Manufacturing potent drugs requires knowledge of protein receptor sites. A novel strategy, combining the use of a quantum memory with quantum control, can boost the spatial resolution of magnetic-field sensors based on spin defects in diamond, thus achieving nanoscale magnetic imaging of biomolecules.

Two identical insulators can become charged by touching each other in the presence of an electric field and sufficient humidity.

An atom’s walk in an optical lattice is used to test a key principle of quantum physics.

Populations that translate energy into motion constitute active matter. New research shows that activity induces a nonequilibrium adhesion between colloidal microspheres, quantified by an activity-dependent equation of state.

Complex networks such as power grids, the internet, and brains are characterized by their ability to be both observed and controlled. Symmetries in networks were thought to compromise observability and controllability, but new work shows that this is not always the case.

Insulators and semiconductors are used extensively in industry and a data-driven approach is necessary to investigate the properties of these materials. A new theory of electronic properties is consistent with findings from experiments of transition-metal oxides.

Digital, text-based data are being created at a high rate in today’s electronic society. A new algorithm accurately and efficiently assigns topic tags to unstructured text.

Several $f$-electron materials undergo sudden changes in equilibrium density and lattice structure, with simultaneous $f$-electron localization or delocalization, given changes in pressure or temperature. New calculations allow a closer look than previously possible at the electronic structure of two such materials, plutonium and praseodymium

Quantum information processing relies on controlling electronic and nuclear spins. Scientists experimentally demonstrate that the spins of a certain kind of optical excitation have relatively long coherence lifetimes and, furthermore, can be reliably controlled.

Researchers demonstrate a low-power way to reversibly drive magnetic domain walls using electric fields.

Topological insulators in three dimensions famously support electronic Dirac cones at their boundary. Researchers show how interactions can effectively strip away their charge, yielding new correlated surface states featuring electrically neutral Dirac fermions.

Topological insulators are phases of matter qualitatively distinct from conventional insulators. Researchers use a microwave network analog to switch between topologically nontrivial and trivial states.

Superconductivity, the absence of electrical resistance, is rare in quasi-one-dimensional materials. Researchers show that bulk superconductivity emerges at 6.1 K and ambient pressure in a quasi-one-dimensional chromium arsenide.

Extracting macroscopically relevant quantities from cellular data is challenging. Researchers derive a global relationship to describe the state of growing cells and apply it to E. coli bacteria under stress.

Imaging biological macromolecules allows scientists to accurately probe dynamic molecular structures and engineer drugs. Brief and intense coherent x-ray pulses can yield new forms of data, enabling structure determination without prior-known structural information.

A new approach is able to quantify the environmental effects on an evolving organism by analyzing just a small number of surviving individuals.

New results point to surprising differences between fluids of light created in two-dimensional semiconductors and quantum fluids of matter particles. Unless a system is strongly anisotropic, the fluid of light cannot establish a single giant wave as conventional particles do in a Bose-Einstein condensate.

Ion beams with high purities have uses in fundamental research and medicine. The CERN ISOLDE’s Laser Ion Source and Trap is used to isolate beams of polonium that have significantly less contamination than previous studies.

Researchers show that in bad metals with almost localized electrons, such as heavy-fermion PuCoGa${}_5$ and CeCoIn${}_5$, $d$-wave superconductivity can be induced by frustrated antiferromagnetic fluctuations near a quantum critical point.

Fluid-driven deformation of porous materials is relevant to topics ranging from living-tissue growth to natural-gas extraction from shale, but it is difficult to measure in the laboratory. By injecting fluid into a packing of soft particles, researchers shed light on the dynamic interplay between elastic and plastic effects.

Fundamental biological processes, including the capture of pathogens by membrane receptors, are regulated by molecular transport. Scientists show that receptor functioning is linked to nonergodic dynamics, which refers to the difference between the properties of a particle and an ensemble of particles.

Following the time evolution of a large and high-dimensional quantum system is often computationally intractable. A new semiclassical method of modeling quantum dynamics yields surprisingly good results for nonequilibrium dynamics.

The movement of colloidal particles has widespread applications in physics and biology. Particles experiencing an oscillatory electric field exhibit a surprising bifurcation in distance from the electrode.

Gauge fields, which appear in the standard model of physics, underpin a variety of fields, including condensed-matter physics. An alternative technique for studying gauge theories using a lattice with quantum degrees of freedom at its vertices is presented.

Aerosols formed from sea spray affect climate change. A new study shows that bromine, which is correlated with ozone depletion, is preferentially found on the surface of these aerosols.

Researchers show that a quantum critical point can be reached in Sc${}_{3.1}$In, a weak itinerant magnet without local moments, using chemical doping with lutetium.

Ensembles of people, research ideas, and cells all represent complex interacting networks. Scientists use a community-detection method to trace the interconnectedness of networks.

Kondo lattices belong to a new class of materials defying standard concepts of solid-state physics. Scientists investigate the electronic structure of a well-known Kondo lattice and find that the Fermi surface is stable over a wide range above and below its Kondo temperature.

So-called Weyl points can be thought of as magnetic monopoles in momentum space. Researchers show that certain transition-metal monophosphides are characterized by Weyl points.

Crystalline arrangements in solids affect the properties of various substances, such as steel. Using colloidal microspheres in an electric field, scientists model the kinetics of crystalline transformations.

Cavity polaritons—a mixture of microcavity photons and material excitations—can be used to develop new types of lasers based on Bose-Einstein condensates. A roadmap is proposed for building such lasers using intersubband transitions in semiconductor quantum wells, highlighting realistic design challenges such as the quality factors of resonators.

The effects of climate change can be mitigated by developing alternative energy sources. An investigation shows how the performance of organic solar cells degrades for doping levels above $7\times {10}^{15}$ cm${}^{-3}$.

Modeling a network with too many parameters is likely to lead to overfitting. The minimum description length principle is used to reliably model networks and robustly differentiate models on the basis of confidence levels.

Photons confined to a hexagonally shaped microcavity move in a polarization-dependent way, thus simulating a spin-orbit coupling common in materials.

A tenet of classical physics—Newton’s third law—can in fact be violated when the interacting particles are embedded in a nonequilibrium environment. Researchers present the statistical foundations of many-body systems with such interactions.

Many biological structures, from macromolecules to proteins, as well as a number of solid-state systems including ferroelectric and ferro nano- and microstructures, possess static toroidal shapes. A theoretical study shows that the dynamic toroidal dipoles constructed from ionic crystals can be used to engineer metamaterials to control how electromagnetic radiation is scattered and transmitted.

Futuristic electronic devices may rely on optical and transport properties that are highly sensitive to magnetic and orbital order. Researchers show that a doped $4d$ transition-metal oxide exhibits local or global changes in spin-orbital order.

Ultracold atomic gases allow scientists to study the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of many-particle systems. A computationally tractable formalism is used to model systems of cold atoms trapped in an optical lattice.

Momentum and angular momentum are ubiquitous in wave physics. Calculations show that unusual transverse momentum and spin angular momentum, thus far only recorded in evanescent waves, can also be seen in interfering propagating waves, like laser beams.

A theoretical study of electronic interactions in graphene shows that a transverse component of valley conductivity emerges, while the longitudinal component cancels.

High-entropy alloys are a new class of materials that have been shown to be strong, ductile, and corrosion-resistant. Ensembles of viable alloys are systematically isolated using density-functional theory.