Institute of World Literature

William Phillips, who shared the Nobel Prize for Physics for his work on laser cooling, talks to Margaret Harris about his life in science, the weirdness of entanglement, and the future of quantum tech.

The 2025 Nobel Prize for Physics has gone to John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis for the discovery of macroscopic tunnelling, as Hamish Johnston and Michael Banks report

Hamish Johnston reviews Do Aliens Speak Physics? by Daniel Whiteson and Andy Warner.

Sarah Tesh reviews Light: the Extraordinary Energy That Illuminates Our World by Jess Wade, illustrated by Ana Sanfelippo

Jim Gates talks to Margaret Harris about the discoveries he can tick off his “theorist’s bucket list”, adds some new ones, and delves into the state of science and society in the US today.

A new retinal stimulation technique called Oz, developed by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, lets people see colours that lie beyond the natural range of human vision.

Nadya Mason is dean of the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) at the University of Chicago, US, where her research into quantum materials focuses on the electronic properties of nanoscale and correlated systems, including nanoscale wires, atomically thin membranes and nanostructured superconductors. Elected to both the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021, she also received the American Physical Society’s Edward A Bouchet Award in 2020, which recognizes distinguished physicists from underrepresented communities who have made significant contributions to physics research and to the advancement of minority scientists.

Margaret Harris reviews It’s a Gas: the Magnificent and Elusive Elements that Expand Our World by Mark Miodownik.

Medical physicist Lee Xu from the New York Proton Center in the US has used beams of protons to recreate a series of well-known paintings using intensity-modulated proton therapy.

The Nobel Prize-winning materials scientist John Goodenough, who pioneered the development of lithium-ion batteries, has died at the age of 100.