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The effect of geometrical confinement on the locomotion of microrobots is crucial to operating them in real-world applications. Bozuyuk et al. show that the locomotion efficiency of microrollers decreases in confined spaces at high rotation frequencies and propose a slender geometry to overcome this problem.

The low-complexity domain of the RNA-binding protein FUS forms dynamic, multivalent interactions via multiple residue types and remains disordered in the densely packed liquid phase.

Under total internal reflection light acquires a phase shift that depends on its polarisation. Here, the authors show that this effect can be harnessed to generate so-called vector vortex beams—light with polarization and phase singularities—when white light is back-reflected from a glass cone

A terahertz pulse shaper based on optical rectification is proposed. The polarization of the terahertz pulses depends on the polarization selection rules for the rectification process in a GaP crystal. The terahertz pulse shaper can arbitrarily control the chirality, phase, pulse duration and frequency of circularly polarized few-cycle terahertz pulses.

Genomic tools and ocean circulation models show that organisms surface-drift across the Southern Ocean frequently. The extreme cold therefore keeps Antarctica biologically isolated, but as the climate warms new species may establish quickly.

When a single strand of DNA is threaded through a nanopore, a direct test of the effect of pore size indicates that a hydrodynamic model for the process should include the coupled Poisson–Boltzmann and Stokes equations.

Current theories predict that a plate-like particle rotates continuously in a shear flow. Kamal et al. instead show that even nanometric hydrodynamic slip may induce a thin plate-like particle to adopt a stable orientation, and discuss implications of this effect for flow processing of 2D nanomaterials.

This study presents high-resolution imaging of the ultracool dwarf LSR J1835 + 3259 at 8.4 GHz, demonstrating that its quiescent radio emission is spatially resolved and traces a double-lobed and axisymmetrical structure with properties consistent with radiation belt observations and modelling.

The ducts of many fluid-pumping organs feature cilia. Two structural parameters organize the different types of ducts into a continuous spectrum between ciliary carpet and flame designs depending on the fluid-pumping requirements.

Geometric phases in matter are of fundamental interest. Here the authors observe the Pancharatnam–Berry phase in matter waves by imaging light interference patterns from cold gases of indirect excitons and find long-range coherent spin transport in the system.

A dual interfacial hydrogen-bond passivation strategy and a hybrid copper–iodide are used to fabricate deep-blue light-emitting diodes with excellent external quantum efficiency and lifetime.

Heterogeneous reactions associated with porous films are vital in nature and industry. A hierarchical-structure-accelerated interfacial dynamic strategy is reported to improve interfacial gas transfer on conductive metal-organic framework films.

Light beams can undergo small shifts due to interesting physical phenomena at interfaces. Here, the authors design a photonic crystal slab that enables a large lateral shift at normal incidence by engineering the light-interface interaction through the design of the momentum-space phase distribution.

Preparation and detection of mechanical objects at the quantum zero-point level has been achieved in both the optical and microwave regimes. Here, the authors develop silicon nitride nanomembranes that are suitable for integrating nanophotonic, nanomechanical and superconducting microwave circuits together.

Interfering water waves can be tailored to realize topological structures, namely wave vortices, skyrmions and polarization Möbius strips, that can be used to manipulate particles floating on the water surface.

In a SO(2) rotationally symmetric system, a general polarization-tuned mirror symmetry breaking mechanism was reported to highly efficiently generate a lateral optical force, enriching the optical manipulation mechanism for mirror-symmetric objects.

Polarization can exceed 60% at the leading edge of the inner part of the Vela pulsar wind nebula; in contrast with the case of the supernova remnant, the electrons in the pulsar wind nebula are accelerated with little or no turbulence in a highly uniform magnetic field.

The interaction of water molecules with a protein results in a frictional force that influences protein conformational dynamics and folding, though the nature of the protein also influences the friction. Here, the authors use molecular simulations to examine the origin of this protein contribution.

The mechanisms underlying microglia-neuron interactions are incompletely understood. Utilizing in vivo multimodal microscopy and optical clearing technology, here the authors show a distinct neuroprotective function of microglia during the acute phase of a single spinal cord axon injury.

This study provides a structural and functional characterisation of the phage resistance system, BREX. Went et. al. provide structures of the methyltransferase component, PglX, and rationally mutate PglX to retarget BREX defence against new phages.

Adding short, complementary oligonucleotides to single-stranded DNA condensates creates a concentrated, linearly propagating, sharp diffusion front that contradicts the fuzzy concentration gradients and nonlinear kinetics typical of Fickian diffusion.

Accessing longer-wavelength emitting organic fluorophores is critical for diagnostic imaging. Here a series of silicon-RosIndolizine fluorophores with emission maxima at 1,300 nm, 1,550 nm and 1,700 nm were synthesized. The fluorophores generate high-resolution in vivo fluorescence images in mice and establish design principles for future shortwave-infrared fluorophore designs.

Experiments and numerical modelling of dilute pyroclastic currents reveal an internal amplification of the dynamic pressure, which suggests that flow-building interactions are stronger when multiphase flow dynamics are accounted for.

The authors showcase an optical-to-microwave conversion method using an optomechanical waveguide integrated with a piezoelectric transducer. The presented system allows bidirectional optical-to-microwave conversion with a quantum efficiency of up to—54.16 dB.

A spin wave launched by a nanoscale ohmic contact into a ferromagnetic metallic thin film is able to propagate for at least four micrometres.

Development of a quantitative approach to determine how far a signal from a cell travels as a diffusible molecule reveals a millimeter-scale quorum sensing mechanism that determines collective growth of differentiating embryonic stem cells.

The combination of stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy with an alkyne group as a Raman-active tag allows high-contrast, live-cell dynamic imaging of a variety of biomolecules including DNA, RNA, protein, lipids and small-molecule drugs.

Nonmagnetic colloidal nanocrystals demonstrate magnetic properties due to spins of dangling bonds at their surface resulting in formation of dangling-bond magnetic polarons.

The mechanism of charge density wave order in V-based kagome metals has been debated. Here the authors use a range of experimental techniques combined with ab initio calculations to study the electronic structure and phonon modes of ScV₆Sn₆, revealing the dominant role of strong electron-phonon coupling.