Quantum Nanoelectronics: An introduction to electronic nanotechnology and quantum computing, is the first textbook to handle profitable new directions for nanotechnology, such as nanoelectronic aspects of ink-printed thin film solar cells and convenient hydrogen storage.

From the publisher:

The march of Moore’s Law takes electronics to the molecular level, and indeed molecules are likely to be incorporated in future hybrid computer chips. This self-contained text guides students as well as professionals to the new possibilities presenting a treatment of Quantum Computing, a promising new approach which is based on Quantum Mechanics. This essential new title also covers topics which connect to alternative energy technology, for example solar cell design, photocatalytic conversion of water to hydrogen, and high performance batteries.

The author, Edward L. Wolf, is Professor of Physics at NYU-Poly. Professor Wolf’s experience ranges from teaching undergraduate courses to conducting industrial research. In 2007, Professor Wolf was honored with Polytechnic’s ”Jacobs Excellence in Education Award.” He is also a Fellow of the American Physical Society and has authored over 100 refereed publications. The second edition of his successful textbook Nanophysics and Nanotechnology has been published recently.

If you want to keep up to date with the latest in physics research then you need to know about IOP Select. IOP Select is a service provided by the Institute of Physics (IOP) that features articles chosen by editors for their novelty, significance and potential impact on future research.  Updated weekly, IOP Select gathers all the important articles published in one convenient location.  You can search for topics by keyword or browse by journal title, month, or the following subject areas:

• Applied Mathematics and Mathematical Physics
• Applied Physics
• Condensed Matter and Materials Science
• Fluid Mechanics
• High Energy and Nuclear Physics
• Measurement Science
• Medical and Biological Physics
• Optical, Atomic and Molecular Physics
• Plasma Physics

For more useful resources, check out the Physics Subject Guide.

This month ScienceWatch.com released the highest-cited papers from 20 countries spanning the globe.  The countries featured were selected based on their papers published in Thomson Reuters-indexed journals from January 1998 through August 31, 2008.

The United States ranked number one with 2,959,661 papers and 42,269,694 citations.  The most cited article comes from the field of clinical medicine: “Mechanisms of disease: atherosclerosis – an inflammatory disease” (full text available in ProQuest).

In addition to clinical medicine, disciplines covered in the top 20 papers include: biochemistry, chemistry, physics, materials science and computer science.

ScienceWatch.com provides a behind-the-scenes look at the scientists, journals, institutions, nations, and papers selected by Essential Science Indicators.

Cornell University Libraries recently announced that arXiv, the free online repository for articles in physics, math, computer science, quantitative biology and statistics, now contains over half a million articles.

arXiv was developed in 1991 and is the oldest online article repository in existence. Researchers upload their own articles to arXiv, and they are usually made available to the public the next day. A team of 113 volunteer moderators from around the world screen submissions and recommend whether they should be included in the repository.

arXiv has long stood at the forefront of the open-access movement and served as the model for many other initiatives, including the National Institute of Health’s PubMedCentral. It is currently ranked the No. 1 repository in the world by the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities.

More information is available in the Press Release issued by Cornell University.

The Physical Review Online Archive  is the American Physical Society’s (APS) online archive for Physical Review Letters, Reviews of Modern Physics, and Physical Review A-E. It contains all APS journal articles published from 1893-2004. Each January, another year is added to the archive.

The journals of the APS embody the mission of the Society “to advance and diffuse the knowledge of Physics.”  Read more about the Physical Review Journals.

For more quality resources, visit the Physics Subject Guide.

Founded in 1932, Annual Reviews provides researchers and professors with a definitive academic resource in 37 scientific disciplines. Annual Reviews saves you time by synthesizing the vast amount of primary research literature and identifying the principal contributions in your field.

Editorial committees comprised of the most distinguished scholars in the discipline select all topics for review, and the articles are written by authors who are recognized experts in the field. Annual Reviews publications are among the highest cited publications by impact factor according to the Institute for Scientific Information.

Some of the titles include:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Biochemistry
• Biomedical Engineering
• Biophysics
• Cell and Developmental Biology
• Computer Science
• Fluid Mechanics
• Materials Research
• Nuclear and Particle Science
• Physical Chemistry

Browse the complete list (log in required when off campus).

If you’re in need of a study break, play around in Phun - a 2D physics sandbox. A Swedish computer science student developed Phun for his Masters thesis. The program (which is free to download) lets you flex your creativity and build fantastic contraptions, all while obeying the laws of physics.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the non-regulatory federal agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, promotes U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology. The agency publishes standards many of which are free, including Ceramics WebBook, Chemistry WebBook and Physical Reference Data. To satisfy your curiosity, check out the complete list at the NIST Data Gateway, and get to know your standards.

In-cites compiled the 100 most-cited scientists for 2007 in the following fields:

• Biology & Biochemistry
• Chemistry
• Economics & Business
• Immunology
• Microbiology
• Molecular Biology & Genetics
• Neuroscience & Behavior
• Pharmacology & Toxicology
• Physics

Whoever says playing video games is a waste of time hasn’t seen this informative video: How to Use Video Games To Improve Your Brain. While mental exercise games like Nintendo’s Brain Age might seem as appealing as doing your math homework, some games can actually flex your brain muscles and still be fun.

Armadillo Run is a puzzle game that incorporates the laws of physics. You have to build a Rube Goldberg-like machine to transport an armadillo (which looks an awful lot like a basketball) to a target area using all types of materials such as metal, rope, rubber, and rockets. The game accurately models the behavior of the different materials so you’ll be learning about tensile strength, gravity, and tension without even realizing it. You can read a review of the game and view a demo at Fun-Motion.