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Antiferromagnets have negligible stray magnetic fields and are robust against magnetic perturbations, making them ideal for high-density magnetic memory. However, these features make electrically switching the Néel vector challenging. Here, Guo, Lin and coauthors demonstrate layer-dependent electrical switching of a van der Waals antiferromagnet.

Spin defects in 2D materials offer practical advantages for quantum sensing over their 3D counterparts. Here, the authors demonstrate quantum sensing under high pressure using boron vacancy centers in hBN placed inside a diamond anvil cell and use it to detect both stress gradient inside the pressure chamber and pressure-induced magnetic phase transitions.

Assembly and analysis of a giant genome of 52.7 Gb, with the largest chromosome so far, and a smaller genome of 3.55 Gb, sheds light on the expansion, maintenance and higher-order chromatin structure of giant genome.

So-called two-dimensional superconductivity has been reported in several material systems but just how thin a system can be and maintain a superconducting state has been difficult to determine. Da Jiang and colleagues demonstrate that Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+xcontinues to be superconducting even when it is just half a unit cell thick.

The potential of ionic liquids (ILs) in biomedical uses is largely untapped due to gaps in understanding of the spectrum of IL biosafety. Here, the authors establish an IL library, identify an in vitro reduction in biocompatibility (increased toxicity) with increased ILs’ cationic alkyl chain length, and elucidate the mechanisms involved in cell interactions.

This study reports the horizontal gene transfer of CSP genes from bacteria to Triticeae, promoting the adaptation and spread of wheat through enhanced drought tolerance and photosynthetic efficiency.

Isotope engineering can enhance spin coherence of solid-state defects, such as NV centers in diamond but progress for defects in hBN has been limited. Gong et al. report the optimization of isotopes in hBN and demonstrate improved coherence and relaxation times for the negatively charged boron vacancy centers.

The development of the fruiting body (perithecium) in ascomycete fungi involves sexual differentiation processes. Here, the authors show that a non-pheromone receptor, Gip1, regulates two early stages of sexual differentiation in the wheat scab fungus Fusarium graminearum by activating cAMP signaling and Gpmk1 pathways.

Rational design of single atom catalyst is critical for efficient sustainable energy conversion. Single-atomic-site ruthenium stabilized on defective nickel-iron layered double hydroxide nanosheets achieve superior HER and OER performance in alkaline media.

Elucidating the hierarchical assembly process is fundamental to the understanding of chirality transfer and chiroptical functions. Here, the authors show that a bisurea molecule self-assembles into chiral double-helices by a supramolecular rosette intermediated hierarchical assembly mechanism.

Two-electron water oxidation is an important strategy to generate H2O2 but it often requires carbonate electrolyte that will often limit its further application. Cu₂(OH)₂CO₃ tablet electrode is found to be able to efficiently produce hydrogen peroxide in noncarbonate electrolyte by a crystal OH mediating pathway.

BamA carries out the essential process of folding outer membrane β-barrels in Gram-negative bacteria and is a potential antibiotic target. Here, the authors discover macrocyclic peptide inhibitors that trap BamA in distinct structural conformations.

As part of the first anniversary issue of Nature Chemical Engineering, we present a collection of opinions from 40 researchers within the field on what they think are the most exciting opportunities that lie ahead for their respective topics.

Whole autologous tumor cell vaccine (TCV) has been proposed as a tool for cancer immunotherapy. Here the authors describe the design of a TCV platform based on photothermal nanoparticle-loaded tumor cells, triggering NIR laser irradiation induced anti-tumor immune responses at the vaccination site.

Inspired by the idea of mimicking virus entry to host cells and macrophage-mediated virus clearance, the authors developed a lysosomal “TRAP”, which could efficiently capture, internalize, and degrade viruses and variants.

The advantage of living in cities compared with rural areas with respect to height and BMI in children and adolescents has generally become smaller globally from 1990 to 2020, except in sub-Saharan Africa.

Histamine H3 receptor dysregulation is a hallmark of pathological conditions in the central nervous system, and H3 receptor antagonism is neuroprotective. Here Chen et al.show that histamine-independent H3 receptor activation can enhance neuronal cell death during cerebral ischaemia by suppressing autophagy.

There is an intensive effort in developing multi-shelled metal oxide nanostructures for lithium-ion battery applications. Now, a metal anion-adsorption mechanism, as opposed to the conventional cation adsorption on carbonaceous templates, is demonstrated in the synthesis of vanadium oxide hollow microspheres, which exhibit excellent battery performance.

