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Tunable coupling between magnetism and the lattice is important for on-demand manipulation of magnetic phases. Here, the authors demonstrate that lattice vibrations can coherently modulate the interlayer magnetic exchange coupling in the magnetic topological insulator MnBi₂Te₄.

Materials databases currently neglect the temperature effect on compound thermodynamics. Here the authors introduce a Gibbs energy descriptor enabling the high-throughput prediction of temperature-dependent thermodynamics across a wide range of compositions and temperatures for inorganic solids.

Here, authors report an iron flow battery, using earth-abundant materials like iron, ammonia, and phosphorous acid. This work offers a solution to reduce materials cost and extend cycle life in energy storage applications for grid decarbonization.

This study identifies the proteins critical to fungal cellulosome assembly, characterizing the complex as evolutionarily chimeric — an independently evolved fungal complex co-opted catalytic activities from bacteria coexisting within the gut.

A group of experts suggests ways in which deep learning can be used to enhance the potential for discovery in multi-messenger astrophysics.

p14ARF drives NPM1 phase separation and forms meso-scale assemblies that limit NPM1 dynamics. Here the authors show that p14ARF hydrophobic residues enhance NPM1 phase separation, promote p14ARF nucleolar partitioning, nucleolar NPM1 immobilization, and reduce cell viability.

Gallium arsenide holds record efficiency for single junction solar cells, but high production costs limit applications. Here Metaferia et al. show high quality GaAs and GaInP at rates exceeding 300 and 200 micrometers per hour by dynamic hydride vapor phase epitaxy and > 25% efficient solar cells.

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.

The presence of excitonic instability and its relationship with a structural transition in Ta₂NiSe₅ has been debated. Chen et al. map out the electronic bands and lattice distortion across the semimetal-to-semiconductor transition with sulfur doping, revealing the crucial role of electron-phonon coupling.

The M₅ muscarinic acetylcholine receptor represents a promising therapeutic target for neurological disorders. Here, the authors reveal a 2.1 Å cryo-EM structure of the M₅ bound to a selective positive allosteric modulator site that enables structure-based drug design.

Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy of superconducting magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene reveals flat-band replicas that are indicative of strong electron–phonon coupling; these replicas are absent in non-superconducting twisted bilayer graphene.

Electrons in PdCoO₂ can travel a long way before being scattered, and their band structure is such that they can travel in only one of three directions. As a result, the current flow through this nanoscale conductor can be very efficient.

A key hypothesis for the evolution of division of labour in social insects is that a shared set of genes – a genetic toolkit - regulates reproductive castes across species. Here, the authors analyze brain transcriptomes from nine species of social wasps to identify the factors that shape this toolkit.

The cleavage of C–C bonds in hydrocarbons is traditionally entrusted to precious metal catalysts, whereas common non-reducible oxides are considered unreactive. Now, the authors report nanostructured silica-embedded zirconia nanoparticles that are competent for the hydrogenolysis of polyethylene with remarkable performance.

Long-lived entanglement is a key resource for quantum metrology with optical clocks. Rydberg-based entangling gates within arrays of neutral atoms enable the generation of clock-transition Bell states with high fidelity and long coherence times.

Neuromorphic hardware designed to implement spiking neural networks for deep learning and artificial intelligence applications can also be used to solve non-cognitive computational tasks such as Monte Carlo methods.

An inverse design strategy is reported for the organization of nanoscale matter using DNA-programmable bonds and the fabrication of hierarchically ordered 3D assemblies.

A superlattice structure of gold tetrahedra formed via a surface-promoted pathway is reported. The octo-diamond crystal is achiral, but exhibits bilayers of left- and right-handed chiral motifs with chiroptical plasmonic responses.

Detection of quantum oscillations in thermal transport could shed light on the origin of thermal Hall effect in correlated materials but it is challenging. Here the authors report quantum oscillations in the thermal Hall effect in the kagome metal CsV₃Sb₅ indicating strong violation of the Wiedemann–Franz law.

l-cysteine is required for the growth of Lactobacillus iners, a vaginal microbiome species typically associated with adverse outcomes that lacks cysteine biosynthesis pathways and key uptake mechanisms present in other lactobacilli. Cystine uptake inhibitors can be used to suppress L. iners abundance in vitro in favour of L. crispatus, a species associated with favourable outcomes.

Actinide compounds possess complex electronic structures. Here the authors introduce the satellite peak in actinide M₄-edge resonant inelastic X-ray scattering to probe the number of localized 5 f electrons and assesses bond covalency in actinide compounds.

A cryo-strain device capable of applying large, continuous strains to two-dimensional materials in situ enables the reversible tuning of magnetic order and spin-canting process of the layered magnetic semiconductor CrSBr.

An environmentally safe means of mosquito control is the application of Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis, which produces a cocktail of four naturally crystalline proteins exclusively toxic to mosquito. Here the authors report the atomic-resolution structures of Bti Cry11Aa and related Btj Cry11Ba solved de novo through Serial Femtosecond Crystallography on naturally-occurring nanocrystals.

