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Category Archives: APS March Meeting 2015
Zombie outbreaks in San Antonio
Where are you going to run to? (Courtesy: iStockphoto/Renphoto)
By Michael Banks in San Antonio, Texas
If you ever find yourself in the unfortunate position of trying to survive a zombie apocalypse in the US, what should you do?
Well, according to Alex Alemi of Cornell University and colleagues, you should head to the Rocky Mountains or the Nevada desert.
Using 2010 US census data for population levels around the country, Alemi and colleagues used statistical mechanics to model how a zombie outbreak would spread.
Celebrating a year of light
Shuji Nakamura talks to delegates about blue light-emitting diodes.
By Michael Banks in San Antonio, Texas
With 2015 being the International Year of Light it is perhaps the perfect opportunity to have a session at this year’s American Physical Society meeting in San Antonio dedicated to the forefront of optics research.
Yesterday afternoon saw a number of light pioneers update delegates about their research. The session boasted three of last year’s Nobel-prize winners: Stefan Hell of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Gottingen, Germany; William Moerner of Stanford University; and Shuji Nakamura of the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Supporting industrial physicists
By Michael Banks in San Antonio, Texas
Here is a stat for you: around 50% of US physics graduates (both undergraduates and postgraduates) go on to work in industry.
Whether you think that is good or bad, the American Physical Society (APS) wants to do more to support those physicists who don’t pursue a career in academia.
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Weighty matters
March maze. The conference centre for the APS meeting.
By Michael Banks in San Antonio, Texas
After finally getting my head round the maze-like Henry B Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, it was straight into a packed schedule at this year’s American Physical Society (APS) meeting.
One topic that always causes concern among researchers is the crunch in helium supply.
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Texas bound
By Michael Banks
Suitcase packed, I am now on the way to San Antonio for the 2015 American Physical Society (APS) meeting, which begins on Monday.
More than 9000 physicists will be heading to Texas for one of the biggest physics meetings of the year.
Having just put the finishing touches to my schedule for the five-day conference, we should be set to hear exciting results on mechanically programmable materials, the first metamaterial superconductor and the latest in flexible, stretchable electronics.
Yet there is also a more fun side to the conference with delegates also learning about modelling zombie outbreaks as well as participating in the famous APS physics sing-along.
So keep tabs on physicsworld.com for all the latest from the 2015 APS meeting.
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