News & Views in 2017

Improved-accuracy measurements of the ground-state hyperfine splitting in highly charged bismuth ions reveal a surprising discrepancy with the predictions of quantum electrodynamics.

An excitonic Bose–Einstein condensate has so far been realized only in particular semiconductor heterostructure setups. Now, experiments show that such condensates can form in double graphene bilayers separated by hexagonal boron nitride.

Quantum information encoded in one of many interacting particles quickly becomes scrambled. A set of tools for tracking this process is on its way.

The Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen type of quantum entanglement can be used to improve the sensitivity of laser interferometer gravitational-wave detectors beyond the quantum limit.

The shorter the antenna, the higher the frequency — so what happens when nanoantennas hit optical frequencies? One answer may lead to high-harmonic generation without the need for high-powered lasers.

Topological concepts have been demonstrated in microwave photonic systems but laser-written waveguides show the way to topological physics for light at optical frequencies.

While axions remain elusive, the CERN Axion Solar Telescope has now reached the interesting region where physics beyond the standard model could be glimpsed.

Standard rheology tells us how a cell responds to deformation. But ramping up the frequency reveals more about its internal dynamics and morphology, mapping a route to improved drug treatments — and possible insight into the malignancy of cancers.

An enhanced production of particles with strange quarks has been observed in high-multiplicity proton–proton collisions — an important clue to understand how strange quarks form, and perhaps a hint of the quark–gluon plasma.

Solid-state systems capable of simulating the theoretical predictions of condensed matter are in short supply. Demonstrations of electronic Lieb lattices using two different platforms suggest this may be about to change.

Ferroelectricity and superconductivity do not have much in common. Now, a superconducting and a ferroelectric-like state have been found to coexist in a doped perovskite oxide.

A study of Λ_b baryon decays has provided the first direct experimental evidence that spinning matter and antimatter differ. This result may help us understand the puzzling matter–antimatter imbalance in the Universe.

Light beams with controllable orbital angular momentum can be generated in the extreme-ultraviolet or soft-X-ray regime, pushing the application of twisted light to the nanoscale.

A curious peak in the distribution describing stochastic switching in bacterial motility had researchers confounded. But a careful study performed under varying mechanical conditions has now revealed that the breaking of detailed balance is to blame.

There is growing evidence for the kinetics of homogeneous nucleation being a multi-step process. Colloid experiments and simulations now suggest that heterogeneous nucleation is no exception.

A recent burst of activity in applying machine learning to tackle fundamental questions in physics suggests that associated techniques may soon become as common in physics as numerical simulations or calculus.

The spectroscopic observations of the very early stages of a supernova provide a glimpse into its environment prior to the explosion.

The coexistence of spin order and disorder at a critical point in the phase diagram of multiferroic materials may be exploited to locally control magnetoelectric coupling — as is now shown for doped BiFeO₃ by means of scanning probe microscopy.

Two independent teams have demonstrated that the current-driven motion of a topological charge experiences a transverse deflection analogous to charged particles in the classical Hall effect.