Search

Hole and particle-like quasiparticles of a Mott insulator can pair into excitonic bound states. Now, time-resolved measurements of Sr₂IrO₄ show signs of an excitonic fluid forming from a photo-excited population of quasiparticles.

A large-scale study on the replicability of claims from social and behavioural science journals reports that about half of the results replicate in the same patterns as the original study.

Distinguishing band and Mott insulators experimentally represents a longstanding challenge. Here, the authors demonstrate a momentum-resolved signature of a dimerized Mott-insulator in the out-of-plane spectral function of Nb₃Br₈.

The limitations of many experimental techniques make it difficult to obtain a clear picture of magnetic interactions in materials, leaving many important questions open. Yang et al. demonstrate that time-resolved two-magnon Raman scattering can probe the dynamics of antiferromagnetic YBa₂Cu₃O_6.1.

The physics of Mott insulators is obscured by the interplay between competing orders and fluctuations. Here, the authors track the evolution of the electronic structure of Mott insulator strontium iridate as the iridium atoms are replaced by rhodium, providing insight into this exotic state of matter.

The intrinsic robustness to perturbations makes antiferromagnets ideal building blocks for spintronic devices, however, it also manipulation and detection of antiferromagnetic ordering difficult. Here, Xu et al demonstrate an anisotropic tunnelling magnetoresistance in an all-antiferromagnetic tunnel junction.

Frustration in magnetic systems may lead to exotic quantum phases such as spin liquid and spin ice state. Here the authors demonstrate that compressive epitaxial strain in La₂NiO₄ films deposited on different substrates can tune antiferromagnetic exchange interactions and increase the degree of frustration through the increased level of incompatibility between exchange interactions.

An analysis of 24,202 critical cases of COVID-19 identifies potentially druggable targets in inflammatory signalling (JAK1), monocyte–macrophage activation and endothelial permeability (PDE4A), immunometabolism (SLC2A5 and AK5), and host factors required for viral entry and replication (TMPRSS2 and RAB2A).

This overview of the ENCODE project outlines the data accumulated so far, revealing that 80% of the human genome now has at least one biochemical function assigned to it; the newly identified functional elements should aid the interpretation of results of genome-wide association studies, as many correspond to sites of association with human disease.

Children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds often show lower academic achievement, commonly linked to limited resources. Here, the authors show that reduced exploration–a behavior tuned for learning in childhood–helps to explain these learning gaps.

Analyses of current coral reef growth rates in the tropical western Atlantic and Indian Ocean show that few reefs will have the capacity to track sea-level rise projections under Representative Concentration Pathway scenarios without sustained ecological recovery.

Small, frequent rockfalls are thought to dominate the erosion of mountains above rockfalls, and little is known about rare large landslides as material is rapidly reworked. Here, the authors present sub-surface data from a large rock avalanche showing how such landslides can be recognized from their deposits.

The impulsively driven antiferromagnetic Mott insulator is a model quantum many-body system predicted to realize exotic transient phenomena, however its exploration in far-from equilibrium regimes remains experimentally challenging. Here, the authors use a combination of second harmonic optical polarimetry and coherent magnon spectroscopy to investigate the ultrafast non-equilibrium dynamics of the Mott insulator Sr₂IrO₄ and find evidence of a far-from-equilibrium critical regime where static and dynamic critical behaviour decouple and which could be present in a number of other quantum materials.

Manganite perovskites display the intriguing property of colossal magnetoresistance (CMR), but only at very specific doping values. Now, a detailed crystallographic analysis of a prototype system reveals a novel type of orbital ordering that coexists with charge-disorder stripes, occurring precisely at the doping value where CMR is maximised.

Predictions suggest enhanced correlation effect due to multiple van Hove singularities (VHS) in the vicinity of the Fermi level in the recently discovered AV₃Sb₅ kagome metals. Here the authors identify three VHSs close to the Fermi level with diverse sublattice characters in CsV₃Sb₅, and one of them shows flat dispersion suggesting the higher-order nature.

Immune lymphocyte estimation from nucleotide sequencing (ImmuneLENS) infers B cell and T cell fractions from whole-genome sequencing data. Applied to the 100,000 Genomes Project datasets, circulating T cell fraction provides sex-dependent and prognostic insights in patients.

Voltage control of spin-orbit torques (SOTs) provides additional degrees of freedom for spinmemory and -logic applications. Here the authors demonstrate a large voltage control of direction as well as amount of current-induced spin accumulation at the heavy metal/ferromagnet interface and effectively tune the SOTs in a Pt/Co/GdOx heterostructure.

The autoinflammatory pathology associated with alteration of the ZBD domain of the RNA-editing enzyme ADAR1 is driven by signalling that is dependent on the nucleotide sensor ZBP1.

