News & Views in 2010

An RNA nanocube can self-assemble isothermally during in vitro transcription.

Complex artificial networks of genes have been designed that can sense a number of input signals in a user-defined logic to produce predictable output behaviours in mammalian cells.

A method that characterizes the adsorption of a set of small molecules on different nanoparticles may offer a way to predict how proteins interact with them.

Freeze-dried cellulose nanofibres from bacteria can act as templates for making highly flexible, porous and lightweight magnetic aerogels and stiff magnetic nanopaper.

Using temperature-sensitive ion channels and magnetic nanoparticles attached to membranes of cells, the electrical activity in neurons can be controlled by an externally applied magnetic field.

Linearly polarized light that does not possess any angular momentum can be used to rotate a gold nanostructure that can, in turn, rotate a much larger silica microdisk.

30-inch graphene films have been manufactured on a continuous basis with a roll-to-roll process and used to make a touch-screen device.

A high degree of control over plasmons can be achieved at the nanoscale by engineering the properties of adjacent dielectric layers.

A combination of electron microscopy and electron energy-loss spectroscopy can be used to chemically map complex hybrid nanoparticles.

Combining nanostructured magnetic media with nanoplasmonic antennas has propelled commercially viable data-storage densities beyond one terabit per square inch.

Single nanowires have been self-assembled onto thousands of electrode pairs across large areas with high precision.

Electric charges on the boundaries of certain insulators are programmed by topology to keep moving forward when they encounter an obstacle, rather than scattering backwards and increasing the resistance of the system. This is just one reason why topological insulators are one of the hottest topics in physics right now.

The ability of 'electric tweezers' to guide nanowires coated with biomolecules to specific locations on the surface of individual cells will allow biological processes to be studied in greater detail.

Nanoscale glass can be switched between insulating and conducting states, allowing all-glass microfluidic devices to be made.

Pyroelectric effects can be used to create attolitre droplets of liquid without the use of complicated electrodes, high-voltage circuits or nozzles, thus opening up new directions for printing and patterning substrates.

A commercial atomic force microscope can be used to image solid surfaces in liquids and measure interfacial energies with atomic resolution.

It is now possible to write and read magnetic information at the atomic scale by manipulating and imaging atoms on a magnetic template with a spin-polarized scanning tunnelling microscope.

Diamonds with a diameter of just 5 nm are capable of supporting colour centres and emitting fluorescence, and encapsulating these nanodiamonds in a polymer stops them blinking.