Search

Twisted bilayer (tb) MoTe₂ is an ideal platform for investigating the fractional quantum anomalous Hall effect but issues related to air sensitivity make the study of its electronic structure experimentally challenging. As a solution, the authors prepare hBN encapsulated tb-MoTe₂ and using micro-angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy determine the band structure. Furthermore, through in-situ alkali metal deposition, they obtain evidence indicating a direct band gap.

This Consensus Statement presents the standards for technical reporting in environmental and host-associated microbiome studies (STREAMS) guidelines.

A complementary analysis of DESI DR2 distance measurements along with supernova and CMB data shows consistent, moderate evidence that dark energy changes over time rather than behaving as a simple cosmological constant.

The authors find low-energy magnetic excitations and a flat band near the Fermi level in kagome metal superconductor CsCr3Sb5 by angle-resolved photoemission and resonant inelastic X-ray scattering. They suggest that the flat band plays a role in the emergence of charge/magnetic order at low temperatures.

The hunt for a quantum spin liquid has involved many different material families and models. Now, Zn-barlowite has been found to have similar behaviour to another candidate material, herbertsmithite, hinting there may be universal physical behaviour.

To achieve net-zero carbon emissions, we must close the carbon cycle for industries that are difficult to electrify. Developing the needed science to provide carbon alternatives and non-fossil carbon will accelerate advances towards defossilization.

A computational approach to generate reference-free protein families from the sequence space in metagenomes reveals an enormously diverse functional space.

The authors study the field-induced ferromagnetic state of MnBi_2-xSb_xTe₄ by quantum oscillations and high-field Hall effect measurements. They confirm a single pair of type-II Weyl nodes, the long-sought “ideal” Weyl semimetal.

GROWdb defines US river microbiomes at the genome level.

Polar skyrmions are nanoscale topological structures of electric polarizations. Their collective modes, dubbed as “skyrons”, are discovered by the terahertz-field-excitation, femtosecond x-ray diffraction measurements and advanced modeling.

The Panoptes antiphage system defends bacteria by detecting phage-encoded counter-defences that sequester cyclic nucleotide signals, triggering membrane disruption and highlighting a broader strategy of sensing immune evasion through second-messenger surveillance.

Monolayer transition metal dichalcogenide heterostructures with type II band alignment have generated wide interest in device physics at the two-dimensional limit. Here, Rivera et al. observe interlayer excitons in vertically stacked MoSe2–WSe2 heterostructures and demonstrate tunability of the energy and luminescence.

Single layers of group-VI transition metal dichalcogenides have emerged as direct bandgap semiconductors in the two-dimensional limit. The authors show that monolayer molybdenum diselenide is an ideal system enabling electrostatic tunability of charging effects in neutral and charged electron-hole pairs, so-called excitons.

Nanoscale dimensions can lead to unique functional properties, often achieved via large-amplitude strains. Here, the authors use femtosecond X-rays to visualize light-induced strains in semiconductor nanocrystals, showing that they correspond to anisotropic ‘breathing modes’, which collapse after straining.

Frogs are an ancient and ecologically diverse group of amphibians that include important model systems. This paper reports genome sequences of multiple frog species, revealing remarkable stability of frog chromosomes and centromeres, along with highly recombinogenic extended subtelomeres.

An atomic stencilling method based on the co-adsorption of iodide and 2-naphthalenethiol on gold is described, yielding more than 20 different types of nanoparticle with masked and painted regions and patchy particle morphologies not reported previously.

This description of the Sphagnum (peat moss) genome includes a newly discovered sex chromosome. Interactions among sex, autosomes and environment show direct effects on Sphagnum growth which influences global carbon sequestration.

What happens to correlated electronic phases—superconductivity and charge density wave ordering—as a material is thinned? Experiments show that both can remain intact in just a single layer of niobium diselenide.

A study reports the structure and molecular mechanism of the Bil anti-phage defence system, demonstrating that it is the closest prokaryotic homologue of canonical eukaryotic ubiquitination pathways.

Regulations on the amount of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances allowed in drinking water are getting more and more stringent, and detecting small amounts is challenging. A sensing platform based on a remote gate field-effect transistor allows a sensitivity higher than that required by the US Environmental Protection Agency to be reached.

A robust acoustic droplet ejection–drop-on-tape method delivers samples to an X-ray free-electron laser source for combined serial femtosecond crystallography and X-ray emission spectroscopy analysis, providing detailed insights into macromolecular reaction dynamics.

Functionalizing two-dimensional transition-metal carbide (MXene) surfaces can alter their properties, but covalent functionalization has been synthetically challenging. Now, it has been shown that various organic groups can be covalently attached to MXene surfaces through amido and imido bonds. The resulting hybrid organic–inorganic structures exhibit Fano resonances and superior stability compared with traditional MXenes with a mixture of –F, –O and –OH surface terminations.

Afucosylated immunoglobulins have been shown to enhance certain viral infections. Here, the authors generate and structurally characterize a unique nanobody that inhibits these pathogenic glycoforms.

