by L G Aslamazov (Moscow Technological University, Russia) & A A Varlamov (Moscow Technological University, Russia & Consiglio Nazionale di Ricerca, Italy)

The book in your hands develops the best traditions of the Russian scientific popular literature. Written in a clear and captivating manner by working theoretical physicists, who are, at the same time, dedicated popularizers of scientific knowledge, it brings to the reader the latest achievements in quantum solid-state physics, but along the way it also shows how the laws of physics reveal themselves even in seemingly trivial episodes concerning the natural phenomena around us. And most importantly, it shows that we live in the world, where scientists are capable of “proving harmony with algebra”. — A A Abrikosov, 2003 Nobel Prize Winner in Physics

• Outdoor Physics:
  • Meandering Down to the Sea
  • Rivers from Lakes
  • The Oceanic Phone Booth
  • In the Blue
  • The Moon-Glades
  • The Fucault Pendulum and the Baer Law
  • The Moon-Brake
• Saturday Night Physics:
  • Why the Violin Sings
  • The Chiming and Silent Goblets
  • The Bubble and the Droplet
  • The Mysteries of the Magic Lamp
  • Waiting for the Tea-Kettle to Boil
  • Craving Microwaved Mammoth
  • Ab(Out) Ovo
  • The Physics of Good Coffee
  • “Nunc est bibendum”: Physicists Talk Around Glasses of Wine
  • The Water Mike or About One Invention of Alexander Bell
  • How the Waves Transmit Information
  • Why the Electric Power Lines are Droning
  • The Footprints on the Sand
  • How to Prevent Snowdrifts
  • The Incident on the Train
• Windows to the Quantum World:
  • The Uncertainty Principle
  • On Snowballs, Nuts, Bubbles and … Liquid Helium
  • Superconductivity Passion at the End of the Millenium
  • What is a SQUID?
  • Superconducting Magnets