Nina Meinzer

@ninameinzer.bsky.social

Optical physicist, now Chief Editor at Nature Reviews Physics (@natrevphys.bsky.social). Formerly editor at Nature Physics and Nature Communications. 🧪💡 Views are my own.

🎓 Researchers: Discover how your evidence can shape policy. Our interactive online workshop explores UK government and policymaking - and provides practical engagement skills. Limited to 20 participants per session. Book now: www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/ifg-academy/...

Policy impact for researchers: Public one day virtual training workshops at the IfG | Institute for Government

A virtual one-day workshop on understanding and engaging with UK government and policy making.

instituteforgovernment.org.uk

At today's UKRI board meeting, the fate of UK particle physics and astronomy will likely be decided. Have we done enough to convince the powers-that-be to halt the proposed funding cuts? 🤞 Read Prof. Hiranya Peiris in Nature today eloquently explaining why these cuts are wrong.🧪🔭⚛️ 📖: rdcu.be/friwM

Restructuring research funding as a choice between discovery and application gets the economics wrong, the evidence wrong and the people wrong.

A premise is gaining traction in science policy on both sides of the Atlantic: that fundamental and applied research are competing claims on the same budget, and that the balance must shift towards application. In the USA, the current administration has proposed cuts of billions of dollars to the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. In the UK, the national funding agency UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is restructuring its portfolio around government growth priorities, with curiosity-driven research nominally protected but the grant lines that actually fund investigators under severe pressure. The language varies — ‘doing fewer things better’, ‘aligning research with industrial strategy’ — but the underlying logic is the same. Fundamental science, the argument goes, is a luxury that becomes dispensable when budgets are tight. This premise is wrong, and the consequences of acting on it are already visible.
Royal Astronomical Society@royalastrosoc.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Stars of physics are in Westminster right now to call on the Government to halt funding cuts to astronomy and particle physics research. Professor Brian Cox called them "inexplicable", urging the Government to instead "trust, inspire and continue to invest in the next generation of scientists".

Stars of physics outside the Houses of Parliament.

Chaotic photonics in microresonators Xuefeng Jiang, Yun-Feng Xiao, Andrea Alù & colleagues offer a perspective on the intersection of microcavity photonics and chaotic systems across multiple material platforms and system architectures www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Chaotic photonics in microresonators - Nature Reviews Physics

Chaos in photonics is not always a nuisance but often a source of innovation. This Review surveys chaotic microcavity photonics across materials and architectures, highlighting opportunities to harnes...

nature.com

Vortices and solitons in polariton superfluids and condensates Xuekai Ma & colleagues discuss the formation and control dynamics of polariton vortices and solitons, with a focus on spinor polaritons in which vortices with a half-integer topological charge can arise www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Vortices and solitons in polariton superfluids and condensates - Nature Reviews Physics

Polaritons can be optically driven into nonlinear states such as vortices and solitons, with properties like quantized phase jumps and stable shapes, that enable applications in information processing...

nature.com

Want to stay close to science, but you've decided the lab isn't right for you? Have you considered a career in editorial? Well, if you have a background in biomedical engineering or biomaterials (or materials science more generally - see linked ad) then your next job could be at Nature Materials!

Associate or Senior Editor, Nature Materials

Job Title: Associate or Senior Editor, Nature Materials Locations: Shanghai, Beijing, Milan or Pune - hybrid working model Application Deadline: June 2nd, 2026 About Springer Nature Springer Nature is...

springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com

Kelly Fast, Acting Planetary Defense Officer for NASA, speaks with Nature Reviews Physics about the global network working to detect and assess asteroids that could potentially threaten Earth. ⚛️ 🔭 🧪

Inside the International Asteroid Warning Network - Nature Reviews Physics

Kelly Fast, Acting Planetary Defense Officer for NASA, describes the global network working to detect and assess asteroids that could potentially threaten Earth.

go.nature.com

The National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) and Google Quantum AI have announced a new initiative to expand UK researchers’ access to Google’s Willow quantum processor - marking an exciting step forward for the UK’s quantum ecosystem! Learn more and apply here: www.nqcc.ac.uk/nqcc-and-goo...

Access Google Quantum AI Willow processor through the NQCC - NQCC

The NQCC facility will be located at Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire. The vision for the facility is to create a landmark building that will distinguish the NQCC as a world-leading scientific research i...

nqcc.ac.uk

Although sensing is one of the more established quantum technologies, translating quantum science into real-world biomedical impact requires further effort to overcome technical hurdles as well as structural and societal challenges, according to a Comment article in Nature Reviews Physics. 🔒

How quantum biosensing is transforming healthcare - Nature Reviews Physics

Although sensing is one of the more established quantum technologies, translating quantum science into real-world biomedical impact requires further effort to overcome technical hurdles as well as structural and societal challenges.

go.nature.com