Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
A three-step synthetic method that involves silica coating, heat treatment and removal of the silica layer is reported for the preparation of hollow iron oxide nanocapsules. The magnetite nanocapsules made by this simple wrap-bake-peel process show potential as drug-delivery vehicles and MRI contrast agents.
Crystallization of acenes into high-mobility structures for transistors is achieved by pretreating the substrate in the region where crystallization is required. Cross-talk is prevented between devices by the amorphous material produced on the untreated region.
Mixing granular materials such as sand with a liquid leads to stiffening, but the mechanical properties are surprisingly independent of the amount of liquid. This phenomenon is shown to result from the particular organization of the liquid into open structures within the granular pile.
Although an isolated individual molecule clearly has only one ionization potential, multiple values are found for molecules in ordered assemblies. By understanding this phenomenon, design rules for improving organic electronic interfaces can be derived.
The precise mechanism of the insulator-to-metal transition in MnO has been unravelled by a computational approach that shows that the transition is a result of the simultaneous collapse of the magnetic moment.
The extracellular matrix of dense, avascular tissues presents a barrier to polymer-based therapeutics, such as drugs encapsulated within polymeric particles. Jeffrey Hubbell and colleagues now show that biomolecular binding of sufficiently small polymer nanoparticles can transform the matrix of cartilage tissue from a barrier into a reservoir, considerably improving the bioavailability of drugs in the matrix.