Graduate student Rosemary Teague and undergraduate Amber Yallop share their nontraditional degree pathways, some difficult choices they made along the way, and what a future in physics looks like for them now

It’s a debate that has been raging since the COVID-19 pandemic began – what mask is best for curbing the spread of COVID-19?

Any astronauts thinking of living on the Moon won’t only have to contend with an arduous journey, weird food and space suits. They’ll also face the problem of lunar dust.

Science journalist Christopher Wanjek’s enchanting new book, Spacefarers: How Humans Will Settle the Moon, Mars, and Beyond explores the challenges and motivations of recreating the Earth-like conditions necessary for our survival, out in space and on neighbouring worlds.

Researchers in the US and Italy have identified a second critical point in two theoretical models of water

In response to Norman Wilson’s letter “Power predicaments” (July p26), which was in response to an exchange based on Dave Elliott’s article (January p19) about the current status of renewable energy.

Vic Tandy – an engineer at Coventry University in the UK – once described how he worked for a medicalequipment manufacturer whose laboratory included a room that was believed to be haunted

In response to the “2020 summer quiz part 1” (July p56).

Construction of the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) is to speed up after the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded the GMTO Corporation – the organization overseeing construction and management of the 25 m-wide telescope – a grant of $17.5m over the next three years.

The large numbers of satellites in low-Earth orbit “threaten the scientific viability” of some current and planned Earth-based optical and infrared telescopes. That is according to a report based on a Satellite Constellations 1 workshop organized by the American Astronomical Association and the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab.

Solving many of today’s environmental problems will require advanced technological solutions, says James McKenzie

The US has established five new centres to boost quantum-information science in the country. To be located at the US’s national laboratories, the centres were created to uphold a provision of the bipartisan National Quantum Initiative Act

From dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic to stimulating industries of the future, science policy will play a larger role than usual in next month’s US election

In response to Diandra Leslie-Pelecky’s feature “The science of racing safely” (August pp24–28), which explores the dangers of being a racecar driver, and the science behind some of the features in NASCAR that are designed to keep the drivers safe.

French photographer Nicolas Lefaudeux has beaten thousands of amateur and professional photographers from around the world to win the 2020 Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year

A theory of quantum gravity that describes the universe as beginning in a “Big Bounce” rather than a Big Bang has succeeded in explaining several anomalies in the cosmic microwave background

Reusable vehicles are vital to make access to space more affordable, but conventional rocket engines have their limits. Oliver Nailard describes how UK firm Reaction Engines hopes to revolutionize space access with a new class of propulsion system, the Synergetic Air Breathing Rocket Engine (SABRE)

New measurements of the proton–electron mass ratio could help shine a light on several problems in physics

In 1977 the Nobel-prize-winning physicist Leon Lederman published a tongue-in-cheek proposal to build a collider using existing subway tunnels in New York.

Carla Figueira de Morisson Faria and Andrew Brown say that academic debate can still be fostered in an online-only world

IOP Publishing, which publishes Physics World, has announced it will introduce double-blind peer review on all of its wholly owned journals by the end of 2021.

Look Up: Our Story with the Stars by journalist, TV presenter and author Sarah Cruddas is a short, sharp and impassioned look at the history and the future of space exploration

Most materials get thinner when stretched, but “auxetics” do the opposite and get thicker. Helen Gleeson describes her group’s discovery of a material that is auxetic at the molecular level, which could be used in everything from body armour to laminated glass

In the feature “100 seconds to midnight” (September pp35–39), we inadvertently stepped 20 seconds closer to disaster:

Computer simulations suggest that “blue whirls” – small, spinning flames that were first spotted in 2016 – involve three different flames

Researchers in the UK and Austria have demonstrated secure information exchange between multiple users spaced around a city.

Greenhouse-gas emissions emitted by the CERN particle-physics lab near Geneva in 2018 were 223,800 tonnes of carbon-dioxide equivalent – similar to the emissions from a large cruise liner.

Gravitational waves from the most massive merger of two black holes ever seen have been detected by the LIGO and Virgo observatories.

In response to Niki Bell’s Forum article “Putting new physics on the syllabus” (August p19), in which she suggests adding modern physics discoveries to the education system.

Astronomers have announced the detection of phosphine in the clouds of Venus.

Conferences are never going to be the same even when COVID-19 is a distant memory

What’s the fairest way to slice up a watermelon?

