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This study found that obesity increases the stress protein REDD1, which drives vascular ageing and high blood pressure. REDD1 activates an atypical NF-κB signaling pathway and microRNAs that switch off genes protecting blood vessels. Blocking this pathway improves vascular and kidney function in obese mice, highlighting a potential therapeutic target.

Nanoscale thickness strongly enhances the converse flexoelectric effect, as the electric field gradient scales quadratically with decreasing thickness. This study demonstrates a two-dimensional material-based converse flexoelectric actuator.

High-efficient dynamic vision requires capturing instantaneous motion and its temporal evolution to infer trajectories, velocities, and even predict future motion. Kim et al. introduce an analog event-memory sensor that is capable of event detection and temporal integration. The proposed architecture can reduce latency, power consumption, and circuit complexity compared to conventional dynamic vision sensors.

Here, the authors transfer monolayer WSe₂ onto a pre-stretched substrate to achieve a sinusoidal ripple pattern that leads to alternating compressive/tensile strains. They study quantitatively how efficiently strain can induce exciton funneling and what parameters are important.

A tactile sensing system that can learn to identify different types of surface can be created using sensors that mimic the fast and slow responses of mechanoreceptors found in human skin.

Brown macroalgae is a good candidate feedstock for biorefinery, but the major carbohydrate alginate cannot be digested by current industrial microbes. Here, the authors isolate Vibrio sp. dhg and engineer it to produce value-added biochemicals from alginate using newly developed genetic tools.

One of the interesting features of graphene is that its properties change with the number of layers. A procedure to create monolithic devices with elements made out of different numbers of graphene layers is now shown, and a practical demonstration of this method is given by realizing transistor arrays with chemical-sensing functionalities.

In a significant step forward in complexity and capability for bottom-up assembly of nanoelectronic circuits, this study demonstrates scalable and programmable logic tiles based on semiconductor nanowire transistor arrays. The same logic tile, consisting 496 configurable transistor nodes in an area of about 960 μm², could be programmed and operated as, among other functions, a full-adder, full-subtractor and multiplexer. The promise is that these logic tiles can be cascaded to realize fully integrated nanoprocessors with computing, memory and addressing capabilities.

Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common type of primary liver cancer. Here the authors show an oxygen gradient chip that separates aggressive hepatocellular carcinoma cells from a heterogeneous tumor mass, mirroring the conditions of the portal vein, hepatic artery, and liver.

Designing robust blue organic light-emitting diodes is a long-standing challenge in the display industry. Here, the authors show that electron-induced degradation reactions play a more critical role in the short lifetime of devices with iridium-based emitters under real operational conditions.

Electric fields achieved by applying electrical bias directly between the sliding surfaces are commonly used to tune friction. Here, the authors reveal that friction between graphene and a semiconductor is sensitive to the charge density of graphene while influenced by an indirect electric field.

By now a plethora of ultrathin hydrophobic coatings are available but their durability are not well developed. Here, the authors present a thin, durable and fluorine-free PDMS-based vitrimer coating that implements many desirable aspects like energy efficiency, durability and sustainability.

Surface reconstruction of electrocatalysts is an important issue for electroconversion of carbon dioxide to value-added chemical products. Here the authors address this issue by using copper nanoparticles protected by self-formed quasi graphitic carbon shell for stable CO2 to C2H4 conversion.

Most SERS-active nanostructures suffer from low robustness against misalignment to field polarization. Here, the authors demonstrate three-dimensional nanoframes of octahedral geometry, with two rims engraved on each facet, as polarization-independent SERS nanoprobes.

Designing efficient bio-inspired visual recognition system remains a challenge. Here the authors present a curved neuromorphic image sensor array based on a heterostructure of MoS2 and pV3D3 integrated with a plano-convex lens for efficient image acquisition and data pre-processing.

Insertion of an atomically thin interlayer, such as graphene, between a metal thin film and a substrate can be used to create flexible electrodes with electrical performance that changes only gradually with strain and is resistant to abrupt mechanical failure.

Field effect transistors based on graphene hold promise for sensing applications. Here, the authors report a millimeter-sized transistor based on deformed graphene as a biosensor that can detect nucleic acid molecules having detection limit of ~18 molecules of DNA in physiological buffer solution and ~600 molecules in human serum.

2D materials’ thinness and environmental sensitivity induce novel surface forces which render fundamental 2D material–liquid interactions variable. 2D material wettability is perturbed by substrates and contaminants enabling templating, filtration, and actuation. Fluid structure at 2D material–liquid interfaces is similarly perturbed, partially explaining wettability modulation and enabling distinctive electro-fluidics applications including supercapacitors, energy harvesters, and sensors. Finally, nanoconfinement of molecules arising from perturbed liquid structure modified hydro-frictional behavior, influencing 2D materials’ use in microchannels. 2D material–liquid interactions will inform future fields of study, including modulation of 2D materials’ chemical reactivity, offering a rich area for research on tuned surface fluid interactions.