Physics

Frank A. Wilckzek Institute for Theoretical Physics University of California, Santa Barbara, Calif. " Natural materials are often disordered. While one's first instinct might be to associate "disordered" with "messy" and "useless," an impressive body of coherent theory has developed to describe these systems, and the approaches have recently been applied successfully to an increasing variety of interesting cases. Physics Today devoted its entire December issue to the subject of disordered sol


Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
2:00
Share

Frank A. Wilckzek
Institute for Theoretical Physics University of California,
Santa Barbara, Calif.

" Natural materials are often disordered. While one's first instinct might be to associate "disordered" with "messy" and "useless," an impressive body of coherent theory has developed to describe these systems, and the approaches have recently been applied successfully to an increasing variety of interesting cases. Physics Today devoted its entire December issue to the subject of disordered solids.

Included are articles by P. Wong on sedimentary rock (pages 24-32), B.L. Al'tshuler and P.A. Lee on disordered electronic systems (pages 36-44), R.A. Webb and S. Washburn on manifestations of quantum interference (pages 46-53), D.S. Fisher, G.M. Grinstein, and A. Khurana on disordered magnets (pages 56-67), and H. Sompolinsky on neural nets (pages 70-80). This issue is an ideal introduction to an interesting, wide-ranging, and technologically significant field. (Continuing along the same lines, see the papers listed below ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to digital editions of The Scientist, as well as TS Digest, feature stories, more than 35 years of archives, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here
3D illustration of a gold lipid nanoparticle with pink nucleic acid inside of it. Purple and teal spikes stick out from the lipid bilayer representing polyethylene glycol.
February 2025, Issue 1

A Nanoparticle Delivery System for Gene Therapy

A reimagined lipid vehicle for nucleic acids could overcome the limitations of current vectors.

View this Issue
Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Lonza
An illustration of animal and tree silhouettes.

From Water Bears to Grizzly Bears: Unusual Animal Models

Taconic Biosciences
Sex Differences in Neurological Research

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

bit.bio logo
New Frontiers in Vaccine Development

New Frontiers in Vaccine Development

Sino

Products

Tecan Logo

Tecan introduces Veya: bringing digital, scalable automation to labs worldwide

Inventia Life Science

Inventia Life Science Launches RASTRUM™ Allegro to Revolutionize High-Throughput 3D Cell Culture for Drug Discovery and Disease Research

An illustration of differently shaped viruses.

Detecting Novel Viruses Using a Comprehensive Enrichment Panel

Twist Bio 
Zymo Research

Zymo Research Launches Microbiome Grant to Support Innovation in Microbial Sciences