Table of contents

You may remember the story of Walter Wagner, the Hawaii resident who went to court to try to stop CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) from starting, before a judge threw out the case. Well, now another science-themed lawsuit has been filed, this time to force NASA to investigate a strange white-coloured object that its Opportunity rover spotted on Mars.

All Physics World readers must have at some point in their lives dipped a banana into liquid nitrogen and then shattered the frozen object into pieces.

The nuclear physicist and current US energy secretary Ernest Moniz may be 14th in the US presidential line of succession, but if something really terrible had happened in late January, he might have found himself leading the world's biggest economy.

How about getting yourself a nice pair of glow-in-the-dark solar system underwear? The online shop "makeitgoodpdx", which is based in Oregon, US, is selling the garments for £11.34 through Etsy.

The first view of part of a filament of the "cosmic web" might have been glimpsed by astronomers, thanks to a quasar acting like a torch to illuminate the gas.

An analogue of a long-sought-after particle comprising an isolated magnetic pole has been observed by physicists in the US and Finland.

A jellyfish-like flying machine that hovers and stabilizes itself with no feedback control has been unveiled by researchers in the US.

If you have ever sat in the bath and wondered why your fingers go wrinkly when wet, it is because the dead outer layer of your skin is made up of matrix-like structures called corneocytes.

A new way of generating linearly polarized photons using quantum dots has been developed by an international team of researchers.

A journal that shut after allegations of malpractice has been reopened, as Andy Extance reports.

Researchers and institutions in the Netherlands are scrambling to implement new publishing rules after the Dutch education ministry announced plans late last year to speed up the transition from subscription-based scientific publishing to open access.

Library users in the UK now have access to hundreds of thousands of journal articles following a new initiative called Access to Research, which was rolled out last month.

Italy's space activities have been thrown into uncertainty following the resignation of Enrico Saggese as president of the Italian Space Agency (ASI).

India has unveiled ambitious plans to build the world's largest solar-energy park.

After years of suffering budget cuts, the 2014 US budget, signed by US president Barack Obama in mid-January, contains promising news for physics researchers.

A new $8m Chinese experiment has begun taking data in the search for dark matter.

A money-saving proposal from the US Air Force to move its Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) from Virginia to Ohio has come up against strong protests from politicians and researchers.

China's first lunar rover, Jade Rabbit, woke up last month after a two-week shutdown, but problems remained to get the probe fully operational as Physics World went to press.

A study of US academics has discovered that the number of papers that researchers are reading is no longer going up but has levelled off.

One of the world's longest-distance neutrino experiments has detected its first neutrino.

Europe and the US no longer dominate research and development, according to a report published by the National Science Board (NSB) – the policy-making body of the US National Science Foundation.

The Irish government has established a new €30m Irish Photonic Integration Centre.

The CERN particle-physics lab near Geneva is putting plans in place to build a successor to its Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

In reply to Catherine Heymans' article "What is the nature of the dark universe?" (Features, October 2013 pp33–34).

This jellyfish-like flying machine (built by Leif Ristroph and Stephen Childress of New York University) can hover and stabilize itself in flight with no feedback control ("Flying 'jellyfish' is self-stabilizing", 16 January http://ow.ly/tl63X; see also p5).

In reply to Philip Ball's article "Questioning quantum speed" (Features, January pp38–41).

In reply to David Appell's article "When ice grows up" (Lateral Thoughts, February p52).

In reply to Francis Farley's letter on "Imagination in science" (Feedback, February p20).

In reply to Max Tegmark's article "It's all just mathematics" (Features, February pp22–27).

In reply to the physicsworld.com news article "Burning soil fuels ball lightning" (9 January, http://ow.ly/tl8aO) on evidence that a burning core of soil acts as an energy source for ball lightning.

This special issue looks at some innovative ways to teach and learn physics.

Having helped to introduce a new curriculum in Scottish schools that showcases the latest physics research, Martin Hendry describes the lessons learned in bringing cutting-edge physics into the classroom.

They were never successful as a textbook. So why, a half-century after their publication, do so many physicists keep Richard Feynman's three volumes within reach? Robert P Crease has a theory.

Computer science is essential for modern physics, yet students come little prepared for it. That may soon change, says Jon Cartwright.

As one of the presenters of the hugely successful Sixty Symbols series of YouTube science videos, Philip Moriarty describes his experiences in front of the camera and how they have transformed his ideas about bringing physics to wider audiences.

Empowering children to look at the world around them with curious, questioning eyes is the goal of Fran Scott, who describes the golden rules she follows to do just that.

Do your reams of written lecture notes ever really sink in? Louise Mayor investigates how visual methods can help you process and remember information.

Massive open online courses give students free access to some of the world's top educators. James Dacey explores the benefits and drawbacks of these courses compared with those traditionally offered by universities.

Eugenia Etkina and Gorazd Planinšič describe how research into how people learn – plus the desire to help all students develop scientific "habits of mind" – is reshaping the way they teach physics.

As in art, symmetry is often a guiding principle in science.

Kate Brown does research in places where most of her colleagues prefer not to travel.

AstroEDU is a newcomer to the "online science activity database" category, having posted its first tranche of astronomy-themed projects in autumn 2013.

Leonard Susskind's book The Theoretical Minimum was a surprise bestseller in 2013, defying conventional wisdom about the perils of mixing equations and popular science.

Tendencies towards over-formality and obfuscation in written communications by scientific practitioners have been shown to inhibit reader comprehension.

When the list of children waiting to join Caroline Alliston's UK-based science club grew longer than the club's actual membership roll, she knew that she was doing something right.

Working overseas is a common career step for physics graduates, but moving countries can produce a culture shock. Sharon Ann Holgate explains how to manage the effects of cultural differences.

Your first steps into the world of work after graduation are an adventure and working abroad can seem like an especially exciting way to begin. But is it right for you? Marcia Malory investigates.

In Through the Looking Glass, Humpty Dumpty tells Alice, rather scornfully, "When I use a word it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." Well, fine, but it would still be a good idea to make clear to others what that meaning is.