News & Views |
Featured
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Perspective |
Drug design on quantum computers
Quantum computers promise to efficiently predict the structure and behaviour of molecules. This Perspective explores how this could overcome existing challenges in computational drug discovery.
- Raffaele Santagati
- , Alan Aspuru-Guzik
- & Clemens Utschig-Utschig
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Article |
Rich proton dynamics and phase behaviours of nanoconfined ices
The phase diagram of confined ice is different from that of bulk ice. Simulations now reveal several 2D ice phases and show how strong nuclear quantum effects result in rich proton dynamics in 2D confined ices.
- Jian Jiang
- , Yurui Gao
- & Xiao Cheng Zeng
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Article |
Quantum-inspired classical algorithms for molecular vibronic spectra
It has been suggested that Gaussian boson sampling may provide a quantum computational advantage for calculating the vibronic spectra of molecules. Now, an equally efficient classical algorithm has been identified.
- Changhun Oh
- , Youngrong Lim
- & Liang Jiang
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World View |
Strategies for multidisciplinary research
Invest in fostering a culture of collaboration to help break down barriers between disciplines.
- Teresa Sanchis
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Measure for Measure |
One for all
The unit one is a necessary part of any system of units but debate concerning its proper treatment in science and technology continues. Richard Brown enumerates its uses.
- Richard J. C. Brown
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News & Views |
Ammonia and the ice giants
Determining the melting temperature and electrical conductivity of ammonia under the internal conditions of the ice giants Uranus and Neptune is helping us to understand the structure and magnetic field formation of these planets.
- Kenji Ohta
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Article |
Melting curve of superionic ammonia at planetary interior conditions
Laser-driven shock compression experiments yield the melting curve of the superionic phase of ammonia at conditions relevant to the interiors of Uranus and Neptune.
- J.-A. Hernandez
- , M. Bethkenhagen
- & A. Ravasio
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Article
| Open AccessTopological nature of the liquid–liquid phase transition in tetrahedral liquids
Supercooled water undergoes a liquid–liquid phase transition. The authors show that the two phases have distinct hydrogen-bond networks, differing in their degree of entanglement, and thus the transition can be described by the topological changes of the network.
- Andreas Neophytou
- , Dwaipayan Chakrabarti
- & Francesco Sciortino
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Measure for Measure |
The unit that shall not be named
Juris Meija takes a look at the tumultuous past of the atomic unit of mass from its beginnings as an idea to its most recent revisions in a hotel bar.
- Juris Meija
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Article
| Open AccessEnhancement of superexchange due to synergetic breathing and hopping in corner-sharing cuprates
Cuprates exhibit exotic states because of the interplay between spin, charge and orbital degrees of freedom. Ab initio calculations now show that a mechanism called orbital expansion plays a key role in the magnetic properties of cuprates.
- Nikolay A. Bogdanov
- , Giovanni Li Manni
- & Ali Alavi
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Measure for Measure |
From books to batteries
The laws governing electrolysis developed by Michael Faraday, who originally trained as a bookbinder, led to the determination of the Faraday constant, as Daren Caruana recounts.
- Daren Caruana
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Measure for Measure |
Powers of hydrogen
The measurement of pH is more complicated than it seems, recalls Andrea Taroni.
- Andrea Taroni
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Matters Arising |
Reply to: Insufficient evidence for ageing in protein dynamics
- Jun Li
- , Xiaohu Hu
- & Jeremy C. Smith
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Article |
Free electron to electride transition in dense liquid potassium
Alkali metals at high pressures have a liquid–liquid transition that is difficult to study in detail. Numerical calculations now suggest that the higher-pressure state is an electride liquid, in which electrons behave like localized anions.
- Hongxiang Zong
- , Victor Naden Robinson
- & Graeme J. Ackland
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Letter |
Black metal hydrogen above 360 GPa driven by proton quantum fluctuations
Numerical calculations that include the quantum fluctuations of protons explain the optical properties of hydrogen at high pressure.
- Lorenzo Monacelli
- , Ion Errea
- & Francesco Mauri
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Article |
Photo-excitation of long-lived transient intermediates in ultracold reactions
A transient intermediate complex in a chemical reaction—formed from collisions between molecules with a few atoms—is observed under ultracold conditions. Its lifetime can be directly measured after suppression of the photo-excitation process.
- Yu Liu
- , Ming-Guang Hu
- & Kang-Kuen Ni
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Measure for Measure |
A defect determines strength
When you start tearing a piece of aluminium foil apart, you create dislocations in the material. Suhas Eswarappa Prameela and Tim Weihs recount the story of the Burgers vector that is now an indispensable tool for describing dislocations.
- Suhas Eswarappa Prameela
- & Timothy P. Weihs
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Measure for Measure |
Of limited length
Continuously improving precision in length measurements increases understanding of our world and its phenomena, both at small and large scales, as Leo Gross reveals.
- Leo Gross
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Article |
The mechanical stability of proteins regulates their translocation rate into the cell nucleus
The rate at which proteins are imported into the nucleus of a cell is shown to be regulated by their mechanical unfolding, a mechanism that identifies the nuclear pore machinery as a highly sensitive force detector.
- Elvira Infante
- , Andrew Stannard
- & Sergi Garcia-Manyes
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Measure for Measure |
Whack a mole
October 23 is (unofficially) known by some chemists as Mole Day. Andrea Taroni attempts to get to grips with the concept of the mole itself, and the imminent change to its definition.
- Andrea Taroni
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Letter |
Rotational spectroscopy of cold and trapped molecular ions in the Lamb–Dicke regime
Doppler-free, ultrahigh-resolution rotational spectroscopy is reported for small molecular ions in a linear quadrupole trap. With 10–9 fractional linewidth, this method has a 50-fold improvement over previous reports.
- S. Alighanbari
- , M. G. Hansen
- & S. Schiller
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Measure for Measure |
Quantum for pressure
Jay Hendricks tells about ongoing work to change the realization and dissemination of the pascal, which will lead to the elimination of mercury-barometer pressure standards.
- Jay Hendricks
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Article |
Symmetry breaking by quantum coherence in single electron attachment
Resonant electron attachment and subsequent dissociation of diatomic molecules is shown to exhibit spatial asymmetry as a consequence of coherent excitation and subsequent interference between reaction pathways.
- E. Krishnakumar
- , Vaibhav S. Prabhudesai
- & Nigel J. Mason
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Article |
Transient superconductivity from electronic squeezing of optically pumped phonons
Recent developments in advanced light sources have made it possible to transiently alter the electronic properties of materials by exciting specific atomic vibrations in solids. This study provides a theoretical framework for these experiments.
- Dante M. Kennes
- , Eli Y. Wilner
- & Andrew J. Millis
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News & Views |
Division for multiplication
Early forms of life could have started by molecular compounds coming together under conditions dense enough to promote reactions. But how might these droplets have undergone what we now know as cell division? The answer may be simpler than we think.
- Ramin Golestanian
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News & Views |
Same object, different symmetry
Cold collisions between hydrogen molecules and helium atoms reveal how the change from spherical to non-spherical symmetry creates a quantum scattering resonance.
- Roland Wester
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Letter |
Directly probing anisotropy in atom–molecule collisions through quantum scattering resonances
Atom–molecule interactions are orientation-dependent. Now the anisotropy of He–H2 interactions has been probed by measuring how the associated quantum scattering resonances respond to tuning of the H2 rotational state.
- Ayelet Klein
- , Yuval Shagam
- & Edvardas Narevicius
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