Physics

ABSTRACT Waveplate‐free detection of near‐infrared (NIR) circularly polarized light (CPL) has been limited by the absence of materials that simultaneously exhibit strong NIR circular dichroism and efficient charge transport. Here, we present a family of axially chiral conjugated polymers, S ‐ and R ‐pDPP4TBN‐X , designed by grafting S/R ‐6,6′‐dimethoxy‐1,1′‐binaphthyl ( S/R ‐MeBN) onto a diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP)‐bithiophene backbone. By tuning the MeBN: DPP ratio, the polymers exhibit extended absorption up to ∼1000 nm, enhanced circular dichroism in the 500–870 nm region, and optimized thin‐film morphology for charge mobility. Organic phototransistors based on S/R ‐pDPP4TBN‐10 achieve hole mobilities up to 0.13 cm 2 V −1 s −1 , responsivities as high as 12.52 A W −1 , detectivities on the order of 10 11 Jones, and dissymmetry factors ( g Iph ) of 0.30 and ‐0.34 under 808 nm CPL, enabling unambiguous discrimination of left‐ and right‐handed light. Beyond static sensing, these devices emulate synaptic plasticity under CPL stimulation and, when coupled with an artificial neural network, deliver classification accuracies exceeding 95%. This work establishes a modular design paradigm for compact, NIR‐active CPL sensors that integrate high charge transport, pronounced chiroptical response, and neuromorphic function, paving the way for photonic encryption, wearable optoelectronics, and bioinspired computing platforms.

ABSTRACT Chiral Au nanocrystals are promising materials for biosensing and therapeutic applications. However, how chirality emerges during their seed‐mediated synthesis remains unclear, leading to limited control over morphologies and chiroptical properties. Herein, it is shown that chiral growth can be mediated by orientational order of chiral micelles at Au surfaces. Quantitative 3D electron microscopy and molecular dynamics simulations reveal growth rules for this mechanism and demonstrate that worm‐like micelles register with preferential crystal directions at the surface of the seeds to template the growth of hierarchically chiral features. These features have a specific torsion‐orientation coupling, which explains how both the molecular chiral inducer and the seed crystal structure can act as stereoselective parameters. These analyses suggest a new role of surfactant assemblies in seed‐mediated synthesis, and uncover fundamental aspects of chirality transfer with implications for the rational synthesis of chiral and anisotropic nanostructures.

ABSTRACT Global climate change and the energy crisis pose severe challenges to sustainable development, driving the urgent need for innovative carbon‐neutral technological pathways. Among various potential solutions, photocatalytic CO 2 reduction technology attracts significant attention for its ability to directly utilize solar energy to convert CO 2 into high‐value‐added fuels and chemicals. However, in practical application environments, the low concentration of CO 2 and the pronounced inhibitory effect of oxygen on the catalytic reaction have long constrained the scalable development of this technology. This review systematically elaborates on the latest significant advancements in the field of photocatalytic CO 2 reduction under close‐to‐realistic conditions (containing 0.04% or 15% CO 2 and 5%–20% O 2 under simulated solar light), focusing on three main technological directions: integrated CO 2 capture and conversion, CO 2 ‐preferential microenvironment engineering, and O 2 ‐assisted CO 2 reduction mechanisms. These interconnected research pathways have collectively driven a paradigm shift in the field from “passively avoiding oxygen interference” to “actively harnessing oxygen synergy.” This progress has preliminarily overcome key bottlenecks such as low conversion efficiency of dilute CO 2 , intense competitive oxygen reduction reactions, and high energy consumption for product separation. These advancements provide the way for distributed carbon‐neutral technologies and shifting CO 2 utilization from idealized systems toward real‐world applications.

ABSTRACT The increasing resistance of pathogenic bacteria challenges current skin disinfection strategies, while the non‐degradability of traditional cationic antimicrobials limits their clinical safety. Conventional photodynamic therapy is limited by complex application requirements. To address these limitations, we developed a biodegradable, sunlight‐activated photodynamic cationic nanospray (NP PORPMn ). Under environmentally friendly and readily accessible sunlight irradiation (NP PORPMn +L), NP PORPMn efficiently generates reactive oxygen species and works synergistically with its quaternary ammonium cations to exert potent antibacterial effects. This dual‐action significantly reduces the inflammatory response in infected microenvironments and accelerates wound healing in infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus ( S. aureus ) and methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus ( MRSA ). Skin disinfection experiments further demonstrate that NP PORPMn +L can eliminate pathogenic bacteria and resident microbial communities on the skin surface. This study presents an innovative, biodegradable, and clinically safe nanospray platform that harnesses the convenience of sunlight activation to provide a promising strategy for combating antibiotic‐resistant infections.

