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Volume 555 Issue 7697, 22 March 2018

The ubiquity of the optical laser means that it is easy to overlook its elder sibling, the maser. Essentially a 'microwave laser', the maser was developed in 1954 some six years before its optical counterpart. But the demanding conditions usually required for masers to function — cryogenic refrigeration and high-vacuum systems — have somewhat restricted their possible applications. Although room-temperature masers have been developed using molecular crystals, these have relatively poor thermal and mechanical properties and can operate only in pulsed mode. In this issue, Jonathan Breeze and his colleagues overcome these problems with a room-temperature maser that can operate in continuous-wave mode. The system uses a diamond (pictured on the cover) that contains defects called nitrogen–vacancy centres. Masers are already exploited for deep-space communications and radio astronomy, but this room-temperature device could expand their applications to medicine, security and quantum technologies. Cover image: Thomas Angus & Jonathan Breeze/Imperial College London; Stuart Penn

Editorial

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World View

  • In South Korea, hundreds of well-informed citizens voted on behalf of their country — a technique that should be used more widely, says Ji-Bum Chung.

    • Ji-Bum Chung
    World View
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  • Commonly prescribed drugs called fluoroquinolones cause rare, disabling side effects. Researchers are struggling to work out why.

    • Jo Marchant
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News & Views

  • Brain tumours are often classified by visual assessment of tumour cells, yet such diagnoses can vary depending on the observer. Machine-learning methods to spot molecular patterns could improve cancer diagnosis.

    • Derek Wong
    • Stephen Yip
    News & Views
  • Applications for masers — the microwave equivalent of lasers — have been hindered by their extreme operating conditions and the inability to produce continuous emissions. A diamond maser overcomes these limitations.

    • Ren-Bao Liu
    News & Views
  • Low-complexity protein aggregates are a hallmark of neurodegeneration. High-resolution snapshots of the structure of one such aggregate offer an unprecedented view of how these proteins disrupt crucial cellular functions.

    • Laura Pontano Vaites
    • J. Wade Harper
    News & Views
  • The calcium-isotope composition of planetary bodies in the inner Solar System correlates with the masses of such objects. This finding could have implications for our understanding of how the Solar System formed.

    • Alessandro Morbidelli
    News & Views
  • Two groups have sequenced RNA from thousands of single cells, making the deepest ventures yet into the origins of neuronal diversity in the neocortex of the developing mammalian brain.

    • Ludovic Telley
    • Denis Jabaudon
    News & Views
  • Water-conducting tissues inside plant roots are surrounded by impermeable cells. This protective barrier is punctured by ‘passage cells’, which are thought to regulate nutrient uptake. How these cells form has now been revealed.

    • Sedeer el-Showk
    • Ari Pekka Mähönen
    News & Views
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Article

  • Analysis of embryonic lethal and sub-viable mouse knockout lines reveals that ablation of many genes affects placental development, and that the occurrence of placental defects is co-associated with abnormal brain, heart and vascular system development.

    • Vicente Perez-Garcia
    • Elena Fineberg
    • Myriam Hemberger
    Article
  • The structure of the yeast nuclear pore complex, determined at sub-nanometre precision using an integrative approach that combines a wide range of data, reveals details of its architecture, transport mechanism and evolutionary origins.

    • Seung Joong Kim
    • Javier Fernandez-Martinez
    • Michael P. Rout
    Article
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Futures

  • A ray of hope.

    • John Cooper Hamilton
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Brief Communications Arising

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