What do plastic bags have in common with metal?

In less than 100 seconds, Adrian Sutton explains why metals and plastic bags deform in different but related ways. Visit physicsworld.com for more videos, webinars and podcasts.

 

Tiny objects levitated by sound

Philip Bassindale, a researcher at the University of Bristol, demonstrates acoustic levitation by creating a “pearl necklace” of polystyrene balls in a standing wave of ultrasound. This video was recorded in connection with a Physics World podcast about the nature and applications of ultrasound, which you can listen to here.

 

Is a quantum wavefunction a real thing?

In less than 100 seconds, Daniel Mortlock ponders whether the quantum wavefunction could be more than a mathematical function.

 

What is quantum gravity?

In less than 100 seconds, Leron Borsten explains that general relativity and quantum mechanics are very successful in their own domains, but the jury is still out on how to unify these two great theories of physics.

 

What is cosmic inflation?

In less than 100 seconds, Andrew Jaffe explains why cosmologists believe that the universe underwent a period of vast and raid growth when it was just fractions of a second old.

 

What is the anthropic principle?

In less than 100 seconds, Roberto Trotta explains this often-misunderstood philosophical idea: why it seems so unlikely that conditions in the universe are so perfectly tuned for life to exist.

 

Why do neutrinos change flavour?

In less than 100 seconds, Kenneth Long describes neutrinos in the context of quantum mechanics, explaining how they can oscillate between varieties.

 

What do plastic bags have in common with metal?

In less than 100 seconds, Adrian Sutton explains why metals and plastic bags deform in different but related ways.

 

Can we see the motion of electrons on the atomic scale?

In less than 100 seconds, Amelle Zair provides a brief introduction to the field of attosecond science.

 

How do we know that the universe is flat?

In less than 100 seconds, Roberto Trotta explains how astrophysicists calculate geometries in the universe.

Image guidance, the way forward for radiotherapy

Uwe Oelfke from the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, explains how image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) can address one of the key challenges in modern radiotherapy – namely how to deliver a lethal dose of radiation to a tumour while sparing surrounding healthy tissue. The problem is that radiotherapy generally involves directing an invisible beam at an invisible tumour, based on patient images acquired prior to the treatment. Oelfke explains how IGRT involves acquiring additional images of the patient in the treatment position, immediately before or during radiation treatment, ensuring that the beam is precisely targeted at the tumour.

 

Molecular imaging

Interview with Simon Cherry from the University of California,  incoming editor-in-chief of the journal Physics in Medicine and Biology.

Cherry focuses on the benefits of "molecular imaging", which can pinpoint the biochemical and molecular changes that accompany the very early stages of chronic diseases such as cancer or neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. As Cherry explains, such information is impossible to obtain with traditional clinical-imaging techniques such as X-ray or MRI, which largely reveal structural changes in the human body.

Cherry also explains how the Cerenkov effect – a well-established physical phenomenon – is now being exploited within the medical arena. The effect occurs when certain radionuclides, in addition to emitting gamma rays, also give off charged particles that, temporarily at least, travel through tissue faster than light in that medium. The particles emit characteristic "Cerenkov radiation" that can be used for imaging purposes. "Cerenkov luminescence imaging" is particularly useful for radionuclides such as yttrium-90 that do not emit any gamma rays and so are not easy to image by other means.

Rutherford's big discovery – 100 years later

In 1911 the New-Zealand-born physicist Ernest Rutherford published a paper that was to revolutionize science. Rutherford's famous alpha-particle scattering experiment transformed our understanding of the atom and it inspired the new areas of physics including the theory of quantum mechanics.
The pioneering work was carried out at the University of Manchester where Rutherford held the Chair of Physics for 12 years. To mark the centenary of these landmark experiments, the university hosted a special week-long conference in August 2011. The event was organized by the UK's Institute of Physics.

How Rutherford shaped nuclear physics

2011 was the 100th anniversary of Ernest Rutherford publishing his seminal paper describing the discovery of the atomic nucleus. The New-Zealand-born physicist reached this profound insight after his landmark alpha-particle scattering experiments carried out at the University of Manchester. To mark the centenary, the university hosted a special week-long conference in August, organized by the UK's Institute of Physics.