ABSTRACT Chiral framework materials offer a promising platform for exploring circularly polarized lasing. However, the creation of chirality in current optical gain framework materials relies on the chirality transfer, which suffers from weak chiral light‐matter interactions and thus limits the dissymmetry factors of circularly polarized laser emission. Here, we propose to synthesize homochiral metal–organic frameworks (MOF) from chiral optical gain molecules to enhance chiral light‐matter interactions, enabling circularly polarized lasing with large dissymmetry factors. The MOFs are grown controllably into 1D microcrystals to function as Fabry–Pérot cavities providing optical feedback for laser oscillations. In addition, the chiral optical gain molecules in the frameworks exhibit high luminescence efficiencies of ∼88% because the rigid frameworks effectively suppress nonradiative decay, resulting in low‐threshold lasing. More importantly, the homochiral optical gain frameworks can enhance chiral light‐matter interactions, which allows for circularly polarized laser emission with dissymmetry factors larger than 1.0. Our work establishes a homochiral framework material platform for exploring high‐performance circularly polarized lasing.

ABSTRACT Future marine exploitation requires underwater robots with reliable tactile perception. However, existing underwater haptic sensing technology remains challenged in discriminating similar physical properties among objects owing to strong hydrodynamic noise. Herein, we propose a triboelectric aquatic electronic skin (E‐skin) capable of decoupling tactile signatures arising from minimal differences in unsteady water flow and high hydrostatic pressure disturbance. This is achieved through a bioinspired fish lateral line mechanical design that integrates a bionic fish‐scale array to attenuate flow impact, thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) powders to withstand hydrostatic compression, and an ionic hydrogel with asymmetric ion pairs to enhance signal output. The aquatic E‐skin exhibits high sensitivity to tiny vibrations caused by surface differences when sliding over objects. Leveraging a feature‐fusion machine learning, it extracts robust tactile vibrations during water flow motion and precisely classifies underwater minimal differences in texture and hardness, as well as roughness from 0.8 to 1600 µm. Additionally, integration of the E‐skin on a robotic fish demonstrates its potential in fish swimming state detection to achieve intelligent aquaculture. This AI‐enhanced E‐skin not only enhances the reliability of underwater minimal difference perception but also unlocks novel interaction capabilities for broad marine applications in disturbance‐rich aquatic environments.

ABSTRACT The complement system has recently been recognized to affect cancer initiation and progression. However, because its activity depends on a complex cascade of interacting proteins, conventional static analytical methods are inadequate for tracking its dynamic behavior within tumors, leading to ambiguous conclusions about its role in the tumor immune microenvironment. Although real‐time imaging would be a superior approach, the abundant presence of complement proteins in serum and the lack of specific responsive substrates pose significant challenges for developing molecular optical probes. Herein, we synthesize a tandem‐locked fluorescence probe for non‐invasive monitoring of the intratumoral complement system. A substrate with high C1r specificity is identified via screening different peptide sequences and comparing their enzymatic kinetics toward C1r and tumor‐overexpressed cathepsin B (CTSB). To prevent nonspecific activation by circulating serum complement proteins, the arginine residue within the C1r substrate is masked by a CTSB‐cleavable peptide substrate, yielding the tandem‐locked complement probe TECP CTSB . TECP CTSB remains silent in the blood circulation and emits a signal only where both CTSB and C1r are active. Accordingly, TECP CTSB permits in vivo imaging of intratumoral complement activity and can be used as a flow cytometry reagent in conjunction with dye‐labeled antibodies to profile C1r expression in the cells of tumor tissue, which was not possible before. The imaging results reveal a higher intratumoral complement activity in 4T1 tumors than in CT26 tumors, which could be part of the cause for the higher infiltration of myeloid‐derived suppressor cells in 4T1 relative to CT26 tumors, and consequently a more severe immunosuppressive microenvironment. The flow cytometry profiling shows that complement activation–associated fluorescence predominates in cancer‐associated fibroblasts, followed by tumor cells. This is consistent with the observation that the TECP CTSB fluorescence is mainly localized at the tumor periphery, which, however, extends into the tumor interior after chemotherapy, probably due to enhanced complement activation induced by chemotherapy‐mediated apoptosis. These findings provide new insights into intratumoral complement systems and underscore the potential of the optical probe for complement system research and clinical diagnostics.

