Access

News and Views

Nature 445, 721-722 (15 February 2007) | doi:10.1038/445721a; Published online 14 February 2007

Open Innovation Challenges

  • Single-cell Analysis Platform

    • Deadline: Dec 02 2009
    • Reward: $5,000 USD

    This Challenge is looking for novel approaches to analyzing changes at a single-cell level. This is...

  • Optimizing Sub-cellular Localization Tags

    • Deadline: Jan 31 2010
    • Reward: $20,000 USD

    The Seeker is looking for methods to optimize sub-cellular localization tags for protein expression....

naturejobs

Plasma physics: On the crest of a wake

Robert Bingham1

Top

What a conventional particle accelerator needs kilometres to achieve, a compact 'plasma wakefield' accelerator has just mastered in less than a metre. So is it adieu to the era of the gargantuan mega-accelerator?

Wakes — the areas of fluid turbulence most commonly seen around the pontoons of bridges and behind moving boats — have long excited human curiosity. Leonardo da Vinci carried out some of the first scientific investigations into wakes in the early sixteenth century by placing obstacles in fast-moving water (Fig. 1

  1. Robert Bingham is at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot OX11 OQX, UK.
    Email: r.bingham@rl.ac.uk