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Tests of the predictions of the renormalization group in biological experiments have not yet been decisive. Now, a study on the collective dynamics of insect swarms provides a long-sought match between experiment and theory.

Spatial dynamics can obscure epidemic trends from surveillance data, biasing reproduction ratio estimates over long periods. A spectral correction reweights incidence data to remove this bias, thus improving monitoring to inform response strategies.

Controlling orbital magnetic moments for applications can be difficult. Now local probes of a kagome material, TbV₆Sn₆, demonstrate how the spin Berry curvature can produce a large orbital Zeeman effect that can be tuned with a magnetic field.

Manipulation of the quantum-metric structure to produce topological phenomena has rarely been studied. Now, flexible control of the quantum-metric structure is demonstrated in a topological chiral antiferromagnet at room temperature.

Connecting two superfluid reservoirs leads to both particle and entropy flow between the systems. Now, a direct measurement of the entropy current and production in ultracold quantum gases reveals how superfluidity enhances entropy transport.

Electron capture in ¹⁶³Ho can be used to determine the electron neutrino mass. The Q value of this process is crucial for the evaluation of the systematic uncertainty in such a measurement, and a 50-fold improvement is now reported.

Although ‘random lasing’ in disordered optical media was first demonstrated a decade ago, the mechanism by which it occurs is disputed. New evidence of random lasing in conjugated polymers strongly supports the notion that it is generated within random optical cavities that naturally occur within disordered media.

Despite being essential to many applications in quantum science, entanglement can be easily disrupted by decoherence. A protocol based on repetitive quantum error correction now demonstrates enhanced coherence times of entangled logical qubits.

As amorphous solids, glasses and gels are similar, but the origins of their different elastic properties are unclear. Simulations now suggest differing free-energy-minimizing pathways: structural ordering for glasses and interface reduction for gels.

Owing to electron localization, two-dimensional materials are not expected to be metallic at low temperatures, but a field-induced quantum metal phase emerges in NbSe₂, whose behaviour is consistent with the Bose-metal model.

An outstanding question about the iron-based superconductors has been whether or not their magnetic characteristics are dominated by itinerant or localized magnetic moments. Absolute measurements and calculations of the magnetic response of undoped and Ni-doped BaFe₂As₂ indicate the latter.

Controlling phase transitions in solids is crucial for many applications. Ultrafast laser pulses have now been shown to enable the energy-efficient generation of structural fluctuations in VO₂ by harnessing the correlated disorder in the material.

Linear topological systems can be characterized using invariants such as the Chern number. This concept can be extended to the nonlinear regime, giving rise to nonlinearity-induced topological phase transitions.

The Majorana Demonstrator experiment reports searches for the violation of the Pauli exclusion principle and of charge conservation. In the absence of a signal, exclusion limits for these processes are reported.

Quantum systems exhibit vastly different properties depending on their dimensionality. An experimental study with ultracold bosons now tracks quantum correlation properties during the crossover from two dimensions to one dimension.

Photoemission experiments demonstrate that the photon number statistics of the exciting light can be imprinted on the emitted electrons, allowing the controlled generation of classical or non-classical electron number statistics of free electrons.

Laser-induced tuning of pairs of lifetime-limited organic emitters allows the controlled creation of superradiant and subradiant entangled states.

Leggett modes can occur when superconductivity arises in more than one band in a material and represent oscillation of the relative phases of the two superconducting condensates. Now, this mode is observed in Cd₃As₂, a Dirac semimetal.

The ferromagnet CrVI₆ serves as a material platform to demonstrate the topological Kerr effect in two-dimensional magnets. This can be used to identify skyrmions by magneto-optical means.

Topological magnetic spin structures such as skyrmions and merons have the potential to be used in magnetic information devices. Now multistep transformations between such structures are demonstrated in a centrosymmetric material.

Despite their potential device applications, experimental realizations of proximity-induced Fulde–Ferrell–Larkin–Ovchinnikov states are rare. Now Josephson junctions based on a dilute magnetic topological insulator provide evidence of such a state.

When photons impinge on a material, free electrons can be created by the photoelectric effect. The emitted electron current usually fluctuates with Poisson statistics, but if squeezed quantum light is applied, the electrons bunch up.

Grants awarded through peer review should not then be subject to political 'accountability'.

The thermal Hall effect of phonons does not yet have a definitive explanation. Now a careful study of doped Sr₂IrO₄ suggests that the mechanism involves the scattering of phonons by impurities embedded in an antiferromagnetic environment.

The occurrence of propagating spiral waves in multicellular organisms is associated with key biological functions. Now this type of wave has also been observed in dense bacterial populations, probably resulting from non-reciprocal cell–cell interactions.

Two adjacent layers flowing at different velocities in the same fluid are subject to flow instabilities. This phenomenon is now studied in atomic superfluids, revealing that quantized vortices act as both sources and probes of the unstable flow.

Interactions of atmospheric neutrinos with quantum-gravity-induced fluctuations of the metric of spacetime would lead to decoherence. The IceCube Collaboration constrains such interactions with atmospheric neutrinos.

Time crystals spontaneously produce periodic oscillations that are robust to perturbations. A time crystal phase with a long coherence time has now been produced using the electron and nuclear spins of a semiconductor sample.

Bart Verberck uses the musical cent as a pretext to touch on some of the intricacies of musical tuning systems.

Eighty years on from the publication of Erwin Schrödinger’s interdisciplinary analysis on the origin of order in living organisms — What is Life? — we look at how physicists and biologists are approaching the topic today.

The local electronic structure of interface states between topologically distinct domains is imaged and controlled, allowing visualization of the interplay between strong interactions and non-trivial topology.

Questioning the validity of axioms can teach us about physics beyond the standard model. A recent search for the violation of charge conservation and the Pauli exclusion principle yields limits on these scenarios.

The kernel method in machine learning can be implemented on near-term quantum computers. A 27-qubit device has now been used to solve learning problems using kernels that have the potential to be practically useful.

Experiments probing three-dimensional crack propagation show that the critical strain energy needed to drive a crack is directly proportional to its geodesic length. This insight is a step towards a fully three-dimensional theory of crack propagation.

Quantum-correlated photons typically characterize strongly nonlinear quantum emitters. A two-photon correlation spectroscopy method now provides a powerful probe of weakly nonlinear many-body quantum systems.

Bilayer graphene is known to host states where interactions dominate the electronic behaviour. Now, transport measurements show that this is also true for trilayer graphene and give evidence for ferroelectric states and states with high Chern number.

Nonlinear resonances can cause particle loss in accelerators. Experiments confirm that a coupled nonlinear resonance traps beam particles on a four-dimensional closed curve. This finding allows the development of mitigation strategies.

A mechanism for the phase transition of charge density wave states via the generation and proliferation of topological defects with opposite phase windings is demonstrated in a heavy-fermion superconductor.

Exploring and exploiting electric dipole arrangements analogously to what is possible with magnetic spin textures is an emerging prospect. Now a spontaneous toroidal polar topology is observed in ferroelectric liquid crystals.

An error detecting code running on a trapped-ion quantum computer protects expressive circuits of eight logical qubits with a high-fidelity and partially fault-tolerant implementation of a universal gate set.

Reliably probing rejuvenation and memory effects in spin glasses by means of simulations is difficult. Now, a state-of-the-art numerical study shows that at least three different length scales play a crucial role in aging dynamics of spin glasses.

The shape and trajectory of a crack plays a crucial role in material fracture. High-precision experiments now directly capture this phenomenon, unveiling the intricate 3D nature of cracks.