Transposons are DNA sequences that can mobilize, causing deleterious mutations. This work uncovers a novel structure in RNA polymerase IV allowing it to dock with four CLSY recruitment factors and silence transposons throughout the genome.

Ligand discovery against membrane proteins has been a major challenge, mainly due to the peculiar nature of their natural habitat. Here, the authors designed a new chemical proteomic probe that targets the lysines exposed on the cell surface and developed a chemical proteomic strategy for global analysis of surface functionality in living cells.

An introgression platform for transferring genetic variations of Aegilops tauschii to hexaploid wheat is established based on synthetic octoploid wheat. Combined with newly generated genome resources of A. tauschii, it represents a powerful tool for wheat gene discovery and breeding.

How tissues adapt to extreme cold is not well understood. Here, the authors discover a mechanism that promotes FOXO1-mediated cold survival gene transcription at low temperatures, with potential implications for long-term tissue storage for transplantation.

The impact of breakage fusion bridge (BFB) cycles on tumour heterogeneity and clinical outcomes remains poorly understood. Here, the authors develop OM2BFB, an algorithm to detect and reconstruct BFB amplifications using optical genome maps and use it to study BFB events across 2557 primary tumours and cancer cell lines.

Different to exploring molecular topology, the development of supramolecular topology has been limited due to a lack of reliable synthetic methods. Here, the authors describe a supramolecular strategy to access Möbius strips through bending and cyclization of twisted nanofibers self-assembled from chiral glutamate amphiphiles.

How the Asian monsoon, earth surface processes and human development interact is not well known. Here, a new record of dust storm intensity shows a relationship between the stability of dynasties and dust storm activity for the last ~2200 years, which argues for a strong human control of dust storms in East Asia over this time.

Two draft sequences of Gossypium hirsutum, the most widely cultivated cotton species, provide insights into genome structure, genome rearrangement, gene evolution and cotton fiber biology.

Trivalent arsenic (As^III) is a clinically approved treatment agent for patients with promyelocytic leukaemia, but cannot be used for other types of leukaemia due to its toxicity. Here the authors show that different patient-derived leukaemia cells express CD71 and design a ferritin-based nanoparticle for specific delivery of As^III to these cells, demonstrating substantially improved efficacy towards different leukaemia types in animal models, with reduced side effects.

A genomic analysis of human remains from the Bronze Age provides insights into the origin of the Tarim Basin mummies from the Xinjiang region.

Homochiral helical toroids with micrometre-scale lengths are successfully fabricated by a combined solution–interface-directed hierarchical self-assembly strategy.

Arabidopsis thaliana potassium channel AKT1 is responsible for primary K + uptake from soil, which is functionally activated through phosphorylation and negatively regulated by an α-subunit AtKC1. Here, the authors report the structures of AKT1 at different states, revealing a 2- fold to 4-fold symmetry switch at cytoplasmic domain associated with AKT1 activity regulation.

Synthesized or self-assembled helical architectures advance the development of chiral functional materials. Here the authors report a selective-recognized and chirality-matched co-assembly strategy for the fabrication of fluorescent π-amino acids into double helical π-aggregates with exceptional strong circularly polarized luminescence

The spread of many infectious diseases substantially relies on aerosol transmission to the respiratory tract. Here, the authors design an intranasal mask with the ability to intercept viral aerosols, entrap and inactivate virus, thus preventing respiratory tract infection.

Degradable polymeric porous microcapsules loaded with exosomes from mesenchymal stem cells or regulatory T cells led to the restoration of retinal thickness in mice with retinal ischaemia-reperfusion injury and to reductions in inflammatory cells in monkeys with mycobacterial uveitis.

Breviscapine is the flavonoid extract from medical plant Erigeron breviscapus for the treatment of cardio- and cerebrovascular disease. Here, the authors identify the key enzymes of the biosynthetic pathway from the plant genome and engineer yeast to produce breviscapine from glucose.

The atomic structure of human γ-secretase at 3.4 Å resolution, determined by single-particle cryo-electron microscopy.

Repeat-associated non-ATG translation of dipeptide repeat proteins (DPRs) contributes to disease manifestation in FTD/ALS associated with the hexanucleotide repeat expansion of the C9ORF72 gene. Here the authors show that a transgenic mouse line expressing poly-PR28 in neurons displays some signs of neuronal loss that mirrors that seen in the disease.

Analysis of HbA1c and FPG levels across 117 population-based studies demonstrates regional variation in prevalence of previously undiagnosed screen-detected diabetes using one or both measures and suggests that use of elevated FPG alone could underestimate diabetes prevalence in low- and middle-income countries.