Volume 11 Issue 8, August 2016

Advances in nanotechnology and materials science suggest that a paradigm shift in computation may be closer than we think.

The uncertainty created by the result of the Brexit referendum will be damaging for science in the UK.

Induced progressive crystallization in chalcogenide-based materials can be used to closely mimic neuronal functions, opening new paths to neuromorphic computing.

Measuring changes in the isotopic composition of silver offers clues on how silver nanoparticles are transformed in the environment.

The ambiguous barrier mechanism of nuclear pore complexes has now been resolved through structural analysis with high-speed atomic force microscopy.

Semiconductor nanocrystals offer an enormous diversity of device applications that have been potentially limited by intermittent fluorescence intensity or 'blinking' dynamics. However, recent progress in both experiment and theory suggest a more promising outlook.

Information stored in the spin of individual electrons is transferred between distant quantum dots via surface acoustic waves.

High-spatial-resolution magnetometry at cryogenic temperature can be achieved with nitrogen–vacancy centres, allowing detailed imaging of Pearl vortices in the cuprate superconductor YBa₂Cu₃O_7−δ.

Variations in silver isotope ratio identified using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry offers insights into the natural transformation processes of silver nanoparticles in the environment; the approach could potentially be used to distinguish engineered silver nanoparticles from those formed naturally.

Measuring the binding force between red blood cells and fibrinogen — the protein that helps in the formation of blood clots — using an atomic force microscope can help identify patients at increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

A nanoscale phase-change device can be used to create an artificial neuron that exhibits integrate-and-fire functionality with stochastic dynamics.

Nanoscale magnetic imaging based on single defects in diamond is extended to cryogenic temperatures and is used to study vortices in the iron pnictide superconductor BaFe₂(As_0.7P_0.3)₂.

Hundreds of molecular rotors in a 2D network can be simultaneously rotated by applying an electric field from the tip of a scanning tunnelling microscope.

A wild-type aerolysin nanopore can resolve individual short oligonucleotides that are 2 to 10 bases long, and can monitor the stepwise cleavage of oligonucleotides by exonuclease I.

High-speed atomic force microscopy can visualize the dynamics of phenylalanine-glycine nucleoporins inside nuclear pore complexes and reveals the selective barrier mechanism within these molecular machines.

A magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent that amplifies its signal in response to pH is used to rapidly identify tumours, report hypoxic regions in the tumour and detect millimetre-sized metastatic tumours in the liver of animals.

Hybrid training in clinical and basic sciences can promote patient-centred discoveries in nanomedicine, says Wen Jiang.