Season’s greetings and last-minute gift ideas

By Hamish Johnston

Things are winding down for the holidays at Physics World and we are all looking forward to recharging our batteries before we get stuck in to all the exciting physics that is sure to come our way in 2015.

If you are like me, you probably haven’t finished your Christmas shopping so here are a few suggestions that are sure to get a smile out of the physicists in your life. In the above video, author and scientist Neil Downie recommends a few traditional gifts as well as several quirky presents. I’m not sure that many people have a retort stand on their wish list, but I would certainly welcome a multimeter if I didn’t own one already.

Fans of Einstein’s general theory of relativity will love these place mats, which give the illusion that your place setting is warping space–time. They are available from AP Works in Japan. However, if you eat as much turkey and roast potatoes on Christmas Day as I do, your plate will already have a gravitational field akin to a mini black hole!

Over the holidays, many will find themselves stumbling home in the dark from the local hostelry after a few cups of cheer. Make sure your friends arrive safely with this infrared camera for mobile phones, which will help them avoid dangerous objects as long as they are warmer (or colder) than the surroundings.

Prawn on the half-shell: the mantis shrimp pendant. (Courtesy: I Love Science Store)

For something more exotic, how about a gift inspired by the physicist’s favourite type of crustacean: the mantis shrimp? Some species are capable of smashing through aquarium glass with their club-like claws, while others can see circularly polarized light. Many of the powerful prawns – including the peacock mantis shrimp – also have fantastic colouring and this has inspired hand-crafted peacock mantis shrimp pendants, which are available at the I Love Science Store in the US. Other gift ideas from that outlet include the Tarantula Nebula scarf and a messenger bag emblazoned with a pun based on an often-heard malapropism of Large Hadron Collider.

If you are lucky enough to have won a physics prize from a Silicon Valley billionaire, you could treat a special someone to this fantastic watch called Complication Poétique Midnight Planétarium. It’s a planetarium on your wrist with tiny planets that revolve around the Sun over a background of stars. It is made by the French jeweller Van Cleef & Arpels and will set you back $245,000.

Stocking stuffer: Stuff Matters by Mark Miodownik.

If that is beyond your budget, I don’t know a physicist who wouldn’t appreciate a good book for Christmas. Physics World‘s 2014 Book of the Year is Stuff Matters: the Strange Stories of the Marvellous Materials that Shape our Man-made World by the UK-based materials scientist Mark Miodownik. I can also recommend the nine runners-up to this year’s book of the year and all 10 titles are discussed by Physics World’s resident bookworms in this podcast.

For a budding metrologist on your list, you could buy them enough LEGO to build their very own Watt balance. Plans are available from a team of physicists in the US  and the balance can measure mass to 1% relative uncertainty. So no excuses if their turkey isn’t cooked properly.

Wherever you may be over the holiday season, there is plenty on physicsworld.com to keep you amused. A highlight of December for me is choosing the Physics World Breakthrough of the Year and its nine runners-up. Earlier this week, physicsworld.com reporter Tushna Commissariat and I were on the radio programme Love and Science to talk about this year’s top 10. You can listen to the show here, just scroll down to the audio player and click on “15:00 – 15/12/2014”. You might want to skip ahead to 04:15 to avoid listening to the Monday afternoon news bulletin.

Physics World‘s Michael Banks has compiled “The 10 quirkiest physics stories of 2014“, which this year includes a strategy for winning rock-paper-scissors and a physics-based explanation for why Spaniards are not lazy. Elsewhere, our multimedia maestro James Dacey gives a countdown of his “Multimedia highlights of 2014”, which features our first ventures into animation and martial-arts films. And not to be outdone, image guru Tushna Commissariat presents her favourite pictures of 2014 including real-life Transformers and a very angry spider.

See you in the new year!