Contents: October 2009
UK Meteorological Office/Science Photo Library
Quanta
3
Frontiers
4
News & Analysis 6
New proposal to detect gravitational waves ● World’s quietest building opens
● CERN boss targets future accelerator ● China’s first space-based science mission
delayed ● Panel reviews NASA’s Moon and Mars plans ● Indian lunar mission fails
● Teething troubles at US energy agency ● Spain powers ahead in solar-thermal
energy ● Germany seeks to boost university research ● Bribe allegations rock German
science ● New telescope array to shed light on early universe ● Australia launches
astronomy centre ● Survey reveals risk of medical scans
A question of – science 33–35
Feedback
15
Tony McConnell/Science Photo Library
The energy puzzle
Challenges in tackling climate change 20
Bold decisions are needed to halve greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050 to limit global
warming. Lord Browne argues that the biggest barriers to a low-carbon economy are
not scientific or technological but political
Publicize or perish 22
With the Copenhagen climate-change conference looming, Joseph Romm warns
that scientists must do a much better job of alerting the world to the dangers of
global warming
A question of – politics 20–21
Photolibrary
The road to sustainability 24
Sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels do exist, but materials-science breakthroughs
are needed to make some of the most promising technologies viable and
cost-effective on a large scale, as George Crabtree and John Sarrao explain
Wrong but useful 33
Gavin Schmidt describes how progress in modelling is leading to better predictions of
the world’s climate that will be more useful for policymakers and politicians
Extreme energy makeover 37
Paul Michael Grant outlines an ambitious proposal for a network of underground
pipes carrying nuclear-power-produced hydrogen that serves both as a fuel and as
a coolant for superconducting cables
A question of – communication 22–23
Does nanotechnology have the energy? 40
From new materials for wind turbines and supercapacitors to novel “third generation”
solar cells, nanotechnology could play a major role in future energy sources,
as Alan Smith and David Tolfree explain
On the cover
The energy puzzle (Photolibrary) 19–45
Reviews 46
A physicist tackles sustainable energy ● Genius and persecution ● Web life: Clim’City
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Careers
Of time and tide Stephen Taylor ● Once a physicist: Kathryn Jackson
50
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Recruitment
54
Lateral Thoughts
E is for energy Cormac O’Raifeartaigh
64
