Comment

The time has come to consider appropriate guardrails to ensure quantum technology benefits humanity and the planet. With quantum development still in flux, the science community shares a responsibility in defining principles and practices.

Computing is central to the enterprise of physics but few undergraduate physics courses include it in their curricula. Here we discuss why and how to integrate computing into physics education.

Injustices and oppression are pervasive in society, including education. An intersectional, equity-oriented approach can help remove systemic obstacles and improve the experience of marginalized people in physics education through decolonial and critical race lenses.

Increasingly, physics graduates take jobs outside academia. Active teaching approaches lead to deeper conceptual understanding and a more varied skill set and are therefore more likely to prepare students for successful careers.

Quantum hypothesis testing—the task of distinguishing quantum states—enjoys surprisingly deep connections with the theory of entanglement. Recent findings have reopened the biggest questions in hypothesis testing and reversible entanglement manipulation.

Fluid flows play a key part in living systems. Cross-disciplinary engagement between fluid physics and biology greatly benefits both fields.

Macroscale analogies are a powerful conceptual tool with which we can gain insight into the structures and processes of the microscopic world of cell biology.

Kenneth Wilson worked on the renormalization group during the Cold War, when communication between scientists in the Soviet Union and in the West was restricted. Nevertheless, Soviet physicists had a strong influence on Wilson’s work.

Historically, most renormalization group studies have been performed for equilibrium systems. Here, I give a personal reflection on the unexpected outcome of studying non-equilibrium flocking using renormalization methods.

The renormalization group is a key ingredient in methods of improving perturbative computations in particle physics. Here I briefly discuss its role in perturbative quantum chromodynamics and particularly the running of its coupling constant.

Supersymmetric quantum field theories have special properties that make them easier to study. This Comment discusses how the constraints that supersymmetry places on renormalization group flows have been used to study strongly coupled field theories.

The correct microscopic theory of quantum gravity may be an interacting, scale-invariant, ‘asymptotically safe’ model. This Comment discusses the renormalization group’s role in defining asymptotic safety and understanding its consequences.

The renormalization group evolved from ad hoc procedures to cope with divergences in perturbative calculations. This Comment summarizes efforts to develop a mathematically rigorous approach to renormalization group calculations.

Renormalization began as a tool to eliminate divergences in quantum electrodynamics, but it is now the basis of our understanding of physics at different energy scales. Here, I review its evolution with an eye towards physics beyond the Wilsonian paradigm.

Annually, the European Research Council (ERC) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) allocate resources to promote research excellence in Europe and the USA. We observe that European Union (EU)-based researchers rely strongly on United States (US) collaborations to secure top EU funding, while the reverse is much less common.

Unsubstantiated claims that fuel growing public concern over the toxicity of photovoltaic modules and their waste are slowing their deployment. Clarifying these issues will help to facilitate the decarbonization that our world depends on.

Efficient superconducting diodes can be designed according to established physics. However, emerging concepts must be united with known mechanisms in order to unlock functionality in rectification and frequency conversion.

Physics of Life research in the UK is transforming scientific insight and translational impact. Here I discuss its disruptive potential and barriers to interdisciplinary research through the lens of the activities of one of its pioneers, Tom McLeish.

The authority of science within society is contested by antiscientific movements. To restore trust, science education should involve students in the social processes of knowledge production.

There is an urgent need to rethink the Nobel Prize in Physics in the light of the climate crisis. As expressed by its founder, the award should acknowledge research that addresses pressing challenges for humanity.