Colorectal liver metastasis is one of the major causes of poor survival in colorectal cancer patients as it causes organ dysfunction and disrupts metabolic homeostasis. Apart from the primary tumor microenvironment (TME) challenges arising from cell proliferation, immunosuppression, and angiogenesis, premetastatic niches also represent an attractive therapeutic target for preventing liver metastasis. Here, we present the engineering of a unique, highly stable sub-100 nm three-drug-loaded nanomicelles (TDC NMs) system carrying the antiproliferative drug gemcitabine, the antiangiogenic drug combretastatin A4, and the anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone. TDC NMs mitigate tumor progression in syngeneic, xenograft, orthotopic, and metastatic tumors. In-depth quantification of the changes in immune cells revealed that TDC NMs promote T-cell-mediated antitumor immunity, limit the infiltration of protumorigenic MDSCs, and enhance the antitumorigenic M1 population. TDC NMs could also reduce tumor progression, restore abdominal circumference, and normalize ascites fluid formation in orthotopic and metastatic colon cancer models. We further demonstrated that TDC NMs inhibit the formation of premetastatic niches by targeting MDSCs and macrophages, thereby achieving metabolic homeostasis. This study provides a promising therapeutic strategy for mitigating primary tumors and premetastatic niches and can therefore be explored further in colorectal cancer patients.

Li-rich sulfides are promising alternatives to Li-rich oxides as intercalation materials, the latter suffering from limited cycling reversibility and copious voltage fade, all associated with the redox activity of oxygen ligands upon cycling. Although moving from oxygen to sulfur ligands alleviates some of these drawbacks, sulfides suffer from their lower redox potential, which limits the energy density. Here, we partially replace divalent sulfur ligands with monovalent chlorine and synthesize transition metal sulfochlorides Li2M1–xMnxS2Cl (with M = Ti4+ and Nb5+) crystallizing in a cation-disordered rock salt (DRX) structure. Owing to the greater electronegativity of chlorine compared to sulfur, we demonstrate an increase in the average redox potential for DRX sulfochlorides. Combining ex situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements at various edges and density functional theory calculations, we demonstrate that chlorine ligands preferentially form Mn–Cl and Li–Cl bonds, while sulfur ligands preferentially coordinate the high valence d0 metals. While sulfur ligands are redox active throughout the charge (and discharge), Mn2+ redox activity depends on the chemical composition, with Li2Ti0.5Mn0.5S2Cl showing cationic redox activity only at the end of the charge and beginning of the discharge. More dramatically, our experimental and computational results demonstrate that the S–S bond formation induces sizable changes in local coordination and partial material dissolution into the electrolyte, triggering cell corrosion and/or short formation as early as the second cycle. Through an electrolyte engineering approach, combining a Cl-scavenger molecule with a cathode electrolyte interphase former, we demonstrate that corrosion and/or shorts formation can be suppressed, and intrinsic cycling properties of sulfochloride DRX materials are investigated. Our work extends the chemical space for designing better intercalation materials, showing the unique opportunities brought by mixed anion compounds.

Argyrodites are a compositionally diverse family of materials that exhibit remarkable ion transport properties. While the average crystal structures of argyrodites have been extensively studied, ion transport in these materials is governed by a confluence of dynamic processes spanning the cation, anion, and polyanionic sublattices. This Perspective synthesizes recent advances in understanding the role of dynamics in structural behavior and ion transport properties. We examine the compositional and structural motifs that govern order–disorder transitions within the argyrodite family and further explore how ion hopping is facilitated by lattice dynamics, from long-range phonons to local rotational dynamics of polyanionic species. Through the lens of dynamics spanning multiple time and length scales, we establish guiding principles that govern transport phenomena and highlight avenues of future study for the argyrodite family of ion conductors.

Abstract ATPases associated with diverse cellular activities (AAA+ -ATPases) catalyse a wide range of remodelling events in all phyla. AAA+ -ATPases of the MoxR-like family typically co-operate with von Willebrand factor type A (VWA) domain containing proteins to facilitate target remodelling and metal ion insertion, but their mechanism of action is poorly understood. We studied the bacterial AAA+ -ATPase NorQ in complex with its VWA domain partner protein NorD, which are essential for nitric oxide reductase (NOR) activity. Our cryo-EM structures and biochemical analyses show that NorQ and NorD engage through two key interfaces: (i) a finger-like extension protruding from the VWA domain that penetrates the central pore of the NorQ hexamer, and (ii) the NorD C- terminus, which contacts the post-sensor 1 loop of NorQ. Our data reveal that NorQ activity remodels a linker region in NorD essential for metal insertion. Together, these findings support a model in which the NorQ complex exerts a twisting and stretching force on the NorD linker, thereby enabling metal insertion into its target NOR.

