Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
A material–cell hybrid device that mimics the anatomic shape of the intervertebral disc has been made and successfully implanted into mice to show that tissue engineering may, in the future, benefit sufferers from back pain.
The properties of semiconductors are highly dependent on their structural form. The finding that ZnS nanobelts can be tuned to take the wurtzite form therefore adds to the strategies for the control of semiconductor properties by optimization of size and morphology.
Electron microscopy is a ubiquitous tool in the study of many materials, in particular those on the nanometre scale. A method of manipulating data from electron diffraction offers high-resolution imaging at an affordable price.