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Specimens of the Early Cretaceous bird C. sanctuswith ornamental tail feathers are commonly interpreted as male, and those without as female. In this study, in support of this theory, medullary bone—a tissue unique to reproductively active female birds—is found in a specimen without ornamental feathers.

Spin-dependent transport length in organic semiconductors is expected to be large due to their small spin–orbit coupling; however, lengths of only a few nanometres have been observed to date at room temperature. This work reports a large spin diffusion length of 110 nm at room temperature in a spin valve device containing C₆₀molecules.

Helical Dirac fermion states that emerge at the surface of topological insulators support a variety of exotic physical phenomena, but they disappear when a topological insulator becomes too thin. Wang et al.show that these states are recovered when ultrathin films are interfaced together.

The oldest echinoderm faunas have previously been restricted to North America and had a radiate body plan. This discovery of echinoderms from Morocco reveals a diverse range of body forms just 15 million years after echinoderms first evolved a calcite skeleton, showing a rapid rate of morphological evolution.

Feathered dinosaurs from the Middle-Late Jurassic of north-eastern China have recently been described. Here, a new paravian dinosaur, characterized by less extensive feathers on its limbs and tail, shows that the plumage of theropods was already diversified and adapted to different ecological niches by the Late Jurassic.

The formation of junctions between graphene and other materials could aid the development of nanoelectronics. We et al. partially unzip single-walled carbon nanotubes to produce graphene/nanotube junctions that show gate-dependent rectifying behaviour.

The mechanism by which proteins become polarized to a specific cortical site in budding yeast cells has been a topic of recent debate. Slaughter et al.show that differing diffusion rates of Cdc42 within plasma membrane environments sustain the polarized state.

Sexual dimorphism describes physical differences between males and females of the same species and is partly shaped by the action of hormones. Maekawa and colleagues construct mixed-sex chicken brain chimeras and find that the female reproductive cycle is largely destroyed in female chimeras with male brains.

The ability to delay gratification in childhood correlates with the ability to exert self-control in adulthood. Berman and colleagues re-examine individuals that were studied 40 years ago and find that the individuals who are able to exert a high level of self-control have more efficient neural networks.

Temporal lobe epilepsy in adults does not always respond to treatment. Krook-Magnuson and colleagues use optogenetics to inhibit and activate excitatory and inhibitory neurons, respectively, in a mouse model of temporal lobe epilepsy, and find that they can stop seizures on a moment-to-moment basis.

Stem cells have raised hopes of developing regenerative therapies of renal disease. Here, Osafune et al.provide a protocol for the differentiation of induced human pluripotent stem cells into renal lineages with the capacity to form tubular renal structures in mice.

Photonic lattices provide a useful platform for simulating quantum dynamics and systems. Keil et al.fabricate coupled waveguides on-chip and use them to simulate the one-dimensional random mass Dirac model, a test-bed for both Dirac fermions and antiferromagnetic spin systems.

Active seafloor spreading has been documented in some of the tectonically active basins of the Gulf of California. This work presents new geophysical and geochemical data as evidence that active seafloor spreading is also occurring in the northernmost Wagner and Consag basins of the Gulf.

During rest, the different regions of the human brain still carry out complex interactions. In this study, a pairwise maximum entropy model is used to quantify the complexity of these interactions during rest, showing that the model is able to capture the structure of the resting-state human brain networks.

The construction of homochiral surfaces may play a significant role in applications including heterogeneous catalysis and bio-sensors. Here, globally homochiral two-dimensional assemblies of achiral molecules are formed via co-assembly with chiral co-adsorbers, demonstrating a ‘majority rules’ effect.

Knowledge of the Hamiltonian of a quantum system is essential for predicting and controlling its behaviour. Li et al.use optical three-dimensional Fourier-transform spectroscopy to separate and study each pathway, gaining quantitative insight into the quantum pathways of an atomic vapour Hamiltonian.

The ribosomal stalk L12 is the only multi-copy protein in the ribosome and is essential for translation. Here Davydov et al.use a bioinformatics and mass spectrometry approach to study the evolution of L12 in bacterial ribosomes and predict its stoichiometry in a wide range of species.

Recent studies have shown that human induced pluripotent stem cells contain point mutations in coding regions, but the functional significance of these mutations is unclear. Here the authors provide evidence that these mutations are unlikely to confer a selective advantage for reprogramming.

Studies in animals have shown that the inferior colliculus of the auditory pathway is tonotopically organized. This fMRI study in humans reveals a low-to-high frequency gradient in the inferior colliculus that is tonotopically oriented, as well as spectral selectivity based on responses to natural sounds.

Superionic materials have rigid crystal structures but liquid-like ionic conductivity above a critical temperature, which may be useful for switching and storage applications. Using ultrafast X-ray probes, Miller et al.show that the superionic transition timescale is determined by the ionic hopping time.