Reviews & Analysis

Transistors that have active components based on thin films, rather than silicon, are attractive for many applications. The latest thin-film fabrication technique has the potential for industrial-scale production.

Why, when the human race shows comparatively little genetic variation, are cultural differences so widespread and enduring? Thinking about cultures in terms of biological species provides some provocative answers.

Mars is a very watery planet, but all the water seems to be frozen. Divining the amount and distribution of this water, past and present, is essential for understanding martian climates, and more.

Why do women live long past the age of child-bearing? Contrary to common wisdom, this phenomenon is not new, and is not due to support for the elderly. Rather, grannies have a lot to offer their grandchildren.

Has the value of the fine-structure constant changed over the history of the Universe? An earlier analysis of radiation from distant quasars suggested the answer is yes — a new analysis says no.

A trapped ion emits a photon. Ion and photon are entangled, so the photon carries away information on the state of the ion. Now realized, this system could become a communication link in a quantum network.

The magnetic fields of Uranus and Neptune are markedly different from those of other planets in the Solar System. Can this be attributed to structural differences deep inside the planets?

Most female mammals experience a reproductive decline with increased age, previously attributed to the instability of ageing oocytes. But could it be due to a previously unrecognized stem-cell well drying up?

Fifty-five million years ago the Earth suddenly got much hotter. Events are recorded in a ‘spike’ in the carbon-isotope record, for which a provocative new explanation has been proposed.

Chaotic systems can be characterized by the swirling patterns of ‘strange attractors’. A powerful method to determine their behaviour has been validated for the most famous case, the Lorenz attractor.

A challenging way to characterize the world's naturally occurring microbes is to piece together whole genomes from complex communities. An unusually acidic microbial habitat provides the setting for a ranging shot on that target.

Accurately distributing half of each replicated chromosome to both daughters is a major challenge for dividing cells. The mechanisms used to achieve this are becoming apparent, thanks to studies old and new.

A more elaborate picture is developing of what makes some materials superconduct at relatively high temperatures. With it come hints for how to design materials with still higher transition temperatures.