How forces are temporally coordinated during embryo development is unclear. Now two types of morphology are possible in a developing organoid and the final morphology depends on the system history.

The pairing mechanism in kagome superconductors is still not fully understood. Now, CsV₃Sb₅, which belongs to this family, is shown to have orbital-selective pairing with two distinct superconducting domes that are not separated by any phase boundary.

Early positioning of the embryo nuclei is not well understood. Now, experiments show that the orientation of the mitotic spindle is controlled by topological interactions, which determine whether the nucleus remains inside the Drosophila embryo.

Many single cells rely on beating cilia and flagella to move. Now it is shown that the core of these appendages twists to generate the torsion waves responsible for three-dimensional motion.

The renormalization group is a powerful tool to study the universal properties of physical systems. A diffusion-based renormalization scheme now enables the study of scale invariance and universality in higher-order complex networks.

The central maximum of a diffraction pattern is commonly used to resolve point-like scatterers. Now spatial resolution far below the diffraction limit is achieved by using the scattering minima.

We highlight recent developments at the journal, with new editors joining the team and the roll-out of a platform to facilitate the peer review of code.

Even a child intuitively understands the cold of winter or the heat of a hot summer day. However, when it comes to a scientific definition of temperature, things get murky quickly. As Aaron Hui explains, measuring electrical noise is one way to measure temperature directly.

Recent advances in classifying magnets according to spin-group symmetry have expanded the possibilities of unconventional magnetism. Unconventional magnets — such as collinear spin-split antiferromagnets, also known as altermagnets, noncollinear spin-split antiferromagnets and anomalous-Hall antiferromagnets — combine the advantages of ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism.

To kick off the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, we highlight recent progress in the use of quantum simulators to tackle problems in high-energy physics and cosmology.