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The publication of a paper on mentorship, now retracted, led us to reflect on our editorial processes and strengthened our determination in supporting diversity, equity and inclusion in research.
Dr Nicolas Mano is a Senior Researcher at Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal, France. His research interests include (bio)electrochemistry, biosensors, biofuel cells, enzymes engineering, and the use of carbonaceous materials for electrodes. His aim is to develop approaches where biochemical fuels can be converted into electricity and applied into bioelectrochemical applications. In this conversation, he is discussing the advancements in the field of biofuel cells in the past ten years and look ahead at future developments.
Synthetic biology will transform how we grow food, what we eat, and where we source materials and medicines. Here I have selected six products that are now on the market, highlighting the underlying technologies and projecting forward to the future that can be expected over the next ten years.
It would be unwise to assume ‘conventional’ lithium-ion batteries are approaching the end of their era and so we discuss current strategies to improve the current and next generation systems, where a holistic approach will be needed to unlock higher energy density while also maintaining lifetime and safety. We end by briefly reviewing areas where fundamental science advances will be needed to enable revolutionary new battery systems.
Arctic research faces unprecedented disruptions due to COVID-19. This ‘pause’ gives an opportunity to reflect on the current state and the future of Arctic science and move towards a more resilient, thus equitable, coordinated, safe and locally-embedded Arctic research enterprise. Arctic science has been greatly affected by COVID-19. This comment looks forward to how Arctic science could be conducted in the future.
Rapidly advancing genomic technologies and cross-disciplinary partnerships are accelerating the biological and clinical interpretation of genome-wide association studies, with some therapies developed based on these findings already being tested in clinical trials. The next decade promises further progress in understanding the function of genetic variants.
Winnie Byanyima is the Executive Director of UNAIDS and leads the United Nations’ efforts to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030. She is also a longstanding champion of social justice and gender equality having led Uganda’s first parliamentary women’s caucus where she championed gender equality provisions during her 11 years as an elected member of the Ugandan parliament. To mark World AIDS Day 2020, Nature Communications interviewed Winnie about how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the UNAIDS Fast Track targets, the impact of both epidemics on women around the world, and what is next in the fight against HIV.
Extreme heat adversely affects human health, productivity, and well-being, with more frequent and intense heatwaves projected to increase exposures. However, current risk projections oversimplify critical inter-individual factors of human thermoregulation, resulting in unreliable and unrealistic estimates of future adverse health outcomes.
Subduction is the primary driver of plate tectonics, yet we still do not fully understand how subduction zones initiate or the budgets of life-supporting elements recycled via subduction. At Nature Communications, we advocate for more transdisciplinary initiatives and collaborative projects, which are essential if we are to continue to bring new dynamics to subduction research.
Electrochemical carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction has the potential to sustainably produce carbon-based fuels and chemicals while mitigating the increasing levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. In this comment, the author discusses a few basic concepts in the fundamental mechanistic studies of electrochemical CO2 reduction.
Over the past 15 years, genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have generated a wealth of new information. Larger samples sizes, refined phenotypes and higher-resolution genome-screens will continue to drive gene discovery in years ahead. Meanwhile, GWAS loci are increasingly translated into new biology and opportunities for clinical care.
Dr. Yi Liu is the facility director at the Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Trained as a supramolecular chemist and after a postdoctoral stay and working on click chemistry in Sharpless’s group he started his independent research career working on organic electronics, porous materials, and covalent organic frameworks (COFs). His aim is to develop nanostructured electronic materials through the design, synthesis and manipulation of tailor-made molecular constituents.
Prof. Donglin Jiang is a full professor at the National University of Singapore and is recognized as a pioneer in the field of 2D polymers and covalent organic frameworks (COFs). With a background in chemistry and studies on dendrimers for ten years, the beauty of dendrimers inspired him to consider the possibility of constructing other types of polymers with well-defined shapes and structures. After taking up an associate professorship in 2005 to set up an independent laboratory at the Institute for Molecular Science at the National Institute for Natural Science, he started to dedicate his work on the design, synthesis and functional exploration of 2D polymers, COFs and conjugated microporous polymers.
Professor Xiaodong Zou is a full professor and chair of Inorganic and Structural Chemistry and deputy head of the Department of Materials and Environmental Chemistry at Stockholm University. After completing her PhD in structural chemistry and electron crystallography, she started at the beginning of her independent career to apply these techniques in solving structures of porous materials. She first worked on development of inorganic porous materials, such as zeolites and related open-frameworks. A joint project with Prof. Michael O’Keeffe drew her attention to metal organic frameworks (MOFs), covalent organic frameworks (COFs) and reticular synthesis. Since then, she is working on developing structure characterization techniques for porous materials.
Scientists increasingly post images and photos on social media to share their research activities. However, posting images and photos could potentially exclude people with visual impairments. Here, we outline actions that should be taken to foster accessibility and inclusion in posting scientific images on social media.
Prof. Natalia Shustova is the Peter and Bonnie McCausland Associate Professor at the University of South Carolina. After receiving her Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the Moscow State University and a second Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from the Colorado State University, she became interested in porous frameworks during her time as a Postdoctoral Associate in the group of Prof. Mircea Dincă at MIT. After starting her independent research career first as an Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina in 2013 and since 2017 as Associate Professor, her research interest lies in the development of materials for sustainable energy conversion, sensing and artificial biomimetic systems.
Gene and cell therapy products approved over the past decade in Europe and North America have provided new therapeutic options for single gene disorders and for hematologic malignancies. Lessons learned, and limitations identified, are reviewed.
Gene therapy is at an inflection point. Recent successes in genetic medicine have paved the path for a broader second wave of therapies and laid the foundation for next-generation technologies. This comment summarizes recent advances and expectations for the near future.
Early studies of weather, seasonality, and environmental influences on COVID-19 have yielded inconsistent and confusing results. To provide policy-makers and the public with meaningful and actionable environmentally-informed COVID-19 risk estimates, the research community must meet robust methodological and communication standards.
The importance of statistical analyses on 2D materials-based electronic devices and circuits is sometimes overlooked. Here the authors discuss the most pressing integration issues for such devices and emphasize the need for yield, variability, reliability, and stability benchmarking, and outline viable strategies resulting in research papers that are useful for the industry.
