Browse Articles

In many bacteria and plasmids, DNA segregation is controlled by the ParABS system, an essential component of which is the formation of a nucleoprotein complex. Here, making use of recent discoveries, the authors develop a sliding and bridging model to predict the fine structure of this complex.

This work quantifies the climate benefits of efficiently utilizing concrete through improved material and structural design, and it shows that over 75% of CO2 emissions from global concrete production could be cut with already implementable measures

Vaccination with multiple doses has been proven effective against severe COVID-19, but protection levels widely vary among individuals. This study examines the serological and immunological profiles in recipients of multiple doses of Pfizer BNT162b2 vaccine for immune markers that correlate with protection against and susceptibility for SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The formation of soliton macromolecules or metamaterial analogues of polymers with inter-soliton binding resembling strong covalent-like chemical bonds has not been considered so far. Zhao et al. experimentally create and theoretically, model soliton macromolecules, called “polyskyrmionomers”, introducing polymer-mimicking designs of topological chiral meta matter that promise technological utility in data storage and electro-optics.

Recent theoretical works reveal that the topologically nontrivial exceptional points can guarantee the geometry-dependent skin effect, but it remains to be confirmed by experiments. Here the authors realize a reciprocal non-Hermitian phononic crystal with exceptional points, and observe the geometry-dependent skin effect.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is normally used to define glioma boundaries for biopsies, surgery and radiotherapy. Here, the authors show that adding FET/PET imaging improves accuracy to define malignant areas of contrast-enhancing gliomas.

Observations of seismic waves that traverse the Earth’s inner core as shear waves are critical to understand inner core properties. Here, the authors present several seismological observations of shear waves and estimate an absolute shear wave speed in the inner core.

Signaling pathway selectivity downstream of GPCRs is not fully understood. Here, authors perform functional analysis of Frizzled mutants to uncover state-stabilizing residues or ‘micro-switches’ mediating selectivity towards Disheveled over G proteins.

Accurate cell-type identification is vital for single-cell analysis. Here, the authors develop a computational pipeline called “LungMAP CellRef” for efficient, automated cell-type annotation of normal and disease human and mouse lung single-cell datasets.

Sliding of drops over solid surface is a common phenomenon, but it remains impossible to predict the sliding velocity due to numerous dissipation channels causing drop friction. Li et al. show that dynamic wetting is determined by a dimensionless friction coefficient, which is a material parameter.

Ethylene glycol is an important commodity chemical and its production results in millions of tons of CO2 emissions annually. Here, the authors report a paired electrocatalytic strategy to produce ethylene glycol from methanol with a high Faradaic efficiency at industrial scale current density.

Songbirds have an extra chromosome with unknown function found only in their germline. This study assembles and compares this chromosome in two closely related nightingale species, finding large differences in genetic content and only one conserved gene with probable essential function.

common assumption of evolution is that of an ecological limit to species diversity. This study tests whether sympatry with closely-related species leads to decreasing speciation rates. They find that, for terrestrial vertebrates, the probability of speciation seems to be unaffected by the number of other species of that lineage already present

The synthesis of biaryls by transition metal-free coupling is an important challenge. Here, the authors describe an electrochemical approach to the synthesis of biaryls, in which aniline derivatives are coupled through the temporary formation and reduction of ureas.

Controlled atomic delivery is a desirable synthetic process. Here a germanium-substituted phenyl anion is shown to act as a germanium atom transfer reagent and demonstrated by the preparation of well-defined molecular germanium species.

Understanding of atomically dispersed metal-nitrogen-carbon (M-N-C) for electrochemical nitrate reduction is important and of high interest. Here, the authors employ a series of M-N-C catalysts to investigate selectivity correlation between nitrate and nitrite reduction.

Gboxin, an inhibitor of oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), can suppress the proliferation of glioblastoma (GBM) cells. Here the authors describe the design of a cancer cell-mitochondria hybrid membrane camouflaged reactive oxygen species (ROS)-responsive nanoparticle loaded with Gboxin, showing anti-tumor responses in GBM preclinical models.

Extensive research efforts have been directed towards the development of PET hydrolases with improved activity, but template enzymes used are limited. Here, the authors report a PET hydrolase from Cryptosporangium aurantiacum (CaPETase) that exhibits high thermostability and PET degradation activity at ambient temperatures and determine its crystal structure.

Macrocyclization of bioactive acyclic molecules provides a potential avenue to yield novel chemical scaffolds with improved pharmacological properties. Here, the authors propose a deep learning based macrocyclization method to generate diverse macrocycles from a given acyclic molecule.