Physics has always thrived on an astonishing convection of ideas between the lab and the cosmos, yet each new generation of physicist is surprised as it rediscovers that discovery cuts across the artificial boundaries of our specialities. In this colloquium, I shall argue that recent discoveries in particle, condensed matter and astronomy place us again at extraordinary juncture for a convection of ideas.
To illustrate this outlook I will sketch a few examples drawn from condensed matter physics, including my own work and others. How some elegant equations from string theory help us understand frustrated magnets and how quantum oscillations in the magnetization of a mysterious uranium compound suggest a new kind of broken time reversal symmetry involving a hidden spinor condensate.
