Highlights of physics research, published in Nature and elsewhere. Click on the titles below to see summaries of the results, with links to relevant papers. A subscription is required to read the full text of the papers.

previous highlights

France wins fusion project
An 18-month deadlocked contest between Japan and Europe over who gets to play host to a US$5.5-billion experimental fusion reactor has finally come to an end.
news@nature.com, 28 June 2005

How the Universe got its hydrogen pairs
A computer model has made progress in solving an astronomical mystery: why is so much hydrogen in the Universe paired up into molecules instead of existing as single atoms?
news@nature.com, 23 June 2005

Shadow falls on solar sail
The solar sail spacecraft Cosmos 1 is missing in action, following a problem with its launch from a Russian submarine in the Barents Sea on Tuesday.
news@nature.com, 22 June 2005

Solar sail set to launch
The revolutionary spacecraft Cosmos 1 is due to launch from a Russian submarine on Tuesday 21 June.
news@nature.com, 20 June 2005

Neutrino ripples spotted in space
Astronomers have spotted a signature of neutrinos created just seconds after the Big Bang.
news@nature.com, 17 June 2005

Fat silicon atoms are doubly magic
A form of silicon that is bloated with extra neutrons has revealed a 'magic number' for the protons in its nucleus.
news@nature.com, 17 June 2005

Foggy screen points the way
Forget plasma screens, here's one made out of nothing but water.
news@nature.com, 10 June 2005

Rocky planet found outside Solar System
The hunt for worlds outside our Solar System has found its smallest planet yet: it weighs in at just seven-and-a-half times the size of the Earth.
news@nature.com, 13 June 2005

NASA boss purges senior managers
The head of NASA's exploration programme has resigned: the first casualty of a cull of senior managers set in motion by Michael Griffin, NASA's new administrator.
news@nature.com, 9 June 2005

One in three scientists confesses to having sinned
More than a third of US scientists, in a survey of thousands, have admitted to misbehaving in the past three years.
news@nature.com, 8 June 2005

Fertilizer from the stars
The explosion of a star in our cosmic neighbourhood may not sound like good news for life on Earth.
news@nature.com, 31 May 2005

Galactic neighbour gets supersized
Andromeda, the nearest large galaxy, has been found to be almost three times wider than astronomers thought.
news@nature.com, 31 May 2005

Life is short in online news
Are you reading this more than a day and a half after it was posted on Nature's news site?
news@nature.com, 27 May 2005

Planetary billiards answer Solar System riddle
Why does the Solar System look like it does?
news@nature.com, 25 May 2005

Physicists uncover Eurovision biases
Britain is in harmony with Europe, Nordic countries fancy each others' stars, and France is out on a limb.
news@nature.com, 20 May 2005

Oxygen from moondust is worth a mint
How do you fancy winning a cool quarter-of-a-million dollars?
news@nature.com, 20 May 2005

Swift satellite spies cosmic crash
Massive energy burst supports theory of neutron star collisons.
news@nature.com, 10 May 2005

Kavli prizes step up to the Nobels
The pot of cash for science prizes has just got bigger.
news@nature.com, 4 May 2005

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