Eleanor S Armstrong, Divya M Persaud and Christopher A-L Jackson argue that the COVID-19 pandemic offers an opportunity to start making scientific meetings more inclusive

In response to David R Andrews’ feature “Good vibrations” (August pp42–46), in which he explores the role of sound and ultrasound in fuel injection and parking sensors.

Robert P Crease laments the disappearance of a landmark in US science history

Astrophysicists in Germany and North America have published plans to build the world’s largest neutrino telescope on the sea floor off the coast of Canada.

For centuries diffraction limited the resolution of optical microscopy. The past 50 years have, however, seen one limitation after another buckle under the ingenuity of a host of wide-ranging techniques, from lenses to tips, chips and doughnuts. Anna Demming reports

In response to Kate Ravilious’ feature “Life in a carbon-neutral world” (April 2020), in which she looks at the changes society will need to make on a day-to-day basis, to move towards a net-carbon-zero world.

iCub was developed to explore the notion that the development of a truly human-like artificial intelligence is dependent on it having a physical body. The rationale for the hypothesis is at the heart of computer scientist Mark Lee of the University of Aberystwyth’s new book, How to Grow a Robot: Developing Human-Friendly, Social AI .

China, the UAE and the US have sent craft to Mars to study the planet in greater detail, with NASA set to conduct the first controlled flight on another planet, as Ling Xin, Michael Banks and Liz Kruesi report

In response to Niki Bell’s Forum article “Putting new physics on the syllabus” (August 2020), in which she suggests adding modern physics discoveries to the education syllabus.

We’ve long dismissed the notion developed by the Greek philosopher Plato that the universe is made of five types of matter: earth, air, fire, water and the cosmos. Each was described with a particular geometry: a cube in the case of earth.

With so much spin, jargon and fake news, it can be hard to know what businesses are really up to. James McKenzie finds that hearing a company’s vision first hand is key to understanding its potential

In response to Susan Curtis’ feature article “Charging ahead” (August 2020) in which she investigates the new charging solutions that will be needed to power a large number of electric cars, as they become more mainstream over the next few years

Research into particle and atomic physics is more likely to be awarded a Nobel prize than work in other fields. That is according to a new analysis from scientists at Stanford University.

US government, academic and industrial scientists have laid out a blueprint for building a nation-wide quantum internet.

Rapid progress is needed in negotiations regarding the UK’s participation in the EU’s major scientific framework programme if collaborations are to continue smoothly into 2021. That is according to a statement signed by more than 100 organizations and individuals representing the European scientific community.

Bonnie Tsim says “hackathons” are a great way for scientists to apply their skills to the commercial world

Officials at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France, have announced the completion of a major upgrade to one of Europe’s premier X-ray facilities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the lives of almost everyone around world – and this year’s Nobel-prize winners, who are due to be unveiled next month, are no exception.

From wine and skis to clocks and bone implants, Linn Hobbs has a passion for everyday materials, as he tells Robert P Crease

In response to Stephen Ornes’ feature “How to hack a self-driving car” (August 2020) in which he looks into the hardware and software behind cars that drive themselves, and the potential opportunities they create for hackers.

Imagine spending the first days of your life outside your mother’s womb listening to a vacuum cleaner at a distance of one metre. That’s the fate of many of the 15 million or so babies who are born prematurely each year and have to be placed in an incubator.

For almost 75 years, the Doomsday Clock has monitored how close humankind is to global catastrophe. With the clock now closer to midnight than ever before, Rachel Brazil talks to physicists who say we must step up our efforts to prevent disaster

In these tough times of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the safest ways of mixing with friends is to meet up in a local park. But what 2D configuration, lattice or otherwise, offers the best way to maintain the appropriate social distance?

The iconic Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico has suffered a 30 m-long gash in its main reflector dish after a steel cable snapped last month.

Computational modelling has been brought under the spotlight during the COVID-19 pandemic, with scientists trying to predict how the SARS-CoV-2 virus will spread. But epidemiology is not the only medical field in which modelling is sparking breakthroughs, as Sam Vennin explains

Answers to our quiz published in the July and August issues

Why do many science graduates lack the skills that industry is looking for? Sean Ryan and Veronica Benson of the South-East Physics Network explore the problem and discover that there is one straightforward way for universities and businesses to address this

Human sperm swim in corkscrew motions to compensate for the asymmetry in their tails. That is according to researchers in the UK and Mexico who have used high-speed 3D microscopy to determine how sperm maintain their forward swimming direction.