Search

A method for design of polymer membranes uses strategically placed pendant groups with specific hydrophobicity to precisely tailor hydrated pore size, with applications in ion-conducting membranes for redox flow batteries.

The role Tibetan Plateau uplift played in Asian inland aridification remains unclear due to a paucity of accurately dated records. Here, the authors present a continuous aeolian sequence for the period >51–39 Ma, analysis of which indicates that aridification was driven by global climatic forcing rather than uplift.

It is unclear how phospholipid membranes formed on the early Earth, as modern cells synthesize the phospholipid constituents of their membranes enzymatically. Now, a combination of ion pairing and self-assembly has enabled transacylation of lysophospholipids with acyl donors in water, affording a variety of membrane-forming natural diacylphospholipids in high yields.

Whole-genome sequencing data from more than 2,500 cancers of 38 tumour types reveal 16 signatures that can be used to classify somatic structural variants, highlighting the diversity of genomic rearrangements in cancer.

A pan-cancer genomic analysis reports the effects of structural variations on chromatin domains (TADs). Most TAD disruptions do not result in appreciable changes in expression of nearby genes.

The ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider reports a search for charged-lepton-flavour violation in decays of Z bosons into a τ lepton and an electron or muon of opposite charge.

Many tumours exhibit hypoxia (low oxygen) and hypoxic tumours often respond poorly to therapy. Here, the authors quantify hypoxia in 1188 tumours from 27 cancer types, showing elevated hypoxia links to increased mutational load, directing evolutionary trajectories.

Rapid proton capture nucleosynthesis stalls at waiting-point nuclides, including ⁶⁴Ge. Precision mass measurements in the vicinity of this nuclide influence state-of-the-art calculations of X-ray bursts from accreting neutron stars.

Interface effects in complex oxides could have interesting technological applications. Ariandoet al. demonstrate electronic phase separation and rich physics at a complex oxide interface between the two non-magnetic insulators LaAlO₃ and SrTiO₃.

Time reversal symmetry breaking gives rise to magnetic circular dichroism and Faraday rotation in graphene. The authors use terahertz magneto-electro-optical spectroscopy to demonstrate that electrostatic doping at a fixed magnetic field allows inversion of magnetic circular dichroism and Faraday rotation.

Magnetic interactions in solids are usually short-range or else they involve itinerant electrons. Here, the authors evidence a long-range magnetic coupling mediated by orbital moments in a polar spacer layer of nonmagnetic insulating oxide, with a sign which oscillates with spacer thickness.

An increase in the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide and warmer temperatures can alter plant growth and development. Here the authors show that these conditions can also elicit significant changes in microRNAs expression, including some which might induce early flowering in Arabidopsis.

The control of magnetization by an electric field can offer new magnetic data devices. Here, controlling magnetic phases in FeRh, the authors achieve a large electroresistance response in FeRh/PMN-PT heterostructures by applying an electric field, which could be used for non-volatile memory applications.

A magnetoresistance effect that occurs in a platinum layer deposited on a magnon junction consisting of two insulating magnetic yttrium iron garnet layers separated by an antiferromagnetic nickel oxide spacer layer could be used to create spintronic and magnonic devices that are free from Joule heating.

Heavy-atom molecules can possess complicated electronic structures due to pronounced electron correlation and relativistic effects. Here, the authors describe electronic states of RaF in detail by combining accurate spectroscopy and theory approaches.

Bound states in continuum have attracted attention in various platforms, and recently condensation of bound states in continuum polariton modes was demonstrated at low temperatures. Here the authors report the observation of such a state in a periodic air-hole perovskite-based photonic crystal at room temperature.

This study shows that future exposures to moist-heat increase more rapidly than those to dry-heat, and irrigation can further amplify moist-heat-related health risks. Improving irrigation efficiency and cutting emissions are key to reducing water stress and climate impacts.

Electric-field-induced cracks are generally detrimental to functionality of ferroelectric ceramics. Liu et al. use an intermetallic alloy and ferroelectric oxide junction to mediate the reversible formation of cracks at nanoscales, resulting in colossal electroresistance modulation for memory applications.

Edge-localized plasma modes in a tokamak can damage its innermost wall. Simulations now show that fast ions can modify the spatio-temporal structure of these modes. These effects need to be considered in the optimization of control techniques.

By doping ice with NaCl, it is shown that a flexoelectric coefficient of up to 10 μC m⁻¹ is generated, enabling effective piezoelectric coefficients that are comparable to those of ceramics. This arises from the streaming current of quasi-liquid flow through grain boundaries from one side of the sample to the other.

At the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, observations of two meson species produced by heavy-ion collisions, ϕ and K^*0, show surprising patterns of global spin alignment, being unexpectedly large and consistent with zero, respectively.

The recently discovered kagome metal AV₃Sb₅ is a new playground to study the interplay between superconductivity and charge-density-wave (CDW) state. Here, the authors report pressure-dependent evolution of CDW and superconductivity in CsV₃Sb₅, suggesting an unusual competition between the two phases.

Grasslands tend to be limited by both nutrient and water availability. Here the authors use standardized field experiments to show that the effects of nutrient addition on grassland biomass may cancel out the negative impact of drought, but the outcome depends on aridity and other local conditions.

