| 02/2026 Stochasticity of fatigue failure times in sheared glasses Swarnendu Maity et al. Fatigue failure occurs when a solid is subjected to repeated, cyclic loading. Glasses subjected to cyclic to shear deformation have recently been investigated using computer simulations and theoretical models, to characterize and rationalize the dependence of the number of cycles to failure, depending on the properties of the glasses, and the deformation amplitude. The average number of cycles to … |
| 02/2026 Household size can explain 40% of the variance in cumulative COVID-19 incidence across Europe Seba Contreras et al. Household size impacts the spread of respiratory infectious diseases: Larger households tend to boost transmission by acquiring external infections more frequently and subsequently transmitting them back into the community. Furthermore, mandatory interventions primarily modulate contagion between households rather than within them. We developed an approach to quantify the role of household size in … |
| 02/2026 Finite integration time can shift optimal sensitivity away from criticality Sahel Azizpour et al. Sensitivity to small changes in the environment is crucial for many real-world tasks, enabling living and artificial systems to make correct behavioral decisions. It has been shown that such sensitivity is maximized when a system operates near the critical point of a phase transition. However, proximity to criticality introduces large fluctuations and diverging timescales. Hence, to leverage the m … |
| 02/2026 Universal reconstructive polarimetry with graphene-metal infrared photodetectors Valentin Semkin et al. Recent advent of smart photodetectors, where in-situ tuning of responsivity enables the reconstruction of light intensity, polarization and spectrum by a single device, has revolutionized the field of optoelectronics. So far, most such reconstructive detectors were realized with non-scalable technology of van der Waals stacking. Here, we demonstrate the infrared reconstructive polarimetry with pho … |
| 01/2026 Intermediate physical interactions induce spatiotemporal dynamics in Turing patterns Cathelijne ter Burg et al. Turing patterns are a central paradigm for describing spatial patterns in nature. The corresponding theory of reaction-diffusion dynamics combines ideal diffusion with nonlinear reactions, resulting in patterns when species diffuse at different rates and reactions are sufficiently nonlinear. However, real systems are more complex and particularly involve physical interactions between constituents. … |
| 01/2026 Supercoiling DNA with a free end Daniela Moretti et al. In this work, we combine coarse-grained Brownian dynamics simulations and mean-field theory to study supercoiling dynamics, as well as the steady-state profiles of twist and writhe, in an open DNA polymer where one of the free ends is subjected to a constant torque. Even though the other end is free, and hence can spin and release torsional stress, we observe that the entire chain transitions betw … |
| 01/2026 Roadmap for Condensates in Cell Biology Dilimulati Aierken et al. Biomolecular condensates govern essential cellular processes yet elude description by traditional equilibrium models. This roadmap, distilled from structured discussions at a workshop and reflecting the consensus of its participants, clarifies key concepts for researchers, funding bodies, and journals. After unifying terminology that often separates disciplines, we outline the core physics of cond … |
| 01/2026 Self-diffusiophoretic propulsion in wedge confinement: The role of phoretic interactions Abdallah Daddi-Moussa-Ider et al. We investigate the self-diffusiophoretic motion of a catalytically active spherical particle confined within a wedge-shaped domain. Using the Fourier-Kontorovich-Lebedev transform, we solve the Laplace equation for the concentration field in the diffusion-dominated regime. The method of images is employed to obtain the first and second reflections of the concentration field, accounting for both mo … |
| 12/2025 Optimizing infectious disease mitigation under dynamic conditions Laura Müller et al. Mitigation measures are essential for controlling the spread of infectious diseases during pandemics and epidemics, but they impose considerable societal, individual, and economic costs. We developed a general optimization framework to balance costs related to infection and to mitigation. Optimizing the trade-off between mitigation and infection cost, we identified three novel, surprising effects: … |
| 12/2025 Size control guidelines for chemically active droplets Guido Kusters et al. Biological cells and synthetic analogues use liquid-liquid phase separation to dynamically compartmentalize their environment for various applications. In many cases, multiple droplets need to coexist, and their size needs to be controlled, which is challenging because large droplets tend to grow at the expense of smaller ones. Chemical reactions can, in principle, control droplet sizes, but there … |