Editorials

Steel underpins modern society but its production generates intensive carbon dioxide emissions. For its sustainable development, the steel industry requires technology and product upgrades, driven by innovation and cooperation.

As Nature Materials turns 20 we look back at how materials science has evolved and consider future directions.

French science faces an uncertain future as the new government struggles with a fractured parliament.

Materials discovery and advances in synthesis are driving the fields of exciton and exciton–polariton physics, moving towards on-demand engineering of many-body quasiparticle interactions in solid-state systems.

Materials scientists have played a key role in the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic from the development of vaccines and diagnostic tools to the rapid prototyping of ventilators.

A return to in-person and hybrid conferences is more than welcome and sure to inspire.

The dissemination of synthetic biology into materials science is creating an evolving class of functional, engineered living materials that can grow, sense and adapt similar to biological organisms.

From the realization of their true nature one hundred years ago to the latest approaches for structuring materials using molecular weaving, high-molecular-weight polymers still have much to offer society.

Proposed new regulations for the European battery industry could end up making the electrification of transport harder — and reveal the complexity of creating sustainable markets.

Ferrimagnets and topological insulators offer new platforms for utilizing the spin of electrons in functional materials.

Innovations in soft materials design and engineering are delivering promising functional components for advanced soft robotic applications.

Nanoarchitecture design of materials offers great opportunities to achieve unusual properties, but requires fabrication techniques that ensure sufficient resolution and material quality.

Research continues to showcase the versatility and application potential of perovskites, while our understanding of their structural and mechanical properties continues to improve.

DNA is much more than the genetic information it carries. It is a versatile material for creating systems with tailor-made functionalities that are having an important impact in emerging technologies.

Technological civilization often depends on processes that have a significant environmental impact, but emissions control catalysts or porous adsorbent materials can ameliorate these risks.

The area confined between grains in polycrystalline materials can undergo phase transformations under external stimuli, providing prospects for materials design based on grain boundary phase engineering.

The Biden administration proposed a huge boost in US federal research spending. Materials science, and many other fields, would win big if Congress agrees to the president’s sweeping agenda.

The next stage of the Graphene Flagship is marked by a €20 million investment for an experimental Pilot Line, promoting the transition of devices based on two-dimensional materials from research to industry.

From the discovery of the Seebeck effect in the nineteenth century to its application in the latest space probes, thermoelectrics have carved out a niche for reliable applications.