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  • Shirakawa, MacDiarmid and Heeger received the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of conducting polymers. Here we summarize the impact of (semi)conducting polymers on fundamental research, synthetic accessibility at scale, industrial applicability and the future.

    • Xugang Guo
    • Antonio Facchetti
    Comment
  • Meteoritic diamonds and synthesized diamond-related materials contain a wide variety of complex nanostructures. This Comment highlights and classifies this structural complexity by a systematic hierarchical approach, and discusses the perspectives on nanostructure and properties engineering of diamond-related materials.

    • Péter Németh
    • Kit McColl
    • Paul F. McMillan
    Comment
  • Consensus among experts is that only an effective COVID-19 vaccine will end the pandemic. This Comment focuses on how this pandemic has accelerated the development of vaccine platforms distinct from classical vaccines; these novel platforms may also increase the response time when new viruses emerge in the future.

    • Debby van Riel
    • Emmie de Wit
    Comment
  • The restoration of fire-damaged historical monuments entails a wide range of scientific questions. Taking as a starting point the case of Notre-Dame de Paris, this Comment defines the materials science challenges of post-fire restoration, and also briefly outlines the issues of structural integrity, fire safety and preservation ethics.

    • Ylenia Praticò
    • John Ochsendorf
    • Robert J. Flatt
    Comment
  • The complexity of DNA-programmed nanoparticle assemblies has reached an unprecedented level owing to recent advances that enable delicate and comprehensive control over the formation of DNA bonds.

    • Shuoxing Jiang
    • Fei Zhang
    • Hao Yan
    Comment
  • The COVID-19 pandemic has reignited efforts to develop materials science innovations aimed at stopping viral infections. One of the greatest opportunities lies in developing broad-spectrum antiviral technologies that work against many viruses, which could be the key to thwarting outbreaks in the future.

    • Nam Joon Cho
    • Jeffrey S. Glenn
    Comment
  • New evidence suggests that the mechanism of nanoparticle entry into solid tumours may be driven by an active process. This insight paves the way for approaches to enhance the efficiency of nanomedicine delivery by harnessing active transport mechanisms, and encourage researchers to rethink how tumours are treated.

    • Subehndu Pandit
    • Debapriya Dutta
    • Shuming Nie
    Comment
  • This is a turning point for nanofluidics. Recent progress allows envisioning both fundamental discoveries for the transport of fluids at the ultimate scales, and disruptive technologies for the water–energy nexus.

    • Lydéric Bocquet
    Comment
  • Electronic and photonic devices based on graphene have unique properties, leading to outstanding performance figures of merit. Mastering the integration of this unconventional material into an established semiconductor fabrication line represents a critical step towards commercialization.

    • Daniel Neumaier
    • Stephan Pindl
    • Max C. Lemme
    Comment
  • The past few years have witnessed significant development in graphene research, yet a number of challenges remain for its commercialization and industrialization. This Comment discusses relevant issues for industrial-scale graphene synthesis, one of the critical aspects for the future graphene industry.

    • Li Lin
    • Hailin Peng
    • Zhongfan Liu
    Comment
  • Oxides of non-magnetic cations exhibit elusive signs of weak temperature-independent ferromagnetism. The effect is associated with surface defects, but it defies conventional explanation. Possible hypotheses are a spin-split defect impurity band, or giant orbital paramagnetism related to zero-point vacuum fluctuations.

    • J. M. D. Coey
    Comment
  • Highly quantitative, robust, single-cell analyses can help to unravel disease heterogeneity and lead to clinical insights, particularly for complex and chronic diseases. Advances in computer vision and machine learning can empower label-free cell-based diagnostics to capture subtle disease states.

    • Minh Doan
    • Anne E. Carpenter
    Comment
  • At the recent Artificial Intelligence Applications in Biopharma Summit in Boston, USA, a panel of scientists from industry who work at the interface of machine learning and pharma discussed the diverging opinions on the past, present and future role of AI for ADME/Tox in drug discovery and development.

    • Barun Bhhatarai
    • W. Patrick Walters
    • Sean Ekins
    Comment
  • Rapid progress in machine learning is enabling opportunities for improved clinical decision support. Importantly, however, developing, validating and implementing machine learning models for healthcare entail some particular considerations to increase the chances of eventually improving patient care.

    • Po-Hsuan Cameron Chen
    • Yun Liu
    • Lily Peng
    Comment
  • Topological structures have considerable potential in nanoelectronics and new device concepts. They are key to the design and understanding of novel functionalities in ferroic materials — that is, materials that have one or more types of built-in order such as magnetic, ferroelectric, ferroelastic and multiferroic materials.

    • Jan Seidel
    Comment
  • This Comment describes some of the common pitfalls encountered in deriving and validating predictive statistical models from high-dimensional data. It offers a fresh perspective on some key statistical issues, providing some guidelines to avoid pitfalls, and to help unfamiliar readers better assess the reliability and significance of their results.

    • Andrew E. Teschendorff
    Comment
  • Space missions require materials that can preserve functional integrity under extreme conditions of heat, impact and radiation. This Comment outlines the materials properties needed for some of the most ambitious space missions and presents the design and testing principles before their incorporation.

    • Tommaso Ghidini
    Comment
  • Solar cells based on metal halide perovskites continue to approach their theoretical performance limits thanks to worldwide research efforts. Mastering the materials properties and addressing stability may allow this technology to bring profound transformations to the electric power generation industry.

    • Henry J. Snaith
    Comment