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The CERN Council — representing the governments and scientists of each of the laboratory's member states — has ratified a European strategy for particle physics. Its statement is welcome, and sets out a vital programme for the future.
Using observations to infer the values of some parameters corresponds to solving an 'inverse problem'. Practitioners usually seek the 'best solution' implied by the data, but observations should only be used to falsify possible solutions, not to deduce any particular solution.
In the global economy of the twenty-first century, prosperity is created in fundamentally new ways. The science of complex, networked systems provides invaluable insights into technological, organizational and economic arrangements that will ensure global prosperity.
In less than two years, a directive will come into force throughout the European Union that defines safety limits on time-varying magnetic fields — with implications for experimental practices in several areas of physics.
Although computers have dramatically improved productivity in many areas, their use for improving education has been slow and difficult. Online interactive simulations may soon change all that.
