Volume 21 Issue 4, April 2025

Last-author papers are vital to the career advancement of researchers in many physics subfields. We present data on the underrepresentation of women as last authors in Nature Physics and discuss the implications.

On average, physics students who identify as men perceive themselves more strongly as ‘physics people’ than students who are women. Varying internalization of peer recognition better explains gender differences than biases in received recognition.

Controlled dissipation enables the extraction of equilibrium properties of ultracold one-dimensional gases through the observation of anomalous dynamics.

Two studies reveal that twisted MoTe₂ hosts multiple topological flat bands, mimicking Landau levels without a magnetic field. These topological correlated states may enable non-Abelian excitations and advances in quantum computation.

Measurements on quantum particles produce random outcomes whose correlations can sometimes never be explained by classical physics. The complete set of possible quantum correlations for two particles under two measurements has now been identified.

Microbubbles exposed to ultrasound generate cyclic jets that create pores in cellular membranes and bore tunnels through cell junctions.

The transition from single cells to multicellularity is a key but not well-understood step in animal evolution. A study shows that loosely-organized colonies of attached single-celled organisms can improve feeding through hydrodynamic cooperation.

Cells take on specific fates during development based on cues, which can be genetic or mechanical. Now it is shown that the decision of cell nuclei to either migrate to the outer cortex or remain internalized in fruit fly embryos depends on topology.

Spherical aggregates of mouse stem cells exhibit symmetry breaking by forming an elongated axis. This extension is driven by a recirculating Marangoni-like tissue flow, providing insights into the tissue mechanics underlying embryonic development.

Finding ground states of quantum many-body systems is difficult for both classical and quantum computers. However, their local minima can be efficiently found on a quantum computer using thermal perturbations, which is still hard classically.

We have tested key modelling assumptions of intestinal organoid morphogenesis via biophysical and pharmacological experiments. We have found that mechano-sensitive feedback on cytoskeletal tension gives rise to morphological bistability, and that the same mechanical perturbation can have drastically different effects on morphogenesis depending on the timing of application. This multicellular bistability can provide robustness to developmental systems.

Quantum electrodynamics (QED) is a cornerstone of the standard model of particle physics. A decade-long effort to simulate QED on a two-dimensional lattice has now succeeded — through the use of a trapped-ion quantum computer based on multidimensional ‘qudits’, which are uniquely suited to the challenge.

The degree to which students perceive recognition as a physics person from their peers is known to be important. Now, women report lower perceived peer recognition than men, even after controlling for the amount of peer recognition received.

Although traditionally considered an obstacle to the study of quantum effects, dissipation has now been shown to enable the measurement of strong quantum fluctuations in one-dimensional atomic gases.

Electron qubits in solid-state systems often couple to nuclear spins in the surrounding material, causing decoherence. Now, nuclear spins in silicon have been put into a dark state, which could improve qubit coherence for quantum applications.

It may be possible to find non-Abelian electronic states in the higher bands of flat-band materials. Now a detailed transport study of the second moiré band of twisted bilayer MoTe₂ maps out several topological and magnetic states.

In analogy with quantum Hall systems, it may be possible to find non-abelian anyons in the higher bands of Chern insulators. Now, the phase diagram of the second moiré band of twisted MoTe₂ is explored, laying the groundwork for such investigations.

The pairing mechanism in kagome superconductors is still not fully understood. Now, CsV₃Sb₅, which belongs to this family, is shown to have orbital-selective pairing with two distinct superconducting domes that are not separated by any phase boundary.

Fermi polarons are quasiparticles formed by impurities immersed in a Fermi gas. An experiment in an ultracold fermionic gas now shows how to control their properties with a tunable radio-frequency field.

Qubit-based simulations of gauge theories are challenging as gauge fields require high-dimensional encoding. Now a quantum electrodynamics model has been demonstrated using trapped-ion qudits, which encode information in multiple states of ions.

A complete theoretical understanding of many simple problems in quantum physics is still lacking, especially when entanglement is involved. Now the full set of possible observations has been established for a minimal scenario of shared entanglement.

Nodes in a quantum network must be able to interface with photonic qubits as well as perform local quantum computations. The quantum node device presented here is capable of storing quantum information and correcting bit-flip errors.

Ultrasound-driven microbubbles are promising candidates for drug delivery, but the mechanism of action is unclear. Now, single microbubbles induce drug uptake through cyclic microjets formed at mild ultrasound pressures via interfacial instability.

Many single cells rely on beating cilia and flagella to move. Now it is shown that the core of these appendages twists to generate the torsion waves responsible for three-dimensional motion.

How forces are temporally coordinated during embryo development is unclear. Now two types of morphology are possible in a developing organoid and the final morphology depends on the system history.

The flow features of cell monolayers depend on cellular interactions. Now four different types of cell monolayer are shown to exhibit robust conformal invariance that belongs to the percolation universality class.

How unicellular organisms evolved into multicellular ones is an open question. Now, using unicellular Stentor coeruleus as a model system, the transition between isolated individuals and a coordinated colony is shown to benefit all colony members.

Early positioning of the embryo nuclei is not well understood. Now, experiments show that the orientation of the mitotic spindle is controlled by topological interactions, which determine whether the nucleus remains inside the Drosophila embryo.

During the development of multi-cellular animals, biochemical signals control the organization of cells to set up body axes. In mouse embryonic stem cell aggregates, tissue flows are now found to amplify the formation of such body axes.

In general, it is difficult to identify the global energy minimum of a many-body system. Now, it has been shown that finding even local minima is difficult classically but efficiently achievable with a quantum computer.

The renormalization group is a powerful tool to study the universal properties of physical systems. A diffusion-based renormalization scheme now enables the study of scale invariance and universality in higher-order complex networks.

It has been proposed that the equilibration time of many-body systems is limited by a timescale determined by Planck’s constant and temperature. A bound of this kind has now been identified for a universal definition of equilibration time.

In addition to photovoltaics, wind turbines are among the most powerful renewable energy sources. Thorsten Schrader and Frank Härtig outline the challenges for metrology.