For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. What goes up must come down. Physical laws like these govern all of the natural world—except for the tiny internal components of today’s microprocessors, which operate according to the unique and complicated rules of quantum physics.

Ultrafast lasers emit pulses lasting only a few hundred femtoseconds (quadrillionths of a second). These flashes of light power applications from precision micromachining to eye surgery to optical frequency combs, the Nobel Prize-winning technology behind today’s most precise optical atomic clocks. Yet despite more than two decades of effort, ultrafast lasers have largely remained bulky, expensive systems confined to optical tables.

Black holes, regions in space where gravity is so strong that nothing can escape, have been widely studied over the past decades, due to their unique and intriguing properties. Einstein’s theory of general relativity predicts that black holes obey a set of rules, known as the laws of black hole mechanics. These rules somewhat resemble the laws of thermodynamics, which delineate how energy, heat, and entropy behave in our universe.

In nature, there exist structures that are mirror images of each other but cannot be perfectly superimposed. These are known as chiral objects, derived from the Greek word for “hand,” since left and right hands share the same relationship. Although similar in structure, chiral molecules exhibit different behaviors, and chirality is central to life itself. DNA has a twisted chiral structure, and living organisms prefer one handedness over the other. This distinction is equally important in drug design, materials science, and nanotechnology.