News & Views |
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News & Views |
Soft robot reaches the deepest part of the ocean
A self-powered robot inspired by a fish can survive the extreme pressures at the bottom of the ocean’s deepest trench, thanks to its soft body and distributed electronic system — and might enable exploration of the uncharted ocean.
- Cecilia Laschi
- & Marcello Calisti
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Article |
Van der Waals heterostructure polaritons with moiré-induced nonlinearity
Polaritons formed by moiré excitons in heterobilayers of transition metal dichalcogenides exhibit strong nonlinearity owing to quantum confinement by the tunable moiré lattice potential.
- Long Zhang
- , Fengcheng Wu
- & Hui Deng
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Article |
Ligand-engineered bandgap stability in mixed-halide perovskite LEDs
The binding of multidentate ligands to the surface of lead halide perovskite nanocrystals suppresses the formation of surface defects that result in halide segregation, yielding materials with efficient and colour-stable red emission.
- Yasser Hassan
- , Jong Hyun Park
- & Henry J. Snaith
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Perspective |
Promises and prospects of two-dimensional transistors
The current status and prospects of two-dimensional transistors are reviewed, and the reliability of widely used device parameters is assessed.
- Yuan Liu
- , Xidong Duan
- & Xiangfeng Duan
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Article |
Quantum circuits with many photons on a programmable nanophotonic chip
A system for realizing many-photon quantum circuits is presented, comprising a programmable nanophotonic chip operating at room temperature, interfaced with a fully automated control system.
- J. M. Arrazola
- , V. Bergholm
- & Y. Zhang
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Article |
Self-powered soft robot in the Mariana Trench
A free-swimming soft robot inspired by deep-sea creatures, with artificial muscle, power and control electronics spread across a polymer matrix, successfully adapts to high pressure and operates in the deep ocean.
- Guorui Li
- , Xiangping Chen
- & Wei Yang
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News Feature |
Robo-writers: the rise and risks of language-generating AI
A remarkable AI can write like humans — but with no understanding of what it’s saying.
- Matthew Hutson
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News |
This is the fastest random-number generator ever built
Laser generates quantum randomness at a rate of 250 trillion bits per second, and could lead to devices small enough to fit on a single chip.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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Research Highlight |
X-rays expose a clue to the mystery of the missing neutron star
Astronomers might have spotted the long-sought debris of a famous stellar explosion.
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Technology Feature |
How to get started in quantum computing
Tempted to try your hand at a new technique? These tools will help you on your way.
- David Matthews
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Nature Video |
How to build a quantum internet
Specialised quantum computers could pave the way for a new type of internet
- Dan Fox
- & Davide Castelvecchi
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Research Highlight |
The first known space hurricane pours electron ‘rain’
Earth’s upper atmosphere cooks up a storm.
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Research Highlight |
Good vibrations make a soft gel strong
Inside a composite structure, mechanical energy is transformed into an electron flow that powers a chemical reaction.
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News |
Major physics society won’t meet in cities with racist policing record
The American Physical Society’s new criteria for conference venues seem to be unique among scientific societies.
- Nidhi Subbaraman
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News & Views |
Accelerator-based light sources get a boost
The structure of matter can be explored using the light emitted by particle accelerators. An experiment demonstrates how the properties of two such light sources — synchrotrons and free-electron lasers — can be combined.
- Alexander Brynes
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News & Views |
Antimatter in the proton is more down than up
Protons are found in all atoms, so it might be surprising to learn that they contain antimatter. It now emerges that there is an imbalance in the types of antimatter in the proton — a finding for which there is no agreed theoretical explanation.
- Haiyan Gao
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Article |
Experimental demonstration of the mechanism of steady-state microbunching
The mechanism of steady-state electron microbunching is demonstrated, providing a basis that will enable its full implementation in electron storage rings to generate high-repetition, high-power coherent radiation.
- Xiujie Deng
- , Alexander Chao
- & Lixin Yan
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Article |
Deterministic multi-qubit entanglement in a quantum network
High-fidelity deterministic quantum state transfer and multi-qubit entanglement are demonstrated in a quantum network comprising two superconducting quantum nodes one metre apart, with each node including three interconnected qubits.
- Youpeng Zhong
- , Hung-Shen Chang
- & Andrew N. Cleland
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Article |
Efficient perovskite solar cells via improved carrier management
An improved device design for perovskite-based photovoltaic cells enables a certified power conversion efficiency of 25.2 per cent, translating to 80.5 per cent of the thermodynamic limit for its bandgap, which approaches those achieved by silicon solar cells.
- Jason J. Yoo
- , Gabkyung Seo
- & Jangwon Seo
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Article |
Angular momentum generation in nuclear fission
γ-ray spectroscopy experiments on the origin of spin in the products of nuclear fission of spin-zero nuclei suggest that the fission fragments acquire their spin after scission, rather than before.
- J. N. Wilson
- , D. Thisse
- & S. Ziliani
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Nature Podcast |
The quark of the matter: what’s really inside a proton?
The surprising structure of protons, and a method for growing small intestines for transplantation.
- Nick Petrić Howe
- & Shamini Bundell
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Article |
The asymmetry of antimatter in the proton
Quark–antiquark annihilation measurements provide a precise determination of the ratio of down and up antiquarks within protons as a function of momentum, which confirms the asymmetry between the abundance of down and up antiquarks.
- J. Dove
- , B. Kerns
- & Z. Ye
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Article |
First return, then explore
A reinforcement learning algorithm that explicitly remembers promising states and returns to them as a basis for further exploration solves all as-yet-unsolved Atari games and out-performs previous algorithms on Montezuma’s Revenge and Pitfall.
