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The relation between structure and dynamics in glasses is not fully understood. A new approach based on machine learning now reveals a correlation between softness—a structural property—and glassy dynamics.
Controlled motion of a droplet on a hot surface is hampered by the formation of an evaporation layer below the droplet (Leidenfrost effect). But a cleverly patterned surface induces a Leidenfrost–contact-boiling state, directing the droplet’s motion.
Quantum mechanics sets a fundamental upper limit for the flow of heat. Such quantum-limited heat conduction is now observed over macroscopic distances, extending to a metre, in superconducting transmission lines.
A simulation method connects single-shot measurements in ultracold atom experiments to the probability distribution of the many-body wavefunction, elucidating the role of the fluctuations in different experimental situations.
A combination of neutron scattering, X-ray scattering and Mössbauer spectroscopy experiments reveal the existence of a collinear double-Q magnetic ordering in an iron arsenide superconductor.
Fibre networks become rigid at a critical connectivity, but biopolymers giving structure to cells aren’t always well connected. Modelling and experiments on collagen networks show that their rigidity constitutes strain-controlled critical behaviour.
Inelastic Raman scattering is used to probe the critical spin fluctuations in an iron pnictide superconductor, providing insights into the origin of nematic order in this system.
The electronic properties of oxide interfaces are renowned for their richness. A comprehensive study of a series of perovskite nickelates examines the interplay between charge transfer and hybridization effects.
Two experiments with ultracold fermionic and bosonic atoms in optical superlattices demonstrate the quantized charge transport predicted by Thouless in the 1980s.
Interlayer transport can be made to occur slower or faster than intralayer scattering in van der Waals heterostructures, allowing the thermalization pathways for optically excited carriers to be tuned.
Charge transport in a cyclically time-modulated periodic potential, also known as a topological Thouless pump, has been realized in an ultracold gas of fermionic atoms.
Knots have been observed in a variety of classical systems, but so far not in the quantum regime. Knot solitons have now been created in a spinor Bose–Einstein condensate, exhibiting interesting topological structures, including Hopf fibration.
The membranes of red blood cells exhibit a flickering motion that has long been ascribed a thermal origin. Microrheology experiments provide direct evidence that flickering is an active process characterized by non-equilibrium dynamics.
Mechanical communication between cells is revealed in experiments on cardiac cells. Deformation of an underlying substrate induces beating in isolated cells, at a rate that can be sustained for over an hour after the stimulation ceases.
Shining intense laser light onto a thin aluminium foil creates a relativistic plasma aperture—and diffraction. As a result, an electron beam is generated with a spatial structure that can be changed by varying the characteristics of the laser pulse.
Cells break their symmetry to migrate, switching between protrusive and retractive edge activity to move directionally. Experiments and simulations reveal that this mode switching relies on a mechanism that depends on distance to the cell’s centre.
Fast-ignition laser fusion involves directing an intense relativistic electron beam onto a fuel target. Experiments and simulations now enable a visualization of the location of fast electrons and the energy-coupling mechanisms at play.