A rapid prototyping platform called VIK (Voxel Invention Kit) enables makers without engineering expertise to create large-scale interactive devices using a series of reconfigurable electromechanical building blocks. These user-friendly components can be assembled using only a soldering iron and a pair of pliers.

In Physics of Fluids, researchers from the University of Göttingen in Germany decided to use a high-speed camera to capture what occurs while opening a swing-top bottle of beer. They found that the sound emitted by opening a pressurized bottle with a swing-top lid isn’t a single shockwave, but rather a very quick “ah” sound. Their high-speed video recordings captured condensation within the bottleneck that vibrated up and down in a standing wave. After opening the bottle, the dissolved carbon dioxide starts to form inside the beer and triggers the liquid level to rise, causing the sloshing.

AIP is pleased to announce Ana María Cetto as the recipient of the 2025 John Torrence Tate Medal for International Leadership in Physics. Cetto was recognized for her “outstanding contributions to the promotion of science, and scientific outreach and cooperation worldwide, including transforming open access through Latindex, championing gender equity through the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World and advancing peaceful progress through science including at the International Atomic Energy Agency and in other international fora.”