Review Articles

Gadolinium(III) complexes are strong enhancers of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) signals, thus are widely used as contrast agents despite their potential toxicity. Here, the authors review ligand design approaches aimed at improving the stability of Gd(III)-based MRI contrast agents.

Benchmarking studies are important for comprehensively understanding and evaluating different computational omics methods. Here, the authors review practices from 25 recent studies and propose principles to improve the quality of benchmarking studies.

How can scientists and policymakers work together to reduce the health impacts of air pollution? In this review paper, the authors discuss the interplay between advances in environmental exposure assessment and policy advances to tackle pollution in a focused way.

ADP-ribose erasing enzymes are increasingly recognized as critical regulators of protein ADP-ribosylation dynamics in living systems. Here, the authors review recent advances in the discovery and characterization of ADP-ribose erasers and discuss their role within the cellular ADP-ribosylation machinery.

Halide lead perovskites have emerged recently as possible candidates for high performance radiation detectors besides efficient solar cells. Here Wei et al. review the recent progress on perovskite based radiation detectors and suggest that they may compete with the conventional counterparts.

The evolution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet is driven by a combination of climate forcing and non-climatic feedbacks. In this review, the authors focus on feedbacks between the Antarctic Ice Sheet and the solid Earth, and the role of these feedbacks in shaping the response of the ice sheet to past and future climate changes.

In this review, Aravin and colleagues examine bacterial and archaeal Argonaute proteins, discuss their diverse architectures and their possible roles in host defense, proposing additional functions for Argonaute proteins in prokaryotic cells.

Diagnosing fungal infections poses a number of unique problems. In this Review, Wickes and Wiederhold discuss molecular technologies used for fungal identification, and the problems associated with their development and implementation in today’s clinical microbiology laboratories.

Transcranial electrical stimulation techniques, such as tDCS and tACS, are popular tools for neuroscience and clinical therapy, but how low-intensity current might modulate brain activity remains unclear. In this review, the authors review the evidence on mechanisms of transcranial electrical stimulation.

Organic−inorganic metal halide perovskite solar cells possess high efficiency and low processing cost but suffer poor stability. Here Gao et al. review the recent progress on the 2D–3D mixed perovskites and suggest that greatly improved stability can be achieved without compromising the efficiency.

Facilitation is a well-known ecological interaction among free-living species, but symbionts residing in or on a host can also positively affect other symbiont species. Here, the authors review examples of facilitation among symbionts, revealing how facilitation theory can improve understanding of these interactions.

Short-lived three-dimensional submesoscale currents, responsible for swirling ocean color chlorophyll filaments, have long been thought to affect productivity. Current research suggests they may not be effective in enhancing phytoplankton growth, but may have important contributions to biodiversity.

Diane Bolton and colleagues review the impact of single-cell technologies on the study of host–pathogen interaction. They discuss the revolutionary impact these have had for facilitating a greater understanding of the properties of host cells harbouring infection, the pathogen-specific immune responses, and the mechanisms pathogens have evolved to escape host control.

Centromeres are the chromosomal domains that regulate assembly of the components required for chromosome separation. Here the authors review how centromeres are a potential source of genome instability and link centromere aberrations and rearrangements to human diseases such as cancer.

Polyelectrolytes are a class of macromolecules containing charged groups. Here the authors review properties and functions of metallo-polyelectrolytes to shed light on how to harness fundamental physiochemical properties for applications in biomedical sciences and advanced materials.

A variety of directional electronic transport phenomena can occur in materials with broken inversion-symmetry. Here, Tokura and Nagaosa review the underlying mechanisms and emergent phenomena of nonreciprocal responses in noncentrosymmetric quantum materials.

Research and debate are intensifying on complementing CO₂ emissions reductions with hypothetical climate geoengineering techniques. Here, the authors assess their potentials, uncertainties and risks, and show that they cannot yet be relied on to significantly contribute to meeting the Paris Agreement temperature goals.

Active matter systems are made up of self-driven components which extract energy from their surroundings to generate mechanical work. Here the authors review the subfield of active nematics and provide a comparison between theoretical findings and the corresponding experimental realisations.

Accelerated global warming in the Arctic might have profound impacts on mid-latitude weather particularly in winter, although the evidence for an effect also in summer is also growing. Here Coumou et al. show that these interactions could lead to more persistent hot-dry extremes in mid-latitudes.