This month, we reflect on the role of intuition — both physical and mathematical — in furthering our understanding of physics.

The application of artificial intelligence to quantum information science has emerged as a frontier of research. This Technical Review summarizes how AI techniques, including machine learning, deep le...

Roanne Aves describes a platform to integrate graphene-FET based microfluidic modules into one experimental workflow.

In 1834, Mary Somerville’s On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences argued that astronomy, physics and mathematics belonged together. Saad Bhamla asks why this kind of synthesis tends to disappear in...

Entropy production quantifies non-equilibrium behaviour but is hard to measure in fluctuating, partially observed systems. This Review discusses stochastic thermodynamics approaches that infer model-f...

Artificial synapses based on non-volatile memory exhibit non-ideal effects that can limit the performance of neuromorphic systems. This Review discusses their origins, mitigation strategies and opport...

Various observed behaviours of overdoped cuprates are inconsistent with a weak-coupling, Fermi-liquid-based Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer description. This Perspective argues that these behaviours are con...

Students need to experience quantum hardware beyond cloud access to learn how an ideal circuit becomes a physical measurement. Universities should therefore procure teachable systems, not showroom mac...

Students need to experience quantum hardware beyond cloud access to learn how an ideal circuit becomes a physical measurement. Universities should therefore procure teachable systems, not showroom mac...

Various observed behaviours of overdoped cuprates are inconsistent with a weak-coupling, Fermi-liquid-based Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer description. This Perspective argues that these behaviours are con...

Artificial synapses based on non-volatile memory exhibit non-ideal effects that can limit the performance of neuromorphic systems. This Review discusses their origins, mitigation strategies and opport...

Terahertz scanning tunnelling microscopy integrates picosecond pulses with atomic resolution, enabling detailed analysis of electron dynamics and molecular motions. This Technical Review outlines meth...

Ubiquitous in popular culture, black holes were once highly debated and remain an intellectually active research area with applications in volcano monitoring and bone growth.

Radioactive molecules containing octupole-deformed nuclei offer a promising platform for measuring fundamental symmetry violations and searching for new physics. This Perspective discusses how advance...

Forty years after its invention, atomic force microscopy has evolved from a simple surface imaging tool into one of the most versatile measurement platforms in nanoscience. This Comment traces the key...

Deciding whether a big science project is sustainable is a complex multi-dimensional problem, but there are tools from economics that can help with decision making.

Katia Moskvitch shares her experience of launching a quantum computing podcast with her child.

Deciding whether a big science project is sustainable is a complex multi-dimensional problem, but there are tools from economics that can help with decision making.

Katia Moskvitch shares her experience of launching a quantum computing podcast with her child.

Transparent conducting electrodes are a key performance and sustainability bottleneck in high-efficiency perovskite–silicon tandem solar cells. This Review examines how optical, electrical and interfa...

The multistable dynamics of the Atlantic Ocean circulation pose a central problem in climate physics, because instabilities of the flows can have large climate impacts. This Review uses a dynamical sy...

Chaos in photonics is not always a nuisance but often a source of innovation. This Review surveys chaotic microcavity photonics across materials and architectures, highlighting opportunities to harnes...

2D van der Waals multiferroics, with their coupled magnetic and electric orders and their reduced dimensionality, offer great opportunities for low-power magnetoelectric devices. This Review moves bey...

Polaritons can be optically driven into nonlinear states such as vortices and solitons, with properties like quantized phase jumps and stable shapes, that enable applications in information processing...

The study of black-hole thermodynamics — now 50 years old — has led to deep insights into fundamental physics, but it has also created fresh paradoxes and puzzles. This Review assesses what has been l...

A closer look at past and present shows how trust underpins the international scientific endeavour.

This Perspective reviews recent progress in relation to three old yet unsolved problems on supercooled liquids and glasses, emphasizing the different approach and focus of physics and chemistry.

Although no universally accepted definition exists, coherent structures are key organized features of wall-bounded turbulent flows. This Review clarifies competing CS interpretations and highligh...

Topological photonic chips can be controlled globally, across the lattice, and locally, at the level of individual sites. This Review discusses these programmable and reconfigurable technologies for t...

Recent advances in first-principles computation are enabling quantitative predictions of electronic transport properties in materials. This Review explores the material insights and chemical intuition...

2D materials are appealing for emergent phenomena and applications, but despite the realization of many 2D layered crystals, 2D metals remain hard to realize because of their non-layered nat...

Magnetic fields affect astrophysical processes throughout the Universe. This Review explores how the generation, amplification and transport of astrophysical magnetic fields can be investigated in ter...

This April, we ask whether physics in computer games might beat the real thing.

In a world with ever-growing scientific literature, meaningful classifications are vital to keep on top of the latest results. In this Comment, historian and sociologist Phillip Roth traces the history of preprint classification in physics.

This April, we ask whether physics in computer games might beat the real thing.

Global topological invariants are a useful tool to understand electronic structure, but to understand emergent quantum phenomena, the local geometric structure of Bloch wavefunctions must be considere...

This April, we ask whether physics in computer games might beat the real thing.

Global topological invariants are a useful tool to understand electronic structure, but to understand emergent quantum phenomena, the local geometric structure of Bloch wavefunctions must be considere...

In a world with ever-growing scientific literature, meaningful classifications are vital to keep on top of the latest results. In this Comment, historian and sociologist Phillip Roth traces the histor...

Quantum geometry captures how electronic wavefunctions delocalize across crystal lattices, introducing length and energy scales beyond band dispersion. This Perspective shows how these hidden scales s...

Overcoming the diffraction limit in lossless dielectrics has long been thought impossible. This Perspective explores how the narwhal wavefunction enables lossless, deep-subwavelength optical confineme...