Comment

The uncertainty associated with epidemic forecasts is often simulated with ensembles of epidemic trajectories based on combinations of parameters. We show that the standard approach for summarizing such ensembles systematically suppresses critical epidemiological information.

Scaling arguments provide valuable analysis tools across physics and complex systems yet are often employed as one generic method, without explicit reference to the various mathematical concepts underlying them. A careful understanding of these concepts empowers us to unlock their full potential.

The particle physics community refreshes the roadmap for the field in Europe, taking into account the worldwide context, in the so-called European Strategy for Particle Physics update, which happens every seven years.

Since the 1950s, international cooperation has been the driving force behind fusion research. Here, we discuss how the International Atomic Energy Agency has shaped the field and the events that have produced fusion’s global signature partnership.

Automated learning from data by means of deep neural networks is finding use in an ever-increasing number of applications, yet key theoretical questions about how it works remain unanswered. A physics-based approach may help to bridge this gap.

Astrophysical neutrinos could originate from blazars, but their modelling is challenging. Instead, the source of cosmic neutrinos could be a special yet unidentified class in which jets burrow through stellar material and produce neutrinos.

In 1985, experiments revealed the quantum behaviour of a macroscopic degree of freedom: the phase difference across a Josephson junction. The authors recount the history of this milestone for the development of superconducting quantum circuits.

Lack of reproducibility is not necessarily bad news; it may herald new discoveries and signal scientific progress.

Physics is formulated in terms of timeless, axiomatic mathematics. A formulation on the basis of intuitionist mathematics, built on time-evolving processes, would offer a perspective that is closer to our experience of physical reality.

Efforts to demonstrate the feasibility of fusion power can benefit from studies of fundamental questions in plasma physics carried out in simplified devices.

Availability of the source code should soon become the minimum standard for academic software. In addition, culture should shift to embrace code review and appropriate credit for the developers of reusable software.

Einstein’s general theory of relativity is one of the most important accomplishments in the history of science. We reassess the importance of one of the expeditions that made its experimental verification possible — a story that involves a sense of adventure and scientific ingenuity in equal measure.

In 2016 and 2017, the LISA Pathfinder mission successfully proved that the technologies for the space-based gravitational wave detector LISA are ready. LISA is now scheduled to launch in the early 2030s, to open a so far unexploited scientific field.

Modern physics edged mechanics out into the wilds of engineering. But multidisciplinary interest in pattern formation has moved it back into the mainstream, bringing with it interest from other fields — as this summer’s Solvay Workshop demonstrated.

The Large Hadron Collider has completed its second data-taking period. For the next two years, the accelerator will shut down and the experiments will undergo major upgrades. Here’s a take on our past achievements — and a preview of the future.

David Hilbert famously argued that infinity cannot exist in physical reality. The consequence of this statement — still under debate today — has far-reaching implications.

Understanding the behaviour of almost any biological object is a fundamentally multiscale problem — a challenge that biophysicists have been increasingly embracing, building on two centuries of biophysical studies at a variety of length scales.

The criteria by which the validity of theories of complex systems are judged are more nuanced than a naive understanding of ‘the scientific method’ suggests.

The variety of emergent phenomena occurring at oxide interfaces has made these systems the focus of intense study in recent years. We argue that spin–orbit effects in oxide interfaces provide a versatile handle to generate, control and convert spin currents, with a view towards low-power spintronics.

New developments in spintronics based on antiferromagnetic materials show promise for improved fundamental understanding and applications in technology.