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Epidemiological modelling informs government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, but confusion abounds about the models. What can physicists do to help?
Two papers in Nature report strong coupling between photons and free, unbound electrons. This opens up the possibility for higher resolution, ultrafast imaging using lower energy and less-destructive electron beams.
The rise of machine learning is moving research away from tightly controlled, theory-guided experiments towards an approach based on data-driven searches. Abbas Ourmazd describes how this change might profoundly affect our understanding and practice of physics.
Twenty-five years ago, a paper by Ignacio Cirac and Peter Zoller turned quantum computing from a bold theoretical idea to an experimental race to build an actual device. Today, engineering challenges remain, but first-generation practical quantum computers seem tangible.
X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) are unique tools that are making possible time-resolved measurements of structural and electronic dynamics at the quantum spatial and temporal scales. Jonathan Marangos discusses the transformative scientific potential of this capability but also stresses the importance of lowering barriers to access to maximize scientific reach.
As the third LIGO–Virgo operating run (O3) finishes earlier than planned owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, we look at the ups and down of the past 12 months.
Clouds of bubbles in low-gravity environments behave differently from those on Earth, owing to their reduced buoyancy. A paper in Soft Matter reports a study of the behaviour of bubble clouds in a vessel in freefall.
The rapid progress of atomic and nuclear physics in the twentieth century changed the way scientific results are documented, preserved and disseminated. Boris Pritychenko explains how atomic and nuclear data tables have become a central resource for the community.
A Nature Astronomy paper finds that distributing peer review amongst grant applicants, aided by a machine-learning algorithm, can lead to more democratic decisions and provide more detailed feedback.
Many physicists want to use their mathematical modelling skills to study the COVID-19 pandemic. Julia Gog, a mathematical epidemiologist, explains some ways to contribute.
A paper in Communications Physics catalogues the swarming behaviour of Bacillus subtilis as a function of the colony density and the cell aspect ratio, contributing to the picture of how physical properties of cells affect their motion in groups.
In this issue we explore some of the reasons why physicists from Asia are under-represented in Nature Reviews Physics as authors and referees and ponder what we can do.
An Advanced Materials paper presents a new type of device that generates polarized single photons without the need for high magnetic fields or cryogenic temperatures.
Experiments published in Physical Review Letters on the separation dependence of gravitational attraction find results consistent with Newton’s law of gravitation for separations between 52 μm and 3 mm.
As the number of COVID-19 cases continues to grow around the world, physicists — many of whom rely on international travel and collaborations — are adapting.
As the gravitational wave detector KAGRA goes online and the Hyper-Kamiokande neutrino detector upgrade is approved, we look at a number of upcoming big science projects in Japan.
Keeping track of the rapidly improving solar cell performance is not as easy as it seems. Martin Green describes the Solar Cell Efficiency Tables that have been providing regular updates of the record solar cell performance since the 1990s.
