Reviews & Analysis

The experimental proof that single molecules may act as electronic devices has been evasive. A comprehensive set of proof-of-concept experiments has just defeated this hurdle.

Combination of silicon and polymer microfabrication with directed growth of muscle cells leads to integration of muscle function into microelectromechanical systems. These hybrid systems enable detailed functional understanding of the biological components and new applications as biomicromechanical devices.

Understanding and tuning the insulating tunnel barrier layer in magnetic tunnel junctions is key to developing commercial spintronic devices. A naturally self-assembled insulating layer on bilayer manganites provides a highly sensitive model system.

Chemists have sent molecules to primary school in the past decade. Now individual molecules can carry out addition and subtraction using different chemicals as the input bits and two fluorescence colours as the output bits.

A detailed ab initio model of ferroelectric ordering in thin films shows that phase transitions and ferroelectric bistability occur down to diameters of 3.2 nm in nanodisks and nanorods. Unexpected circular or toroidal ordering of dipoles describes the low-temperature ground state, rather than conventional parallel or antiparallel atomic displacements.

The engineering performance of materials is controlled to a large extent by their elastic stress/strain response. The first X-ray strain measurements in amorphous metals allow for new understanding of complex glassy materials.

The optical properties of lyotropic liquid crystals formed by a multilayer stack of lipid membranes have attracted growing interest owing to their potential use in photonics. A new study demonstrates unprecedented dynamic control over the order of such systems