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It is known the β-sheet structures in silk-inspired materials generate increased mechanical properties. Here, the authors report on a method of creating silk-inspired materials using in situ formation of β-sheets in an amorphous polymer to replicate the structure of silk and increase the mechanical properties.

An optical detection and analysis platform quantifies aggregate density, distribution and size in fluorescently labelled post-mortem human brain tissue.

This Review synthesizes knowledge on projections of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets at 1.5 °C and 2 °C of warming, discussing possible nonlinear responses, and outlining the need for more insight into future atmospheric and oceanic forcings.

Acetic acid efficiently depolymerizes aliphatic and aromatic epoxy-amine thermosets used in carbon fibre-reinforced polymers (CFRPs) to yield recoverable monomers and pristine carbon fibres, which, based on process modelling, techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment, could enable industrial recycling of CFRPs.

Dou et al. report photo-induced long-lived polar states in octahedral copper-based hybrid perovskites with Jahn-Teller distortion. These states arise from reversible light-induced slow structural deformation induced by polar lattice microstrain formation.

Here the authors report the formation of toxic clumps of protein, similar to amyloid assemblies found in Alzheimer’s disease and suggest their possible role for some of the neurological symptoms of long-COVID.

Increased meltwater from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets will slow the Atlantic overturning circulation and warm the subsurface ocean around Antarctica, further increasing Antarctic ice loss.

A liquid-crystal-in-oil emulsion system exhibits bistable opacity or transparency, with rapid switching between the two, faster than, for example, electrochromics that can be found in smart windows.

Taphonomic experiments and analyses of fossil feathers reveal that while fossil keratins (formerly known as α-keratins) found in fossil feathers are likely artefacts of fossilization, corneous β-proteins (formerly β-keratins) can survive moderate thermal damage and persist over hundreds of millions of years to inform understanding of feather evolution.

Observations from a borehole in the Kamb Ice Stream suggest that discrete subglacial discharge events dominate channel melt and sediment transport.

A reduction in the strength of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation initiated during the penultimate deglaciation led to excess polar ice losses, contributing to higher sea levels during the last interglacial period.

Inspired by the rich ion dynamics and interplay in biological channels, the authors report cooperative and inhibitory ion transport in angstrom-scale acetate functionalized MoS₂ two-dimensional channels.

A variety of structural changes in few-layer graphene samples can be followed with atomic resolution in real time by using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy.

Networks of notches in nanocomposite sheets prevent unpredictable local failure and increase the ultimate strain of the sheets from 4% to 370% without affecting their electrical conductance.

Efficient statistical emulation of melting land ice under various climate scenarios to 2100 indicates a contribution from melting land ice to sea level increase of at least 13 centimetres sea level equivalent.

Florez Ariza and Lue et al. use cryo-electron microscopy to investigate how the RECQL5 helicase regulates transcription. Their structural findings suggest that RECQL5 can modulate RNA polymerase II’s translocation state, potentially restarting stalled transcription.

Proteins SegA and SegB are important for chromosome segregation and organization in archaea of the order Sulfolobales, but mechanisms are unclear. Here, Kabli et al. uncover patterns and mechanisms that the SegAB system employs to link chromosome organization to genome segregation.

A short segment of α-synuclein called NACore (residues 68–78) is responsible for the formation of amyloid aggregates responsible for cytotoxicity in Parkinson disease; here the nanocrystal structure of this invisible-to-optical-microscopy segment is determined using micro-electron diffraction, offering insight into its function and simultaneously demonstrating the first use of micro-electron diffraction to solve a previously unknown protein structure.

Although fullerenes have been synthesized from graphite for a long time, the exact mechanism is relatively unknown. Now, in situ microscopy and quantum chemical modelling have directly followed the formation of fullerenes from a single graphitic sheet — graphene.

Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms whose high electron mobility offers potential for cheap, high-speed opto-electronic devices. Docherty et al.show that the terahertz frequency photoconductivity in graphene depends crucially on the type and density of environmental gas adsorbed.

Engineering 2D heterostructures with unique physiochemical properties and molecular sieving channels is one approach for designing membranes selective gas molecule transport. Here authors arrange graphene and boron nitride nanosheets in an alternating pattern, resulting in narrow porous nanochannels and excellent hydrogen separation properties.

The few options available for the measurement of in-plane and cross-plane thermal conductivity of covalent organic frameworks films limit their application for lightweight thermal management. Here, the authors measure both, the in-plane and cross-plane thermal conductivity of two dimensional covalent organic frameworks with different pore sizes using laser-based pump-probe techniques.