- Adrien Ecoffet
- , Joost Huizinga
- & Jeff Clune
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Article |
Strong tough hydrogels via the synergy of freeze-casting and salting out
A strategy that combines freeze-casting and salting-out treatments produces strong, tough, stretchable and fatigue-resistant poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogels.
- Mutian Hua
- , Shuwang Wu
- & Ximin He
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Nature Podcast |
Audio long-read: Thundercloud Project tackles a gamma-ray mystery
Researchers in Japan are trying to understand why thunderstorms fire out bursts of powerful radiation.
- Elizabeth Gibney
- & Benjamin Thompson
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Editorial |
The world’s largest radio telescope should open its skies to all
The Square Kilometre Array must invite the best ideas from around the globe to help it probe astronomy’s deepest questions.
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Where I Work |
Taking graphene out of the laboratory and into the real world
Business developer Cinzia Spinato helps nanoscientists to translate their inventions into marketable products.
- Chris Woolston
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News |
Fuel for world’s largest fusion reactor ITER is set for test run
Nuclear fusion experiments with deuterium and tritium at the Joint European Torus are a crucial dress rehearsal for the mega-experiment.
- Elizabeth Gibney
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Research Highlight |
Electrons are caught in the act of relaxing — over quadrillionths of a second
Physicists fire lasers at electrons to understand how the particles gain and shed energy.
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Obituary |
George Carruthers (1939–2020)
Astronomer and engineer of the first observatory on the Moon.
- Angelina Callahan
- , Robert R. Meier
- & David H. DeVorkin
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News & Views |
High-performance plastic made from renewable oils is chemically recyclable by design
Plastics are invaluable materials, but they use up petroleum resources and persist in the environment. A high-performance plastic derived from renewable oils has been designed at the molecular level to be truly recyclable.
- Charlotte K. Williams
- & Georgina L. Gregory
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Where I Work |
‘All my art is curiosity-driven’: the garden studio where art and physics collide
Geraldine Cox mixes the palettes of art and physics by illustrating phenomena such as light-interference patterns.
- Amber Dance
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Editorial |
Chemistry can help make plastics sustainable — but it isn’t the whole solution
How to make plastics less harmful is an urgent question in chemistry — and must be for policy, too.
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News & Views |
Glowing nanocrystals enable 3D X-ray imaging
Persistently luminescent nanocrystals have been used to make flexible X-ray detectors that produce better images of 3D objects than do the flat-panel detectors currently widely used in radiography.
- Albano N. Carneiro Neto
- & Oscar L. Malta
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News |
Quantum network is step towards ultrasecure internet
Experiment connects three devices with entangled photons, demonstrating a key technique that could enable a future quantum internet.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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Article |
Closed-loop recycling of polyethylene-like materials
Polycarbonates and polyesters with materials properties like those of high-density polyethylene can be recycled chemically by depolymerization to their constituent monomers, re-polymerization yielding material with uncompromised processing and materials properties.
- Manuel Häußler
- , Marcel Eck
- & Stefan Mecking
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Article |
Localization of lattice dynamics in low-angle twisted bilayer graphene
Nano-Raman spectroscopy reveals localization of some vibrational modes in reconstructed twisted bilayer graphene and provides qualitative insights into how electron–phonon coupling affects the vibrational and electronic properties of the material.
- Andreij C. Gadelha
- , Douglas A. A. Ohlberg
- & Ado Jorio
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Article
| Open AccessCoherent X-ray−optical control of nuclear excitons
Suitably shaped X-ray pulses are used to coherently steer the quantum dynamics of atoms’ nuclei rather than their electrons, with few-zeptosecond temporal stability of the phase control.
- Kilian P. Heeg
- , Andreas Kaldun
- & Jörg Evers
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Article |
Self-similar mesocrystals form via interface-driven nucleation and assembly
Mesocrystal formation is investigated for haematite in the presence of oxalate, showing that chemical gradients at interfaces cause nucleation near surfaces rather than in the bulk, followed by particle attachment.
- Guomin Zhu
- , Maria L. Sushko
- & James J. De Yoreo
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Career Column |
The sound of stars
Composer David Ibbett encodes the dreams and details of complex physics phenomena into music to help audiences appreciate their splendour.
- David Ibbett
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News Feature |
Mystery gamma rays could help solve age-old lightning puzzle
Researchers in Japan are enlisting an army of citizens to explore how storms on Earth create extreme bursts of gamma radiation.
- Elizabeth Gibney
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Matters Arising |
Reply to: Concerns about phytoplankton bloom trends in global lakes
- Jeff C. Ho
- , Anna M. Michalak
- & Nima Pahlevan
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Article |
High-resolution X-ray luminescence extension imaging
Using lanthanide-doped nanomaterials and flexible substrates, an approach that enables flat-panel-free, high-resolution, three-dimensional imaging is demonstrated and termed X-ray luminescence extension imaging.
- Xiangyu Ou
- , Xian Qin
- & Xiaogang Liu
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News Explainer |
COVID vaccines and safety: what the research says
It is clear that coronavirus vaccines are safe and effective, but as more are rolled out, researchers are learning about the extent and nature of side effects.
- Ariana Remmel
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News & Views |
Shedding squeezed light on dark matter
Hypothetical particles called axions could constitute dark matter — the unseen component of the Universe. An experiment shows how quantum-manipulation technology can improve the sensitivity of axion detectors.
- Igor G. Irastorza
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Article |
Thermally reconfigurable monoclinic nematic colloidal fluids
Dispersion of colloidal disks in a nematic liquid crystal reveals several low-symmetry phases, including monoclinic colloidal nematic order, with interchange between them achieved through variations in temperature, concentration and surface charge.
- Haridas Mundoor
- , Jin-Sheng Wu
- & Ivan I. Smalyukh