Browse Articles

The spatial and temporal scales over which continental breakup occurs by mechanical deformation and magma intrusion remain controversial. Keiret al. quantify anisotropy across the Afar Triple Junction using S-wave splitting from earthquakes to evaluate the strain in a region of continental breakup.

Pattern-forming processes in simple fluids and suspensions are well understood, but displacement morphologies in frictional fluids and granular mixtures have not been studied extensively. Sandneset al. consider the effects of Coulomb friction and compressibility on the fluid dynamics of granular mixtures.

Energetic particle irradiation can lead to surface smoothing, pattern formation or degradation of the structural integrity of nuclear reactor components. Here, molecular dynamics simulations are used to study the mechanisms that determine the transitions between these disparate processes.

Micron and submicron-sized magnetic platelets in a vortex configuration may be useful in micromagnetics and spintronics applications. Kammereret al. show that a fast unidirectional vortex core reversal process occurs when azimuthal spin wave modes are excited at GHz frequency.

Frustrated magnetic systems can form an exotic quantum spin-liquid ground state, in which strongly correlated spins fluctuate in the spin lattices. Here, the low-temperature electronic state of a charge-transfer compound is found to form a gapless spin liquid.

The spinal V2a interneurons control left–right limb alternation during mouse locomotion, but only at high frequencies. In this study, the authors show that only half of these neurons are active during locomotion, and that they receive increasing synaptic drive to increase their activity as locomotion accelerates.

Chloroplast proteins are synthesized in the cytosol and imported into the chloroplast before being delivered to the thylakoids. The authors report that an ankyrin-repeat protein, LTD, is essential for the routing of chlorophyll-binding proteins to the signal recognition particle pathway.

Cyanide-releasing defence systems in plants and animals are important to the evolution of plant–herbivore interactions. The authors identify the enzymes responsible for biosynthesis of cyanogenic glucosides by Six-spot Burnet moth caterpillars, which have evolved independently from the known plant pathway.

In the pseudogap state of cuprates, although diamagnetic signals have been detected, a Meissner effect has never been observed. Morenzoni and colleagues probe the local diamagnetic response in the normal state of an underdoped layer showing that a 'barrier' layer exhibits a Meissner effect.

Cell proliferation in plant meristems is often altered during conditions of stress. In this study, the authors identify a plant protein, RSS1, that is regulated in a cell-cycle dependent manner and is required to maintain shoot and root meristems in the presence of abiotic stress.

Nanoantennas may be important for future photonic circuits; they combine an emitter or detector with free-space propagation of light. Dregelyet al. fabricate an array of 3D optical Yagi–Uda nanoantennas and show that radiofrequency antenna array concepts applied to the optical regime can provide improved directional properties.

Observing superposition states of mesoscopic quantum systems is an ongoing challenge. Gerlichet al. report quantum interference of large tailor-made organic compounds, demonstrating delocalization and the quantum wave nature of entire molecules composed of up to 430 atoms.

In the developing eye, the lens and retina are derived from different embryonic tissues, and how these two structures develop next to each other is of interest. In this study, the authors show that transforming growth factor-β secreted by neural crest cells is critical for the positioning of the lens next to the retina.

Protecting-group-free synthesis has received significant attention, but organolithium species react rapidly with ketones necessitating protection of the ketone carbonyl. Here, a flow-microreactor approach is described that allows protecting-group-free organolithium reactions in the presence of ketones.

The nematodeCaenorhabditis elegans is a widely used model organism for visualizing development, ageing and other phenomena, but high-throughput imaging requires immobilization of the animal. Rohde and Yanik report a rapid immobilization and imaging method for the high-throughput screening of C. elegans.

Eukaryotic cell plasma membranes possess a mechanism to repair tears caused by stimuli such as mechanical stress. The authors demonstrate that annexin-A5, when assembled into two-dimensional arrays in the presence of calcium, is required for membrane repair.

Regulatory T cells are characterized by the expression of Foxp3, however, how the expression of this protein is controlled is unclear. Here, the authors show that the nuclear orphan receptor, Nr4a2, is a transcriptional activator of Foxp3, and suggest that it is required for the function of regulatory T cells.

The global prevalence of the Duffy blood group variants is important due to the resistance that the Duffy-negative phenotype generally confers uponPlasmodium vivax infection. Hay et al.generate global frequency maps of the common Duffy alleles to show transmission patterns of the malaria parasite.

Plasmids are present in many bacteria and are often transferred between different species causing horizontal gene transfer. By comparing the sequences of 25 plasmid DNA backbones, the authors show that homologous recombination is prevalent in plasmids and that the plasmids have adapted to persist in different host bacteria.

Bismuth ferrite has photoelectric properties that make it an attractive alternative for use in photovoltaic devices. Here, using photoelectric atomic force microscopy, the authors show that photogenerated carriers can be collected by the tip and suggest that this can be used in photoelectric applications.