Many important models in theoretical physics — including the standard model of particle physics — are governed by local ‘gauge’ symmetries. Now, a quantum computer has successfully simulated a lattice gauge theory by leveraging this rich symmetry structure.

In a cancer mouse model, wrinkling patterns in bladder-lining tissue differ from their healthy counterparts. Changes in tissue-mechanical properties that alter elastic buckling instabilities explain this observation.

Realizing a useful quantum advantage on noisy intermediate-scale quantum hardware is challenging. A proposal now suggests a hybrid digital–analogue hardware-efficient approach for reconfigurable qubit platforms to simulate strongly interacting matter.

Free-electron quantum optics is an emerging field that requires a quantum-mechanical description of both the electronic and the optical contributions. This Perspective summarizes recent developments and discusses challenges and opportunities.

Antihydrogen is the simplest atom of pure antimatter. Measurements of a pair of ultraviolet spectral lines with laser spectroscopy provide stringent bounds on the magnitude by which a symmetry between matter and antimatter may be violated.

Large-scale quantum simulations of gauge theories are relevant to high-energy and condensed matter physics. This Review covers recent developments in simulating lattice gauge theories using cold atoms.

Energetic ions in nuclear fusion devices influence the behaviour of modes at the plasma edge, potentially increasing the risk for particle losses and damage to the device. This introduces additional challenges for the development of fusion reactors.

Solid-state electrolytes with high ionic conductivity are promising candidates for battery applications. Experiments in one of these materials now reveal a mechanism that mediates ionic diffusivity and mirrors the vibrational properties of liquids.

Among weakly interacting bosons, quantum fluctuations are akin to those of harmonic oscillators, and they manifest themselves through positive correlations between particles of opposite momenta. A quantum-gas experiment reveals that, by cranking up the interactions, these correlations are suppressed, and hence that quantum fluctuations become strong and anharmonic.

Collectives of self-driven particles display a plethora of behaviours that are gradually being discovered. Experiments with rotating particles in intermediate Reynolds flow now harness a mostly unexplored inertial regime for synthetic active matter.

Macroscopic fluid dynamics is usually thought to emerge from vast numbers of microscopic particles. Now, fluid-like behaviour has been observed in systems of startlingly few atoms.

In systematic studies of radioactive isotopes, the so-called islands of inversion appear to be promising areas of the nuclear chart in which to look for phenomena that challenge the traditional description of the atomic nucleus.

In a device comprising two double quantum dots separated by a 250-μm-long superconducting resonator, virtual photons in the resonator are shown to mediate the coupling of electron spins between the quantum dots. When the spin–spin coupling is activated for a controlled duration, oscillations between the spins are observed.

The strange-metal state that develops close to a quantum critical point in strongly correlated electron systems is not well understood. This Review summarizes how the notion of Kondo destruction can describe much of the experimental phenomenology.

Quantum geometry gives rise to many fascinating phenomena in solids that go beyond Landau theory. A general framework is now introduced to measure the quantum geometric tensor in solids — a fundamental physical quantity that encodes the complete geometric information of the Bloch state.

Experimental evidence of nematic-fluctuation-mediated superconductivity has been observed in an iron-based superconductor near the quantum critical point.

Filamentary eruptions from the plasma edge in fusion devices pose a critical threat to their integrity. The identification of magnetic islands at the top of the edge explains how these eruptions are suppressed by resonant magnetic perturbations.