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Achieving spin separation of charged particles in non-uniform magnetic fields is hindered by the Lorentz force. Kohdaet al. demonstrate spin separation in a semiconductor nanostructure by exploiting the effective magnetic field arising from the spin–orbit interaction and achieve highly polarized spin currents.

Spin liquids are states of matter in which the constituent spins of a magnet are highly correlated yet fluctuate strongly down to millikelvin temperatures. Here the authors report torque magnetometry measurements of the Mott insulator EtMe₃Sb[Pd(dmit)₂]₂and find it displays an ungapped quantum spin liquid state.

Fragile X syndrome is a major genetic cause of autism and is caused by loss of the fragile X mental retardation protein. In a mouse model of fragile X syndrome, Junget al. show that an absence of neuronal endocannabinoid signalling is responsible for the neurophysiological and behavioural defects.

The computational prediction of complex protein architectures has been used to design globular proteins, but the folding of collagen triple helices is difficult to predict. Here, a sequence-based scoring function for triple helix is developed and used to select sequences likely to self-assemble with high stability.

Heart failure is often a consequence of pathological growth of cardiomyocytes or cardiac hypertrophy. Here Ucar and colleagues report that the microRNAs miR-132 and miR-212 promote cardiac hypertrophy and inhibit autophagy in cardiomyocytes by downregulating the transcription factor FoxO3.

Filial imprinting allows precocial birds to form social attachment to other animals or objects soon after hatching. Yamaguchi and colleagues investigate the mechanisms responsible for this, and find that thyroid hormones circulating in the plasma regulate the sensitive period during which imprinting occurs.

The flexibility of microwave photonics provides advantages over electronic circuitry, yet the lack of integrated chip-scale devices limits its practical application. This study presents microwave filters based on photonic crystal waveguides with controllable delays as a step towards intregable circuits.

The efficiency of reprogramming somatic cells to induced pluripotent stem cells is low. To enhance reprogramming efficiency, Li and Rana used a chemical screen and identified several kinase inhibitors that enhance reprogramming, and show that blocking Aurora A, p38 and inositiol triphosphate 3-kinase signalling is important for this process.

The protein α-synuclein is implicated in Parkinson's disease. Rhinn and colleagues perform gene expression analysis and find that specific α-synuclein transcripts are preferentially associated with Parkinson's disease, and that they potentiate the accumulation of α-synuclein protein.

It is known that differences in the bacterial food ofCaenorhabditis elegans can alter their behaviour. In this study, bacteria expressing two different noncoding RNAs alter the chemosensory and longevity of C. elegans, suggesting a role in modulating C. elegansphysiology.

The anomalous Hall effect is a macroscopic manifestation of a quantum mechanical effect. Here, Uelandet al. report the observation of a high Hall conductivity in the heavy-fermion compound UCu5, a metallic system, and explain its origin in terms of geometric frustration effects.

A signature of the Dirac-like physics of charge carriers in graphene is the occurrence of an anomalous Hall effect, resulting in a quantization of the Landau levels. Guoet al. observe Landau levels of Dirac fermions in potassium-intercalated graphite arising in the absence of an applied magnetic field.

Ferroelectric materials are appealing for use in a range of technological applications. This study demonstrates the onset of ferroelectric behaviour in a superlattice structure that consists of three non-ferroelectric layers, suggesting ferroelectricity can also be induced by interface effects.

Nutrients and growth factors initiate endocytotic processes in the embryonic endoderm that control embryonic patterning. Here, Kawamuraet al.show that the small GTP-binding protein rab7 controls a unique microautophagy-like process that is involved in endocytosis in the endoderm of mouse embryos.

Human embryonic stem cell cultures are morphologically heterogeneous. Here, differences in Wnt signalling are shown to contribute to this heterogeneity, cells containing high levels of Wnt form endodermal and cardiac cells, whereas cells with low Wnt form neuroectodermal cells, when differentiation is induced.

The lysosomal storage disease mucopolysaccharidosis I is treated with recombinant α-L-iduronidase but production of the enzyme is expensive. In this study, α-L-iduronidase is compartmentalized within the endosperm of maize via a unique mRNA strategy yielding the active, correctly glycosylated protein.

The IKK complex activates the NF-κB pathway and can culminate in inflammation, which needs to be tightly controlled. NEMO is part of the IKK complex and, in this study, is shown to associate with the golgi-reassembly protein p47, resulting in the lysosomal degradation of NEMO and inhibition of NF-κB activation.

HSP70 is a molecular chaperone that aids protein folding. In this study, HSP70 is shown to be methylated and this post-translationally modified protein is elevated in expression in human cancers and promotes the activity of Aurora kinase B.

Insulators can be classified according to the kind of electronic interactions they are dominated by. Hellmannet al. used time- and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy to determine the dominant interactions in a series of transition metal dichalcogenides.

The coil-globule transition undergone by polymers in solution delineates a transition from expanded coils to collapsed globules, depending on the polarity of the solvent. This study examines the influence of vibrational entropy on the transition, and finds it can induce a crossover from a second-order to a first-order transition.