Physics World Weekly Podcast

This episode explores the scientific and technological significance of 2D materials such as graphene. My guest is Antonio Rossi, who is a researcher in 2D materials engineering at the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa. Rossi explains why 2D materials are fundamentally different than their 3D counterparts – and how these differences are driving scientific progress and the development of new and exciting technologies. Graphene is the most famous 2D material and Rossi talks about today’s real-world applications of graphene in coatings. We also chat about the challenges facing scientists and engineers who are trying to exploit graphene’s unique electronic properties. Rossi’s current research focuses on two other promising 2D materials – tungsten disulphide and hexagonal boron nitride. He explains why tungsten disulphide shows great technological promise because of its favourable electronic and optical properties; and why hexagonal boron nitride is emerging as an ideal substrate for creating 2D devices. Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming an important tool in developing new 2D materials. Rossi explains how his team is developing feedback loops that connect AI with the fabrication and characterization of new materials. Our conversation also touches on the use of 2D materials in quantum science and technology. IOP Publishing’s new Progress In Series: Research Highlights website offers quick, accessible summaries of top papers from leading journals like Reports on Progress in Physics and Progress in Energy. Whether you’re short on time or just want the essentials, these highlights help you expand your knowledge of leading topics.

Earlier this year I met the Massachusetts-based steampunk artist Bruce Rosenbaum at the Global Physics Summit of the American Physical Society. He was exhibiting a beautiful sculpture of a “quantum engine” that was created in collaboration with physicists including NIST’s Nicole Yunger Halpern – who pioneered the scientific field of quantum steampunk. I was so taken by the art and science of quantum steampunk that I promised Rosenbaum that I would chat with him and Yunger Halpern on the podcast – and here is that conversation. We begin by exploring the art of steampunk and how it is influenced by the technology of the 19th century. Then, we look at the physics of quantum steampunk, a field that weds modern concepts of quantum information with thermodynamics – which itself is a scientific triumph of the 19th century. Philip Ball reviews Yunger Halpern’s 2022 book Quantum Steampunk: the Physics of Yesterday’s Tomorrow   This podcast is supported by Atlas Technologies, specialists in custom aluminium and titanium vacuum chambers as well as bonded bimetal flanges and fittings used everywhere from physics labs to semiconductor fabs.

This episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast explores how quantum computing and artificial intelligence can be combined to help physicists search for rare interactions in data from an upgraded Large Hadron Collider. My guest is Javier Toledo-Marín, and we spoke at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Canada. As well as having an appointment at Perimeter, Toledo-Marín is also associated with the TRIUMF accelerator centre in Vancouver. Toledo-Marín and colleagues have recently published a paper called “Conditioned quantum-assisted deep generative surrogate for particle–calorimeter interactions”. This podcast is supported by Delft Circuits. As gate-based quantum computing continues to scale, Delft Circuits provides the i/o solutions that make it possible.

Spending time in space has a big impact on the human body and can cause a range of health issues. Many astronauts develop vision problems because microgravity causes body fluids to redistribute towards the head. This can lead to swelling in the eye and compression of the optic nerve. While eye conditions can generally be treated with medication, delivering drugs in space is not a straightforward task. Eye drops simply don’t work without gravity, for example. To address this problem, researchers in Hungary are developing a tiny dissolvable eye insert that could deliver medication directly to the eye. The size of a grain of rice, the insert has now been tested by an astronaut on the International Space Station. This episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast features two of those researchers – Diána Balogh-Weiser of Budapest University of Technology and Economics and Zoltán Nagy of Semmelweis University – who talk about their work with Physics World’s Tami Freeman.

This year’s Nobel Prize for Physics went to John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantization in an electric circuit”. That circuit was a superconducting device called a Josephson junction and their work in the 1980s led to the development of some of today’s most promising technologies for quantum computers. To chat about this year’s laureates, and the wide-reaching scientific and technological consequences of their work I am joined by Ilana Wisby – who is a quantum physicist, deep tech entrepreneur and former CEO of UK-based Oxford Quantum Circuits. We chat about the trio’s breakthrough and its influence on today’s quantum science and technology. This podcast is supported by American Elements, the world’s leading manufacturer of engineered and advanced materials. The company’s ability to scale laboratory breakthroughs to industrial production has contributed to many of the most significant technological advancements since 1990 – including LED lighting, smartphones, and electric vehicles.

