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Continuous time crystals are phases of matter that spontaneously break continuous time-translation symmetry and have been realised in non-equilibrium systems. Here the authors couple a continuous time crystal formed by magnon Bose-Einstein condensate in superfluid 3He to an oscillator and show that the coupled system obeys the optomechanical Hamiltonian.

UTe₂ is a proposed intrinsic topological superconductor, but its quasiparticle surface band has not yet been visualized. Now this is achieved using quasiparticle interference imaging, revealing the symmetry of the superconducting order parameter.

An ensemble of spins from nitrogen–vacancy centres in diamonds is prepared in a spin-squeezed state.

Studies of Bloch oscillations in many-body systems remain limited due to their interaction-induced damping. Now, such oscillations have been observed in a solitonic wave packet of atoms in a Bose gas at the mesoscopic scale.

Scanning dielectric microscopy of nanocapillaries filled with water reveals that interfacial and strongly confined water exhibits a large in-plane dielectric constant and an in-plane conductivity approaching superionic values. 

Parity-time symmetry breaking and related non-Hermitian phenomena, such as high-order exceptional points, have attracted significant interest across various experimental platforms. Here the authors demonstrate a third-order exceptional point induced by parity-time symmetry breaking in a dissipative trapped ion.

Lithium-ion batteries rely on lithium diffusion within particles, traditionally assumed to follow concentration gradients. Here, authors use X-ray microscopy to track lithium movement in single particles, discovering that lithium can move against concentration gradients due to strain effects.

We report direct measurement of repulsive van der Waals forces on suspended graphene using atomic force microscopy. The strong repulsive forces substantially lower the wettability of suspended graphene.

Reframing of arousal as a latent dynamical system can reconstruct multidimensional measurements of large-scale spatiotemporal brain dynamics on the timescale of seconds in mice.

The temporal characterization of few-femtosecond vacuum ultraviolet pulses bring new opportunities for investigating ultrafast light-matter interactions.

By leveraging microcavity-integrated photonics and Kerr-induced optical frequency division, an integrated photonic millimetre-wave oscillator with low phase noise is demonstrated, achieving –77 dBc Hz^–1 and –121 dBc Hz^–1, respectively, at 100-Hz and 10-kHz offset frequencies, corresponding to –98 dBc Hz^–1 and –142 dBc Hz^–1 when scaled to a 10-GHz carrier.

Tumour-antigen-pulsed mature dendritic cells (DC) have not been as efficient for cancer therapy as hoped to be, due to their sub-optimal antigen-presentation and migration capacities. Here the authors utilise DC progenitors, constitutively expressing IL-12 and an engineered extracellular vesicle-internalizing receptor (EVIR), which give rise to mature conventional type 1 DCs with improved antigen presenting capacities, resulting in improved anti-tumour immunity in a mouse model of melanoma.

The authors study a disordered β-Ta film, finding that quasiparticle recombination is governed by the phonon scattering time, which is faster than conventional recombination in ordered superconductors. The authors interpret the results in terms of quasiparticle localization, which helps to understand the quasiparticle relaxation in disordered superconducting circuits.

It has been proposed that phonons propagating through a material can be used for quantum computing, in a similar manner to photons. Now, several of the quantum gates and measurements needed for this approach have been demonstrated.

Using a virtual reality apparatus in rats that dissociates external landmarks from self-motion cues, the authors describe how the two modes of theta phase coding in the hippocampus during navigation are controlled via distinct computations.

Multi-template PCR enables parallel DNA amplification but suffers from sequence-specific biases. Here, the authors develop a 1D-CNN model predicting amplification efficiency directly from the DNA sequence and discover adapter-mediated self-priming as a key cause of uneven amplification during PCR.

An Fe^III/V redox mechanism in Li₄FeSbO₆ on delithiation without Fe^IV or oxygen formation with resistance to aging, high operating potential and low voltage hysteresis is demonstrated, with implications for Fe-based high-voltage applications.

Giardini et al. present an imaging method that combines quantitative measurements of cardiac electrophysiology with high-resolution three-dimensional structural reconstructions, enabling the detection of arrhythmogenic electrical coupling between cardiomyocytes and non-myocytes in murine hearts.

In a quantum simulation of a (2+1)D lattice gauge theory using a superconducting quantum processor, the dynamics of strings reveal the transition from deconfined to confined excitations as the effective electric field is increased.

A topological phase of light emerges in dynamically driven nonlinear photonic crystals.

2D superlattices of colloidal quantum dots are challenging to fabricate over large areas without cracks. Here, Pinna et al. demonstrate how applying lateral pressure during self-assembly of PbS quantum dots improves order and coverage, enabling large-area, crack-free films with high electron mobility.

Perturbations to strongly lensed galaxy light in very long baseline interferometric imaging reveal a dark and unusually low-mass object at redshift z ≈ 0.9.

The detection of the auroral footprint of Jupiter’s moon Callisto is challenging, but a shift in Jupiter’s bright main auroral oval could provide an opportunity for potential detections. Here, the authors show observation of the ultraviolet footprint of Callisto using Juno spacecraft data, benefiting from such opportunity.

