Issues
From the Editor
Readers’ Forum
Search and Discovery
Cold-atom lattice bends topological rules
In a periodically driven system, exotic phases can form that have no static counterparts.
An Alaskan volcano, climate change, and the history of ancient Rome
In the first century BCE, political instability set the Roman Republic on edge. Researchers have found evidence of an eruption that may have catalyzed the republic’s end.
Mechanically stressed phytoplankton light up
The bioluminescent intensity depends on the rate and amplitude of the microorganism’s deformation.
Issues and Events
Cats and llamas could offer a path to coronavirus therapies
Computation and experimentation also yield possible therapeutic compounds for COVID-19.
Particle physicists hash out long-term strategy for Europe
Among the goals are to pick a Higgs factory, carry out R&D on accelerators and detectors, conduct feasibility studies, and improve environmental sustainability.
Articles
Dawn of the topological age?
Nontrivial electron band structures may enable a new generation of functional materials.
Finnish–Soviet nuclear icebreakers
During the Cold War, Eastern and Western manufacturers found good reasons to collaborate, even on a technology as sensitive as nuclear vessels.
Graphene gets bent
Two-dimensional nanomaterials are bending the rules of the papercraft known as kirigami.
Books
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Obituaries
Eleanor Margaret Burbidge
George Trilling
Quick Study
Juno at Jupiter
A NASA spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter is yielding new and surprising information about our solar system’s dominant planet.