Reviews & Analysis

In the transition from laminar to turbulent pipe flow, puffs of turbulence form, split and decay. The phenomenology and lifetime of these turbulent puffs exhibit population dynamics that also drive predator–prey ecosystems on the edge of extinction.

Intense light pulses irradiating a sample of K₃C₆₀ result in dramatic changes of its high-frequency (terahertz) conductivity. Could these be signatures of fleeting superconductivity at 100 K and beyond?

In some two-dimensional materials, there's a puzzling intermediate metallic phase between superconducting and insulating states. Experiments on ultraclean crystalline samples suggest this metallic phase could be bosonic.

Three-dimensional rogue waves have been observed in a dusty-plasma system, which provides a wave–particle interaction view on their formation.

The concept of an evolving jamming density explains a multitude of mechanisms in granular matter. Simulations of systems with friction now consolidate this notion and highlight that the jamming point is a variable that can move in various ways whenever the system is deformed.

Ab initio calculations of an atomic nucleus with 48 nucleons set a benchmark for computational nuclear physics and provide new insights into the properties of the atomic nucleus and strongly interacting matter.

Single-layer transition metal dichalcogenides have already made their mark in the world of device physics. Twin studies have now found that they exhibit unconventional Ising pair superconductivity.

The folded surface of the human brain, although striking, continues to evade understanding. Experiments with swelling gels now fuel the notion that brain folding is modulated by physical forces, and not by genetic, biological or chemical events alone.

Two experiments with ultracold fermionic and bosonic atoms in optical superlattices demonstrate the quantized charge transport predicted by Thouless in the 1980s.

Coherent population trapping in 'dark states', a well-known and much-used phenomenon in atomic physics, can also be observed in a superconducting qubit and a single nuclear spin in diamond.

Magnetic skyrmion lattices can be stabilized outside the narrow region where they are thermodynamically favoured by exploiting their topological protection.

High-temperature superconductivity in ultrathin films of iron selenide deposited on strontium titanate has been attributed to various exotic mechanisms. New experiments indicate that it may be conventional, with broader implications.