In article number 1902477, Peixuan Guo, Jeong-Woo Choi, and co-workers fabricate monofunctionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with a single copy of an RNA three-way junction (3WJ) motif for application in ultra-sensitive miRNA biosensing using electrochemical surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (EC-SERS). In the presence of miRNA-155, miRNA-155 displaces the 3WJ structure and it results in a remarkable increase in the electrochemical and SERS signals.

In article number 1902051, Xin Min, Shiwei Lin, Peng Gao, Hui Wu, Minghao Fang, and co-workers prepare a series of metal-based nanocatalysts through a universal design based on the structure and composition of cell walls and membranes. After an in-situ carbonization co-reduction process, these metal nanoparticles, including Pt, Ru, Rh, Pd, Ag, Ir, Au, Co and Ni, uniformly and stably bond with N-doped carbon support, which exhibits an excellent catalytic activity for the hydrogen evolution reaction.

In article number 1902271, Jun Yang, Han Jia, and co-workers propose a multi-source listening system using a microphone with a metamaterial enclosure. The system not only realizes the sound localization and separation in 3D space, but also presents a great real-time performance in source identification and tracking. The effectiveness of the system is experimentally proven in multiple real scenarios.

In article number 1902583, Roland Beisteiner and co-workers describe a brain activation technique for treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Transcranial pulse stimulation (TPS) applies ultrashort ultrasound pulses to activate neuronal resources. A therapeutic breakthrough is secure clinical targeting and access to deep brain areas. After 2 weeks of treatment, memory performance improves for up to 3 months.

Metal–organic framework based nanofibers with hierarchical porous structure fabricated via electrospinning are reviewed for energy and environmental applications.

A series of metal-based nanocatalysts is prepared through a universal design based on various cellular structures. These uniform noble and non-noble metal nanoparticles, such as Pt, Ru, Rh, Pd, Ag, Ir, Au, Co, and Ni, stably bond with a N-doped carbon support, which leads to an excellent catalytic activity and long-term stability for the hydrogen evolution reaction.

Functional microscale protein granules can be obtained by simple physicochemical methods. These materials successfully mimic appealing properties of bacterial inclusion bodies, including amyloidal architecture, biological activity, and the release functional protein in vitro and in vivo. The applicability of these novel materials in biotechnology and in biomedicine is fully supported by their synthetic nature and defined chemical composition.

Variation of the number of F atoms in the acceptor units of a series of isostructural-crystal DPTTA-F_XTCNQ complexes leads to continuous tuning of the energy gaps and the species of majority carriers. Efficient band structural engineering effects induced by tuning the electron affinity of the acceptor component are thus shown.

2D multifunctional diodes are realized by stacking CVD-grown V-doped WSe₂ monolayers (p-type) and SnSe₂ (n-type). Substituting W-atoms with V-atoms in WSe₂ provokes the p-type doping effect to modulate the Fermi level. The type-II band alignment evolves into the type-III broken-gap alignment with increasing V-doping concentration, revealing various diode behaviors such as forward, backward, and especially negative differential resistance transport.

The aprotic butyldimethylsulfonium-driven MAPbI₃ perovskite shows a much more pronounced effect on the improvement of moisture stability compared to the protic butylammonium (BA)-based counterpart. The BA having a potential hydrogen donor, which exists on the surface and/or grain boundaries, is vulnerable to H₂O-induced degradation initiators, resulting in the faster hydration followed by the irreversible degradation of perovskites.

In article number 1901891, Dan Zhu, Peng Fei, and co-workers develop an imaging technique, multiangle-resolved subvoxel selective plane illumination microscopy (termed Mars-SPIM), that can readily obtain the 3D digital atlas of a cleared whole mouse brain with an isotropic single-cell resolution, in a short acquisition time of several minutes. It provides an efficient way to implement system-level cellular analysis, such as the mapping of different neuron populations and tracing of long-distance neural projections over the entire brain.

The newly developed multiangle-resolved subvoxel selective plane illumination microscope (Mars-SPIM) can rapidly image whole mouse brain at isotropic single-cell resolution, on a timescale of minutes. Through computationally restoring the degraded signals from deep tissue and improving the spatial resolution under a very large field of view, Mars-SPIM shows great potential for high-throughput, high-resolution mapping of entire large organs/organisms.

A monofunctionalized gold nanoparticle (GNP)/RNA structure is fabricated using a packaging RNA three-way junction motif of the bacteriophage phi29 DNA packaging motor. The structure is further engaged to form a rigid λ-shaped bioprobe RNA architecture onto the GNP–electrodeposited indium tin oxide coated substrate for highly sensitive and specific detection of microRNAs down to 60 × 10⁻¹⁸ m by means of electrochemical surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy.

Inspired by the human auditory system, a multisource listening system is proposed using one single microphone and a well-designed metamaterial enclosure. The system not only realizes the sound localization and separation in 3D space but also has a great real-time performance in source identification and tracking. The effectiveness of the system has been experimentally proved in multiple real scenarios.