Films of the correlated oxide NdNiO₃ form a metallic antiferromagnetic phase that can be identified using electrical currents, raising the prospect of applications in spintronics.

Quantum computers may help to solve classically intractable problems, such as simulating non-equilibrium dissipative quantum systems. The critical dynamics of a dissipative quantum model has now been probed on a trapped-ion quantum computer.

Using serial femtosecond X-ray cystallography, we provide structural insights into the final reaction step of Kok’s photosynthetic water oxidation cycle, specifically the S₃→[S₄]→S₀ transition where O₂ is formed.

Small-molecule serial femtosecond X-ray crystallography (smSFX) characterizes microcrystals by indexing sparse serial XFEL diffraction frames, with little sample preparation, without beam damage, and at room temperature and pressure.

The oxygen-evolving complex in Photosystem II (PSII) catalyzes the light-driven oxidation of water to oxygen and it is still under debate how the water reaches the active site. Here, the authors analyse time-resolved XFEL-based crystal structures of PSII that were determined at room temperature and report the structures of the waters in the putative channels surrounding the active site at various time-points during the reaction cycle and conclude that the O1 channel is the likely water intake pathway and the Cl1 channel the likely proton release pathway.

Agricultural practices can degrade soil conditions through the loss of organic matter, a situation that will be exacerbated with growing populations. Here, the authors show that converting cropland to management intensive grazing can rapidly improve soil quality and increase organic matter concentrations.

Using valley-resolved scanning tunnelling spectroscopy, twisted WSe₂ bilayers are studied, including incommensurate dodecagon quasicrystals at 30° and commensurate moiré crystals at 21.8° and 38.2°.

The Mott metal-insulator transition, driven by electron-electron interactions, is challenging to control directly in solid-state systems, especially within the complex environments of neuromorphic devices. Here, the authors demonstrate that interface-induced screening in LaTiO₃/SrTiO₃ heterostructures can continuously tune interaction strength, enabling an isothermal Mott transition, thus offering a promising method for manipulating Mott physics through correlation control.

Synthesis of heterostructures of magnetic intercalation compounds in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) via directed topotactic reactions enables the creation of multi-component magnetic architectures, overcoming limitations of crystallographic incommensurability

Due to the limited efficacy of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 and resistance to current therapies additional anti-viral therapeutics with pan-coronavirus activity are of high interest. Here, the authors screened 2.8 billion compounds from a DNA-encoded chemical library and identified small molecules that are non-covalent inhibitors targeting the conserved 3CL protease of SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses.

Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy of CaNi₂ shows a band with vanishing dispersion across the full 3D Brillouin zone that is identified with the pyrochlore flat band as well as two additional flat bands that arise from multi-orbital interference of Ni d-electrons.

Genetic, ecological and simulation data demonstrate that the origin and coexistence of reproductively isolated sympatric groups in a fungus is driven by pleiotropic vegetative incompatibility genes under balancing selection.

Uncultivated archaeal and bacterial cells of major uncharted branches of the tree of life are targeted and sequenced using single-cell genomics; this enables resolution of many intra- and inter-phylum-level relationships, uncovers unexpected metabolic features that challenge established boundaries between the three domains of life, and leads to the proposal of two new superphyla.

A prototypical kagome metal with magnetic and topological properties is identified.

The observation of band structure features typical of the kagome lattice in FeGe suggests that an interplay of magnetism and electronic correlations determines the physics of this material.

The authors use time-resolved scanning near-field optical microscopy to probe the ultrafast excitonic processes and their impact on waveguide operation in transition metal dichalcogenide crystals. They observe significant modulation of the complex index by monitoring waveguide modes on the fs time scale, and identify both coherent and incoherent manipulations of WSe₂ excitonic resonances.

Photosystem II is the biosynthetic machinery that allows the conversion of water to oxygen using light. Here, the authors combine X-ray emission and diffraction data to probe the structural changes that take place during photosystem II catalysis.

Analysis of the antiferromagnetic ordered phase of kagome lattice FeGe suggests that charge density wave is the result of a combination of electronic-correlations-driven antiferromagnetic order and instability driven by van Hove singularities.

Alternative algorithms exploiting advantages of multidimensional mass spectrometry in untargeted metabolomics are needed. Here, the authors develop and demonstrate PeakDecoder for confident and accurate metabolite profiling in 116 microbial sample runs and using a library built from 64 standards.

Reversible and rapid switching between metallic and insulating states is key for next-generation memory devices, but identifying and studying such materials is challenging. Here, using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, the authors investigate a metastable metallic state of 1T-TaS₂ when exposed to short current pulses.

PtRu nanoparticles are the state-of-the-art catalysts for methanol electrooxidation—the anodic reaction in direct methanol fuel cells. Now, a method of dispersing single Pt atoms over Ru nanoparticles is presented and monitored in situ, thereby boosting the catalytic performance in the methanol oxidation reaction.