global warming, and we apologize for making such a remark for which we do not have supporting data. We now do know that, in addition to the American Physical Society, the following scientific organizations have issued statements and/or reports in support of the IPCC’s main conclusion concerning the role of anthropogenic CO2 emissions in global warming: The National Academy of Sciences, the American Meteorological Society, the American Geophysical Union, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

That, I believe, clears up everything.

Zz.

Beam Dynamics Newsletter No. 46

Hey, if you've never read stuff from the field of accelerator physics, this is a good time to get a general view of some of the issues that are often dealt with in this field. This is the August 2008 issue of the Beam Dynamics Newsletter, produced by the International Committee for Future Accelerators. The theme for this newsletter is all about electron guns, which is the workhorse of the majority of particle accelerators (synchrotron centers require electron accelerators). You'll learn all about electron photoinjectors, beam dynamics, emittance measurement, etc.

You can see other newsletters that have been produced here.

Fun stuff! :)

Zz.

Forum on Physics and Society July 2008 Newsletter

The July 2008 Newsletter of Forum on Physics and Society is now available online.

Several good articles this month, especially a couple of tutorial on the physics of global warming. There's also a review of a couple of books on evolution versus creationism. So plenty of things to read.

Zz.

January 2008 Issue of Forum on Physics And Society

The January 2008 issue of the newsletter on Forum on Physics and Society is now available online. There's a good group of articles here, so don't miss it.

Zz.