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Myriam Sarachik: how her work on the Kondo effect sparked a revolution in modern physics

Illustration of Jun Kondo and Myriam Sarachik with a representation of the Kondo effect between them

Quiz of the week: what is the name of the committee that seeks to get STEM-educated Democrats into office?

Have you been keeping up to date with physics news? Try our short quiz to find out

The impact of Venutian instabilities: a slide puzzle

Can you reconstruct the image of Venus in our interactive slide puzzle?

Opinion and reviews

The physics of weather, a literary look at gravity, plus philosophical takes on uncertainty and space exploration: micro reviews of recent books

set of 12 weather icons, from full sunshine through rain to snow

Industry should invest in developing and practising storytelling

Woman speaking into a microphone on stage in front of a large space photo

The unsavoury rise of ‘populist physics’: here’s how best to respond

Cartoon of two characters having an argument

Demon in the AI machine: bias, bad data and the burden of proof

Andrew Glester reviews the film Mercy, directed by Timur Bekmambetov

Illuminating, beautiful and disturbing: a photographic record of the Trinity atomic test

Margaret Harris reviews Trinity: an Illustrated History of the World’s First Atomic Test

The Bayeux Tapestry: how optical techniques have let this artwork come home

Honor Powrie celebrates the optical techniques that have digitized, restored and protected the Bayeux Tapestry

Tell us what science you need to know to be ‘cultured’

What ought a cultured human know of science? Robert P Crease seeks your ideas

Meet the demons: four mythical creatures that inhabit science

Scientists can learn a lot from diabolical creatures, Robert P Crease reveals

Soviet institutes, Martian neighbours, Whovian science, stellar patterns and dystopian predictions: micro reviews of recent books

Condensed natter: Physics World editors give their compressed verdicts on top new books

Celebrating the best of Critical Point

Critical Point has appeared in Physics World magazine since May 2000, written by science historian and philosopher Robert P Crease. Enjoy our pick of the best columns, which bring the perspective of an outsider looking in on the “workshop of science”.

illustration of a person sat at a desk using a typewriter

Features

C V Raman: the physicist with a ‘Himalayan ego’ who went to Stockholm convinced he’d win a Nobel prize

How scientific publishers are fighting back against fraudulent papermills

Hand typing on a laptop keyboard in low lighting

Theatre is bringing physics to new audiences but what is the definitive science play?

Isis Hainsworth on stage under interlocking rings and many small lights

Explore more in culture, history and society

Quiz of the week: what does a new study reveal about primordial black holes?

Have you been keeping up to date with physics news? Try our short quiz to find out

Artist's impression of a supermassive black hole

Word wave puzzle no.10

Can you work out the word in this puzzle, which relates to a recent Physics World article?

Quiz of the week: what happens to the structure and dynamics of the human genome under microgravity conditions?

Have you been keeping up to date with physics news? Try our short quiz to find out

Microscopy image showing elongated green blobs surrounded by wisps of purple

Quiz of the week: how many telescopes will eventually form the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory

Have you been keeping up to date with physics news? Try our short quiz to find out

History
Blog

When Doi met Peliti: physicists celebrate 50 years of the Doi-Peliti theory

A week-long meeting in Cambridge celebrated Masao Doi’s and Luca Peliti’s pioneering framework to study random processes

Delegates at a meeting about the Doi-Peliti theory

Word flower puzzle no. 9

How many words can you find in this puzzle?

**Quiz of the week: which star could help astronomers measure the spin of Sagittarius A*?**

Have you been keeping up to date with physics news? Try our short quiz to find out

Stars orbit the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*

Quiz of the week: how are researchers making weather predictions more accurate?

Have you been keeping up to date with physics news? Try our short quiz to find out

People
Blog

Abdus Salam: Pakistan’s first (and so far only) physics Nobel prize-winner

Matin Durrani looks at the work of Abdus Salam, who was born a century ago this year

Large photo of Abdus Salam at the entrance the main library at Imperial College

Word wave puzzle no.9

Can you work out the word in this puzzle, which relates to a recent Physics World article?

Nobel predictions, national firsts and the remarkable story of CV Raman

We chat about the Nobel Prize in Physics in this podcast

How long did it take for countries to claim a Nobel laureate?

Deciding where a prize winner is from can be tricky, but Hamish Johnston tries his best

Is this the year for a Nobel prize in condensed matter, or maybe particle physics?

We make our prize predictions for 2026

History
Blog

Did space weather delay a train in 1841?

It would have been the earliest example of space weather impacting human technology, but an international team of researchers found a slight problem

A photo of a steam engine pulling a train along the coast of Devon. Red cliffs and a greenish sea are visible in the foreground, while the background contains a golden field and blue water stretching into the distance

Quiz of the week: which site has been rejected for the Thirty Meter Telescope?

Have you been keeping up to date with physics news? Try our short quiz to find out

Quiz of the week: how long could a lunar city survive?

Have you been keeping up to date with physics news? Try our short quiz to find out

Belarusian sculptor unveils artwork honouring US physicist Jim Gates

The sculpture forms part of Pavel’s sculptural series devoted to figures in science and culture

Quiz of the week: how far ahead can we predict the weather?

Have you been keeping up to date with physics news? Try our short quiz to find out

Physics World podcast

Explore our two regular podcast series! Physics World Weekly looks at the latest events and headlines in physics, as well as featuring short interviews with scientists and our team of journalists. Physics World Stories takes a more in-depth look at a topic.

illustration of laser light in multiple colours

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Related events

Condensed matter | Workshop Hydrodynamic Approaches to Active Matter: Successes and Future Challenges (haam26) 9—13 November 2026 | Dresden, Germany
Culture, history and society | Public event SWS Vienna ART Scientific Sessions 2026 — When Science Meets Art 2—5 December 2026 | Vienna, Austria
Scientific enterprise | Conference Electrostatics 2027 5—9 April 2027 | London, UK

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