In organic semiconductors, charge carriers may form delocalized or localized quasiparticles depending on molecular properties and environmental effects. Here, it is shown how structural and electrostatic disorder induce localization.

Rigorous analysis of the finite-size error in quantum chemistry methods for periodic systems toward the thermodynamic limit reveals surprising theoretical properties.

Compressive yielding of a colloidal gel induces a unique state, independent of strain history, suggesting the microstructures of gels possess an inherent ability to self-organize.

Experiments demonstrate some of the unusual features of molecular reactions that occur in the deep cold of interstellar space.

Researchers have measured short-timescale fluctuations in metastable systems, uncovering information about failed attempts to cross the barriers that define the metastable state.

A technique that can determine the chirality of a molecule using that molecule’s own electrons could allow researchers to probe the dynamical behavior of chiral molecules on very short timescales.

A new methodology for calculating the rate at which a reaction-diffusion system switches between metastable macrostates provides a tool for understanding how macroscopic patterns arise from microscopic reactions.

Just as circuit theory breaks complex electrical circuits into simpler components, a new framework does the same for chemical reaction networks, providing tools to simplify the analysis of molecule and energy flow.

A new framework for analyzing forces and currents in nonequilibrium systems generalizes existing graph-theoretical tools to now encompass interacting reaction networks and time-dependent properties.

Novel simulations of supercooled liquids near the glass transition temperature elucidate the nature of molecular dynamics taking place over long times, allowing for a reassessment of our understanding of the glass transition itself.

Short-lived elastic regions in colloidal supercooled liquids under shear flow provide the mechanism for nonlinear viscoelasticity in these fluids, shedding light on more general flow behavior of soft condensed matter.

A new exchange-correlation energy functional approximation—key for density-functional theory predictions of atomic-scale properties—proves highly accurate for a broad range of problems.

Computer simulations of many models of glass-forming liquids fully characterize how they relax into energy minima in a rugged energy landscape.

Intermediate, nonreactive atom-molecule complexes last for a surprisingly long time.

A technique for timing the photoemission from a molecule shows an attosecond-scale delay of the electron wave packet from opposite ends of the molecule, thus demonstrating a new tool for exploring photoelectron dynamics.

X-ray experiments and theoretical modeling provide a movie of how a water molecule responds to ionizing radiation, setting the stage for further studies of radiation chemistry in aqueous environments.

The control of molecular-level quantum effects in artificial photosynthetic membranes is a powerful tuning knob for optimizing long-range energy transport, according to a theoretical study.

Competition of timescales in RNA self-assembly leads to two distinct length scales, one of which may act as building blocks for strands that grow into functional catalyzers, a key insight for origins-of-life research.

A protocol for extracting ratios of trajectory probabilities for a single Brownian particle provides a long-missing link for experimentally addressing questions in stochastic dynamics.

Layered and onionlike structures emerge solely from structural differences among competing crystalline growths in a liquid melt, according to a new deep neural network analysis.

Bubbles in helium droplets form around excited atoms and greatly accelerate interatomic Coulombic decay, showing how environment enhances this biologically relevant energy-sharing process among atoms and molecules.

Topological defects in nematic electrolytes can separate electric charges and stabilize them without the need for additional surfaces, with possible applications in microelectronics.

Contrary to common belief, the softness of polymer gels is determined by negative energy elasticity and not only by entropy elasticity, a key finding for designing gels used in medical applications at various temperatures.

Temporal and spectral resolution of x-ray spectroscopy can be improved by exploiting correlations of existing stochastic x-ray fields, allowing for new investigations of electron and nuclear dynamics in molecules.

Experiments determine the magnetic moment of a short-lived nucleus with parts-per-million accuracy, an improvement by several orders of magnitude thanks to a β-NMR setup at CERN.