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Physicist Ranga Dias and his colleagues have twice claimed to make a room-temperature superconductor. But many researchers question the evidence.

A step toward laser fusion / Mapping methane / Imaging vision’s chemistry / COVID-19 breathalyzer / Optical trapping near absolute zero / Toward zero-carbon cities / Singapore quantum network / Gender bias in labs / Photon recycling

Building continental-scale quantum communications links is an arduous task, but scientists believe they have the technology in hand.

Improving radiative cooling / DNA’s UV shield / Iridescent feathers / Lipid microlenses / Imaging cold atoms / Signify–Fluence deal / Apps for quantum computing / Sun-charged batteries / Imaging in low light

Climate-neutral fuel / Data storage / Lung phantoms / InGaN LEDs / Tudor relic / Photonics firm results / UK-US quantum agreement / Holographic lens for astronomy

Toward fault-tolerant quantum computing / Detecting solar-panel defects / Fluorescent dyes encode data / Low-noise LIGO mirror coatings / High-performance photodetectors / X-ray scattering / Europe’s quantum tech / Advancing lidar market / Cooking with lasers / Upgraded comb breathalyzer

Toward a graphene laser / Ultrahigh-definition volumetric display / Boosting LED efficiency / Hybrid perovskite-silicon solar cells / Measuring quantum entanglement dimension / LED streetlights could harm insects / Luminate 2021 winners / UK invests in laser weapons / Women and authorship disputes

Wearable UV sensors / Mid-IR imaging with a CCD / Syncing up atomic clocks / Ultrafast 5D imaging / Space–time quantum metasurfaces / Toward a hydrogen economy / Mass-market AR prospects / Faces of Optica / Lower-energy e-displays / Automating OCT

Diffractive optical elements / Deep brain imaging / Greenhouse gas detection / Cold-atom source / Liquid-crystal metalens / “Super laser” for taming lightning / Global transceiver market / Quantum cooling at LIGO

From earthquakes to smart cities, fiber can monitor systems in unprecedented detail.

COVID-19 drug screening / Single-photon lidar / Laser cooling antihydrogen / Imaging pearl’s structure / Visualizing wing sounds / An “agricomb” / Post-Brexit R&D / Far-field holographic endoscopes / Efficient organic solar cells

Second-order merons / Light-emitting tattoos / Improving synchrotron sources / Chemical reactions in time and space / VLT’s extrasolar search / Going public via SPAC / Survey explores online learning / Flexible terahertz imaging / Low-cost methane detection

Metamaterials for telescopes / Microrobotic laser surgery / Forensic OCT / Diamonds and quantum cryptography / Shaping THz pulses / Smart-city materials / Ph.D. immigration reform / 3D-printing glass

Efficient photon pairs / Imaging at atomic scales / QKD in fiber and space / Cephalopod skin / Spicy PSCs / Seven-octave light source / Lumentum seeks to buy Coherent / European photonic roadmap / Steam-powered CubeSats / Historical parchment

Fluorescent proteins / Fast all-silicon optical transmitter / Hollow-core fibers / Test of quantum advantage / AI on an optoelectronic chip / DARPA project eyes on-chip lasers / European quantum maps / Nanodiamonds for single photons / Mission: Mars

Toward attosecond science with industrial lasers / Plasma accelerator record / Testing face mask effectiveness / Lasers evaluate whisky / Hybrid PVs in space / Plastic in the oceans / Quantum workforce / Photorealistic nanopainting

Optical seismometer monitors volcano / Laser test of facemask / Quantum secret sharing / Machine learning / Quantum-dot nanopixels / Diode laser beginnings / Luminar Technologies merger / Display calibration puzzles / Spectroscopic cardiac imaging

Quantum technology poses a growing threat to online security. But it also provides a solution.

Light-based computers inspired by the human brain could transform machine learning—if they can be scaled up.

A chip to battle quantum hackers / Toward sustainable wearable tech / Underwater energy / Thin high-resolution camera / Accelerator doubles down / Modified LCDs test color vision / MOF-based broadband photodetector

Lasers illuminate high-energy-density matter / Casimir force demonstrated / Ionization in water / Slow light for solid-state lidar / A switch for making syngas / AI research and investment by the numbers / Lighting industry eyes mercury ban / CNT device IDs viruses

Despite much recent fanfare, quantum computers still need to show that they can do something useful.

Quantum optics meets enzyme biology / Machine-learning microscope / Fiber maps subsea faults / Cellulose-based optical fiber / Transparent solar cells / LEDs save sea turtles / Scientists return to China / Record sales for Zeiss / Optical tweezers for scattering media

Nanophotonic imager / Ultra-slow flows / Quantum record / Ancient bones / ASML EUV orders advance / Smart LEDs / Nanotweezers / Light teaches birds to sing

Having used them to look through rock, physicists are now exploiting muons to peer inside canisters of radioactive waste. The ability could prove very handy for nuclear inspectors, as Edwin Cartlidge reports

Atomic electrical components conduct just like conventional wires, giving a new lease of life to Moore's law.

Validation of long-predicted quantum effect points the way to thermal electronics.

European Space Agency sees flat funding for science but gears up for stronger ties with NASA on human spaceflight.

Radioactive decay anomaly could imply a new fundamental force, theorists say.

Everyday compound reported to conduct electricity without resistance at a record-high temperature, outstripping more exotic materials.

Physicists show how to encode three quantum bits using just two.

XENON1T could make history — or spell the end for 'supersymmetric' dark matter.

Thin films of copper and manganese made to behave like iron, cobalt or nickel.

Measurements show that hydrogen sulfide superconducts much closer to room temperature than other materials.

The Pope warns of “grave consequences” from unchecked warming.

Religious leaders and scientists prepare declaration that global warming must be addressed to protect humanity.

The search for the Higgs boson, as seen through Storify.

Independent studies plot fallout from Japanese nuclear disaster.

Doped graphite may superconduct at more than 100 ºC.

Spiralling radio waves could revolutionize telecommunications.

Armed with new kinds of atomic clocks, scientists are planning to overhaul the unit of time.

High-tech windows could soon be generating electricity, as well as saving on heating and cooling.

As robots enter our world, they must become aware of their surroundings. Optics and photonics will play a key role.

The values of the fundamental physical constants might not have been fixed at the universe’s outset but instead have changed over time through a process akin to biological evolution, believes a physicist in the UK.

The web of connected objects has so far failed to live up to its billing. But that should change.

Researchers have managed to confine the exotic fuel magnetically, but doubts remain over its potential as an energy source. Edwin Cartlidge investigates.

Some scientists claim they can control genetically engineered neurons using magnetic fields. Have they and the high-profile journals that published their research failed to understand basic physics? Edwin Cartlidge investigates

Industry has joined the race to build a universal quantum computer. But the task is daunting.

Military research centres that use giant lasers to study conditions inside nuclear warheads are increasingly opening their doors to university students. Edwin Cartlidge asks what the labs and the researchers have to gain from the arrangement

Do hydrogen and antihydrogen behave differently from each other? As Edwin Cartlidge reports, four groups of physicists housed inside a single building are vying to find out.