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mRNA vaccines incorporate pseudouridine (Ψ), the sustainable production of which remains a challenge. Here, the authors formulate a streamlined Ψ designer pathway in E. coli and further develop a combined Ψ biomanufacturing platform.

A new artificial intelligence model, DeepSeek-R1, is introduced, demonstrating that the reasoning abilities of large language models can be incentivized through pure reinforcement learning, removing the need for human-annotated demonstrations.

Azetidine is a pharmacophore present in drug-related molecules. Here the authors unveil a two-metalloenzyme cascade leading to the azetidine-containing polyoximic acid, in which PolE functions as an Fe²⁺/pterin-dependent l-isoleucine desaturase, while PolF is a haem-oxygenase-like diiron oxidase, orchestrating the sequential desaturation and cyclization. These findings expand our knowledge of metalloenzymes.

Skyrmions are a type of topological spin texture that have generate considerable interest for use in information storage and processing, and unconventional computing. Despite this interest, controlled generation, and motion without a Skyrmion hall effect remain an issue. Here, Chen et al combine a Skyrmion hosting magnetic multilayer with a surface acoustic wave (SAW) delay line, and show how SAWs can create, order, and allow for Skyrmion motion, without the Skyrmion Hall effect.

Medical dressings are typically not effective at preventing bacteria invasion, and act only as a physical barrier. Here, defensin-conjugated polymer fabrics are shown to be effective against antibacterial activity for various drug-resistant bacteria, by preventing cell adhesion and biofilm formation, while encouraging wound healing.

Two-dimensional hybrid perovskites have gained substantial interest recently due to their controllable optoelectronic properties; however precise control over layer thickness has been synthetically challenging. Now a crystal growth method is shown to achieve high-quality single crystals of organic semiconductor-incorporated perovskites with control over their thickness and length through judicious solvent choice, affording precisely tuned optoelectronic properties.

Here the authors show that the trophi or jaws of the chitinous masticatory apparatus of marine and freshwater zooplankton rotifers can grind microplastics, independent of polymer composition, and generate particulate nanoplastics, which may accelerate the nanoplastic flux in global surface waters.

Recently there has been interest in exploring the coupling between magnons for use in information processing, however, this is hampered by the fact that such coupling is forbidden due to the different parity of the acoustic and optical magnons. Here, Comstock et al show that the interlayer Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya-Interaction in a layered hybrid antiferromagnet can allow for strong coupling between the acoustic and optical magnons, offering a pathway for magnon coherent information processing.

Ferromagnet/spacer/ferromagnet sandwiches have been studied extensively, and used in a variety of spintronic devices. Here, Zhou et al. create an all anti-ferromagnetic sandwich of Fe₂O₃/Cr₂O₃/Fe₂O₃, and demonstrate strong orthogonal coupling between the top and bottom Fe₂O₃ layers.

Synthetic antiferromagnets (SAF), formed out of alternating layers of a ferromagnet with neutral spacer combine technologically appealing properties of both antiferromagnets and ferromagnets. Here, Chen et al demonstrate controlled switching of an SAF, without the need for an applied magnetic field.

Inversion asymmetry imparts rich condensed matter phenomena in inorganic systems, and transmission of chirality across structural motifs is an attractive design strategy to break symmetry. Here, the authors use chiral organic cations to transfer structural chirality to inorganic layers in hybrid perovskites.

Two-dimensional hybrid perovskites exhibiting Rashba/Dresselhaus spin-splitting can be potentially used for spin-selective transport and spin-orbitronics, yet the structural determinants of spin-splitting are not well-understood. Here, the authors reveal a specific inorganic layer distortion that correlates with bulk spin-splitting in these materials.

A solution-processing step has been used to prepare quantum-well structures that comprise a thin layer of perovskite sandwiched between two layers of conjugated oligothiophene derivatives. The band gap of the resulting 2D hybrid perovskites can be fine-tuned by functionalizing the organic component, which also improves the stability of the system.

In an inter-laboratory study, the authors compare the accuracy and performance of three optical density calibration protocols (colloidal silica, serial dilution of silica microspheres, and colony-forming unit (CFU) assay). They demonstrate that serial dilution of silica microspheres is the best of these tested protocols, allowing precise and robust calibration that is easily assessed for quality control and can also evaluate the effective linear range of an instrument.