Commentary

New quantum algorithms promise an exponential speed-up for machine learning, clustering and finding patterns in big data. But to achieve a real speed-up, we need to delve into the details.

Magnetocaloric and electrocaloric effects are driven by doing work, but this work has barely been explored, even though these caloric effects are being exploited in a growing number of prototype cooling devices.

Recent ultracold atom experiments reveal the wavefunction dynamics in the quantum Hall regime.

Our framework for understanding non-equilibrium behaviour is yet to match the simplicity and power of equilibrium statistical physics. But recent theoretical and experimental advances reveal key principles that unify seemingly unrelated topics.

Monolayer films of iron selenide deposited on strontium titanate display signatures of superconductivity at temperatures as high as 109 K. These recent developments may herald a flurry of exciting findings concerning superconductivity at interfaces.

University culture stands at a critical crossroads: the era of team science is upon us functionally, but not yet structurally. Solutions to the problems this mismatch creates involve rethinking education — and giving credit where credit is due.

Discoveries in astronomy — or, in fact, any branch of science — can only happen when people are open-minded and willing to take risks.

Our perception of colour has always been a source of fascination, so it's little wonder that studies of the phenomenon date back hundreds of years. What, though, can modern scientists learn from medieval literature — and how do we go about it?

Iranian scientists are growing increasingly isolated because of political tensions between Iran and the West. We attempt to alleviate this problem through science diplomacy.

Helium is non-renewable. It is used in many areas of scientific research but demand is fast outstripping supply. We must adapt, and quickly.

Among physics students there exists a wide variety of misconceptions, generally thought to be robust and resistant to change. But our analysis of the path of progress has changed our conception of how students learn physics.

Gravity and quantum mechanics tend to stay out of each other's way, but this might change as we devise new experiments to test the applicability of quantum theory to macroscopic systems and larger length scales.

Recent advances in quantum information theory reveal the deep connections between entanglement and thermodynamics, many-body theory, quantum computing and its link to macroscopicity.

The latest generation of optical atomic clocks has reached such a degree of accuracy that questions about the need to redefine the second are raised. But even without such a redefinition, these breakthroughs will enable unprecedented precision tests of fundamental physics.

A new law for reforming the Russian Academy of Sciences threatens the very future of Russian science itself.

Deep inelastic scattering — using a twenty-first-century electron–hadron collider of sufficient energy and intensity — could teach us much more about nuclear matter at the smallest resolvable scales, as well as add to our understanding of the Higgs boson and to the search for physics beyond the standard model.

Any ambitious construction project requires architects and engineers. As research shifts towards large groups that focus on the engineering aspects of linking data to existing models, architectural skills are becoming rare among young theorists.

A class of two-terminal passive circuit elements that can also act as memories could be the building blocks of a form of massively parallel computation known as memcomputing.

The science of complex networks can be usefully applied in finance, although there is limited data available with which to develop our understanding. All is not lost, however: ideas from statistical physics make it possible to reconstruct details of a financial network from partial sets of information.

The intrinsic complexity of the financial derivatives market has emerged as both an incentive to engage in it, and a key source of its inherent instability. Regulators now faced with the challenge of taming this beast may find inspiration in the budding science of complex systems.