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Efforts to demonstrate the feasibility of fusion power can benefit from studies of fundamental questions in plasma physics carried out in simplified devices.
Availability of the source code should soon become the minimum standard for academic software. In addition, culture should shift to embrace code review and appropriate credit for the developers of reusable software.
Einstein’s general theory of relativity is one of the most important accomplishments in the history of science. We reassess the importance of one of the expeditions that made its experimental verification possible — a story that involves a sense of adventure and scientific ingenuity in equal measure.
In 2016 and 2017, the LISA Pathfinder mission successfully proved that the technologies for the space-based gravitational wave detector LISA are ready. LISA is now scheduled to launch in the early 2030s, to open a so far unexploited scientific field.