News & Views in 2014

A synthetic strategy that allows the separation of enantiomerically pure planar chiral rotaxanes is now reported.

The statistical properties of the fluctuations of the entropy production rate are measured for a nanomechanical oscillator relaxing from an out-of-equilibrium steady state towards thermodynamic equilibrium.

The electron beam of a scanning transmission electron microscope can be used to trigger phase transitions in a monolayer of MoS₂ and record the dynamics of the process with single-atom resolution.

Controlled optical manipulation of a single dielectric nanoparticle is achieved with a bowtie nanoantenna placed at the end of the probe of a near-field scanning microscope.

p–n diodes can be fabricated from a single layer of WSe₂ crystal.

Biologically derived, nanoscale gas vesicles can be used as ultrasound contrast agents.

A single nitrogen–vacancy centre can be used to probe the location of electron spins with subnanometre precision.

Silk fibroin can be used as a photoresist in water-based electron-beam lithographic processing.

Nanoscale gas bubbles can act as selective membranes and be used to estimate the condensation coefficient of water.

Quantum computers require error correction protocols to repair the state of the quantum bits. This has now been demonstrated using a 'majority voting' protocol among a cluster of three defect spins in diamond.

A design that allows electrical contacts to be created on semiconductor microphotonic structures brings quantum networks based on semiconductor single photon sources one step closer.

Individual molecules change their conformation on application of an anisotropic compressive stress from the tip of an atomic force microscope.

Nanomechanical cantilevers can determine the concentration of active drugs in human serum.

A commercially viable method for synthesizing magnetic nanoparticles could be developed by transferring clusters of genes from magnetic bacteria to foreign, more stable bacteria.

Kinked nanowire transistors that can be manipulated in three dimensions can be used to record the intracellular electrical signals of targeted cells.

Coupling between optoelectronic states in a quantum dot and vibrations in a nanowire could lead to new techniques for laser cooling and control of mechanical motion.

Magnetic vortices can be controllably transferred in an extended system by electrical means.

Nanophotonic structures can be used to engineer efficient solar thermophotovoltaic systems.

Electronic transport in a nanodevice can be made insensitive to local heating by driving the device into strong non-equilibrium conditions.

Supramolecular structures composed of inorganic nanoparticles and DNA strands can efficiently target tumours and then be disassembled for ease of elimination from the body.