Featured
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Research Briefing |
A practical method for splitting seawater into hydrogen fuel
The electrolytic splitting of saline water is a highly desirable and sustainable method for the mass production of green hydrogen, but seawater contains many impurities that hinder the long-term stability of conventional electrolysis systems. A method for enabling the electrolysis of seawater has been developed that addresses previous side-reaction and corrosion problems.
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Perspective |
Dendrocentric learning for synthetic intelligence
The concept of dendrocentric learning artificial intelligence is proposed to replace synaptocentric learning, reducing the energy use requirement and removing the thermal constraint.
- Kwabena Boahen
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Nature Podcast |
The satellite-free alternative to GPS
A new positioning system that doesn’t rely on satellites, and the outcomes of COP27.
- Shamini Bundell
- & Nick Petrić Howe
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Article |
Anomalous thermal transport under high pressure in boron arsenide
Competition between three- and four-phonon scattering processes is shown to be the source of a unique anomalous thermal conductivity in boron arsenide at high pressures.
- Suixuan Li
- , Zihao Qin
- & Yongjie Hu
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News |
Maths predicts World Cup winner — and more of this week’s best science graphics
Four charts from the world of research, selected by Nature editors.
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Outlook |
Video: how to make the construction industry circular
The world is running out of sand. Is circular thinking the solution?
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Outlook |
Smarter ways with water
People need to find better and more productive ways to become allies with water — which might mean giving it space for its processes.
- Erica Gies
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News & Views |
Phone signals can help you find your way in cities even without GPS
Existing telecommunications infrastructure could operate as a miniaturized global positioning system, offering submetre resolution in urban areas and indoors, where location information from satellites is often inaccurate.
- Hui Chen
- & Henk Wymeersch
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Article |
A hybrid optical–wireless network for decimetre-level terrestrial positioning
A terrestrial networked positioning system based on a hybrid optical–wireless telecommunication infrastructure and that is independent of global navigation satellite systems is demonstrated for urban environments with decimetre-level accuracy.
- Jeroen C. J. Koelemeij
- , Han Dun
- & Christian C. J. M. Tiberius
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Article |
Ferrobotic swarms enable accessible and adaptable automated viral testing
A handheld printed circuit board-based programmable platform using ferrobots can perform the complex, laboratory-equivalent procedures involved in multiplexed and pooled nucleic acid amplification testing, allowing for the decentralization of viral diagnostics.
- Haisong Lin
- , Wenzhuo Yu
- & Sam Emaminejad
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Article |
Ultra-bright, efficient and stable perovskite light-emitting diodes
The authors develop a method for the production of ultra-bright, efficient and stable perovskite light-emitting diodes, achieved with a simple in situ reaction process.
- Joo Sung Kim
- , Jung-Min Heo
- & Tae-Woo Lee
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News & Views |
From the archive: scientific errata, and a long-haul flight
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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News |
China’s space station is almost complete — how will scientists use it?
Tiangong will host more than 1,000 experiments over a decade, including attempts to reproduce results from the International Space Station.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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Outlook |
Disinfecting the air with far-ultraviolet light
Devices that use wavelengths of sanitizing ultraviolet light that are safe for people could become a more common sight.
- Eric Bender
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News & Views |
Embrace wobble to level flight without a horizon
The apparent motion of a flier’s surroundings is shown to stabilize its flight by providing information about its orientation. Lapses in information are overcome through the effects of sensor noise and body oscillations.
- Graham K. Taylor
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Article
| Open AccessAccommodating unobservability to control flight attitude with optic flow
Attitude can be extracted from optic flow when combined with a motion model that relates attitude to acceleration direction, which leads to stable flight attitude control with slight oscillations due to unobservable conditions.
- Guido C. H. E. de Croon
- , Julien J. G. Dupeyroux
- & Franck Ruffier
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Research Briefing |
An optical innovation for metrology at the quantum limit of precision
Frequency-comb lasers are measuring sticks of the optical world and are used in metrology and sensing applications owing to their rigid, comb-like light spectra and metronomic pulsed output. A frequency comb with time-programmable pulses breaks this rigid mould and, in a demonstration of its utility, measures distances at the quantum limit of precision.
