In orbitronics, a fundamental debate exists on whether orbital angular momentum can travel long distances. This perspective reviews the experimental evidence and theoretical models on whether orbital momentum propagates or is generated locally, outlining pathways to resolve this critical question.

Detecting trace amounts of harmful bacteria and nanoscale biomarkers is crucial for early diagnosis and disease prevention, yet conventional methods are often slow and lack sensitivity. The authors introduce a rapid, highly sensitive detection method using a metallic thin-film-coated optical fibre module, significantly enhancing target assembly efficiency and offering promising applications in bioanalytical detection, drug delivery and material assembly technologies.

Low-temperature calorimeters used in rare-event searches are often limited in sensitivity by noise, especially at low energies. Here, the authors show that CUORE can detect microseismic vibrations from the Mediterranean Sea and that a denoising algorithm reduces this noise, improving detector resolution and rare-event sensitivity.

The superconducting diode effect describes the non-reciprocal transport behavior of the superconducting current and certain symmetry requirements must be met to realize this phenomenon in a given system. Here, the authors conduct electrical transport measurements on bi-crystal Josephson junctions (JJs) made from the chiral superconductor Mo₃Al₂C where each junction either has the same or opposite structural chirality. Under an applied magnetic field, they observe the diode effect for the JJs with opposite structural chirality but not for the JJs with the same structural chirality or for single crystals of the same material.

Molten Carbon, existing only at extremely high temperatures and high pressures, has an exotic collective dynamic behavior. The authors reveal, via ab initio and machine-learning computer simulations, an unusual two-peak shape of longitudinal current spectral functions, which are related to two types of collective excitations.

Under compression, fluid-filled cylindrical shells, such as soda cans, exhibit localized axisymmetric corrugations which appear sequentially but are evenly spaced once the surface is fully decorated. Here, the authors demonstrate how the pattern formation process underpinning this buckling phenomenon depends on material nonlinearities, offering insights that could inform the design of resilient cylindrical structures.

Sensitivity to small changes is essential for organisms to make timely and reliable decisions, but operating near criticality also amplifies fluctuations and hinders information accumulation. Here, the authors show that when information is integrated over a finite time, as in biological readouts, the optimal sensitivity for a given integration time is achieved away from criticality, approaching criticality only as longer integration becomes available.

Network dismantling, crucial for optimizing systems like immunization and rumor control, faces challenges in integrating higher-order structures to identify key nodes. Here, the authors introduce a Higher-order Graph Neural Network framework, demonstrating superior efficiency and resilience in dismantling networks by accurately targeting minimal nodes, impacting fields from ecology to cybersecurity.

The superconducting diode effect describes non-reciprocal transport of the superconducting current and there is focus on how to engineer and apply this property practically. Here, the authors utilise a heterostructure to implement a dual-mode superconducting diode effect, where dissipationless current flows along a single direction, that can be activated by both out-of-plane and in-plane magnetic field. The dual modes share similar diode efficiency but requires different magnitude of magnetic field to be operated.

The concept of distance in graphs and hypergraphs faces challenges when extended to weighted hypergraphs due to potential inconsistencies. The authors propose a well-defined distance measure for weighted hypergraphs and demonstrate its applicability on real-world datasets, showing that the use of the measure may help to avoid the information loss typically arising when standard approaches are used.

Collective failure poses a significant challenge to sustaining cooperation in various systems. Here, the authors demonstrate that adaptively raising collective targets after success or increasing rewards after failure effectively maintains cooperation across different risk levels, offering a dynamic governance strategy with broad implications for enhancing collaborative efforts.

Criticality and percolation in dynamical systems are widely studied, yet whether they can emerge from purely deterministic interactions and control parameters remains unclear. Here, the authors reveal deterministic critical points associated with percolation and self-organized criticality in the logistic Game of Life, advancing the understanding of emergent scale invariance in deterministic systems.

Shortcuts to adiabaticity are essential for rapid state evolution, and their true power lies in restoring adiabaticity against nonadiabatic transitions. Here, the authors employ an enhanced framework that restores adiabaticity in coupled elastic waveguides by simultaneously optimizing the parameter-space path and velocity, enabling efficient wave control in compact devices.