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US scientific societies condemn racism in the wake of George Floyd death

Protests have erupted in the US following the killing of Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer

Hubble at 30: how NASA’s telescope went from ‘techno-turkey’ to iconic observatory

The Hubble Space Telescope almost single-handedly transformed astronomical research and altered the public’s perception of space. After 30 years, attention is turning to its succ...

Critical research hit as COVID-19 forces physics labs to close

Major labs have shut their doors in response to the worldwide lockdown, but a few remain open and in some cases are carrying out critical work related to the COVID-19 pandemic

Condensed-matter physics pioneer Philip Anderson dies aged 96

Nobel laureate made many contributions to physics from high-temperature superconductivity to particle physics

An artist's impression of the ExoMars rover on the surface of Mars.

Mars rover launch delayed until 2022

Coronavirus outbreak called "the straw that broke the camel's back" after glitches with the rover's parachutes and electronics

American Physical Society cancels April Meeting due to coronavirus pandemic

Annual gathering of particle physicists will now be held as an online "virtual" event

Science in a digital world

To celebrate 30 years since Tim Berners-Lee first proposed the idea of a World Wide Web, this special collection explores how scientists are exploiting digital technologies to understand online behaviour and drive research progress

Research updates

Tissue engineering moves closer to 3D printing inside the body

A specially formulated bioink combined with a robotic interlocking mechanism pave the way towards 3D printing of living tissue directly in patients

Bose–Einstein condensate is made onboard the International Space Station

Fifth state of matter has distinctive features when created in orbit

Graphene-based strain sensor can detect a feather’s touch

Nanomaterials in highly flexible polymer can make a wide range of strain measurements

Microbe-killing short-wavelength UV radiation produced by LEDs

Practical device could kill microbes safely and effectively on skin and in the nose and throat

Entanglement gets hot and messy

Contrary to expectations, this fragile quantum-mechanical phenomenon can survive at high temperatures and in a very chaotic environment

App for low-cost smartphones can diagnose malaria

Smartphone app uses deep learning to detect malaria parasites in blood samples

Features

hovering 3D image at the University of Bristol

Making images with sound

Floating visual displays created using acoustically levitated particles could lead to galleries of singing heads. Michael Allen investigates

Why ultrafast detection is ultra-good

Charalampos Tsoumpas explains why our ability to track gamma rays emitted just picoseconds apart could lead to new medical-imaging devices

The potential of far-ultraviolet light for the next pandemic

Recent research suggests that a small range of light at far-ultraviolet wavelengths could be safe for humans but deadly to viruses. Jon Cartwright investigates

Powerful blue lasers are a better choice for welding.

The blue solution

Powerful blue lasers are producing the high-quality copper welds needed to make batteries for electric vehicles, as Richard Stevenson reports

Plastic that doesn’t cost the Earth

With the pressure on to reduce our plastic pollution, scientists and innovators are developing new methods of reusing, retrieving and recycling. Anna Demming investigates

The search for the missing plastic

There are millions of tonnes of plastic in our oceans, but we can’t find it. Marric Stephens investigates how we’re searching for this elusive missing waste