Earth's Inner Workings Faster, Better Quantum Chemistry Fukushima After 21⁄2 Years
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Contents | Zoom in | Zoom out For navigation instructions please click here Search Issue | Next Page www.physicst___________________ day.org A publication of the American Institute of Physics November 2013 volume 66, number 11 Arecibo at 50 also: Earth's inner workings Faster, better quantum chemistry 1 Fukushima after 2 ⁄2 years Contents | Zoom in | Zoom out For navigation instructions please click here Search Issue | Next Page physicstoday PreviousPage|Contents|Zoomin|Zoomout|FrontCover|SearchIssue|NextPage physicstoday _____________________ physicstoday PreviousPage|Contents|Zoomin|Zoomout|FrontCover|SearchIssue|NextPage physicstoday physicstoday PreviousPage|Contents|Zoomin|Zoomout|FrontCover|SearchIssue|NextPage physicstoday ______________________ physicstoday PreviousPage|Contents|Zoomin|Zoomout|FrontCover|SearchIssue|NextPage physicstoday physicstoday PreviousPage|Contents|Zoomin|Zoomout|FrontCover|SearchIssue|NextPage physicstoday Your Solution for Helium Recovery Laboratory scale designed for your space and needs. 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And LabVIEW is at the heart of unrivaled hardware integration and helps the graphical system design approach, which uses an open platform of productive you program the way software and reconfi gurable hardware to accelerate the development of your system. you think–graphically. >> Accelerate your system design productivity at ni.com/labview-platform 800 453 6202 ©2013 National Instruments. All rights reserved. LabVIEW, National Instruments, NI, and ni.com are trademarks of National Instruments. Other product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies. 12121 physicstoday PreviousPage|Contents|Zoomin|Zoomout|FrontCover|SearchIssue|NextPage physicstoday physicstoday PreviousPage|Contents|Zoomin|Zoomout|FrontCover|SearchIssue|NextPage physicstoday contents November 2013 cover: Suspended high above the Arecibo Observatory’s 300-meter-diameter dish is volume 66 this structure, the so-called Gregorian dome. Inside are mirrors that correct for the number 11 dish’s spherical aberration by focusing its reflected radio waves to a single point. On 1 November of this year, the observatory celebrates its golden anniversary. To honor its first 50 years, Daniel Altschuler and Chris Salter, in their article beginning on page 43, offer a brief history of Arecibo, with an emphasis on its contributions to astrophysics. 30 The geodynamo’s unique longevity New insights into how Earth’s magnetic field has been sustained for billions of years closely link the planet’s core and mantle in the dynamo process — Peter Olson 37 Earth’s enigmatic inner core The solid iron ball at the center of our planet helps power Earth’s magnetic field and may record a billion years of geological activity in the deep interior — Bruce Buffett 43 The Arecibo Observatory: Fifty astronomical years Among its many accomplishments, the world’s largest single-dish telescope has detailed properties of the ionosphere, spotted the first planets discovered outside our solar system, and helped confirm the general theory of relativity — Daniel R. Altschuler and Christopher J. Salter 30 68 37 PHYSICS TODAY (ISSN 0031-9228, coden PHTOAD) volume 66, number 11. Published monthly by the American Institute of Physics, 2 Huntington Quadrangle, Melville, NY 11747-4502. Periodicals postage paid at Huntington Station, NY, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to PHYSICS TODAY, American Institute of Physics, Suite 1NO1, 2 Huntington Quadrangle, Melville, NY 11747-4502. Views expressed in PHYSICS TODAY and on its website are those of the authors and not necessarily those of AIP or any of its member societies. Copyright © 2013, American Institute of Physics. Title registered in the US Patent and Trademark Office. Individual readers of this publication and nonprofit libraries acting for them are freely permitted to make fair use of the material in it, such as to copy an article for use in teaching or research. 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Outside the US call (516) 576-2270. www.physicstoday.org November 2013 Physics Today 5 physicstoday PreviousPage|Contents|Zoomin|Zoomout|FrontCover|SearchIssue|NextPage physicstoday physicstoday PreviousPage|Contents|Zoomin|Zoomout|FrontCover|SearchIssue|NextPage physicstoday physics today DEPARTMENTS www.physicstoday.org 8 readers’ forum To reach us, please send an email to search and discovery [email protected]____________ 12 Helioseismology plumbs new depths . Ceramic nanolattices publisher Randolph A. Nanna [email protected] hold up under pressure . A powerful quantum chemical method (301) 209-3102 tackles a protein . Physics update Subscription inquiries: (800) 344-6902 editor-in-chief issues and events Stephen G. Benka [email protected] 20 _____ Japan’s Fukushima site is an ongoing morass . Geoengineering managing editor researchers ponder ethical and regulatory issues . Breaking from Richard J. Fitzgerald [email protected] tradition, some scientists self-publish . NNSA touts savings from art and production Rita Wehrenberg, production manager supercomputing Unique Carter, Donna Padian, Kenneth Pagliuca 50 books editors How the Great Scientists Reasoned: The Scientific Method in Action, Steven K. Blau [email protected]_____ G. G. Tibbetts (reviewed by P. Achinstein) . Fundamentals of Soft Toni Feder [email protected]____ Martha M. Hanna [email protected] Matter Science, L. S. Hirst (reviewed by H. M. Wyss) . From the David Kramer [email protected] Atomic Bomb to the Landau Institute: Autobiography. Top Non-Secret, Jermey N. A. Matthews [email protected] Johanna L. Miller [email protected]