Flavour physics as a window to new physics searches.

Flavour physics is one of the essential elements of the Standard Model (SM). Experimental studies of weak decays of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] mesons at [Formula: see text] factories have, together with the discovery of the Higgs boson at LHC, provided the final confirmation of the validity of the SM. The present generation of precision flavour physics experiments is looking for departures from the SM. We discuss studies of anomalies in [Formula: see text] hadron decays, and studies of rare decays, which are a very promising method for searching for new physics. This article is part of the theme issue 'The particle-gravity frontier'.