Ways for undergrad to understand physics research? I am a college freshman who is looking to research in a experimental physics lab this year. I am an engineering student and have taken basic Physics classes, but I lack the background knowledge to fully understand what is going on with the topics this lab is researching (Rydberg atoms, Rydberg atom collisions, heavy-Rydberg-ion-states, etc.) I've tried looking for review papers but have mostly found things from the 80s, (some of which were written by the professor I hope to research with). What resources are good for a relative novice to learn about these things? Sorry if this question is too broad!
Book recommendations Every once in a while, we get a question asking for a book or other educational reference on a particular topic at a particular level. This is a meta-question that collects all those links together. If you're looking for book recommendations, this is probably the place to start.  All the questions linked below, as well as others which deal with more specialized books, can be found under the tag  (formerly ).  If you have a question to add, please edit it in. However, make sure of a few things first:   The question should be tagged  It should be of the form "What are good books to learn/study [subject] at [level]?" It shouldn't duplicate a topic and level that's already on the list   Related Meta:
How do I convert materials from Blender Internal to Cycles? I know this may be a tough or confusing question, but I have numerous existing materials I created and reuse for a project, which were all prepared for Blender Internal.  Now, I want to start the transition to Cycles, but I've hit a roadblock. How can I transition my materials without completely starting over? Or should I just forget it and start with fresh materials?