A new clinical brain stimulation technique is introduced, based on single ultrashort ultrasound pulses (transcranial pulse stimulation, TPS). Comprehensive feasibility, safety, and efficacy data for this new therapy are provided. Two weeks TPS treatment of 35 Alzheimer's patients reveals high treatment tolerability, no major side effects, and improved memory performance lasting up to three months.

The carboxylation of styrene on a heterogeneously catalyzed electrochemical platform is newly demonstrated, where CO₂ and water are used as carbon and proton sources, respectively. The site-selectivity of carboxylation can be precisely controlled between dicarboxylation and β-selective hydrocarboxylation solely by providing optimal proton source in the absence of homogeneous catalysts.

A new blue thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitter of 2tCz2CzBn is synthesized with a symmetrical and rigid heterodonor configuration, enabling significant suppression of self-aggregation-caused emission quenching. High-performance nondoped organic light-emitting diodes are achieved with a high external quantum efficiency of 21.6%, an extremely low turn-on voltage of 2.7 V, and narrowband blue emission.

Multifunctional cell-derived microparticles Bi₂Se₃/DOX@MPs are successfully fabricated via electroporation with high efficiency and controllability for computed tomography and photoacoustic imaging guided synergistic photothermal/low-dose chemotherapy. The obtained Bi₂Se₃/DOX@MPs show enhanced intracellular uptake through membrane fusion mediated cellular internalization, which not only strengthens their cytotoxicity by avoiding endosomal trapping, but also deepens their penetration in H22 3D tumor spheroids.

Cancer-associated long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as critical regulators in tumorigenesis. Here, a Yes-associated protein 1 (YAP1) target lncRNA LINC00152 is identified, and a critical role of YAP1/LINC00152/FSCN1 axis in the tumorigenesis of colorectal cancer (CRC) is revealed, which may provide a potential new target for CRC diagnosis and therapy.

An ambipolar single-crystal tungsten diselenide (WSe₂) semiconductor electrocatalyst is employed as a benchmark system for interfacial model catalysis. By tuning the external electric field, the conductance and carrier of ambipolar WSe₂ can be individually modulated. Combining the experimental and theoretical study, it is demonstrated that the electron carrier plays a key role in the hydrogen evolution reaction.

A new biodegradable waterborne difunctional polyurethane (DFPU) crosslinker is obtained by modifying waterborne polyurethane (PU) with glyoxal. Adding the crosslinker to glycol chitosan (CS) produces CS-PU self-healing hydrogel at room temperature and generates CS-PU cryogel after being temporally frozen at −20 °C. Both gels are featured with injectability (26-gauge and 18-gauge needles, respectively), multiresponsiveness, tunable degradation rates, good cell proliferation, and biocompatibility.

A novel branch of the ABA signaling pathway in Arabidopsis involving PYLs ABA receptor-PP2A protein phosphatase complex, which modulates root gravitropism and lateral root formation through regulating phytohormone auxin transport, is identified. This work reveals an adaptive mechanism that may flexibly adjust plant root architecture to avoid the damage resulting from environmental stresses.

Many predators produce dormant offspring to escape harsh conditions, but only at the cost of less offspring. The evolutionary stability of this costly dormancy is explained by Parrondo's paradox. Although both active and dormant forms of dormancy-capable predators individually lose to perennially active predators, alternating between these losing strategies ensures better recovery after overpredation, resulting in a strategy that wins.

Optimal wavefronts to probe a scene with microwave radiation in order to recognize objects therein are learned by integrating a model of the sensor's reconfigurable physical layer into the machine-learning pipeline used to process the measurements. Thereby the amount of task-relevant information obtained per measurement is maximized, enabling sensing with low latency and computational burden.

A novel 3D hierarchical ternary SnO₂/TiO₂/BiVO₄ arrays photoanode is designed with excellent photoelectrochemical performance.

This study investigates ratchets driven by two sets of asymmetrically spaced interdigitated finger electrodes situated within a dielectric layer on top of an indium–gallium–zinc oxide field-effect transistor. The maximum experimentally observed efficiency is above 10% at 5 MHz. Via simulations, engineering guidelines are established for increasing the power output and efficiency into the THz range and beyond.

A holistic, green, circular, scalable, and inexpensive process that enables integrating CO₂ fixation, water decontamination, and bioethanol production is developed. Microalgae are used for CO₂ fixation and as skeletons to synthesize effective visible-light photocatalysts. At the end of the photocatalyst lifetime, hybrid structures are recycled to produce bioethanol by a simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of the algae biomass.

The decorated LiTaO₃ with intrinsic characteristic of stress response at the surface of active LNMCO induces a local electric field, which significantly promotes Li⁺ diffusion at the cathode–electrolyte interphase, particularly in the discharge process. The application of the “initiative” function interphase material herein contributes to the comprehension of interphase engineering in a broad range of applications in the electrochemical and energy conversion community.