News & Views in 2011

X-ray illumination can be used to control the arrangement of oxygen atoms in cuprate superconductors, allowing the writing of regions of robust high-transition-temperature superconductivity.

Mimicking the complexity of the extracellular environment in synthetic hydrogels is hard. A simple two-photon excitation strategy to simultaneously immobilize multiple proteins with spatial control in three dimensions shows promise.

The solvent-based electrolytes used at present in lithium-ion batteries can be unsafe for large-scale applications. A crystalline electrolyte with high ionic conductivity could soon enable all-solid energy storage systems.

Versatile room-temperature control of spin currents without a net charge flow paves the way for new methods to transfer and process information.

Single-walled carbon nanotubes have been used as test tubes for chemical reactions in an electron microscope. It is now shown that they can also act as reactors for the synthesis of narrow, helically twisted graphene nanoribbons through electron irradiation of functionalized fullerenes.

The coarsening mechanism, by which larger droplets in a solid-state matrix consume smaller ones, can effectively be reversed in the case of core–shell precipitates, leading to a nearly monodisperse droplet size distribution.

The design of structures of organic nanoporous crystals has been hampered by the difficulty of placing functional moieties in a predictive manner. A modular strategy based on prefabricated organic nanocages having directional chiral interactions that self-assemble into the predicted crystals circumvents this problem.

A single nanodevice that detects the presence of a single molecule would perhaps be the ultimate sensor. The demonstration of hydrogen sensing based on a single gold nanoaerial brings that possibility nearer.

Living cells regulate their area through active mechanisms, which often lead to the fusion and fission of lipid vesicles. It is now found that bilayers adhered to elastic substrates can also adjust their area passively, in response to applied lateral strains.

A new design for elastic metamaterials that can behave either as liquids or solids over a limited frequency range may enable new applications based on the control of acoustic, elastic and seismic waves.

Stem cells that are cultured in the laboratory differentiate in response to the mechanical properties of the substrate and its topography. It is now shown that mesenchymal stem cell multipotency is prolonged when the cells are cultured on a surface patterned with an ordered arrangement of nanoscale pits.

The main challenges to face before graphene can become part of realistic applications were discussed at a recent dedicated meeting.

Results show that achievable improvements may make solar thermoelectric generators competitive with other solar power conversion methods.

Conventional magnetoresistive devices are composed of magnetic and non-magnetic films. It is now shown that, at low temperature, a carbon nanotube decorated with single-molecule magnets can function as an all-organic spin valve.

Stretching polymer electrolyte membranes increases water diffusion along the stretched direction. It is now shown that the enhancement in transport is a result of the alignment of domains of hydrophilic channels, and that transport anisotropy and alignment are linearly coupled.

A system comprising 'signalling' and 'receiving' modules — where the receiving module circulating in the bloodstream is directed to the tumour by a cascade triggered by the signalling module — improves the targeting effect of a nanomedicine.