The March 2012 issue of Physics World is out now

By Matin Durrani

The March issue of Physics World magazine is now out, featuring a series of fabulous articles and images on the theme of “Physics and the Earth”. Here’s a brief outline of what we have on offer and there are details at the end of this blog about how to access the entire content of the issue.

• Find out how the latest advances in earthquake forecasting can give the odds that an earthquake above a certain size will occur within a given area and time.

• Gianpaolo Bellini and Livia Ludhova describe how geoneutrinos generated through radioactive decay within the Earth are providing a new technique for understanding our planet.

• François Pétrélis, Jean-Pierre Valet and Jean Besse explain why they think that the movement of the Earth’s plates could be linked to the rate of reversal of the Earth’s magnetic field.

• See what progress is being made in understanding the Earth’s core – including the bizarre possibility that it may hide huge crystals of iron some 10 km long.

• Learn more about the controversy over fracking, which involves pumping sand and chemicals into shale deposits to release trapped natural gas.

• Check out our interview with Robert Hazen, the head of the Deep Carbon Observatory, who wants to find out what happens to carbon that gets subducted into the Earth’s core

• Mike Weightman, chief inspector of nuclear installations and executive head of the Office for Nuclear Regulations in the UK, describes what lessons we can learn from the incident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant one year on.

• Enjoy a series of spectacular images of the Earth from afar, showing the power of Earth observation.

Members of the Institute of Physics (IOP) can read the new issue online for free right now through the digital version of the magazine by following this link or by downloading the Physics World app onto your iPhone or iPad or Android device, available from the App Store and Android Marketplace respectively. The digital version lets you read, share, save, archive and print articles – either fully laid out or in easy-to-read text view – and even have them translated or read out to you.

If you’re not yet a member, you can join the IOP as an imember for just £15, €20 or $25 a year via this link. Being an imember gives you a full year’s access to Physics World both online and through the apps.

A free PDF of the issue will also be available for download from this site from 8 March.