Next week, the winners of the 2025 Nobel Prize for Physics will be revealed. In the run-up to the announcement I’m joined in this podcast by my colleague Matin Durrani, who has surveyed the last quarter century of Nobel prizes and picked his top five physics prizes of the 21st century – so far. We also look back to two early Nobel prizes, which were given for very puzzling reasons. One was awarded in 1908 to Gabriel Lippmann for an impractical colour-photography technique that was quickly forgotten; and the other in 1912 to Gustaf Dalén for the development of several technologies used in lighthouses. Our predictions It’s a mug’s game, we know, but we couldn’t resist including a few predictions of who could win this year’s physics Nobel. Perhaps a prize for quantum algorithms could be announced on Tuesday, so stay tuned. And finally, we round off this episode with a fun Nobel quiz. Do you know how old Lawrence Bragg was when he became the youngest person to win the physics prize? Articles mentioned in this podcast: “Nobel prizes you’ve never heard of: how a Swedish inventor was honoured for a technology that nearly killed him” “Nobel prizes you’ve never heard of: how an obscure version of colour photography beat quantum theory to the most prestigious prize in physics” “Inside the Nobels: Lars Brink reveals how the world’s top physics prize is awarded” This podcast is supported by American Elements, the world’s leading manufacturer of engineered and advanced materials. The company’s ability to scale laboratory breakthroughs to industrial production has contributed to many of the most significant technological advancements since 1990 – including LED lighting, smartphones, and electric vehicles.

In the past three decades astronomers have discovered more than 6000 exoplanets – planets that orbit stars other than the Sun. Many of these exoplanets are very unlike the eight planets of the solar system, making it clear that the cosmos contains a rich and varied array of alien worlds. Weird and wonderful planets are also firmly entrenched in the world of science fiction, and the interplay between imagined and real planets is explored in the new book Amazing Worlds of Science Fiction and Science Fact. Its author Keith Cooper is my guest in this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast and our conversation ranges from the amazing science of “hot Jupiter” exoplanets to how the plot of a popular Star Trek episode could inform our understanding of how life could exist on distant exoplanets. Keith Cooper has written a three-part feature article about the nature of dark matter for Physics World. The first instalment is “Cosmic combat: delving into the battle between dark matter and modified gravity“

It is Peer Review Week and the theme for 2025 is “Rethinking Peer Review in the AI Era”. This is not surprising given the rapid rise in the use and capabilities of artificial intelligence. However, views on AI are deeply polarized for reasons that span its legality, efficacy and even its morality. A recent survey done by IOP Publishing – the scientific publisher that brings you Physics World – reveals that physicists who do peer review are polarized regarding whether AI should be used in the process. IOPP’s Laura Feetham-Walker is lead author of AI and Peer Review 2025, which describes the survey and analyses its results. She joins me in this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast in a conversation that explores reviewers’ perceptions of AI and their views of how it should, or shouldn’t, be used in peer review.

This episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast features Scott Bolton, who is principal investigator on NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter. Launched in 2011, the mission has delivered important insights into the nature of the gas-giant planet. In this conversation with Physics World’s Margaret Harris, Bolton explains how Juno continues to change our understanding of Jupiter and other gas giants. Bolton and Harris chat about the mission’s JunoCam, which has produced some gorgeous images of Jupiter and it moons. Although the Juno mission was expected to last only a few years, the spacecraft is still going strong despite operating in Jupiter’s intense radiation belts. Bolton explains how the Juno team has rejuvenated radiation-damaged components, which has provided important insights for those designing future missions to space. However Juno’s future is uncertain. Despite its great success, the mission is currently scheduled to end at the end of September, which is something that Bolton also addresses in the conversation.

Can artificial intelligence predict future research directions in quantum science? Listen to this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast to discover what is already possible. My guests are Mario Krenn – who heads the Artificial Scientist Lab at Germany’s Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light – and Felix Frohnert, who is doing a PhD on the intersection of quantum physics and machine learning at Leiden University in the Netherlands. Frohnert, Krenn and colleagues published a paper earlier this year called “Discovering emergent connections in quantum physics research via dynamic word embeddings” in which they analysed more than 66,000 abstracts from the quantum-research literature to see if they could predict future trends in the field. They were particularly interested in the emergence of connections between previously isolated subfields of quantum science. We chat about what motivated the duo to use machine learning to study quantum science; how their prediction system works; and I ask them whether they have been able to predict current trends in quantum science using historical data. Their paper appears in the journal Machine Learning Science and Technology. It is published by IOP Publishing – which also brings you Physics World.  Krenn is on the editorial board of the journal and in the podcast he explains why it is important to have a platform to publish research at the intersection of physics and machine learning. This article forms part of Physics World‘s contribution to the 2025 International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ), which aims to raise global awareness of quantum physics and its applications. Stayed tuned to Physics World and our international partners throughout the next 12 months for more coverage of the IYQ. Find out more on our quantum channel.