Editorials in 2022

Experiments with entangled photons, which enabled the pioneering of quantum information science, have been awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics.

A change in UK government must lead to changes in science policy.

Steel underpins modern society but its production generates intensive carbon dioxide emissions. For its sustainable development, the steel industry requires technology and product upgrades, driven by innovation and cooperation.

As Nature Materials turns 20 we look back at how materials science has evolved and consider future directions.

French science faces an uncertain future as the new government struggles with a fractured parliament.

Materials discovery and advances in synthesis are driving the fields of exciton and exciton–polariton physics, moving towards on-demand engineering of many-body quasiparticle interactions in solid-state systems.

Materials scientists have played a key role in the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic from the development of vaccines and diagnostic tools to the rapid prototyping of ventilators.

A return to in-person and hybrid conferences is more than welcome and sure to inspire.

The dissemination of synthetic biology into materials science is creating an evolving class of functional, engineered living materials that can grow, sense and adapt similar to biological organisms.

From the realization of their true nature one hundred years ago to the latest approaches for structuring materials using molecular weaving, high-molecular-weight polymers still have much to offer society.

Proposed new regulations for the European battery industry could end up making the electrification of transport harder — and reveal the complexity of creating sustainable markets.