Volume 11 Issue 8, August 2012

The optimal stimulation of tissue regeneration in bone, cartilage and spinal cord injuries involves a judicious selection of biomaterials with tailored chemical compositions, micro- and nanostructures, porosities and kinetic release properties for the delivery of relevant biologically active molecules.

An evolution from natural to highly engineered materials has drastically changed the way in which athletes train and compete. Thanks to challenging technological problems and unconventional commercialization pathways, universities can make a direct impact on the development of sporting goods.

Tom Waller of swimwear manufacturer Speedo's global research and development facility, Aqualab, talked to Nature Materials about the competitive sporting goods industry and the technology behind their new racing system that will be put to the test at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Pliable gels of fibrin, a fibrous protein involved in blood clotting and linked to cancer, select cells with high in vivo aggressiveness and 'stemness' from a pool of cancer cells.

Magnetometry usually requires large probes and bulky instrumentation. Organic diodes have now been used in small probes that can measure moderate magnetic fields with 10 ppm precision.

A polymer hydrogel system combines chemical, thermal and mechanical responses in a reversible manner and thus exhibits homeostatic and self-regulatory behaviour similar to that of living systems.

When water binds to solid surfaces it forms a large variety of structures, which leads to behaviour relevant to many technological processes and phenomena such as lubrication, heterogeneous catalysis and electrochemistry. This Review discusses current understanding of the interface between water and flat metal surfaces at the atomic and molecular levels, as well as open questions in this field.

The interaction between electrons and phonons is important for many materials properties. The finding that phonon modes of a superconducting thin film can influence the properties of an adjacent normal conductor, even over comparatively long distances, suggests new ways of controlling electron–phonon interactions.

Although fundamentally intriguing, iron-based superconductors have not been seriously considered for applications because of the limited superconducting current that has so far been observed in wires made from these materials. It is now shown that by following a specific synthesis procedure it is possible to achieve superconducting currents that are close to commercial requirements.

A thin layer of yttrium iron garnet coating on different materials can transform wasted heat into voltage. The process is based on the spin Seebeck effect and could lead to new types of application that make use of omnipresent wasted heat.

Replacing noble metals in heterogeneous catalysts by low-cost and ubiquitous substitutes such as iron is highly desirable especially because it does not bear potential health risks. A low cost and environmentally benign intermetallic compound Al₁₃Fe₄ is now identified as an active and selective semi-hydrogenation catalyst, which could prove to be applicable to a wide range of heterogeneously catalysed reactions.

The interaction between spins in magnetic materials gives rise to a number of interesting effects. An example is the discovery of an unusual magnetic state based on a long-range ordering force between magnetic domain walls that is analogous to the interaction between protons and neutrons in atomic nuclei.

The length scale at which phenomena such as ferroelectricity is still present is of fundamental relevance for nanoscale applications. A high-resolution transmission electron microscopy study now shows how ferroelectricity can persist in nanoparticles down to about 5 nm in diameter, pointing the way towards the ultimate size limit for ferroelectric applications.

The selective capture of carbon dioxide in porous materials has potential for the storage and purification of fuel gases, but strategies to enhance carbon dioxide–host selectivity are required. A partially interpenetrated metal–organic framework that undergoes dramatic phase transition on desolvation and exhibits temperature-dependent selective hysteretic sorption of carbon dioxide is now reported.

The spatial organization of porous coordination-polymer crystals into higher-order structures is critical for their integration in heterogeneous catalysts, separation systems and electrochemical devices. A method for spatially controlling the nucleation site leading to the formation of mesoscopic architecture in porous coordination polymers, in both two and three dimensions, is now demonstrated.

Calcium-rich non-collagenous proteins in the extracellular matrix of bone are believed to be involved in the different steps of bone mineralization. It is now shown that in the absence of these proteins collagen can initiate and orient growing apatite crystals in vitro, and influence both their structural characteristics on the atomic scale and their larger-scale three-dimensional distribution in bone.

Conventional methods for the selection of tumorigenic cells from cancer cell lines rely on stem-cell markers. It is now shown that soft fibrin gels promote the growth of colonies of tumorigenic cells from single cancer cells from mouse or human cancer cell lines, and that as few as ten fibrin-cultured cells can lead to the formation of tumours in mice more efficiently than marker-selected cells.

The history of the Olympic and Paralympic games has shown that new materials can play a pivotal role in boosting athletes' performance. In this Focus issue we highlight the origins of sports technology, the latest developments in high-performance materials from academic and industrial viewpoints, and recent advances in biomaterials for the repair of tissue damaged as a result of sports injuries.