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  • The translation of soft biomedical devices from academia to commercialization remains limited despite the substantial growth of the field over the past decade. To drive the next stage of innovation, it is crucial to identify applications that can be uniquely addressed by soft devices. Neurological surgery presents numerous opportunities for harnessing the potential of soft devices in medical applications.

    • Sabrina Smith
    • Rosalie Ogborne
    • Firat Güder
    Comment
  • An article in Nature reports an alloy that can be 3D printed and has improved mechanical properties at high temperatures compared with current state-of-the-art 3D-printable alloys.

    • Charlotte Allard
    Research Highlight
  • An article in Nature Communications reports a solid-state epitaxy strategy to disperse single cobalt atoms in silicon, synthesizing single-atom photocatalysts that outperform any other so far for visible-light-driven syngas production.

    • Ariane Vartanian
    Research Highlight
  • An article in Advanced Materials reports an edible rechargeable battery that can power edible and digestible electronic devices for health care and food monitoring.

    • Giulia Pacchioni
    Research Highlight
  • The Palestinian–German Science Bridge (PGSB) is a science diplomacy pilot project financed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and implemented jointly by Forschungszentrum Jülich and the Palestinian Academy for Science and Technology. Its goal, as its founder and its project coordinator discuss in this Comment, is to develop joint research and education programmes.

    • Ghaleb Natour
    • Cate Morgan
    Comment
  • An article in Nature Synthesis reports core–shell nanocrystals with tunable single-atom alloy layers, which are effective catalysts for nitrate electroreduction to ammonia.

    • Ariane Vartanian
    Research Highlight
  • An article in Angewandte Chemie reports a solution-phase synthesis method to obtain free-standing crystalline circumcoronenes.

    • Jet-Sing M. Lee
    Research Highlight
  • Getting diagnosed with a physically disabling illness in graduate school can be overwhelming and isolating. This article shares a researcher’s personal journey with such an experience, offering advice and encouragement to those facing similar challenges. By confronting the disease, the author found resilience and developed appreciation for life beyond work.

    • Xiaolin Liu
    Comment
  • Progress in biomimetics allows for the fabrication of man-made materials and surfaces with properties similar to biological ones. These advancements enable the development of a new generation of building materials for architecture that have remarkable properties typically unachievable with a traditional approach.

    • Anna Sandak
    Comment
  • An article in Nature presents a conceptually new scanning probe microscope, called a quantum twisting microscope, which enables both momentum-resolved measurements and in situ tuning of the twist angle between 2D materials stacked on top of each other.

    • Giulia Pacchioni
    Research Highlight
  • Academia can offer a wonderful career path, but the power differentials at play in university life can turn promising careers into nightmares. Academic bullying is an age-old serious issue that affects people in a variety of positions across all branches of science. This Comment discusses how bullying slows the progress of science.

    • Morteza Mahmoudi
    Comment
  • A paper in Nature reports the observation of spin-polarized excitonic topological states in the topological insulator Bi2Te3.

    • Giulia Pacchioni
    Research Highlight
  • An article in Nature Communications reports a solvent-free electronic material that is as soft as biological tissue like the brain.

    • Ariane Vartanian
    Research Highlight
  • An article in Science demonstrates a Li–air battery with a solid-state electrolyte that achieves an energy density higher than for Li-ion batteries.

    • Charlotte Allard
    Research Highlight
  • High-performance ferroelectric materials are used in many applications, ranging from actuators to capacitors. Now, high entropy is emerging as an effective and flexible strategy for enhancing the physical properties of ferroelectrics via the delicate design of local polarization configurations.

    • He Qi
    • Liang Chen
    • Jun Chen
    Comment