Volume 13 Issue 5, May 2018

We celebrate Feynman’s work as scientist and communicator on the one hundredth anniversary of his birth.

A volatile memory built by assembly of layered semiconductors into a van der Waals heterostructure gives longer refresh times and an opportunity to improve energy efficiency.

The use of rigid copper oxide tips makes high-resolution molecular imaging by non-contact atomic force microscopy more reliable.

Interaction between radionuclides and nanoparticles expands the in vivo imaging possibilities based on Cerenkov luminescence.

Atomic force microscopy is used to measure reorganization energies upon charging individual molecules adsorbed on insulators.

Switching of antiferromagnetic domains by the propagation of domain walls is demonstrated using electrical current-induced torques.

A trailing flexoelectric field induced by SPM tip motion enables the selective control of multiple domain switching pathways in ferroelectric materials.

Using a rigid tip removes artefacts associated with imaging the strongly varying tip–sample potential of intermolecular sites by atomic force microscopy.

An atomic force microscope is used as an ultralow current sensor to measure the reorganization energy of a single naphthalocyanine molecule during a redox reaction on a NaCl film.

The ring of a rotaxane molecule traverses a polymer track picking up leucine amino acids and synthesizing a homo-leucine oligomer, which in turn folds into an alpha helix and catalyses a chemical reaction.

Kinesins, natural nanometre-scale stepper motors, can feed back on the structure and dynamics of their microtubule tracks.

The valley splitting in a stack of graphene and boron nitride can be controlled through a quantum dot induced by a scanning tunnelling microscope.

The spin state of a single electron is shown to control the transmission of single photons through a nanophotonic waveguide, thus realizing a spin-based photonic switch.

A new quasi-non-volatile 2D semi-floating gate memory with high speed and long refresh time could bridge the gap between volatile and non-volatile memory technologies.

Neighbouring Pt monomers work in synergy, leading to a distinct CO₂ hydrogenation pathway and enhanced activity.

A detailed mechanistic study between nanoparticles and radionuclides reveals the roles of β particles and γ radiation in observed light and the possibility of generating X-rays, expanding the radionuclides available for biomedical applications and offering a multicolour nuclear imaging modality.

Exposure to nanoparticles induces indirect autophagy-mediated signalling events, leading to neuron damage via astrocytes in a human model of the placenta and to DNA damage in the neonatal hippocampus in vivo.

Outreach should be part of any scientist’s curriculum, as Jennifer Dionne explains.