Browse Articles

The ability to control the magnetic order in a material with an electric field will enable low-power non-volatile memories and new types of computer logic. Ryanet al. demonstrate that europium titanate under moderate strain exhibits strong magnetoelectric coupling that could be valuable to this endeavour.

To transfer cultured human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) between culture dishes, cells need to be released using mechanical, enzymatic or chemical means, which can damage cells. Zhanget al. describe a thermomodulatable hydrogel that allows gentle, reagent-free cell passaging for the long-term culture of hESCs.

Systemic infection with the fungal pathogenC. albicans is characterized by high mortality, and the precise antifungal defence mechanisms in humans are poorly defined. Using a systems approach, Smeekens et al. describe a previously unknown role for type I interferons in human anti-Candidadefence.

Lithium is commonly used to treat bipolar disorder, but it exerts side effects at doses close to the therapeutic range. Singh and colleagues screen a collection of clinical compounds and find that ebselen induces lithium-like effects on mouse models of bipolar disorder by inhibiting inositol monophosphatase.

Tree diversity is thought to benefit forest ecosystems, but evidence from large-scale studies is scarce. This study of a 400,000 km²forest area shows that higher tree species richness supports higher levels of multiple ecosystem services, and therefore also a more sustainable management of production forests.

The human germinal centre-associated lymphoma gene is expressed in germinal centre B-lymphocytes; however, its function is unknown. Here the authors show that human germinal centre-associated lymphoma activates Syk kinase, leading to lymphoid hyperplasia and systemic reactive amyloid A amyloidosis in transgenic mice.

Parental responsibilities in mice are usually carried out by the mother of the pups. In this study, the authors show that when mothers are separated from their mouse pups, they emit ultrasonic vocalizations to their male partners, who respond by administering paternal care to the pups.

Non-Abelian anyons are exotic quasiparticles envisioned to be promising candidates for solid-state quantum computation. Clarkeet al. propose a device fabricated from fractional quantum Hall states and superconductors that supports a new type of non-Abelian defect that binds parafermionic zero modes.

Splicing factors, such as the protein SRSF3, regulate mRNA metabolism but are hard to study in vivobecause genetic kockouts are usually lethal. Here, Sen and colleagues create mice with a hepatocyte-specific knockout of Srsf3 and demonstrate its role in hepatocyte differentiation and liver function.

In alloparental brood care, individuals help raise the offspring of others and it is thought that high relatedness between the helpers and recipients is needed. In contrast, Zöttlet al. find that, in cooperatively breeding cichlids, unrelated subordinate females provide more alloparental care than related ones.

During mitosis, kinesin-5 motors are thought to crosslink microtubules in a muscle-like sliding filament mechanism. By combining electron microscopy with other structural tools, the authors reveal how four kinesin-5 polypeptides are organized into bipolar minifilaments.

Different mechanisms for generating antibody diversity have evolved since the emergence of immunoglobulin genes in jawed vertebrates. By sequencing the crocodilian immunoglobulin heavy-chain locus, Chenget al. uncover new insights into the evolutionary origins of adaptive immunity.

The collective gyrotropic excitation of an array of spin vortices has frequencies that depend on the polarities and chirality of individual vortices. This work demonstrates control of the spectral response of the system by tuning the excitation frequency or the external magnetic field.

During embryonic development, midline fluid flow results in asymmetric nodal gene expression. Using genetic manipulations and mathematical modelling, Nakamura et al. find that expression of the nodal antagonist Cerl2 is regulated post-transcriptionally, and that asymmetry is maintained by Wnt-Cerl2 feedback loops.

The flow of calcium into the mitochondrial matrix is mediated by the mitochondrial calcium uniporter. Fieniet al. apply patch-clamp techniques to mitoplasts isolated from different mouse and Drosophilatissues and find that the mitochondrial calcium uniporter activity varies depending on the tissue studied.

Plants such asArabidopsishave evolved genetic adaptations to their geographic location. Here, a network-based approach is applied to study the link between geographic location and heterogeneous molecular phenotypes, revealing a pattern of isolation by distance in genotypic variability, flowering and metabolic phenotypes.

In quantum communication, the noisy-storage model assumes that an attacker’s memory device is imperfect, thus enabling two parties to implement protocols securely. Using polarization-entangled photon pairs, Ng et al.analyse and verify a two-party bit commitment protocol within the noisy-storage.

Levels of extracellular calcium can increase at sites of infection and inflammation; however, the physiological significance of this has been unclear. This work shows that extracellular calcium acts as a danger signal, triggering the NLRP3 inflammasome via two G protein-coupled receptors.

PAR-1 inDrosophilahas been identified as a key physiological tau kinase. Lee and colleagues perform genetic screens for regulators of PAR-1 and find that it is targeted for ubiquitination and degradation by the ubiquitin ligase complex SCF(Slimb), and that this pathway modulates synaptic morphology.

The design and assembly of nanostructures exhibiting ferromagnetic hysteresis at room temperature are recognized goals for high-density data storage. Here, the authors engineer nanostructures with atomically sharp bimetallic interfaces and interlines, which exhibit large magnetic anisotropy and high temperature hysteresis.