Volume 7 Issue 10, October 2025

Julia Hannukainen reports on the Grete Hermann Network workshop in condensed matter physics that took place at the University of Würzburg, Germany, from 30 June to 2 July 2025.

Half a century ago, two theoretical papers were published that together sparked major new directions — conceptual, mathematical and practically applicable — in several previously disparate fields of science. In this Comment, the authors of one of those papers expose key aspects of the thinking behind them, their implementations and implications, along with sketches of several subsequent and consequential developments.

99 years ago, the 1925 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded — one year late — to James Franck and Gustav Ludwig Hertz.

80 years ago, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Wolfgang Pauli.

60 years ago, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Julian Schwinger and Richard Feynman.

40 years ago, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Klaus von Klitzing.

20 years ago, the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Roy Jay Glauber, Theodor Wolfgang Hänsch and John Lewis Hall.

Most bacteria exist in dense aggregates, yet this lifestyle is relatively poorly understood compared with planktonic cultures. This Review explores biophysical models of aggregate development, and how models can be extended to account for the complex behaviours of single-species and multispecies colonies.

Point defects can have a critical influence on carrier dynamics and ion migration in metal halide perovskites. This Review surveys recent understandings of point defects and discusses new insights into defect tolerance in these materials.

The Tomonaga–Luttinger liquid framework can be used to describe 1D quantum systems, spanning fermions, bosons and anyons. In this Review, we discuss the various platforms that can host TLL states, including Josephson junctions, cold atoms and topological materials, and discuss the advances TLL theory can provide in quantum criticality, nonequilibrium dynamics and condensed-matter physics exploration.

Tensor networks provide a powerful tool for understanding and improving quantum computing. This Technical Review discusses applications in simulation, circuit synthesis, error correction and mitigation, and quantum machine learning.