When stars like our Sun die, they expel their outer layers in a dramatic stellar wind. This study of an unusual chemical signature in one particular stellar wind reveals that the signature is due to the presence of a binary system whose components had a close approach around 200 years ago.

Systems with strong photon-photon interactions enable advanced quantum optical applications as well as the study of highly correlated light-matter states. Here the authors report strong coupling between single- and two-photon states in a superconducting circuit, enabling a new regime of nonlinear quantum optics.

Understanding charge storage in supercapacitors remains a challenge. Here, authors use operando X-ray scattering to show that selective anion immobilization in MOF-based electrodes leads to a cation-driven charge storage mechanism.

There are many quantum systems that act as high-quality quantum harmonic oscillators, and they can be used to store quantum information using the Gottesman–Kitaev–Preskill code. Entangling gates have now been demonstrated between two of these qubits.

The quark structure of the f₀(980) hadron is still unknown after 50 years of its discovery. Here, the CMS Collaboration reports a measurement of the elliptic flow of the f₀(980) state in proton-lead collisions at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of 8.16 TeV, providing strong evidence that the state is an ordinary meson.

Methods for generating macroscopic chiral matter struggle with limited scalability. Here, the authors show two vacuum filtration methods - twist stacking and mechanical rotation - to align carbon nanotubes into chiral structures at wafer scale with tunable circular dichroism.

Beck et al. develop a model where striosomes create a flexible “decision-space” that adapts to environmental context and internal state. It explains how we make choices and why decision-making varies between people, and in neuropsychiatric disorders.

Satellite observations over the Greenland Ice Sheet reveal a destructive mode of meltwater drainage whereby a subglacial flood induced by the rapid drainage of a subglacial lake burst through the surface, fracturing the ice sheet.

Beading combines soft, compliant threads with discrete, rigid elements to make architected materials. Here, authors show how geometry, tension, and friction together enable programmable shape and tunable mechanical behavior.

The hydrogen plasma-enabled reduction mechanisms of iron oxide, including reducing species and the rate-controlling process, are identified by observing real-time magnetite nanoparticle morphology changes via nanoscale operando plasma TEM.

Digital quantum simulations of Kitaev’s honeycomb model are realized for two-dimensional fermionic systems using a reconfigurable atom-array processor and used to study the Fermi–Hubbard model on a square lattice.

Neuromorphic computing mimics brain efficiency but lacks theoretical guidance. Here, authors develop a computational foundation for processing signals in space and time in spiking neural networks that can outperform standard neural networks in event-based vision.

Resonant inelastic X-ray scattering can be used to measure the spin current carried by magnons in the presence of temperature gradients across a magnetic insulator.

Tunable chiroptical structures are of extensive interest. Here, the authors show designs and experimental implementations of a programmable, scalable chiroptical heterostructure containing twisted aligned carbon nanotubes and phase change materials.

The noisy dynamics of biological neurons is vital for cognition, but artificial neurons failed to replicate it. Here, the authors show that neurons built with diffusive memristors can emulate the balance of stochastic and deterministic activity in biological neurons, while surpassing them in computational efficiency.

Saccadic eye movements during free viewing exhibit patterns that reflect a strategy to increase neural responses by matching motor behavior with the statistics of the natural world and with the processing limitations of sensory systems.

Label-free and non-destructive infrared near-field microscopy was used to investigate single nanoscale photoswitchable lipid vesicles in water, revealing their chemistry, switching speed and shape transitions below the diffraction limit of light.

Observations of the shape, topography, crustal thickness and surface composition of the South Pole–Aitken impact basin on the Moon suggest a southward impact trajectory and the excavation of a discontinuous remnant magma ocean from beneath the crust.

The spontaneous breaking of chiral symmetry in ferroelectric nematic systems has opened new avenues for exploring exotic textures in liquid crystalline ferromagnets. Authors reveal that the polar smectic phase coexisting with a chiral ferroelectric nematic is itself helical, exhibits pseudo-ferrielectric switching, and shows both first- and second-order helix formation, with pre-transitional helices emerging in the nematic phase.

Posterior parietal cortex supports visual categorization in macaque monkeys. Here, the authors quantify low-dimensional neural population activity using tensor regression to find that long term training history impacts encoding of categorization.

Aggregates of misfolded proteins are sequestered in the aggresome via dynein transport in an aggregate size-dependent manner. Here, authors find episodic transport kinetics mediated by aggresome-dynein adapters are central to this size-filter effect.

Harmonic measurements have been used extensively in ferromagnetic/heavy metal heterostructures to characterize the magnetization dynamic; however, it has remained unclear about whether such techniques could be applied to antiferromagnetic devices. Here, Cheng et al demonstrate such a harmonic measurement approach in an antiferromagnet.

Bloch wavefunctions of two types of hole in gallium arsenide are reconstructed by measuring the polarization of light emitted by collisions of electrons and holes accelerated by a terahertz laser.