Featured
-
-
Comment |
A call for responsible quantum technology
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.
- Urs Gasser
- , Eline De Jong
- & Mauritz Kop
-
-
-
-
-
Editorial |
Lost and found in translation
Many advances in biological physics result from multidisciplinary collaborations. We celebrate the physics of life with a collection of articles that offer insight into successful interactions between researchers from different fields.
-
-
-
Comment |
Unfounded concerns about photovoltaic module toxicity and waste are slowing decarbonization
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.
- Heather Mirletz
- , Henry Hieslmair
- & Teresa M. Barnes
-
Editorial |
To boldly go where their parents did not go before
First-generation students have to overcome obstacles other students don’t. Every academic can help.
-
World View |
Space exploration is a team sport, not the preserve of a few powerful men
The lone genius narrative is harmful to science and will not help humans settle in space.
- Erika Nesvold
-
-
Editorial |
A woman’s place is in science
11 February marks the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. We ask what it takes to be considered one.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Editorial |
The power of fluctuations
The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and Giorgio Parisi “for groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of complex physical systems”.
-
-
-
-
Q&A |
Inside ITER
The First Plasma discharge in the ITER tokamak is expected for 2025 with deuterium–tritium plasma operation ten years later. We spoke with ITER’s Director-General, Bernard Bigot, and Tim Luce, head of ITER’s Science & Operations Department, about the current status of the project and potential future directions in fusion research.
- Stefanie Reichert
-
Editorial |
The way ahead for fusion
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.
-
-
News & Views |
From ferromagnets to electoral instability
An electoral model predicts that polarized and alienated voters lead to unstable elections, like phase transitions in an Ising model. Such physics-inspired models may help political scientists devise electoral reforms to quench instability.
- Soren Jordan
-
-
Editorial |
Time to move beyond average thinking
Taking the expectation value of an observable is not the same as averaging over time.
-
-
-
-
-
-
News & Views |
From useless to keystone
Technological innovation seems to be dominated by chance. But a new mathematical analysis suggests we might be able to anticipate when seemingly useless technologies become keystones of more complex environments.
- César A. Hidalgo
-
-
-
-
-
Editorial |
The rise of quantum materials
Emergent phenomena are common in condensed matter. Their study now extends beyond strongly correlated electron systems, giving rise to the broader concept of quantum materials.
-
-
-
-
-
-