News & Comment

The European Researchers’ Night provides a platform for scientists to engage with the public.

They say a picture tells a thousand words, so by that accounting, the visual word count of a Nature Physics paper doubles that of its text. So how best to use that budget?

Ensuring that a manuscript is vetted by experts is an important part of the editorial process, so we strive to choose the best reviewers to help us do this. How we manage the selection is a nuanced process.

Articulating the case for investment in large-scale physics projects is rarely straightforward. If scientists are to continue to do so effectively in the future, they must learn to grapple with a host of issues that they have perhaps been lucky to be shielded from in the past.

The recent measurement of the muon’s anomalous magnetic moment increases the tension with predictions from theory. Or does it?

The US Department of Justice’s ‘China Initiative’ is unfairly targeting Chinese American academics for their alleged ties with the Chinese government. A more proportionate approach is urgently needed.

A year on from the last-minute cancellation of the 2020 American Physical Society March Meeting, we examine the ups and downs of the online conference experience that has become the new normal during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unlike their predecessors in the White House, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are placing research and development at the centre of their policy agenda. This change was as sorely needed as it is welcome, but the stakes for the new US administration remain high.

Along with five other journals in the Nature Portfolio, Nature Physics will pilot a new Guided Open Access trial in 2021. We explain how it works.

A scientist’s legacy is defined not only by their research but also by their teaching. Stronger efforts should be made to preserve and celebrate the exposition of physics at all levels.

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2020 has been awarded to Roger Penrose for his work on black hole formation, and to Andrea Ghez and Reinhard Genzel for their observation of a supermassive compact object at the Galactic Centre.

As Nature Physics turns fifteen, we celebrate some of our favourite papers.

As the construction of the ITER tokamak enters its next phase — the machine assembly — now is a good time for a recap of the history and current status of nuclear fusion research.

The persistent under-representation of Black physicists is a systemic problem that requires will, money and long-term commitment to be solved.

This month, a Focus issue highlights recent developments in fundamental research on superconductivity.

The contribution of partners and families to scientists’ work is often overlooked. It should be acknowledged and supported more.

On the 60th anniversary of the first functioning laser, we imagine a research landscape without it.

The impending update to the European Strategy for Particle Physics is an apt moment to chart the future of the field — a future that should be supported and ensured.

The combination of microwave photons with superconducting quantum circuits offers promise for quantum technologies and the fundamental study of quantum light–matter interactions. This month, a Focus issue explores this field of research.

The pursuit of connections both within and between disparate disciplines is a powerful driver for new understanding.