Perspectives in 2022

While it is widely acknowledged that Darwin’s descriptions of females were gender-biased, gender bias in modern sexual selection research is less recognized. This Perspective highlights that sexual selection theory and research are still male-centered and suggest strategies for alleviating biases in this field and beyond.

Theoretical models and structures recovered from measured data serve for analysis of complex networks. The authors discuss here existing gaps between theoretical methods and real-world applied networks, and potential ways to improve the interplay between theory and applications.

Synthetic biology encompasses engineering approaches to either redesign biological organisms with new molecular abilities or build up organism from the bottom to improve our understanding of life. Here, the authors summarize current approaches that can be applied for the synthetic engineering of viral replication cycles and discuss the potential DURC risk associated with such bottom-up approaches in infectious disease.

Long-duration human space travel creates challenges for maintaining healthy diets. Here the authors discuss using synthetic biology approaches to modify yeast into an optimal, and enjoyable, food production platform.

The collection of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) may capture patients’ assessments of their health status. Here authors highlight PRO-specific issues that should be considered to minimise respondent burden in clinical trials and routine care.

In this review, the authors define protein condensation diseases as conditions caused by aberrant liquid-like or solid-like states of proteins, and describe opportunities for therapeutic interventions to restore the normal phase behaviour of proteins. The review accompanies the related collection of articles published in Nature Communications focusing on possible therapeutic approaches involving liquid-liquid phase separation.

Key to life, water is an often overlooked or over-simplified factor in materials and biology. In this perspective the importance of water in biomaterials is discussed as well as the need to more carefully consider water’s role in every aspect of a biomaterial’s function.

Acoustic techniques are moving towards the clinic. Here the authors highlight recent developments in the areas of acoustic mechanobiology, point-of-care diagnostics, in vivo manipulation and tissues engineering, and provide their thoughts on the current challenges and directions for future work.

Building small-scale tools for biology research eliminates the need for time-consuming methods and enables novel experimental paradigms. Here, the authors discuss microfluidics' potential for manipulating or stimulating model organisms and identify barriers to making these tools accessible.

Precision oncology is important for patient treatment. Here the authors review the current applications of microfluidic systems to cancer precision medicine, and discuss the issues that must be addressed prior to getting these technologies into the clinic.

Both alternative splicing and autophagy are core cell biological processes, but where they intersect has received little attention. Here, the authors reflect on recent connections identified between these pathways and consider their impact on human disease.

A grand challenge in robotics is realising intelligent agents capable of autonomous interaction with the environment. In this Perspective, the authors discuss the potential, challenges and future direction of research aimed at demonstrating embodied intelligent robotics via neuromorphic technology.

Animal ecologists are increasingly limited by constraints in data processing. Here, Tuia and colleagues discuss how collaboration between ecologists and data scientists can harness machine learning to capitalize on the data generated from technological advances and lead to novel modeling approaches.

Many biological processes require changes in the physical properties of cells and their surroundings. Here, Lenne and Trivedi discuss recent findings in biological systems in terms of phase transitions in inert physical systems from both theoretical and experimental perspectives.