PhysicsCentral

The American Institute of Physics has a website for the public called PhysicsCentral (http://www.physicscentral.com). The purpose of the site is to help you “learn how your world works.” According to the July 2008 issue of the APS News, the site was redesigned recently to include podcasts and vodcasts, blogs and RSS feeds, and other interactive new features. The website describes its mission.

The American Physical Society represents some 45,000 physicists, and most of our work centers on scientific meetings and publications—the primary ways that physicists communicate with each other. With PhysicsCentral, we communicate the excitement and importance of physics to everyone. We invite you to visit our site every week to find out how physics is part of your world. We’ll answer your questions on how things work and keep you informed with daily updates on physics in the news. We'll describe the latest research and the people who are doing it and, if you want more, where to go on the web. So stick with us. It’s a big, interesting world out there, and we look forward to showing you around.

Of particular interest to readers of the 4th edition of Intermediate Physics for Medicine and Biology is the Biology and Medicine Section of the site. Here you can find fascinating stories about medical and biological physicists, concise descriptions about the frontiers of research, and beautiful pictures. For instance, the current featured story is “The Theory of Everything...Everything Alive!” that describes the work of physicist Geoffrey West on scaling, a topic discussed in Chapter 2 of Intermediate Physics for Medicine and Biology. Students at all levels will find much to inspire and interest them. Take a look at what all the excitement is about, and have fun.