Sc₃In and ZrZn₂ are the only two known itinerant ferromagnets that form from non-magnetic constituents. Now, Svanidze et al.,evidence itinerant antiferromagnetism in TiAu below 36 K using thermodynamic, transport, muon-based and neutron-based measurements, and density functional analysis.

Quantum electrodynamics predicts a rare process in which light is scattered by light. The ATLAS Collaboration reports signs of this elusive effect in the collisions of ultra-relativistic lead ions.

Combined high-throughput protein engineering with machine learning to curate libraries of CRISPR genome-editing enzymes with distinct genome targeting properties is described.

Bamboo’s native structure, defined by the vertical growth pattern of its vascular bundles and parenchyma cell tissue, limits its application in advanced engineering materials. Here the authors show a method that controls localized moisture content to shape natural bamboo into a versatile three-dimensional structural product.

The collective-flow-assisted nuclear shape-imaging method images the nuclear global shape by colliding them at ultrarelativistic speeds and analysing the collective response of outgoing debris.

Analysis of the cool brown dwarf Gliese 229 B suggests that it is actually a close binary of two less massive brown dwarfs, explaining its low luminosity and settling the conflict between theoretical predictions and measurements.

Intermetallics are traditionally characterised by their inherent brittleness due to a lack of sufficient slip systems and the absence of strain hardening. Here authors show that a single-phase distorted high entropy B2 intermetallic alloy displays notable strength and plasticity at room temperature, along with stable plastic flow at high homologous temperatures.

Perovskites are appealing for optoelectronics, but high-quality perovskite single crystals should be grown at low temperature to minimize trap density. Here, the authors report a room-temperature liquid-diffused-induced crystallization for growth of high-quality hybrid perovskite single crystals.

Here, using fecal metagenomics data of 2,320 individuals, the authors develop a microbiome-based machine learning approach showing high accuracy for multi-class disease diagnosis, highlighting its potential application in improving noninvasive diagnostics and monitor responses to therapy.

Analysis of signatures of hypoxia in more than 8,000 tumors from 19 cancer types identifies hypoxia-driven mutation signatures and dysregulation of microRNAs.

Most demonstrations of optical neural networks for computing have been so far limited to real-valued frameworks. Here, the authors implement complex-valued operations in an optical neural chip that integrates input preparation, weight multiplication and output generation within a single device.

Fusion-based quantum computing relies on small entangled resource states that are then fused together probabilistically via linear optical circuits. Here, the authors demonstrate temporal fusion—where resource states generated at different times by the same quantum emitter are fused together—using a spin-photon interface in a quantum dot embedded in a photonic crystal waveguide.

Measurements of the inelastic cross section of anti-³He allow the estimation of the transparency of the Milky Way to the propagation of these light antinuclei produced in either cosmic-ray collisions or annihilation of dark-matter particles.

The integration of liver and plasma quantitative lipidomic and proteomic data from 107 distinct mouse strains provides important insights into regulators of mammalian lipid metabolism.

An antimatter hypernucleus formed by an anti-lambda hadron, an antiproton and two antineutrons was observed through its two-body decay after production in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions.

Here, the authors demonstrate a microring resonator-assisted Fourier-transform spectrometer, which is realized using a thermally tunable photonic Mach-Zehnder interferometer cascaded with a tunable microring resonator to enhance the resolution, all integrated with a photodetector onto a single chip.

Magnetic cavities are universal phenomena existing in cosmic plasma environments. Here Liu et al. show electron scale magnetic cavities in proton scale magnetic cavities observed by Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft in the Earth’s magnetosheath, and depict the boundary of the electron scale magnetic cavity using particle sounding technique.

Trans-ancestry meta-analysis of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) from 1,046,070 individuals identifies 264 associated loci, providing a resource of molecular targets for translational research of chronic kidney disease.

The heterogeneity of whole-exome sequencing (WES) data generation methods presents a challenge to joint analysis. Here, the authors present a bioinformatics strategy to generate high-quality data from processing diversely generated WES samples, as applied in the Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Project.

The non-coding genome of T-ALL has not been extensively studied. Here, the authors conduct RNA-seq, ATAC-seq and Hi-C seq analyses and find that T-ALL associated neo-loops may regulate key transcription factors including HOXA13; the aberrant expression of which is associated with poor prognosis.

Entanglement between single photons and solid-state emitters is a key component for photonic quantum computing and networks. Here, using a single electron spin in a quantum dot, the authors present a deterministic photon source achieving three-qubit entanglement of one electron spin and two photons.

Osteocytes are the key cellular components of cortical bone. Here they show that osteocytes transfer mitochondria to the endothelial cells of transcortical vessels (TCVs), which promotes angiogenesis and increases function of the TCV network.

A South China Sea expedition in 2021 identified a 3.5-km-deep site close to the Equator for a next-generation neutrino telescope: TRIDENT. A large array of advanced detectors will be arrayed on the seabed to probe fundamental physics and explore the extreme Universe.

Better analytical methods are needed to extract biological meaning from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of psychiatric disorders. Here the authors take GWAS data from over 60,000 subjects, including patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression, and identify common etiological pathways shared amongst them.