Physicists are well-known for their interest in coffee, not only drinking it but also studying the fascinating science behind an espresso. Now researchers at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis), have taken it a whole new level by forming a research institute dedicated to the science of the perfect brew. The Coffee Center will be used by more than 50 researchers and includes labs dedicated to brewing, “sensory and cupping” and the chemical analysis of coffee. The centre has its origins in a 2013 course on “the design of coffee” by UC Davis chemical engineers William Ristenpart and To ..read more

Source: Shutterstock, Marco de Benedictis Graphene, the first 2D material, was isolated by Prof. Andre Geim and Prof. Konstantin Novoselov in 2004. Since then, a variety of 2D materials have been discovered, including transition metal dichalcogenides, phosphorene and mxene. 2D materials have remarkable characteristics and are making significant contributions towards quantum technologies, electronics, medicine, and renewable energy generation and storage to name but a few fields. However, we are still exploring the full potential of 2D materials, and many challenges must be overcome. Join us fo ..read more

Physics is a constantly evolving field – how do we make sure the next generation of physicists receive training that keeps pace with new developments and continues to support the cutting edge of research? According to Carsten P Welsch, a distinguished accelerator scientist at the University of Liverpool, in the age of machine learning and AI, PhD students in different physics disciplines have more in common than they might think. “Research is increasingly data-intensive, so while a particle physicist and a medical physicist might spend their days thinking about very different co ..read more

The US National Science Foundation (NSF) is to assemble a panel to help it decide whether to fund the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) or the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). The agency expects the panel, whose membership has yet to be determined, to report by 30 September, the end of the US government’s financial year. The NSF first announced in February that it would support the construction of only one of the two next-generation ground-based telescopes due to rising costs. The GMT, priced at $2.54bn, will be located in Chile, while the TMT, which is expected to cost at least $3bn, is set to be b ..read more

The DIII-D National Fusion Facility in San Diego has completed eight months of upgrades that will allow researchers to better control and study fusion plasmas. DIII-D is the largest magnetic-fusion facility in the US and is used by more than 700 researchers at 100 institutions worldwide. The DIII-D tokamak is a donut-shaped vacuum chamber that is surrounded by electromagnets that confine a plasma at a temperatures exceeding 10 times that of the Sun, enough to fuse hydrogen to produce energy. Since July 2023, engineers and technicians have installed new systems to better control the fusion ..read more

Fusing science and diplomacy Craig Jantzen makes a visit to a fusion physics laboratory at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. (Courtesy: Craig Jantzen) When Craig Jantzen was a PhD student at the University of Manchester in the UK, he used to go to politics and economics lectures alongside his research into nuclear materials. Jantzen is fascinated by all things nuclear, but he also saw the PhD as an opportunity to broaden his horizons beyond science. “You’re not drained from doing a nine-to-five job every day, and you’re around people that want to learn constantly,” he recalls ..read more

Artificial intelligence (AI) is used just about everywhere these days and scientific research is no exception. But how can physicists best use the rapidly-changing technology – and how can they be confident in the results AI delivers? This episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast features a conversation with Rick Stevens, who is a cofounder of the Trillion Parameter Consortium, which is developing AI systems for use in science, engineering, medicine and other fields. Stevens is a computer scientist at the Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago in the US and he explains ho ..read more

Travel to more than 350 astronomy meetings in 2019 resulted in the emission of 42 500 tonnes of carbon dioxide. That’s the conclusion of the first-ever study to examine the carbon emissions from travel to meetings by an entire field. The carbon cost amounts to about one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) per participant per meeting – roughly Africa’s average per capita carbon footprint in 2019 (1.2 tCO2e) (PNAS Nexus 3 pgae143). Carried out by a team led by Andrea Gokus at Washington University in St. Louis in the US, the study examined 362 meetings in 2019 that were open to anyone in ..read more

Inspired by the tetromino shapes in the classic video game Tetris, researchers in the US have designed a simple radiation detector that can monitor radioactive sources both safely and efficiently. Created by Mingda Li and colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the device employs a machine learning algorithm to process data, allowing it to build up accurate maps of sources using just four detector pixels. Wherever there is a risk of radioactive materials leaking into the environment, it is critical for site managers to map out radiation sources as accurately as possible. At fi ..read more

Stay tuned The first-ever Physics World Particle and Nuclear Briefing is out now From the Higgs boson at CERN to nuclear reactions inside stars, who doesn’t love particle and nuclear physics? There’s so much exciting work going on in both fields, which is why we’re bringing you this new Physics World Particle & Nuclear Briefing. The 30-page, free-to-read digital magazine contains the best of our recent coverage in the two areas, including – of course – plenty on CERN, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. In addition to former CERN science communicator Achintay Rao looking b ..read more