De novo designed interleukin-4 mimetics were engineered that induce biased signaling activation and exhibit high thermal stability. These mimetics offer insight into cytokine signaling and can be directly incorporated into 3D-printed biomaterials

Electrons in f orbitals can create localized states that interact strongly and drive strange metal and critical behaviour via the Kondo mechanism. Now a mechanism of geometric frustration enables similar phenomena with d electrons.

Metal-free catalysts can offer uniquely different activity and selectivity from transition metal-based counterparts. Here, the authors report metal-free nitrogen-assembly carbon with closely-placed nitrogen as active sites, achieving catalytic cleavage of strong bonds including H-H, C-O and C-H.

Chromium sulfur bromide is an air-stable van der Waals magnet, which has a large optical response. Here, Smolenski et al find a large exciton binding energy CrSBr, which they attribute to localization due to the quasi one-dimensional electronic bands.

Trilayer graphene with the layers consecutively twisted by the same angle is shown to be a platform in which correlated and topological states exist, driven by local lattice relaxations.

Electric fields can break the structural inversion symmetry in bilayer 2D materials, providing a way of tuning the magnetic moment and Berry curvature. This effect can be probed directly in bilayer MoS₂ using optical measurements.

The structure of the second zinc finger of SALL4 in complex with pomalidomide, cereblon and DDB1 reveals the unique details of SALL4 recruitment, providing insights for rational design of cereblon-binding drugs with reduced teratogenic risk.

This manuscript evaluates forecasts of laboratory-confirmed influenza hospital admissions, a new target for influenza forecasting in the United States. Across two influenza seasons, the FluSight ensemble is robust compared to submitted models.

Time-resolved measurements show that coupling between electrons and phonons in lead halide perovskites can mediate attractive interactions between excitons, although the interaction strength depends on the specific material.

Small molecule drugs promise to remain a valuable tool in controlling the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Here the authors describe optimized drug-like small molecule inhibitors of the SARS-CoV-2 3CL protease for potential treatment of COVID-19.

Inorganic nanoparticles with non-uniform size distributions can spontaneously assemble into uniformly sized supraparticles with core-shell morphologies.

The tunability of electronic properties is a central goal of research into topological semimetals. Here, the authors report Weyl nodal ring states in the magnetic semimetal EuGa₄ and link the nodal ring state to the observed large non-saturating magnetoresistance.

Understanding transformations of non-equilibrium materials is a key open scientific question. Here the pathway by which different polar supertextures undergo dynamical correlations and collectively transform into a metastable supercrystal state is revealed experimentally and theoretically over seven orders of magnitude timescale.

Femtosecond electron diffraction and ab initio theory unravel ultrafast lattice dynamics in photoexcited two-dimensional heterostructures during charge transfer.

Sporadic surface melt over the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is not fully understood. Here, the authors report on an extensive melting episode in the Ross Ice Shelf area in 2016 and use comprehensivein situobservations and model simulations to highlight the role of the strong El Niño event.

This study demonstrates that bacteria use a ubiquitin transferase-like enzyme to prime cGAS/DncV-like nucleotidyltransferase activation and use a deubiquitinase-like enzyme to decrease activity. 

Liquid ultrafast electron scattering measures structural responses in liquid water with femtosecond temporal and atomic spatial resolution to reveal a transient hydrogen bond contraction then thermalization preceding relaxation of the OH stretch.

The two-dimensional layered crystal structure of niobium oxide polymorph T-Nb₂O₅ exhibits fast Li-ion diffusion that is promising for energy storage applications. Epitaxial growth of single-crystalline T-Nb₂O₅ thin films with ionic transport channels oriented perpendicular to the surface are now demonstrated.

The development of aqueous organic redox flow batteries suffers from the limited availability of high-performance catholytes. Here the authors design a metal organic complex catholyte material with a tunable redox potential, which offers promise for high-energy long-lasting flow batteries.

α-Synuclein and tau can form multiple amyloid structures or strains that are associated with different neurodegenerative diseases, suggesting a strain–toxicity relationship. Now, it has been shown that O-GlcNAc modification of α-synuclein results in the formation of an amyloid strain that is largely nonpathogenic in vivo, supporting structure-dependent toxicity and another protective role for O-GlcNAc.

MHC restriction depicts CD4⁺ T cell activation by MHC-II and CD8A⁺ by MHC-I, but rare T cells with mismatched MHC restriction have been reported. Here the authors use crystallography to describe features of such a mismatched TCR-MHC interaction and implicate an atypical TCR structure and TCR-MHC interface as contributing factors.

Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti) produces the naturally-crystalline proteinaceous toxin Cyt1Aa that is toxic to mosquito larvae. Here the authors grow recombinant nanocrystals of the Cyt1Aa protoxin in vivo and use serial femtosecond crystallography to determine its structure at different redox and pH conditions and by combining their structural data with further biochemical, toxicological and biophysical analyses provide mechanistic insights into the Cyt1Aa bioactivation cascade.