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Experiments reveal that human skin is most reliably cut by specific thicknesses of paper, including the kind used to print certain high-profile journals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies involving hundreds, even thousands, of scientists are on the rise, but how do such large groups coordinate their work? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The confidential 124-page report from the University of Rochester, disclosed in a lawsuit, details the extent of Ranga Dias’s scientific misconduct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Letter to the Editor [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Astronomer Fred Hoyle supposedly coined the catchy term to ridicule the theory of the Universe’s origins — 75 years on, it’s time to set the record straight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nobel prizewinner Alain Aspect's 'crackpot' studies of quantum entanglement have explored the tricks reality plays on us — and built on ideas from a physics great. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An ultra-precise laser synchronized to one of the world’s most precise clocks has been used to excite rapid nuclear oscillations — promising a timekeeper that could help to tackle fundamental questions about the Universe.Frequency comb custom built for the thorium-229 nuclear transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theoretical physicist saw his eponymous particle discovered after 48 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Layers of a thin semiconductor material overlap in a particular pattern, giving rise to particle currents carrying a fraction of the charge of an electron — with potential for encoding quantum information.Fractional quantum Hall effect in the absence of a magnetic field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights from News & Views published this year.Snapshots of research from 2021. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Materials called ferroelectrics are being used to build energy-efficient electronics, but their benefits diminish when their size is scaled down. A proposed solution using mechanical strain could transform computer microelectronics.Framework for inducing ferroelectricity in a thin film. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By smashing protons together at blinding speeds, scientists have shown that pairs of quarks display the phenomenon of quantum entanglement. The result could lead to fresh insight about one of the forces holding nuclei together.Proton–proton collisions confirm quantum principle in top-quark pairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evolution by natural selection peerlessly describes how life's complexity develops — but can it be explained in terms of physics? A new approach suggests it can. Radical theory explains how physics creates all biology's complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compounds containing copper have long been targeted in the search for high-temperature superconductivity, but experiments performed at extreme pressures suggest that nickel-based materials might also be candidates.Evidence of superconductivity in a nickelate under high pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Molecular Bose–Einstein condensates could help to provide the answers to fundamental questions, or form the basis of new quantum computers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nuclear clocks might soon rival the best atomic ones as supremely accurate timekeepers — a testament to the value of both competition and cooperation in research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computational rules might describe the evolution of the cosmos better than the dynamical equations of physics — but only if they are given a quantum twist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microscopic magnetic fields form in non-magnetic materials when light makes the atoms rotate. A similar macroscopic effect has long been known, but proof of its atomic equivalent could give rise to ultrafast data processing. Microscopic magnetic fields induced by rotating atoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clever manipulation of electrons has enabled scientists to change a key property of light emitted by a device using electrically controlled magnetization. The method could lead to stable and energy-efficient information transfer.Light controlled by electrically induced change in magnetization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complex magnetic structures called skyrmions have been generated on a nanometre scale and controlled electrically — a promising step for fast, energy-efficient computer hardware systems that can store large amounts of data.Single skyrmions generated in a magnetic tunnel junction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two microscopy techniques have been merged into a tool for twisting ultrathin sheets of atoms relative to each other. The approach offers a new angle for studying the electronic properties of exotic layered materials.A tool for controlling alignment in twisted heterostructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phone users around the world are enabling the creation of a space-weather monitor that will deepen our understanding of the physics governing Earth's ionized upper atmosphere and improve the accuracy of satellite positioning. A global sensor network for monitoring Earth's ionosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The iconic physicist’s theories of relativity and atomic motions were not so revolutionary, a penetrating history argues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When Rosemary Brown identified a strange particle decay 75 years ago, it set events in motion that would rewrite the laws of physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A paper published in 1997 brought the thermodynamics of the nineteenth century into the twenty-first century — expanding the physics of transformations involved in the operation of steam engines to the realm of molecular motors. How the Jarzynski equality updated the second law of thermodynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By suppressing questions they considered too 'philosophical', post-war physicists created an unquestioning orthodoxy that influences science to this day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As components on a computer chip shrink, their structure becomes ever-more complicated to image. A method that uses bursts of X-rays offers high-resolution, rapid-fire visualization down to single-transistor level.X-ray imaging of integrated circuits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The isotope oxygen-28 is expected to be ‘doubly magic’, with strongly bound neutrons and protons in its nucleus. Experiments now reveal that it exists in an unbound state — casting doubt on its magic status.Observation of a resonance of 28O. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robert Oppenheimer’s isn’t the only film-worthy story from the nuclear age. Kurt Gödel’s cameo as a secret agent was surprising — and itself a bomb. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The size of the space taken up by a proton’s mass has been measured, and it’s much smaller than previously thought. The result is a key step towards understanding the complex structure of this fundamental building block.Mass radius of the proton measured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An analysis of worldwide data finds that human mobility has a hierarchical structure. A proposed model that accounts for such hierarchies reproduces differences in mobility behaviour across genders and levels of urbanization. A model of human mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An anomalous measurement from a nuclear reactor triggered a three-year campaign to find an elusive particle called the sterile neutrino. The search shows definitively that sterile neutrinos don’t exist — but the anomaly persists.Proposed particle cannot explain nuclear-physics anomaly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An exercise in benchmarking a quantum computer reveals that the processor can go beyond the ‘integrability’ limit, at which dynamical systems no longer have explicit solutions, and standard mathematical techniques struggle.Interacting qubits benchmarked by mathematical model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smashing uranium-238 ions together proves to be a reliable way of imaging their nuclei. High-energy collision experiments reveal nuclear shapes that are strongly elongated and have no symmetry around their longest axis.Heavy-ion collisions enable detailed nuclear imaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

John Hopfield has had a varied career and delights in working in the cracks between disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CERN’s calculation of the W boson’s mass agrees with theory, contradicting a previous anomaly that had raised the possibility of new physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Particle measurements at the Large Hadron Collider open the door to future high-energy tests of entanglement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Swirling magnetic structures move through a material in ways that depend on their interactions with mobile electrons. Fresh insight into how to control this electrodynamic effect could lead to ultracompact magnetic devices.Dynamic behaviours in a skyrmion-hosting material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physicists are one step closer to developing a clock based on energy shifts in atomic nuclei. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small groups of mobile neutral atoms have been manipulated with extraordinary control to form 'logical' quantum bits. These qubits can perform quantum computations more reliably than can individual atoms. Parallel computation on logical qubits using neutral atoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The area surrounding the nuclear reactor was a science hotspot — until it was on the front line of the Ukraine war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A chromium-based superconductor is the newest member of a group of metals that show many intriguing properties simultaneously. The pronounced effects of its electron–electron interactions add to these rich phenomena.Pronounced electronic effects in a kagome metal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A cocktail of experiments and theory provides a way of revealing complex patterns in magnetic materials, including some textures that can identify the systems as members of an elusive class known as axion insulators. Symmetries reveal an unpinned broken magnetic helix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lasers are essential in scientific laboratories and medical clinics across the globe, but integrating them into other technologies is not easy. A material platform that puts a standard laser on a microchip offers a solution.An electronics-enabled platform for titanium–sapphire photonic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sheet of graphene sandwiched between electrolytes can host independently tunable proton and electron currents — setting the stage for a device that serves both computer-memory and logic functions.A device that can host tunable proton and electron currents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers say science is bleeding in Ukraine — but they are determined to sustain their work with help from other nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discovery of ‘weak neutral currents’ at Europe’s particle-physics research centre CERN 50 years ago was a decisive step towards establishing the standard model of particle physics — a journey that continues to this day.The discovery of weak neutral currents in particle-collision experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]