Editorials

Materials researchers are trained to innovate and create. But now that it is clear the world has too much stuff, what is the path forward?

Advancements in materials science are central to space exploration, but equally important is addressing societal implications to ensure responsible and sustainable progress.

Sorbent materials that capture and release water molecules are key to technologies that turn the Earth’s ambient moisture into drinkable water and energy.

Thanks to improved control of device fabrication and an expanding characterization toolbox, moiré materials stay in the spotlight as we discover more about the unique phenomena they realize.

We ask how the scientific community can make academic spaces more accessible for our deaf colleagues.

Wearable electronics could enable us to optimize every aspect of our personal health and performance. They might also have important ramifications for clinical use and theranostics.

Plastics have profoundly changed what is possible in modern society. But between their reliance on fossil fuels and their massive accumulation as waste, plastics are also at the heart of a dual environmental crisis.

The Materials Research Society (MRS) fall meeting is a fixture in the conference calendar of the global materials science community. This year, for the very first time, the conference went hybrid, posing new opportunities, but also challenges, for organizers, speakers and attendees.

Lipid nanoparticles are going into billions of arms in the form of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, delivering, at last, on the promise of nanotechnology to revolutionize drug delivery. Revolutions have the ability to alter the course of history. In the case of nanotech-based drug delivery, with many promising applications being explored, it looks like lipid nanoparticles have done just that.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties, or COP26, will meet this month in Glasgow. Countries will commit to new, ambitious targets for reducing emissions this decade. Delivering on these promises will depend on the development and wide implementation of green technologies.

Qubits come in many shapes and forms. Some are better developed, some will make it easier to scale up to big quantum processors and some will require less effort to correct errors. One thing they have in common: they will all benefit from materials optimization.

As the pandemic extends into a third academic year, we must admit that mental health has become a major problem in academia. The responsibility to change academic culture begins at the top.

Machine learning holds great potential to accelerate materials research. Many domains in materials science are benefiting from its application, but several challenges persist, and it remains to be seen whether the field will live up to the hype that surrounds it.

Science has a diversity and racism problem, which can only be addressed by changing our traditional academic practices — this also includes the way we handle and promote scientific articles.

Meeting global emission reduction goals will require the large-scale deployment of renewable energy infrastructure and electric vehicles. Ensuring a fair and sustainable supply of the required critical primary and secondary raw materials will be essential to a greener future.

The virtual world offers countless opportunities to interact with each other, yet, it remains difficult to replace valuable in-person scientific discussions that often happen spontaneously at a conference.

Three years after the observation of superconductivity in twisted bilayer graphene, the study of the rich variety of phenomena that arise in moiré materials is keeping researchers fruitfully busy.

Lipid nanoparticles have been developed as vehicles for small molecule delivery by the nanomedicine and materials communities and are now a key component of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines.

Looking back and contemplating the future at our five-year milestone.