The East Antarctic ice sheet retreated at the end of the last glacial period. Terrestrial and marine data suggest that the retreat began 14,000 years ago, indicating that the East Antarctic ice sheet probably did not contribute to meltwater pulse 1a 14,700 years ago.

The cell wall of the oral bacterium Streptococcus mutans carries SCC, a rhamnose-containing polysaccharide with glucose side-chain decorations. Here, the authors report the SCC structure and the synthesis mechanism, revealing how four glucosyltransferases work together to synthesize the side-chains.

Shape transformations in microrobots less than 1 mm in size remain challenging. Here the authors present an electronically configurable metasheet microrobot with reprogrammable shapes and locomotory gaits in an electrolytic solution.

When carbon fibres just won't do, but nanotubes are too expensive, where can cost-conscious materials scientists go to find a practical conductive composite? The answer could lie with graphene sheets.

Control loops generically produce braids of eigenfrequencies, and these braids form a non-Abelian group that reflects the non-trivial geometry of the space of degeneracies; these features are demonstrated experimentally using a cavity optomechanical system.

Understanding protein dynamics is a complex scientific challenge. Here, authors construct coarse-grained molecular potentials using artificial neural networks, significantly accelerating protein dynamics simulations while preserving their thermodynamics.

Skeletal muscles are impressive as they can achieve reversible, macroscopic, anisotropic motion in soft materials. Here the authors show a bottom-up design of macroscopic hydrogel tubes containing supramolecular nanofibers that can undergo anisotropic actuation by thermal stimuli.

Cryo-EM reveals how transthyretin moves, offering insights into ligand binding and amyloidogenesis. The work highlights the utility of cryo-EM in studying small proteins and uncovering targets for structure-based drug design in transthyretin amyloidosis.

Atomistic simulations have a broad range of applications from drug design to materials discovery. Machine learning interatomic potentials (MLIPs) have become an efficient alternative to computationally expensive ab initio simulations. Now a general reactive MLIP (called ANI-1xnr) has been developed and validated against a broad range of condensed-phase reactive systems.

Lithium dendrite growth is a serious hazard in battery operations. Here, the authors report an ion-conducting membrane based on aramid nanofibers, and demonstrate effective suppression of copper and lithium dendrites.

An environmentally safe means of mosquito control is the application of Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis, which produces a cocktail of four naturally crystalline proteins exclusively toxic to mosquito. Here the authors report the atomic-resolution structures of Bti Cry11Aa and related Btj Cry11Ba solved de novo through Serial Femtosecond Crystallography on naturally-occurring nanocrystals.

An online, manually curated and continually updating database of fungal antimicrobial resistance mutations provides a starting point for further research in fungal AMR.

This Primer explores metal–organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) as a transformative technique for synthesizing wafer-scale 2D dichalcogenides. The MOCVD apparatus, the growth mechanism, process conditions, current applications across next-generation 3D integration, photonics, optoelectronics, flexible electronics and the future potential of MOCVD are discussed.

Inspired by the post-translational modifications of polypeptides widespread in biological systems, the one-pot synthesis of biohybrid materials was engineered within Escherichia coli using a recombinant expression and post-translational lipidation. The fatty-acid-modified elastin-like polypeptides (FAMEs) prepared, which comprise peptide-amphiphile segments prone to self-assembly fused to a thermally responsive elastin-like polypeptide, exhibit temperature-triggered hierarchical assembly.

Cryo-EM and crystal structural analysis of DDB1–DCAF15–DDA1 in complex with E7820 and RBM39 reveal that aryl-sulfonamides reshape the surface of the cullin RING ligase substrate receptor DCAF15 to bind and degrade the splicing factor RBM39.

Sea salt data from an ice core record show that Antarctica’s Ronne Ice Shelf survived the last interglacial, the last period of enhanced and sustained global warmth about 125,000 years ago.

Kirigami metamaterials show significant terahertz circular dichroism and are adopted as tunable optical elements in the terahertz region.

This study examines the history of North Atlantic deep-water masses, as recorded in marine sediments. Major lithological changes and increased rate of deposition reveal that stronger deep-ocean circulation initiated 3.6 million years ago.

Self-organization of nanoparticles allows the assembly of complex structures with distinct properties. Here, the authors combine similarly charged nanoparticles with proteins to form hybrid organic/inorganic supraparticles, capable of incorporating biological components.