A new model of epidemics describes infections as part of a feedback loop—an approach that might one day help optimize interventions such as social distancing and lockdowns.

The observation of quantum modifications to a well-known chemical law could lead to performance improvements for quantum information storage.

An extension of a magnetic imaging technique with soft X-rays provides access to samples much thicker than previously possible, with potential impacts across a wide variety of fundamental and applied research efforts.

A new theory that accounts for disorder in a protein’s structure sheds light on the development inside a cell of tiny droplets that are vital to a cell’s function.

A machine-learning framework predicts when a complex system, such as an ecosystem or a power grid, will undergo a critical transition.

A liquid-like spreading of metal atoms on a topological material can generate a superconductor—one that might benefit quantum computing.

A simple model based on network theory can reproduce the complex structures seen in urban transportation networks.

A new technique for measuring the magnetic properties of metals within cells provides a powerful tool for studying how metal accumulation in cells leads to certain diseases.

Statistical properties of fluctuations of certain parameters describing a complex system can reveal when that system is approaching a tipping point.

Group theory and first-principles calculations combine to predict which antiferromagnets have potentially useful net surface magnetization.

Researchers discovered a trick for dragging an object in a fluid with minimal effort.

In its superconducting state, an exotic metal harbors charge carriers that appear to have 4 and 6 times the charge of a single electron, suggesting the formation of Cooper-pair “molecules.”

Researchers record the longest Rydberg-atom lifetime by placing strontium atoms in “circular” states, where the outer electrons move in planet-like orbits.

A proposed experiment could bring scientists closer to answering the long-standing question of whether gravity is a classical or a quantum phenomenon.

A numerical investigation has revealed a surprising correspondence between a lattice spin model and a quantum field theory.

A new model describes the population of black hole binaries without assumptions on the shape of their distribution—a capability that could boost the discovery potential of gravitational-wave observations.

A theoretical study of self-assembly finds that hexagon-shaped building blocks can form large structures faster than triangular or square blocks.

A new theoretical framework for plastic neural networks predicts dynamical regimes where synapses rather than neurons primarily drive the network’s behavior, leading to an alternative candidate mechanism for working memory in the brain.

Researchers have realized a recently proposed qubit in which the errors mostly involve erasure of the qubit state, an advance that could help simplify the architecture of fault-tolerant quantum computers.

The motions within the molecule provide a new way to compare the structures and functions of similar proteins.

Researchers have measured a zero-resistance state for the nickelate La${}_3$Ni${}_2$O${}_7$, which measurements suggest may superconduct at temperatures above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen.

Experiments demonstrate some of the unusual features of molecular reactions that occur in the deep cold of interstellar space.

Researchers have determined the amount of transverse orbital angular momentum that a type of optical vortex carries per photon, an important step for future applications.

New theoretical work establishes an analogy between systems that are dynamically frustrated, such as glasses, and thermodynamic systems whose members have conflicting goals, such as predator–prey ecosystems.

Collisions of heavy ions briefly produced a magnetic field 10${}^{18}$ times stronger than Earth’s, and it left observable effects.