Physics World Weekly offers a unique insight into the latest news, breakthroughs and innovations from the global scientific community. Our award-winning journalists reveal what has captured their imaginations about the stories in the news this week, which might span anything from quantum physics and astronomy through to materials science, environmental research and policy, and biomedical science and technology. Find out more about the stories in this podcast by visiting the Physics World website. If you enjoy what you hear, then also check out our monthly podcast Physics World Stories, which takes a more in-depth look at a specific theme.
https://physicsworld.com/a/celebrating-attosecond-science-physics-tournament-focuses-on-fun/
Battle of the Elements winner revealed, Chernobyl revisited, and the quest for metallic hydrogen
The votes have been counted and in this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast we can finally reveal what is the greatest element of them all. After three well-fought group contests, silicon, carbon and iron qualified for the grand final, in which they did battle on this podcast last week. Over the past seven days, you have been given the chance to vote for a winner on Twitter, so listen to the podcast to find out the results.
Also in the podcast, the epidemiologist Richard Wakeford is in conversation with Physics World’s James Dacey about the challenges of determining the public health risks relating to radiation. High-profile events such as the 1986 accident at Chernobyl show that exposure to high doses can bring about fast and lethal outcomes. But the impacts becomes much less certain when it involves low to intermediate levels of radiation. Find out more in this extended Q&A with Wakeford published earlier this week.
Finally, Hamish Johnston and Matin Durrani ask whether a metallic form of hydrogen has been produced in a lab for the first time. That is the claim of a research group in France that have used a diamond anvil cell to squeeze hydrogen to incredibly high pressure. Others in the field, however, remain sceptical about the claims, which would represent a holy grail for condensed matter physics.
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