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Nature Video |
The shape-shifting robo-turtle
New amphibious soft robot makes efficiency games with morphing limbs
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Nature Video |
Exoskeleton boots could power your walk by learning your stride
New design uses model based on lab data to adapt for wearers while in use.
- Dan Fox
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Research Briefing |
Turtle-like robot adapts its shape and behaviour to move in different environments
Most robots are designed to operate in a single environment. Varying a robot’s body shape and movement patterns using a unified set of hardware components enables it to move efficiently in multiple environments, such as on land and through water.
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News & Views |
A walk in the wild helps to tailor robotic leg exoskeletons
An innovative approach to controlling wearable robots takes the optimization process out of the laboratory. The method uses a data-driven model to infer a user’s energy consumption and to personalize the assistance it provides.
- Carlos Rodriguez-Guerrero
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Nature Podcast |
Human brain organoids implanted into rats could offer new way to model disease
Transplanted human cells integrate into rat brains, and an exoskeleton boot that adapts as people walk.
- Benjamin Thompson
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Article
| Open AccessPersonalizing exoskeleton assistance while walking in the real world
A portable ankle exoskeleton uses a data-driven method and wearable sensors to adapt to the user as they walk in a natural setting.
- Patrick Slade
- , Mykel J. Kochenderfer
- & Steven H. Collins
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Article |
Multi-environment robotic transitions through adaptive morphogenesis
A design strategy termed ‘adaptive morphogenesis’ enables a robot inspired by aquatic and terrestrial turtles to adapt its limb morphology and gait to specialize for locomotion in different environments.
- Robert Baines
- , Sree Kalyan Patiballa
- & Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio
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Article |
Fast charging of energy-dense lithium-ion batteries
A new approach to charging energy-dense electric vehicle batteries, using temperature modulation with a dual-salt electrolyte, promises a range in excess of 500,000 miles using only rapid (under 12 minute) charges.
- Chao-Yang Wang
- , Teng Liu
- & Brian D. McCarthy
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Article |
The time-programmable frequency comb and its use in quantum-limited ranging
A self-referenced optical frequency comb with digital electronics is used for real-time attosecond control of the comb’s pulse train, and can be used in quantum-limited sensing.
- Emily D. Caldwell
- , Laura C. Sinclair
- & Jean-Daniel Deschenes
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Outlook |
Bioinspired robots walk, swim, slither and fly
Engineers look to nature for ideas on how to make robots move through the world.
- Neil Savage
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Research Briefing |
Programmable material learns to morph
A soft sheet has been constructed that can be driven by electromagnetic forces to continuously change its shape, mimicking the behaviour of soft tissues in living organisms. The control system uses imaging data and an optimization algorithm to enhance the material’s morphing ability.
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Article |
A dynamically reprogrammable surface with self-evolving shape morphing
The work presents a reprogrammable metasurface, constructed from a matrix of filamentary metal traces, that can precisely and rapidly morph into a wide range of target shapes and dynamic shape processes.
- Yun Bai
- , Heling Wang
- & Xiaoyue Ni
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Article |
Aerial additive manufacturing with multiple autonomous robots
An additive manufacturing method using a team of autonomous aerial robots allows for scalable and adaptable three-dimensional printing, and is used to deposit building materials during flight.
- Ketao Zhang
- , Pisak Chermprayong
- & Mirko Kovac
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Comment |
A cleaner future for flight — aviation needs a radical redesign
Efficiency and clean fuels won’t be enough. Governments and industry must experiment with other approaches to bring the climate impact of aviation close to zero.
- Steffen Kallbekken
- & David G. Victor
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Article
| Open AccessAligned macrocycle pores in ultrathin films for accurate molecular sieving
Selectively functionalized macrocycles were synthesized with reactivities that preferentially aligned to create well-defined pores across an ultrathin nanofilm offering a strategy to create subnanometre channels in polymer membranes, and demonstrating potential for accurate molecular separations.
- Zhiwei Jiang
- , Ruijiao Dong
- & Andrew G. Livingston
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Article |
Mechanical integrated circuit materials
A mechanical integrated circuit material based on Boolean mathematics and reconfigurable electrical circuits is created to demonstrate scalable information processing in synthetic, engineered soft matter.
- Charles El Helou
- , Benjamin Grossmann
- & Ryan L. Harne
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Research Highlight |
Stretchy synthetic nerve helps mice give ball a mighty kick
Device can bridge a nerve damaged by motor-neuron disease or spinal-cord injury.