Two-dimensional pseudocapacitors may benefit portable electronic devices but require improved energy and power densities. Here, the authors achieve high volumetric capacitance in ultrathin films with oxygen vacancies that enhance electron conduction and intercrystallite water that promotes proton conduction.

In this work, authors probe the molecular mechanism of re-emerging CHL susceptibility in Malawian Enterobacterales isolates, where they identify a stable truncation of resistance genes by insertion sequences.

Metal oxide semiconductors are promising materials for solar energy capture but can suffer from stability problems. Here, the authors present a methodology for evaluating corrosion mechanisms and apply it to BiVO₄, revealing chemical instabilities that are not predicted from thermodynamic considerations alone.

A new form of charge ordering is observed in a cuprate superconductor. At low doping, a fully rotationally symmetric ordering appears before becoming locked to the Cu–O bond directions at high doping. The link between charge correlations and fermiology give a perspective on the phase diagram.

Meltwater ponding reduces Greenland Ice Sheet albedo, but this process is not included in models. This study uses drone imagery to show that small streams and ponds, often missed by satellites, considerably increase the energy available for melt.

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.

A study examines the diversity of extrachromosomal DNA elements in cancer, and provides details on the frequency and origin of extrachromosomal DNA and its role in the development of different types of cancer.

Investigation of variation in three cohorts has identified multiple genetic signals associated with the pregnancy-specific liver disorder, intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy, giving insight into the disease which can cause preterm birth and stillbirth.

Low read depth sequencing of whole genomes and high read depth exomes of nearly 10,000 extensively phenotyped individuals are combined to help characterize novel sequence variants, generate a highly accurate imputation reference panel and identify novel alleles associated with lipid-related traits; in addition to describing population structure and providing functional annotation of rare and low-frequency variants the authors use the data to estimate the benefits of sequencing for association studies.

Population-based genome sequencing provides an increasingly rich resource for the identification of low-frequency, large effect variants associated with clinically important phenotypes. Timpson et al. use UK10K data to identify a variant of the APOC3gene strongly associated with plasma triglyceride levels.

Lean body mass is a highly heritable trait and is associated with various health conditions. Here, Kiel and colleagues perform a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for whole body lean body mass and find five novel genetic loci to be significantly associated.

A new GWAS of schizophrenia (11,260 cases and 24,542 controls) and meta-analysis identifies 50 new associated loci and 145 loci in total. The common variant association signal is highly enriched in mutation-intolerant genes and in regions under strong background selection.

ENSO end members El Niño and La Niña are linked to elevated coastal hazards across the Pacific region. Here, the authors show that the wave conditions and coastal response for the 2015–16 El Niño indicate that it was one of the most significant events of the last 145 years.

Levels of circulating thyrotropin and free thyroxine reflect thyroid function, however, their genetic underpinnings remain poorly understood. Taylor et al. take advantage of whole-genome sequence data from cohorts within the UK10K project to identify novel variants associated with these traits.

Protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) are a family of signal transduction enzymes that dephosphorylate phosphotyrosine containing proteins. Structural and kinetic studies provide a molecular understanding of how these enzymes regulate a wide range of intracellular processes.

Weathering of deep bedrock releases reactive nitrogen into the subsurface, which contributes to the flux of nitrous oxide to the atmosphere, according to a field study that combines soil, rock and groundwater data within a river catchment.

Recent evidence has questioned the dogma of strict maternal transmission of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in humans. Wei et al. saw no evidence of paternal transmission of mtDNA in 11,035 human trios, and show that nuclear-mitochondrial segments (NUMTs) can give the impression of paternal mtDNA transmission, but are actually inherited through the nuclear genome.

The authors summarize the data produced by phase III of the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project, a resource for better understanding of the human and mouse genomes.

Imputation uses genotype information from SNP arrays to infer the genotypes of missing markers. Here, the authors show that an imputation reference panel derived from whole-genome sequencing of 3,781 samples from the UK10K project improves the imputation accuracy and coverage of low frequency variants compared to existing methods.

Whole-genome sequencing of chronic lymphocytic leukemia from 485 patients identifies putative coding and noncoding drivers of disease. Genomically defined subgroups show distinct clinical and biological characteristics.

A hybrid quantum-classical algorithm for solving many-electron problems is developed, enabling the simulation, with the aid of 16 qubits on a quantum processor, of chemical systems with up to 120 orbitals.

Size and shape of the brain are, among others, influenced by the dimensions of the skull. Here, the authors report genome-wide association studies for head circumference and intracranial volume in children and adults and the identification of nine common or low-frequency variants associated with these traits.