News & Views in 2011

Steady-state remodelling in model cytoskeletal networks results from the combination of marginal stability and molecular-motor activity.

Efficient energy harvesting from temperature gradients requires thermoelectric materials with low thermal and high electrical conductivities. A conducting polymer can fulfil these conditions if its doping level is controlled precisely.

Collective cell motion in a continuous tissue is found to be guided by cooperative intercellular forces.

Grain boundaries in polycrystalline graphene are an obstacle to electron transport. However, cunning refinements in growth techniques push the limits to obtain super-sized single-crystal domains.

Maximum yield of self-assembly for a target structure can be attained with simple rules for the interactions between the structure's building blocks.

The experimental demonstration of antiferromagnetic tunnelling anisotropic magnetoresistance paves the way for spintronic devices based on antiferromagnets, rather than ferromagnets.

Local rotations in crystals change our view at the inner structure of crystals and may be the key for a whole range of hidden symmetries and novel physical effects in condensed-matter systems.

Combustion processing provides a simple route for the low-temperature deposition of high-performance metal-oxide layers and enables the fabrication of electronic devices on flexible polymer substrates.

By wrapping a ligand-functionalized lipid membrane around a silica core, nanoparticles with a fluid surface are created. These combine unprecedented specificity in binding to cancer cells with the combinatorial delivery of drug cocktails.

The interaction between ferroelectric distortion and two rotational modes in some transition-metal oxides promises a strategy for strong magnetoelectronic coupling, possibly at room temperature.

The imaging mode of scanning transmission electron microscopy known as annular bright-field has reached enough sensitivity to image columns of the lightest of elements within a crystal.

Embedding magnesium nanoparticles in a gas-selective polymer prevents their oxidation under ambient conditions while enabling reversible hydrogen storage.

Memory effects resulting from frustration and topology in nematic liquid crystals confined in bicontinuous structures may enable the fabrication of geometrically functionalized materials.

Multilamellar lipid vesicles with crosslinked walls carrying protein antigens in the vesicle core and immunostimulatory drugs in the vesicle walls generate immune responses comparable to the strongest live vector vaccines.

A study of nitrogen doping of graphene reveals the potential of high-resolution electron microscopy for imaging charge transfer around chemical bonds.

Tunnelling and capacitance spectroscopies are able to image the wavefunctions of electrons in atom-like solid-state systems as they are shaped by an external magnetic field.

The observation that disorder leads to a transition from metallic to insulating behaviour in the crystalline phase of GeSb₂Te₄ provides a new look at its transport properties, crucial for old and new applications of phase-change materials in non-volatile-memory devices.