book reviews

any department, since people from other Here three distinguished European journals departments might wish to peek too. ■ — Il Nuovo Cimento D, Journal de Physique Across the ➧ http://www3.oup.co.uk/infree/?LO and Zeitschrift für Physik B — seek rebirth in Albert-László Barabási is in the Department of the launch of a blue-ribbon European jour- boundaries Physics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, nal devoted to this new discipline. Interfaces and Free Boundaries: Indiana 46556, USA. The journal’s ambitious goal is to develop Modeling, Analysis and a wider readership and more eclectic sub- Computation missions than would be expected of a physics editor Mario Primicerio journal. Among the articles published dur- Oxford University Press. 4/yr. £195, $335 ing the initial six months the quality is high, (institutional), £176, $302 (institutional, but the flavour is not yet really different from online only), £50, $80 (individual) Europe’s hard forum that of Physical Review E. Representation Albert-László Barabási from other subfields of soft matter will prob- for soft matter ably grow. Every scientific research library The alarming loss of biodiversity is accom- The European Physical Journal E will want to hold this blue-ribbon archival panied by an increasing diversity of scholarly — Soft Matter journal. ■ thought, as demonstrated by the rate at editors-in-chief A. M. Donald, J.-F. Joanny, ➧ http://www.link.springer.de/journals/epje which specialized journals emerge. The sur- M. Möller & G. Reiter Steve Granick is in the Departments of Materials vival of free thinking is guaranteed by safe Springer. 12/yr. $1,181 (US), DM1,872 plus Science and Engineering, Physics, Chemistry and havens for those sharing the same interests, carriage charges (Germany DM37.20; Chemical Engineering, University of Illinois. Sung tools or ideas, but they are scattered across elsewhere DM52.80) Chul Bae is in the Department of Materials Science disciplines. Steve Granick and Sung Chul Bae and Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, Interfaces and Free Boundaries is one Illinois 61801, USA. such safe haven, offering a fertile soil for The study of ‘soft matter’ has burgeoned as applied and pure mathematicians trying to an academic discipline during the past gener- reach a common language in this rather ation. Its prominence has matched the study fragmented and interdisciplinary field. The of ‘hard matter’ — traditional condensed- apparently eclectic selections of contribu- matter physics. The scope of ‘soft matter’ is tions, ranging from superconductivity to larger than physics, however. The preoccupa- Making way for dendritic growth, offers a culture shock at tion is with systems (polymers, biopolymers, first. However, the source of this diversity is membranes, self-assembled nanostructures) complex issues hidden in the subtitle: Modeling, Analysis where the energetic interactions are com- Nonlinear Phenomena in and Computation. And indeed, the journal monly so ‘soft’ that complexity, disorder and Complex Systems does offer common ground for those inter- the capacity to manipulate and tune structure editors-in-chief V. A. Gaisyonok & ested in the computational and mathemati- and dynamics emerge in fundamentally new F. I. Kuvshinov cal tools for dealing with interfaces and free ways. The worldwide community is strug- Education & Upbringing, Belarus. 3/4/yr. boundaries, irrespective of discipline. As a gling to deal with the fact that these systems $158 (institutional), $98 (individual & result, experimentalists should beware: the straddle so large a spectrum of traditional institutions from developing countries) papers clearly favour rigorous mathematics disciplines: not just physics, but also chem- William Ditto above phenomenology — probably in line istry, biophysics and some mechanics. with the intent of the editorial board, the Seven years ago these considerations led Small changes can often have fundamental great majority of whom come from applied the American Physical Society to launch a effects on the behaviour of complex systems. maths departments. new journal, Physical Review E, which im- This is self-evident in the proliferation of inter- But should you be an experimentalist or mediately established itself as a premier disciplinary journals devoted to nonlinear theorist faced with a free-boundary prob- archival journal in terms of quality and dynamics and complex systems. Amid this lem, this is the place to look for expertise, prestige. It is altogether fitting that the Euro- creative renaissance (or journalistic excess, papers and ideas — the four issues published pean Physical Society should do the same. depending on your viewpoint), new journals so far offer a wide spectrum of articles that touch on most of the techniques needed to master this field. And all this in a single journal, doing away with the need for often fruitless database searches or trips to various libraries across the campus. The best way to get the flavour of the journal is to visit its online edition, which displays the table of contents of the issues published so far. In this respect, Oxford University Press has done an excellent job, giving the journal all the perks it needs for survival, including an online edi- tion, electronic submissions and a pleasing appearance, with the possibility of colour pictures. Should you run to your librarian for a subscription? Look at the online version before you drop any other journal from the shelf. But if your budget can be stretched to include it, it will be an unselfish decision for

