Issues

The technique has yielded the most detailed picture to date of the subsurface flows that circulate plasma between the Sun’s equator and poles.

At the right size scale, a brittle substance becomes strong and springy.

Previously limited to systems with a mere dozen or so atoms, coupled-cluster theory can now manage hundreds.

The world-scale nuclear disaster needs to be addressed by worldwide expertise, critics say.

With interest in artificial climate intervention heating up, advocates and foes agree on the need for a governance regime to sanction experimental trials.

Online platforms offer more control over the publishing process, but no editorial peer review.

Nuclear weaponeers look toward exascale computing, but major breakthroughs in power consumption, handling of massive data sets, and other areas are needed first.

New insights into how Earth’s magnetic field has been sustained for billions of years closely link the planet’s core and mantle in the dynamo process.

The solid iron ball at the center of our planet helps power Earth’s magnetic field and may record a billion years of geological activity in the deep interior.

Among its many accomplishments, the world’s largest single-dish telescope has detailed properties of the ionosphere, spotted the first planets discovered outside our solar system, and helped confirm the general theory of relativity.

Physicists and colleagues from various disciplines are just beginning to study how organisms and robots move within and on granular media. An old theory from fluid mechanics can help guide them.