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How insects breathe

Insect respiration provides oxygen directly to cells without blood as a carrier. The understanding of this successful strategy is based on flow physics and microfluidic modelling could deepen it.

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Latest Reviews & Analysis

    • This Review summarizes the fundamental physical mechanisms of insect respiration, in which specialized tracheal networks enable highly efficient direct oxygen delivery and gas exchange. It discusses how these principles may inform bioinspired innovations in microscale gas transport technology.

      • Saadbin Khan
      • Anne E. Staples
      Review Article

    • A better understanding of electronic transport in semiconductors is essential for both fundamental and applied physics, as it directly affects key material properties such as the conductivity and thermoelectric quantities. This Technical Review explores different frameworks and computational tools available for computing these properties of semiconductors.

      • Romain Claes
      • Samuel Poncé
      • Geoffroy Hautier
      Technical Review

    • Optical refrigeration of semiconductors has the potential to reach temperatures as low as 10 K for applications in non-contact cooling and high-precision metrology. This Expert Recommendation outlines four criteria for the standardized reporting of new cooling results towards these goals.

      • Zhuoming Zhang
      • Yang Ding
      • Masaru Kuno
      Expert Recommendation

    • Quantum computing outperforms classical computing on a number of tasks. This Perspective offers a view on the future potential of quantum computing to enhance simulations of nonlinear systems such as turbulent flows.

      • Felix Tennie
      • Sylvain Laizet
      • Luca Magri
      Perspective

    • Although quantum computers are still in their infancy, their computational power is growing rapidly. This Perspective surveys and critiques the known ways to benchmark quantum computer performance, highlighting new challenges anticipated on the road to utility-scale quantum computing.

      • Timothy Proctor
      • Kevin Young
      • Robin Blume-Kohout
      Perspective

News & Comment

  • To avoid a replication crisis in physics, physicists need to understand how ever-changing social forces shape scientific practice — and even the underlying notions of replicability and objectivity.

    • Hope Bretscher
    • Núria Muñoz Garganté
    Comment

  • There is a natural though unexpected resonance between the concept of intersectionality — the simultaneous and compounded impact of two or more axes of discrimination — and that of emergence in physics.

    • Philip Phillips
    Comment

  • The boundaries between science and pseudoscience are not always clear cut, as topics move in and out of the culturally accepted core of science. Rather, science needs to be judged on the merits of its methodology.

    Editorial

  • The way you were taught quantum mechanics depends on when you were a student; pedagogical approaches over the last century have been driven by social and political trends. Physicist and historian, David Kaiser, charts how the emphasis of quantum education has oscillated between philosophy and practicality.

    • David Kaiser
    Comment

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