NATURE | VOL 407 | 21 SEPTEMBER 2000 | www.nature.com © 2000 Macmillan Magazines Ltd 297 book reviews must provide a service to the scientific com- ever, early claims about the potential of the munities rather than just add to the overall subject leave many people cautious about explosive numbers of scientific papers. using the n-word. Plant power against Nonlinear Phenomena in Complex Sys- The Journal of Nanoparticle Research tems delivers to the community in a couple of seeks to embrace all things nanotechnology pollution ways. First, it provides a mostly regional while avoiding its name. With a hard focus International Journal of forum (primarily Central and Eastern Euro- on nanoparticles, the scope of the journal Phytoremediation pean) for both experimental and theoretical includes fundamental science, chemical syn- editor-in-chief Guy R. Lanza research in interdisciplinary complex sys- thesis, modelling, simulations, instrument CRC Press. 4/yr. $385 (institutional, print tems. Thus it gives both an editorial and a sci- development and molecular/particulate plus online), $295 (institutional, print or entific voice to the many creative individuals self-assembly into higher-order architec- online), $125 (to members of the Association who were previously relegated to the clois- tures. This broad remit extends from for the Environmental Health of Soils) tered world of Soviet science journals. Lest the biological and chemical to the physical William Purvis those of us in the United States get too uppity, sciences. The first volume of the journal has we should remember that it was only a few attracted an impressive number of full Phytoremediation relies on the natural decades ago that Physical Review was consid- papers, many from leading groups with properties of plants to help clean up haz- ered a regional or ‘colonial’ journal. international reputations. Perhaps unsur- ardous metal and organic wastes. Bioreme- But the journal must ultimately stand on prisingly, the majority of the papers cover diation with microorganisms was used in quality alone, and the quality and content of the production and properties of inorganic the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska and also the papers in Nonlinear Phenomena are rather nanoparticulate systems. after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant uneven. One problem lies in the presentation The journal carries both long and short accident. The idea of using plants to extract, of technical data. Topics covered range from papers, reviews, technology notes and meet- inactivate, transform or degrade contami- esoteric mathematical proofs and formalisms ing reports. There are also policy papers on nants is appealing — they bring 400 million to practical experimental research. Unfortu- funding initiatives. Intriguingly, the journal years of evolutionary processes across nately, there seems to have been little editorial allows papers directed towards education: hugely diverse groups. Moreover, increased attempt to persuade the authors to make their the first edition has a splendid paper on environmental awareness and the need for papers more accessible to an interdisciplinary making the nanoworld comprehensible for sustainable development have sparked audience. This is an extremely important schools and beyond. Given the publication’s intense activity in this area across the world, aspect and very hard to pull off. specialist nature, though, it may be that particularly in the United States. Apart from issues of content, there are some of this outreach activity will fall away Appropriately, the first issue of Interna- also problems with the quality of presenta- over time. tional Journal of Phytoremediation features tion. Specifically, the figures range in quality There are many top-quality physico- an invited and readable review article by from adequate to unreadable. This at least chemical journals that would publish much renowned ecotoxicologist André Sobolew- must be addressed for the journal to survive. of the work found in the first volume. But ski, who discusses the biological and non- On the positive side, there are articles such publications do not attract a sufficient biological processes responsible for remov- from regional conferences that are quite critical mass of papers in this area to create a ing metal from mine drainage by wetlands. stimulating. Clearly, a reader interested in comprehensive view. With quality basic This is the classic application, and uptake by the latest in interdisciplinary complex sys- science, and applications assured in areas plants is only part of the story. Bacteria may tems research would do better initially to as diverse as catalysis and drug delivery, accumulate and transform metals which peruse this journal’s competitors, for exam- Journal of Nanoparticle Research provides a may also be sorbed to organic matter and ple Chaos and the International Journal of cross-disciplinary focal point for the subject. inorganic materials. Bifurcations and Chaos. But Nonlinear Phe- Success is assured if it can maintain this Phytoremediation is an interdisciplinary nomena is an improving publication that focus. ■ subject, its success depending on diverse serves a regional audience with papers that ➧ http://www.wkap.nl/journalhome.htm/1388-0764 areas of science that include genetics, physi- range from the banal to the fascinating. ■ Saul Tendler is at the School of Pharmaceutical ology, biochemistry, microbiology, soil ➧ http://ccisc.bas-net.by/npcs Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham science, geochemistry and engineering. William Ditto is in the Georgia Tech/Emory NG7 2RD, UK. This journal necessarily takes a broad view Department of Biomedical Engineering, 315 Ferst Drive, Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0535, USA.

Backing the n-word Journal of Nanoparticle Research editor-in-chief Mihail C. Roco Kluwer. 4/yr. $278 (institutional), $88 (individual) Saul Tendler When Shakespeare penned the line “I do not like her name”, he could have been thinking about nanotechnology. Derived from the Greek nanos for dwarf, it may revolutionize our lives through the creation of nanometre- scale sensors, devices and machines. How-

298 © 2000 Macmillan Magazines Ltd NATURE | VOL 407 | 21 SEPTEMBER 2000 | www.nature.com