Quantum mechanics is one of the most successful theories in science ' and makes much of modern life possible. Technologies ranging from computer chips to medical-imaging machines rely on the application of equations, first sketched out a century ago, that describe the behaviour of objects at the microscopic scale. At an event to mark the 100th anniversary of quantum mechanics last month, lauded specialists in quantum physics argued politely ' but firmly ' about the issue. 'There is no quantum world,' said physicist Anton Zeilinger, at the University of Vienna, outlining his view that quantum states exist only in his head and that they describe information, rather than reality. 'I disagree,' replied Alain Aspect, a physicist at the University of Paris-Saclay, who shared the 2022 Nobel prize with Zeilinger for work on quantum phenomena. To gain a snapshot of how the wider community interprets quantum physics in its centenary year, Nature carried out the largest ever survey on the subject. We e-mailed more than 15,000 researchers whose recent papers involved quantum mechanics, and also invited attendees of the centenary meeting, held on the German island of Heligoland, to take the survey....

'Faster, mommy, faster!' Allison's toddler squealed as she ran down the hill by her house with her jogging stroller. As a longtime runner and running biomechanics researcher, she found herself in the same situation as many parents of young children: squeezing in runs between work meetings, meal prep and nap schedules. The two of us ' Allison Altman Singles and Joe Mahoney ' are professors and biomechanics researchers interested in how running form affects injury risk. Together, we founded the Biomechanics and Gait Evaluation Laboratory, or BaGEL, at Penn State Berks. Biomechanics is the science of how the body moves ' blending biology and physics to understand how muscles, bones and joints work together like a machine. Allison's experience with stroller running raised questions we couldn't find clear answers to in the research ' so we brought these questions into the lab. For the past four years, we've been studying how running with a stroller affects gait and the risk of overuse injuries....

In 1896, the Swedish physicist Svante Arrhenius realized that carbon dioxide (CO2) traps heat in Earth's atmosphere'the phenomenon now called the greenhouse effect. Since then, increasingly sophisticated modern climate models have verified Arrhenius' central conclusion: that every time the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere doubles, Earth's temperature will rise between 2 and 5 degrees Celsius. First, in 2022, physicists settled a dispute over the origin of the 'logarithmic scaling' of the greenhouse effect. That refers to the way Earth's temperature increases the same amount in response to any doubling of CO2, no matter the raw numbers. Then, this spring, a team led by Robin Wordsworth of Harvard University figured out why the CO2 molecule is so good at trapping heat in the first place. The researchers identified a strange quirk of the molecule's quantum structure that explains why it's such a powerful greenhouse gas'and why pumping more carbon into the sky drives climate change. The findings appeared in The Planetary Science Journal....

Over a remarkable career spanning nearly six decades at the Institute, Connor was a prolific scholar and highly respected mentor to several generations of students, many of whom now hold notable positions in academia and industry around the world. His earliest research contributed to the pioneering numerical methods widely used today in structural engineering, such as the finite element method, and was also an early pioneer of the boundary element method. In addition, Connor was the lead proponent of the technical discipline referred to as motion-based design, which is based on limiting displacements against earthquake effects by means of structural control. His leadership role in the application of numerical methods to structural engineering led to significant advances in the numerical simulation of structural and material behavior. 'He was well-known for his intellectual leadership, exceptional dedication to the department, and extraordinary mentoring of students, faculty, and staff,' says Oral Buyukozturk, the George Macomber Professor in Construction Management, who first met Connor when he was an adjunct associate professor at Brown University and was invited to lecture at MIT....