Volume 18 Issue 10, October 2023

As researchers, developers, policymakers and others grapple with navigating socially beneficial advanced technology transitions — especially those associated with artificial intelligence, DNA-based technologies, and quantum technologies — there are valuable lessons to be drawn from nanotechnology. These lessons underscore an urgent need to foster collaboration, engagement and partnerships across disciplines and sectors, together with bringing together people, communities, and organizations with diverse expertise, as they work together to realize the long-term benefits of transformative technologies.

Reducing cancer-related deaths can only happen with a better understanding of cancer biology and the development of improved, new therapeutics and delivery mechanisms. Nearly all cancer research is dependent upon the models being used, the model’s accuracy, and appropriate validation and benchmarking. Here the need for such considerations is discussed in line with the goal of the Cancer Moonshot.

Terahertz emission spectroscopy reveals long-distance ballistic orbital-angular-momentum transport in tungsten.

Topological parameters of channels network created in twisted bilayer graphene can be controlled by lithium atoms intercalation.

Integration of diverse techniques for in-plane electrokinetic control of a functionalized gold nanowire’s position and orientation enables applications in nanoscale manipulation, nano-assembly, and single-cell biochemical sensing.

Three-dimensional optical imaging during battery operation reveals lithium heterogeneity at multiple length scales, challenging the look-at-one-particle approach.

The observation of orbital currents with extended propagation lengths remains challenging. Here, Seifert et al. optically trigger ultrafast orbital currents in Ni|W|SiO₂ stacks that seemingly propagate ballistically with a giant decay length and low velocity.

Coherent manipulation of hole-orbital states in semiconductor quantum dots is achieved through stimulated Auger processes, opening doors to new types of orbital-based solid-state quantum photonic devices.

Hydrostatic pressure is an underexplored tuning knob to study moiré systems. Here a MoS₂/WSe₂ heterostructure is compressed and the enhancement in the moiré potential strength is quantified via moiré-activated Raman modes.

Lithium intercalation in a graphene/buffer system on SiC locally changes the stacking order from AB/BA to AA and drives dynamic motions of topological domain walls constructed between the lithium-intercalated domains.

By controlling the current and measuring the voltage via the fibre, a hybrid electronic–photonic sensor consisting of a p–i–n junction located on the fibre-tip junction can be used as an electrical sensor with optical readout.

Quantum dot LED brightness can be enhanced at low driving voltage using a monolayer of large quantum dots to reduce the packing number in the emitting layer and minimize heat generation.

A surface functionalization approach allows for preparing a nanostructured molecular protection layer, enabling stretchable polymer electronics that stably operate in physiological environments over 80 days.

Confocal optical microscopy is used to visualize—at high speed—solid (particle volume changes and phase-front velocities) and liquid electrolyte (concentration polarization gradients) dynamics inside operating batteries.

Lanthanide downshifting nanoparticles with tunable emissions in the NIR-IIb sub-window (1,500–1,700 nm) region are ideal for deep-tissue imaging. Biofunctionalized core–shell, cubic-phase thulium-based nanoprobes show the non-invasive imaging of murine cerebral vasculature and the tracking of single immune cells and their extravasation in an inflammatory microenvironment.

DNA and RNA origami nanostructures direct the size, shape and topology of different virus capsids in a user-defined manner while shielding encapsulated origamis from degradation.

A versatile electrokinetic trap overcomes rotational and translational Brownian motion for simultaneously controlling the two-dimensional position with a precision of up to 20 nm and 0.5° in the three-dimensional angle of an untethered nanowire under an optical microscope.

Yeast cells are engineered to prepare multifunctional synthetic biofragments as nanoprobes, which allow multivalent interactions and optimal molecular orientation on material surfaces for the detection of emerging biomarkers in a range of sensor platforms.

Here the authors report the delivery of neurotransmitter-conjugated KCC2 agonist using a reactive oxygen species–responsive polymer nanoparticle that can cross the damaged blood–spinal cord barrier and significantly increase recovery after spinal cord injury in vivo.

Crossing the blood–brain barrier in primates is a major obstacle to gene delivery in the brain. Here an adeno-associated virus variant (AAV.CAP-Mac) is identified and demonstrated for crossing the blood–brain barrier and delivering gene sequences to the brain of different non-human primates species.