Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Detection of coherent energy transport has fuelled claims that quantum effects make photosynthesis more efficient. Experiments now show that the interplay between electronic and vibrational motion also sustains coherence in the subsequent charge-separation process.
Trapping rubidium atoms in narrow lattices provides insight into the quantum mechanics of collections of interacting particles. This innovative approach reveals a phase transition similar to one found in superconductors.
The X-ray light curve of the debris from a star torn apart by a supermassive black hole provides the best evidence yet for two such black holes orbiting close to each other.
Because of near-instant screening, photoexcited electron–hole pairs in metals are hard to investigate experimentally. Femtosecond spectroscopy is now shown to be a viable tool for studying them — and reveals the existence of 'transient excitons'.
Despite the many successes of the cold dark matter cosmological model, observational challenges on subgalactic scales motivate researchers to consider alternatives, including a model in which dark matter is a quantum wave with an astronomically large wavelength.
The ALPHA collaboration has provided the clearest evidence yet that antihydrogen is charge neutral. Attention now turns to research that could replace a universe dominated by dark matter and dark energy with one containing both matter and antimatter.
Determining the sequence of events following photon absorption by a molecule can be a surprisingly challenging task. An innovative use of time-resolved X-ray spectroscopy has revealed an important insight into the ultrafast excited-state dynamics of a well-known inorganic chromophore.
A surface made from an array of widely spaced tapered posts enables water drops that hit it to bounce off with a pancake-like shape. This finding provides new strategies for reducing the contact time of drops impacting on surfaces.
Quantum cryptographic schemes ensure security by sacrificing data to detect tampering. Now, an approach shows that monitoring disturbance is not essential because the limit on leaked information can be known in advance.
Friction involves a complex set of phenomena spanning a large range of length scales, but experiments assessing the evolution of the slip-front between two dry sliding bodies now reveal that slip can be reasonably well described by linear fracture mechanics theory.
Properties of companion galaxies strengthen the idea that the probability of the inner regions of an active galaxy being hidden from our view by dust depends on environmental and evolutionary factors.
Powerful γ-ray detectors are revealing fresh details about the interior of the nucleus, focusing initially on cases where there is a large excess of neutrons and edging towards the neutron drip-line limit.
Brownian motion in a feedback-controlled optical trap provides a minimal experimental realization of a Szilárd engine, confirming fluctuation theorems and demonstrating the importance of spontaneous symmetry breaking in small thermodynamic systems.
Without a well-defined cavity, there is no obvious way to control the resonant modes in a random laser. Experiments now show that shaping the optical pump allows for controlled single-mode operation at predetermined lasing wavelengths.
The standard description of spin–orbit torques neglects geometric phase effects. But recent experiments suggest that the Berry curvature gives rise to an anti-damping torque in systems with broken inversion symmetry.
