First Anniversary Collection

Join us in celebrating the first anniversary of Nature Reviews Methods Primers.

This Primer on Bayesian statistics summarizes the most important aspects of determining prior distributions, likelihood functions and posterior distributions, in addition to discussing different applications of the method across disciplines.

Bayesian statistics are an approach to data analysis based on Bayes’ Theorem. This PrimeView provides an overview of how to select and establish priors, likelihoods, and posteriors. The use of Bayesian statistics and modelling across disciplines is discussed, along with appropriate sharing of data acquired using Bayesian methods.

This Primer describes contemporary fluorination and fluoroalkylation reactions in chemical synthesis. The authors describe the main fluorination and fluoroalkylation reactions. The many applications of these reactions in pharmaceuticals, imaging agents and agriculture are discussed, along with the history and future of synthetic organofluorine chemistry.

This PrimeView describes novel fluorination and fluoroalkylation techniques and the key considerations for their use, and highlights the range of applications for fluorinated molecules in society.

Radiocarbon dating is a common and reliable tool for measuring the age of a range of objects, from trees to historical artefacts and human remains. Hajdas et al. outline best practices for selecting and processing samples, as well as obtaining accurate measurements and age ranges. Ethical considerations for rare and culturally valuable materials are discussed.

This PrimeView highlights the best practices for radiocarbon dating of various sample types. Improvements in sensitivity and accuracy allow for dating of rare and precious samples.

In this Primer, Flitsch and colleagues describe how biocatalysis is facilitating synthetic chemistry in both academia and industry. Detailed considerations required to find, select and optimize a biocatalyst are described, followed by an analysis of the performance metrics used to define a good industrial catalyst.

This PrimeView describes the factors that need to be considered when developing a biocatalyst and how they impact the utility of these enzymes in real-world applications.

This Primer on X-ray computed tomography explores the different experimental configurations for three-dimensional data acquisition as well as the fundamentals of three-dimensional data reconstruction, segmentation and analysis with examples across the physical and life sciences.

This PrimeView highlights the cross-disciplinary nature of X-ray computed tomography, with a focus on important experimental aspects such as 3D data acquisition and 3D data reconstruction.

Dey et al. discuss the design and implementation of DNA origami, as well as the techniques used to analyse quality and construction. They summarize exciting new research areas where DNA nanotechnology is being used and future directions for the field.

This PrimeView highlights the design, assembly and assessment of 2D and 3D nanostructures made using DNA origami.

This Primer on solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy summarizes the most common experiments and data analysis approaches used to determine the structure and dynamics of solids and semi-solids as applied to biology, chemistry and materials sciences.

Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a method that provides atomic-level information for solids and semi-solids. This PrimeView provides an overview of how magic-angle spinning, and customising the use of radiofrequency pulses enables high-resolution spectra for site-specific information. The broad set of applications along with the current limitations and advancements of solid-state NMR are discussed.

This Primer explains the central concepts of single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) before discussing experimental considerations regarding fluorophores, optics and data acquisition, processing and analysis. The Primer further describes recent high-impact discoveries made by SMLM techniques and concludes by discussing emerging methodologies.

This PrimeView highlights the key steps for reconstructing a super-resolution image from single-molecule localization data.

This Primer outlines the best ways to find, handle and analyse ancient DNA from various sources. The authors summarize ethical considerations and the importance of working closely with all stakeholders, including archaeologists, curators and descendant communities.

This PrimeView highlights important experimental and analytical aspects of conducting ancient DNA analysis, with a focus on collaboration and sample preservation.