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Article
| Open AccessA compute-in-memory chip based on resistive random-access memory
A compute-in-memory neural-network inference accelerator based on resistive random-access memory simultaneously improves energy efficiency, flexibility and accuracy compared with existing hardware by co-optimizing across all hierarchies of the design.
- Weier Wan
- , Rajkumar Kubendran
- & Gert Cauwenberghs
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Comment |
How climate change and unplanned urban sprawl bring more landslides
More settlements will suffer as heavy rains and unregulated construction destabilize slopes in the tropics, models show.
- Ugur Ozturk
- , Elisa Bozzolan
- & Thorsten Wagener
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Research Highlight |
A ‘smart finger’ learns to recognize materials by touch
Deep-learning programme is taught to match materials to their patterns of electrical charge.
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Article |
Pulsed hydraulic-pressure-responsive self-cleaning membrane
The PiezoMem membrane responsive to hydraulic pressure is introduced, showing the ability to convert pressure pulses into electroactive responses for in situ self-cleaning and enabling broad-spectrum antifouling action towards a range of membrane foulants.
- Yang Zhao
- , Yuna Gu
- & Guandao Gao
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Article |
Strong yet ductile nanolamellar high-entropy alloys by additive manufacturing
An additive manufacturing strategy is used to produce dual-phase nanolamellar high-entropy alloys that show a combination of enhanced high yield strength and high tensile ductility.
- Jie Ren
- , Yin Zhang
- & Wen Chen
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Article |
P-type electrical contacts for 2D transition-metal dichalcogenides
Clean van der Waals contacts of high-work-function metals have been demonstrated on few- and single-layered MoS2 and WSe2, leading to p-type characteristics on single-layer MoS2 and purely p-type characteristics on WSe2.
- Yan Wang
- , Jong Chan Kim
- & Manish Chhowalla
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Article
| Open AccessOptimization of avian perching manoeuvres
To perch safely, large birds minimize the distance flown after stalling when swooping up from a dive to a perch, but not the time or energy required.
- Marco KleinHeerenbrink
- , Lydia A. France
- & Graham K. Taylor
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News & Views |
Crystalline order offers access to high speeds for organic transistors
A transistor fabricated from the crystalline phase of an organic semiconductor material could provide a path to improved switching speeds — rivalling those of devices built from inorganic materials such as silicon.
- Julie Euvrard
- & Barry P. Rand
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Perspective |
Two-dimensional materials prospects for non-volatile spintronic memories
Developments, challenges and opportunities in using two-dimensional materials for the next generation of non-volatile spin-based memory technologies are reviewed, and possible disruptive improvements are discussed.
- Hyunsoo Yang
- , Sergio O. Valenzuela
- & Stephan Roche
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Article
| Open AccessOrganic bipolar transistors
An organic bipolar junction transistor composed of highly crystalline rubrene thin films has a device architecture that could be used in organic electronics with greatly improved high-frequency performance
- Shu-Jen Wang
- , Michael Sawatzki
- & Karl Leo
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Research Highlight |
Mighty mini-thermometer detects tiny temperature changes
A sensor roughly the size of a grain of sand can register changes of less than 100 nanokelvin.
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Where I Work |
Pico pioneer: building tiny satellites for the Internet of Things
Julián Fernández Barcellona provides affordable, space-based connectivity for companies looking to monitor remote assets in real time.
- Virginia Gewin
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Article |
Intermittent lab earthquakes in dynamically weakening fault gouge
Lab experiments show that spontaneously propagating ruptures navigate fault regions through intermittent slip with dramatic friction evolution, providing support that weakening mechanisms may allow ruptures to break through stable faults.
- V. Rubino
- , N. Lapusta
- & A. J. Rosakis
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Article |
An on-chip photonic deep neural network for image classification
Using a three-layer opto-electronic neural network, direct, clock-less sub-nanosecond image classification on a silicon photonics chip is demonstrated, achieving a classification time comparable with a single clock cycle of state-of-the-art digital implementations.
- Farshid Ashtiani
- , Alexander J. Geers
- & Firooz Aflatouni
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Research Highlight |
Robot surgeons steer smoothly with help from magnet-free motor
An unconventional motor design allows a body scanner to guide a robotic device through precise manoeuvres.