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Physics World December 2020

Physics World December 2020

Sounds fantastic: the sensors behind smart speakers

We all love chatting to our smart speakers like they’re another member of the family, providing almost instantaneous responses to our commands and questions. For that we can thank some amazingly accurate voice-recognition technology based on ultrasensitive acoustic sensors and sophisticated machine-learning algorithms that can interpret our speech, as Pip Knight explains in this month’s cover feature. Also in this issue, Brooke Russell and Tamia Williams share their experiences as Black physicists, while Jim Baggott examines John Bell’s ground-breaking work on quantum physics and we offer our pick of festive reading.

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Joe Biden news

‘Delight’ as Biden elected US president

Maunakea protest opinion

Science must listen to opposing views

Seagate HAMR opinion

Hot time for hard disks

Image of Venus news

Venus phosphine discovery sparks fallout

Smart speaker in a living room feature

‘Smart speaker, tell me about your acoustic sensor’

water ripples review

A universal theory of matter and mind

santa and his sleigh in a starry sky review

Following the first stars

illustration of quantum entanglement feature

Thirty years of ‘against measurement’

Kellie Gerardi review

Ambassador for the Space Age

Brooke Russell careers

On the road less travelled

Tamia Williams careers

How to thrive as a student in physics

Phobos lateral thoughts

Resolving the squoon

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