Articles

It has been proposed that phylogenetic diversity can be used as a proxy to estimate functional diversity and to predict ecosystem functioning. Here, the rapid evolutionary response of marine bacteria is used to study the positive effects of evolutionary history and species diversity on ecosystem productivity.

Increased atmospheric input of nitrogen has shifted planktonic lake nutrient systems from natural nitrogen to human-induced phosphorus limitation. This study proposes that decades of increased atmospheric phosphorus in the Pyrenean lake district may have reverted the system from phosphorus back to nitrogen-limited.

Microdisk lasers are useful for compact wavelength-scale photonic devices and circuits, but their operation by electrical injection can hamper their optical properties. Kimet al. show that a graphene-contact electrode provides efficient electrical injection while minimising optical losses.

Computed tomography relies on scanning to measure an object from many angles, which fails for shot-to-shot changes and ultrafast phenomena. Matliset al. demonstrate an approach based on spectral multiplexing for single-shot tomographic imaging and use it to measure femtosecond plasma filaments.

Molecules in intense laser fields have enhanced multiple ionization rates, caused by the ionic core and laser fields acting on the part of the molecule in the up-field. Here, direct proof of this model is presented by studying the instantaneous effect of the field direction during double ionization in ArXe.

Humans, with their opposable thumbs, are not the only species with tool-related morphological adaptations. This study shows that tool use in New Caledonian crows is facilitated by a straight bill, enabling a firm grip on tools, and an extremely wide binocular field, affording excellent visual feedback.

Plasmonic nanoparticles are useful as optical sensors, but their spectral resolution is hindered by the linewidth of the plasmon resonance. Schmidtet al. find that coupling this resonance to a microcavity creates hybrid modes with enhanced sensing figure-of-merit and improved frequency resolution.

Mice lacking the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 can develop colitis, which depends on inappropriate responses to commensal bacteria. Hoshiet al. now show that these responses are driven by colonic mononuclear phagocytes, providing insight to the initiating events, which may underlie inflammatory bowel disease.

Identifying molecules that bind to RNA is difficult because information about RNA–ligand interactions is limited. Tran and Disney report a solution-based screening method that can probe large numbers of RNA motif-small molecule interactions to identify privileged RNA structures and chemical spaces that interact.

One of the five IL-17 receptors, IL-17RD lacks a motif thought to be required for downstream signalling. Melletet al. show that IL-17RD tunes IL-17A-dependent signalling; in its absence, MAPK signalling and neutrophil recruitment are impaired, but NF-κB activation is enhanced.

Trapped ions and atoms coexist at different temperatures in mixed systems, and cooling of ions through collisions with atoms is required for the mixture to stabilize. Raviet al. study these effects using rubidium atoms and ions, and find a collisional cooling mechanism leading to stability of the mixture.

Nanoporous zeotypes have applications as catalysts and in gas separation, but they are usually produced as moderately dense silicates and aluminosilicates with relatively low capacities for gas uptake. Here, zeotype structures are reported with very low densities and high total specific pore volumes.

The keeled sternum is a distinct skeletal element in extant birds. In this study, specimens of juvenile extinct birds—Enantiornithes—from the Early Cretaceous show a unique sequence of development in the sternum, suggesting differences between living birds and this extinct clade.

The ability of oleaginous fungi to produce lipids for biofuels remains untapped, in part due to a lack of genetic information required to engineer industrial strains. Zhuet al. present the genome of R. toruloides, and identify transcriptomic and proteomic changes associated with lipid production.

The degree of polydispersity of colloidal suspensions is known to have consequences for their physical properties. Kuritaet al. present a general method for determining the sizes of individual particles, and thus the polydispersity, using only the coordinates of the centre positions of spherical particles.

Epimerization of carbohydrates to rare sugars yields products that have potential applications as anti-viral drugs or chiral building blocks. Here, Sn-Beta zeolite in the presence of sodium tetraborate is shown to catalyze the selective epimerization of aldoses in aqueous media.

Platinum is used as a cathode in fuel cells but undergoes dissolution during potential changes, hindering commercial application in electric vehicles. Sasakiet al.report a new class of stable electrocatalysts that consist of platinum monolayers on palladium–gold alloy nanoparticles.

Mutations in human angiogenin are implicated in the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Thiyagarajan and colleagues show that structural differences between angiogenin variants affect neuronal survival, and the ability to induce stress granules in neuronal cell lines.

Interactions of cells with extracellular matrix are important in normal physiology and cancer metastasis. Here, an extracellular matrix molecule array is developed and used to show that conserved changes in adhesive properties are associated with metastasis, including binding to fibronectin in combination with galectin-3, galectin-8 or laminin.

Self-assembly of DNA can provide access to a range of nanoscale structures, but assembly using magnesium has been considered essential. Martin and Dietz report conditions that allow the assembly of templated, multi-layer DNA structures in the presence of monovalent ions, rather than magnesium.