Scientific community and society articles within Nature Physics

Featured

  • Measure for Measure |

    The impact of legal metrology often remains unnoticed in our everyday lives. Pavel Klenovsky, Marc Wouters and Wilfried de Waal instruct us in trade and legal regulations.

    • Pavel Klenovsky
    • , Marc Wouters
    •  & Wilfried de Waal

  • Editorial |

    Glass, now celebrated with a dedicated International Year, continues to fascinate.

  • Measure for Measure |

    The shift of the definition of the kilogram in 2019 away from an artefact to one relying on the Planck constant inspires technological innovation, as Naoki Kuramoto elucidates.

    • Naoki Kuramoto

  • Comment |

    Against the backdrop of various philosophical accounts, this Comment argues for the need of a human rights approach to scientific progress, which requires us to rethink how we view scientific knowledge.

    • Michela Massimi

  • Editorial |

    Although science affects humankind’s knowledge, its practice has largely been restricted to a small group of people. The advance of citizen science challenges this idea.

  • Measure for Measure |

    A task group recommends values for many constants in fundamental theories of physics and chemistry. Eite Tiesinga and Peter Mohr tell some of the constants’ stories.

    • Eite Tiesinga
    •  & Peter Mohr

  • Measure for Measure |

    The coexistence of qualitative and quantitative scales characterizes advances in earthquake measurements. Although often confused, intensity and magnitude refer to very different things, as Leonardo Benini explains.

    • Leonardo Benini

  • Measure for Measure |

    The establishment of a global metric system of units as agreed upon in the Metre Convention relies on international as well as national institutes and organizations, of which Stefanie Reichert gives an overview.

    • Stefanie Reichert

  • Editorial |

    The Guided Open Access pilot we are trialling with five other journals in the Nature Portfolio will continue into 2022. We highlight some of the main lessons we’ve learned so far.

  • Measure for Measure |

    To celebrate the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development, James Gallagher tells the story of the British thermal unit, a unit for heat.

    • James Gallagher

  • Measure for Measure |

    The idea of radiocarbon existing at equilibrium within Earth’s atmosphere has established radiocarbon dating. Adam Fleisher takes a look at its beginnings, achievements and limitations.

    • Adam J. Fleisher

  • Editorial |

    The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and Giorgio Parisi “for groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of complex physical systems”.

  • Editorial |

    Publicly funded nuclear fusion laboratories are experiencing competition from the private sector, giving new energy to the field.

  • Measure for Measure |

    The measurement of pH is more complicated than it seems, recalls Andrea Taroni.

    • Andrea Taroni

  • Editorial |

    This month, we celebrate the discovery of electromagnetic rotation, the principle behind the electric motor.

  • Editorial |

    The European Researchers’ Night provides a platform for scientists to engage with the public.

  • Measure for Measure |

    The uptake of graphene-based materials calls for standardization. Silvia Milana explains what this entails.

    • Silvia Milana

  • Editorial |

    They say a picture tells a thousand words, so by that accounting, the visual word count of a Nature Physics paper doubles that of its text. So how best to use that budget?

  • Measure for Measure |

    The unit length of DNA is a base pair, which serves as a ruler for DNA compaction and processing, as Michelle Wang explains.

    • Michelle D. Wang

  • Editorial |

    Ensuring that a manuscript is vetted by experts is an important part of the editorial process, so we strive to choose the best reviewers to help us do this. How we manage the selection is a nuanced process.

  • Editorial |

    Articulating the case for investment in large-scale physics projects is rarely straightforward. If scientists are to continue to do so effectively in the future, they must learn to grapple with a host of issues that they have perhaps been lucky to be shielded from in the past.

  • Measure for Measure |

    A single equation can describe how fluids flow across a wide range of length scales, from ocean currents to swimming algae. The difference merely lies in the Reynolds number, says Julia Yeomans.

    • Julia M. Yeomans

  • Editorial |

    The US Department of Justice’s ‘China Initiative’ is unfairly targeting Chinese American academics for their alleged ties with the Chinese government. A more proportionate approach is urgently needed.

  • Measure for Measure |

    Surface scientists love a good vacuum. The reason for this is captured by the work of Irving Langmuir and the little-known unit bearing his name, explains Daniel Payne.

    • Daniel T. Payne

  • Editorial |

    Unlike their predecessors in the White House, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are placing research and development at the centre of their policy agenda. This change was as sorely needed as it is welcome, but the stakes for the new US administration remain high.

  • Measure for Measure |

    The metric system is one of the enduring achievements of the French Revolution. Martin Milton recounts how it was also intended to unite nations.

    • Martin J. T. Milton

  • Measure for Measure |

    Simulations are as much a part of science as hypothesis and experiment. But can their outcomes be considered observations? Wendy S. Parker investigates.

    • Wendy S. Parker

  • Editorial |

    Along with five other journals in the Nature Portfolio, Nature Physics will pilot a new Guided Open Access trial in 2021. We explain how it works.

  • Editorial |

    A scientist’s legacy is defined not only by their research but also by their teaching. Stronger efforts should be made to preserve and celebrate the exposition of physics at all levels.

  • Measure for Measure |

    Wolfgang Pauli introduced the Bohr magneton as a fundamental unit of magnetic moment during an effort to find a quantum basis for magnetism, as Davide Castelvecchi recounts.

    • Davide Castelvecchi

  • Q&A |

    The First Plasma discharge in the ITER tokamak is expected for 2025 with deuterium–tritium plasma operation ten years later. We spoke with ITER’s Director-General, Bernard Bigot, and Tim Luce, head of ITER’s Science & Operations Department, about the current status of the project and potential future directions in fusion research.

    • Stefanie Reichert

  • Editorial |

    As the construction of the ITER tokamak enters its next phase — the machine assembly — now is a good time for a recap of the history and current status of nuclear fusion research.

  • Measure for Measure |

    Giacomo Prando summarizes the troubled history of the radian, a unit with the odd property of appearing and disappearing seemingly at will in dimensional formulas.

    • Giacomo Prando

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