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The temperatures of the graphene–metal contacts in working transistors have been measured with a resolution of ∼10 nm, revealing the presence of both heating and cooling effects.

The Melt (Membrane localization using temperature) protein translocates to the plasma membrane upon temperature shift. Melt variants with a range of switching temperatures enable straightforward thermogenetic control of diverse cellular processes.

Distinguishing local hydrological, cave internal, and regional monsoon signals in speleothem records resolves disagreements among proxy reconstructions and illuminates the Holocene evolution of summer and winter monsoon in Southeast Asia.

The instability of DNA nanostructures in physiological environments has hampered their use as therapeutics and diagnostic agents inin vivoapplications. Here, the authors show that coating DNA origami with oligolysine-PEG moieties improves their pharmacokinetic properties in mouse models.

Thermal analogues to electrical transistors offer the potential for heat flow switching and amplification. Here, the authors demonstrate a macroscopic magnetic thermal transistor with applications in thermal control and thermal logic circuits.

Animals are more likely to react to rapid rather than slow temperature change. Here, the authors identify a brain circuit in Drosophila that selectively responds to rapid thermal change, priming behavior for escape.

The viscoelasticity of fluid membranes is challenging to quantify with nanometre precision. Here, the authors develop an AFM-based nanorheology platform to measure local molecular mobilities and spatial correlations in lateral diffusion within the membrane.

The construction of nano-machines requires building nano-scale structures with controllable functions. Here the authors use DNA origami to construct an allosteric actuator which can act as signal propagator and an environmental sensor.

For programmable DNA self-assembly, it is desirable to suppress spontaneous nucleation to enable all-or-nothing assembly of nanostructures far larger than a single DNA origami. Here the authors introduce crisscross polymerization of elongated slat monomers that engage beyond nearest neighbors, providing strictly seed-initiated nucleation of crisscross ribbons with distinct widths and twists.

APOBEC3B interacts with R-loops and helps mediate their resolution in a deamination-dependent way. This association also renders R-loops susceptible to enhanced APOBEC3B-dependent mutagenesis.

Lipid membrane disruption is often associated with disease but is also essential to a range of biosensing and therapeutic techniques. Here, the authors report on the development of DNA-based particles that, upon exposure to an external cue, can aggregate, disrupt lipid membranes, and arrest the motion of bacteria.

Simões, Levy et al. use a combination of experiments and models to study how Drosophila flies steer away from dangerous heat. They discover that flies use small temperature differences between the antennae to turn clear of thermal danger; they also demonstrate that heat avoidance, a simple innate behavior, contains unexpected plasticity.

The design and optimisation of 3D DNA-origami can be a barrier to rapid application. Here the authors design barrel structure of stacked 2D double helical rings with complex surface patterns.

Adhesives are ubiquitous in commodity products, however it it essential that their synthesis and degradation be sustainable without compromising their performance. Here, the authors report a library of adhesives based on environmentally benign building blocks that perform in both dry and wet environments.

In this sequencing-by-synthesis approach, the incorporation of a terminal-phosphate labeled fluorogenic nucleotide by DNA polymerase results in the generation of a fluorescent dye that is trapped in a sealed microreactor and does not require real-time detection.

Using live imaging of Xenopus and starfish oocytes and embryos undergoing cytokinesis, Bement and colleagues show that anaphase onset promotes cortical waves of Rho and F-actin, which can be modelled by reaction–diffusion dynamics.

Three-dimensional printing is changing the way we manufacture objects. Here, Kim et al. develop inks of inorganic thermoelectric materials to 3D print the legs of conformable thermoelectric generators, allowing waste heat recovery from hot water pipes.

Despite their extensive use, the absolute dating of tree-ring chronologies has not hitherto been independently validated at the global scale. Here, the identification of distinct ¹⁴C excursions in 484 individual tree rings, enable the authors to confirm the dating of 44 dendrochronologies from five continents.

An efficient computational pipeline starting from validated peptide assemblies has been used to design two families of α-helical barrel proteins with functionalizable channels. This rationally seeded computational protein design approach delivers soluble, monomeric proteins that match the design targets accurately and with high success rates.

The de novo design of a pair of complementary peptides, one basic for cell penetration and target binding and one acidic that can be fused to proteins of interest, provides an approach for delivery into mammalian cells and subcellular targeting.

HomoFRET sensors based on G6PD homodimerization allow direct sensing of NADPH/NADP⁺ redox state in living cells. Spectrally tuning the Apollo-NADP⁺ sensor allows multiplex imaging for studies of oxidative stress in beta cells.

