Spiders are important predators in terrestrial ecosystems, yet we know very little about their principal feeding structures—the chelicerae—an extremely important aspect of spider biology. Here, using micro‐Computed‐Tomography scanning techniques, researchers perform a comparative study to examine cheliceral muscle morphology in six different spider specimens. Read more »
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Spatial and Temporal Correlations of XY Macro Spins
Artificial spin-ice structures have become prototypical systems to study vector spin frustration at the microscale and have recently been expanded towards XY spin systems and fundamentally fascinating phase transitions. The illustration depicts the quasi long-range ordered vortex phase in a nano disk honeycomb lattice imaged by magnetization-sensitive photoemission electron microscopy. Read more »
Magnetic Skyrmions: Current‐Induced Skyrmion Generation through Morphological Thermal Transitions in Chiral Ferromagnetic Heterostructures
Magnetic skyrmions are particle‐like chiral twists of the magnetization that promise advances in spin‐based data storage and logic device applications. In this article, researchers examine current‐induced generation of skyrmions in heavy‐metal/ferromagnet multilayers and show that Joule heat pulses can drive topological transitions in magnetic textures and enable skyrmion creation on nanosecond timescales. Read more »
Inhibitors of the M2 Proton Channel Engage and Disrupt Transmembrane Networks of Hydrogen-Bonded Waters
The influenza M2 proton channel can bind to drugs and inhibitors. The ammonium groups of these compounds form hydrogen bonds with networks of ordered waters within the channel, and the adamantyl groups sterically block the diffusion of hydronium into the channel pore. Read more »
Near-field infrared nanospectroscopy and super-resolution fluorescence microscopy enable complementary nanoscale analyses of lymphocyte nuclei
Recent super-resolution fluorescence microscopy studies have revealed significantly altered nuclear organization between normal lymphocyte nuclei and those of classical Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Reported here are the first near-field IR imaging of lymphocyte nuclei, and far-field IR imaging results of whole lymphocytes and nuclei from normal human blood. Read more »
Reversible Fe(II) uptake/release by magnetite nanoparticles
The coexistence of magnetite and aqueous Fe2+ is common in anoxic subsurface environments and can have a great influence on important biogeochemical redox processes. This study demonstrates that the flow direction of electron equivalents in the form of Fe(II) across the magnetite–solution interface changes in a predictable fashion by altering solution pH, background Fe2+(aq) concentration, and magnetite loading. Read more »
A facile route for the synthesis of heterogeneous crystal structures in hierarchical architectures with vacancy-driven defects via the oriented attachment growth mechanism
TiO2 nanorod arrays based on substrates with heterogeneous crystal structures and remarkable crystalline stability have potential as promising photocatalysts. Researchers synthesized a 1D anatase/rutile heterogeneous TiO2 crystal structure in a hierarchical architecture by forming hybrid organic–inorganic interfaces in a solution-based environment. Read more »
Structure-based Design of Pyridone–Aminal eFT508 Targeting Dysregulated Translation by Selective Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase Interacting Kinases 1 and 2 (MNK1/2) Inhibition
Dysregulated translation drives key hallmarks of cancer and is controlled by Phase 2 candidate eFT508 binding to the MNK protein, exploiting stereoelectronic interactions, critical to the compound’s selectivity and potency. Read more »
Enhancing the Efficiency of Organic Photovoltaics by a Photoactive Molecular Mediator
In the search for high-efficiency organic solar cells, additives often play an important role in improving the film morphology. Liquid additives, while often effective, evaporate or migrate over time. Herein, Liu et al. report a solid photoactive molecular mediator that could be employed to replace the liquid additives to tune the morphology of bulk heterojunction films for improved device performance. Read more »
CO Adsorption on Pd(100) Studied by Multimodal Ambient Pressure X-Ray Photoelectron and Infrared Reflection Absorption Spectroscopies
The first combined infrared spectroscopy and ambient-pressure XPS study was demonstrated at Beamline 11.0.2. The in situ vibrational and core-level spectroscopies in the Torr pressure range offer complementary information on the properties of surfaces and adsorbates while closing the pressure gap between laboratory measurements and applications. The multimodal spectroscopy also allowed the identification of the C 1s binding energy and quantification of an uncommon atop CO species on a Pd(100) surface. Read more »
