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Endometriosis, a chronic inflammatory condition with limited treatments, affects millions globally. Here, the authors develop ionic liquid-coated gold core polymeric nanoparticles (Au-PLGA-IL NPs) for selectively targeted neutrophil co-localization, integrating the plasmonic properties of AuNPs with PLGA’s biocompatibility, further enhanced by ionic liquids, demonstrating significant apoptosis in endometrial cells via photothermal therapy.

Detecting trace amounts of harmful bacteria and nanoscale biomarkers is crucial for early diagnosis and disease prevention, yet conventional methods are often slow and lack sensitivity. The authors introduce a rapid, highly sensitive detection method using a metallic thin-film-coated optical fibre module, significantly enhancing target assembly efficiency and offering promising applications in bioanalytical detection, drug delivery and material assembly technologies.

This study uses single-nucleus RNA sequencing to analyze lung tissue from 141 individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Distinct patterns of spatially resolved changes in cell composition and cell states that correlate with clinical features are highlighted.

Gold has a vital role in human society and the global economy, but its production currently causes high levels of environmental pollution. This work reports an approach that can effectively produce gold from both primary and secondary resources without the use of toxic substances such as mercury or cyanide.

Calculations at the theoretical gold standard generally yield accurate results for a variety of energy-transfer processes in molecular collisions. Using anti-seeding methods in a crossed-beam inelastic scattering experiment, a resonance structure is clearly resolved for NO–H₂ collisions, pushing the required accuracy for theoretical potentials beyond the gold standard.

Adsorbed carbon monoxide typically acts to poison the oxidation of alcohols on heterogeneous catalysts and electrocatalysts. Here, it is shown that carbon monoxide that has been adsorbed irreversibly on a Au(111) surface can act as a promoter for this process by enhancing the scission of C–H bonds in the alcohol to yield the corresponding aldehyde.

A molecular-level understanding of structural evolution upon electrochemical doping in organic mixed ionic-electronic conductors is required. A pronounced reduction in mass and thickness is observed in an n-type ladder polymer upon doping with protic cations owing to water expulsion.

Here the authors demonstrate voltage-controlled nonlinear optical response of gold nanofilm via electrothermal effect. They fabricate a voltage-controlled saturable absorber for achieving wavelength-tunability/operation-regime switching in a fiber laser.

The electron-phonon interaction in gold and silver is weak, which leads to both their high conductivity and lack of conventional superconductivity. Here, Kumbhakar and coauthors find, using point contact spectroscopy, that the electron-phonon interaction in a nanostructured gold-silver film can be enhanced by over two orders of magnitude compared to the constituent elements.

This study shows how the bacterial retron Eco2 defends against viruses. Phage nucleases trigger activation of Eco2, which cuts RNAs, shuts down protein production and stops phage replication.

The identification of individual proteins is highly desirable in diagnostics. Here, the authors report on DNA-origami assembled dimers of gold nanorod with accessible hotspots to capture and identify single proteins from solution by SERS.

This study of magic-angle twisted trilayer graphene moiré superconductors using scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy identifies two energy gaps that develop from many-body resonance in this highly tunable class of materials.

Previous malaria exposure weakens whole-parasite malaria vaccines by leaving haemozoin, which impairs T cell activation. An mRNA vaccine bypasses this block, restores protective T cells and improves protection when combined with whole-sporozoite vaccination.

N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) are valuable surface anchors, but their use has remained limited to either spherical or planar nanomaterials. Now, they have been grafted onto gold nanorods through a bidentate ligand featuring a thiolate and a NHC–gold complex. The resulting nanorods are robust towards a wide range of harsh conditions and show promise for photothermal therapy.

The cancer cell membrane replicates the characteristic molecular profile of its parental cells. Here, authors construct a homotypic membrane-powered biomimetic interface for subtype-specific analysis of breast cancer extracellular vesicles.

For catalytic nanoparticles there is often a trade-off between stability and activity. Here the authors report a route to ultra-stable and catalytically active colloidal small (~3 nm) gold nanoparticles using multi-dentate polyoxometalates as protecting agents in nonpolar solvents.

Optical spin orientation of itinerant ferromagnets in twisted MoTe₂ homobilayers is demonstrated, enabling control of topological Chern numbers with circularly polarized light.

Many nanoparticles are stabilised by chemical functionalisation with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG). Here, the authors report on the functionalisation of gold nanoparticles by the physical absorption of cyclic PEG and demonstrate superior stabilisation against heating, freezing and lyophilisation.