The de novo design of functional membrane proteins is a formidable challenge. Now, water-soluble peptides have been designed that assemble into α-helical barrels with accessible, polar and hydrated central channels. Insights from these structures have been used to produce stable membrane-spanning, cation-selective channels.

So far most of the de novo designed proteins are for single states only. Here, the authors present the de novo design and crystal structure determination of a coiled-coil peptide that assembles into multiple, distinct conformational states under the same conditions and further characterise its properties with biophysical experiments, NMR and MD simulations.

The realization of the full potential of Li metal batteries requires high-performance electrolytes. Here Z. Bao and colleagues develop low-concentration electrolytes with a single-solvent and single-salt formulation, offering promise for high-energy and long-cycling batteries.

DNA-programmed colloidal assembly of macroscopic crystals for photonic applications remains elusive. Here, the authors use insights from studies of nucleation and seeded growth to develop a two-step method for assembling macroscopic photonic crystals.

A symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast is used to fabricate bacterial cellulose-based living materials that respond to external cues and adapt their structural and functional properties, with implications for sensing and catalytic applications.

The ongoing emergence of highly pathogenic viruses that evade immune-based therapies or lack interventions mandates new approaches, especially for on-demand prophylaxis. Here the authors provide a stapled lipopeptide platform for the rapid development of viral fusion inhibitors to combat outbreaks.

A portable device enables the automated manufacturing of therapeutic-grade biologics in a few hours and under current good-manufacturing-practice conditions.

Despite its wide use in ageing research, the contribution of specific age-associated pathologies toC. elegansmortality is not well understood. Here the authors identify two types of death in worms, with either a swollen or a shrunken pharynx, that are differentially affected by age and mutations that extend worm lifespan.

The dissolution of iron from sediments along ocean margins may stimulate photosynthesis and moderate global climate. This study shows how margin sediments supply iron in varying amounts between regions, and by distinct mechanisms, which may be due to geological characteristics and hydrological controls on land.

Peptide-based supramolecular assemblies are a promising class of nanomaterials with important biomedical applications, but their antibacterial properties can be overlooked. Here the authors show the antibacterial activity of self-assembled diphenylalanine, which emerges as the minimal model for antibacterial supramolecular polymers.

This study shows that a polymodal nociceptive sensory neuron in C. elegans detects both harsh body touch and noxious cold. Using calcium imaging and genetic tools, the researchers report that the same sensory neuron uses Degerin/Epithelial Na⁺ channel proteins MEC-10 and DEGT-1 for harsh touch detection and TRPA-1 channel for cold sensing.

Intracellular bodies called liquid organelles are rich in nucleic acids and proteins, and are thought to occur by liquid–liquid phase coexistence. Now, enzymatic control over the phosphorylation state of a simple cationic peptide, thereby altering its electrostatic interaction with RNA, has been shown to drive formation and dissolution of droplets that mimic these intracellular liquid bodies.

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, unchecked proliferation of Ty1 retrotransposons is controlled by the process of copy number control (CNC), which requires the p22/p18 protein, translated from an internal transcript within the Ty1 GAG gene. Here, the authors present the 2.8 Å crystal structure of a minimal p18 from Ty1-Gag that is able to restrict Ty1 transposition and identify two dimer interfaces in p18, whose roles were probed by mutagenesis both in vitro and in vivo. As p22/p18 contains only one of two conserved domains required for retroelement Gag assembly, they propose that p22/p18-Gag interactions block the Ty1 virus-like particle assembly pathway, resulting in defective particles incapable of supporting retrotransposition.

Generation and iterative optimization of designed enzymes can provide valuable insights for a more efficient catalysis. Here the authors have followed the iterative improvement of a designed Kemp eliminase and show that remote point mutations could remodel the designed active site via substantial conformational reorganization.

Single-molecule optimization leads to a cartwheeling DNA walker with a more than tenfold improved stepping rate.

Cycloheximide is a natural product that cell biologists have used for decades as a tool to arrest protein synthesis in eukaryotes. Biochemical data now refine our mechanistic view of how cycloheximide and structurally related analogs inhibit translational elongation.

Antimicrobial peptides are considered promising alternatives to antibiotics. Here the authors developed a computational algorithm that starts with peptides naturally occurring in plants and optimizes this starting material to yield new variants which are highly distinct from the parent peptide.