The authors show that plasma AT(N) biomarkers can distinguish Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal lobar degeneration in diverse Latin American populations. Using machine learning and integrating neuroimaging, significant diagnostic accuracy was achieved, enhancing clinical assessments of these conditions in Latin America.

Muscularis macrophages, housekeepers of enteric nervous system integrity and intestinal homeostasis, modulate α-synuclein pathology and neurodegeneration in models of Parkinson’s disease, and understanding the accompanying mechanisms could pave the way for early-stage biomarkers.

The electrochemical transformation of CO₂ into liquid fuels is a major challenge. Now, Jaramillo, Hahn and co-workers present a Au/Cu catalyst highly active to C₂₊ alcohols at low overpotentials as a result of a tandem mechanism where CO₂ is reduced to CO on Au and further reduced to C₂₊ alcohols on nearby Cu.

Two-dimensional materials have excellent electrical properties, but poor luminescence limits their application in optoelectronics. Here, the authors demonstrate a plasmon-induced 20,000-fold enhancement in photoluminescence from tungsten diselenide suspended across a nanometre-scale gap.

An antiphage defence system has an activation mechanism that relies on the sensing of phage-encoded proteins that enforce geometry crucial to activation and are not typically present in non-infected cells.

This fluid can be used to create remarkable magnetic levitation and patterning effects.

Currently, gold recovery from waste materials requires inorganic cyanides and more environmentally benign methods are required. Here, the authors report that host–guest interactions between α-cyclodextrin and gold lead to the precipitation of one-dimensional superstructures, offering a selective and green alternative.

This paper uses multiomics to profile a large cohort of meningioma samples to highlight the role of the tumor microenvironment in driving the epigenetic changes underpinning tumor classification and prediction of outcome.

Many transition metals can form hydrogen bonds to organic species, but experimental evidence for Au is still lacking. Here, the authors obtain crystallographic and NMR spectroscopic evidence of hydrogen bonding between C-H groups and Au atoms of gold clusters, suggesting that non-covalent interactions may play a role in gold cluster catalysis.

The separation of metals from electronic waste is an enduring technological and societal challenge, and new metal extraction, refining and recycling solutions are needed. Here the authors report a recyclable and tuneable chemical reagent that separates valuable metals such as gold by direct and selective precipitation from various acidic, mixed-metal solutions of relevance to extraction and recycling industries.

Geochemical data from zircons show that subduction-like processes were operating contemporaneously with stagnant-lid-like processes at different locations as early as 4.4 billion years ago on the Hadean Earth.

Metal cations present in the electrolyte are known to influence the performance in CO₂ electroreduction, but their specific role remains under discussion. Now, it is shown that the reaction can only take place in the presence of such cations, which are required to stabilize negatively charged reaction intermediates.

Smith et al. present M-PACT, a deep neural network leveraging low-input cell-free DNA methylation profiles to achieve robust classification of pediatric brain tumors and enable cellular deconvolution and sensitive copy-number variation detection.

Large scale CO₂ electrolysis to produce CO has mainly been performed in neutral and alkaline media. Here, we show that it can also be realized in acidic media, with faradaic efficiencies of 80–90%, and 30% better energy efficiency than obtained in neutral media.

Viral ribonucleoprotein–viral protein networks form pre-replication centres that nucleate viral factories and drive respiratory syncytial virus replication.

Single-molecule structural transitions involving DNA twisting can be measured with substantially greater spatiotemporal resolution than previously possible with a gold rotor bead tracking (AuRBT) method. This approach uses magnetic tweezers and evanescent darkfield microscopy to track a gold nanoparticle probe attached to a DNA molecule.

An in-depth analysis of tissue biopsies from patients with multiple myeloma and CAR T cell therapy-associated immune-related adverse events (CirAEs) after treatment with commercial BCMA-targeted CAR T cell therapy shows that CD4⁺ CAR T cells mediate off-tumor toxicities and that high CD4:CD8 ratio at apheresis, robust early CAR T cell expansion, ICANS and ciltacabtagene autoleuce treatment are independently associated with the development of CirAEs.

The field of molecular electronics is currently held back by the lack of scalability and reproducibility of existing break junction technologies. Here, Dubois et al. demonstrate parallel fabrication of millions of gold break junctions with sub-3 nm gaps via controllable crack formation on a wafer scale.

Estimates from the Global Burden of Disease study reveal declines in chronic respiratory disease mortality between 1990 and 2023—especially during the COVID-19 pandemic—but the burdens on people affected remain substantial.

The Peruvian Amazon is facing the highest known input of mercury pollution of any ecosystem globally. Intact forests located near artisanal gold mining are particularly at risk from this toxin.