The nascent polypeptide-associated complex (NAC) co-translationally screens all nascent proteins and regulates their access to signal recognition particle (SRP) to ensure the fidelity of protein targeting to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). However, the mechanism by which NAC prevents the mistargeting of nascent mitochondrial proteins remains unclear. Here, we identify a molecular switch in NAC that allows its central barrel domain to adopt a stabilized conformation on ribosomes exposing a mitochondrial targeting sequence (MTS). Mutations of the MTS on the nascent chain or in the NAC switch region increase NAC barrel dynamics and reduce its binding to the ribosome. This impairs the ability of NAC to prevent mistargeting by SRP and causes ER stress in human cells. Our work reveals how NAC detects nascent mitochondrial proteins early in translation and prevents their promiscuous access to SRP, elucidating the structural basis that underlies this role and providing mechanistic insights into protein targeting fidelity with broader implications for cellular proteostasis. How ribosome-bound NAC distinguishes mitochondrial precursors from ER clients has remained unclear. Here, authors reveal a molecular switch in NAC that limits SRP access to nascent mitochondrial precursors and prevents their mistargeting to the ER.

The rapid proliferation of Artificial Intelligence applications necessitates scalable solutions that perform efficiently under real-world constraints. Heterogeneous accelerators combining specialized analog and digital units offer localized, energy-efficient neural network computations. However, achieving optimal performance on these platforms requires balancing energy efficiency and model accuracy through optimized neural network layer mapping. To this end, we introduce Mixed-Precision Supernetwork, a unified framework for training mixed-precision supernetworks that seamlessly integrate quantized layers with analog noise-sensitive layers. Mixed-Precision Supernetwork incorporates a mapping-aware adaptation strategy, dynamically optimizing layer assignments while refining the neural network via hardware-aware architecture search. This dual innovation establishes Mixed-Precision Supernetwork as a groundbreaking approach for deploying deep learning models efficiently on heterogeneous accelerators. On average, Mixed-Precision Supernetwork produces mappings ~ 2.2 × faster and achieves a ~ 3.4% increase in model accuracy over a fully analog approach, while improving energy-efficiency by mapping up to 80% of the model’s weights to analog hardware while maintaining full-precision accuracy. Deploying deep learning models efficiently on heterogeneous hardware remains challenging. Here, authors present a mixed-precision supernetwork that jointly optimizes model mapping and adaptation, enabling faster search, higher accuracy, and improved energy efficiency on analog-digital accelerators.

Elevated temperatures enhance plant root growth. We find that cell elongation significantly contributes to this response. While mutations in the auxin transcriptional pathway impair warmth-induced cell elongation, exogenous auxin inhibits this growth. Intriguingly, warmth increases auxin levels and the nuclear accumulation of TIR1/AFB2/AFB3, alongside Aux/IAA stabilisation. This apparent paradox is explained by the concurrent increase in nuclear AFB1, which stabilises Aux/IAAs and promotes cell elongation. Notably, despite enhancing Aux/IAA stability, warmth also promotes ARF transcriptional activity. ARF7/19 are essential for warmth-induced cell growth and its inhibition by exogenous auxin. Warmth directly modulates ARF7/19 by reducing oligomerisation and cytoplasmic condensation, thereby enhancing their nuclear accumulation. This mechanism effectively repurposes the auxin pathway to regulate root cell growth in response to temperature. While auxin typically inhibits root cell growth, elevated temperatures reconfigure the auxin transcriptional pathway to promote elongation. This study reveals how plants reprogram core hormonal signalling to adjust their internal biology to rising temperatures.

Abstract Agricultural ecosystems play a significant role in global food security and climate mitigation through crop production and soil organic carbon sequestration. It is well-established that potassium fertilization enhances crop yield in potassium-deficient regions; however, the factors driving crop yield responses to potassium remain insufficiently characterized at a large scale. Moreover, despite the significant roles of soil organic carbon in soil health and global carbon cycling, the effect of potassium on soil organic carbon in croplands has been less studied. Herein, we collect data from 1185 observations in agricultural ecosystems to conduct a meta-analysis study. We find that potassium fertilization increases cereal yield and soil organic carbon by 19.3% and 4.4%, respectively. Mean annual precipitation and experimental duration are the most important factors affecting potassium effects on cereal yield and soil organic carbon, respectively. Specifically, potassium effects on cereal yield increase with mean annual precipitation, and the potassium-induced increase in soil organic carbon is significant only after long-term (> 20 years) potassium fertilization. Our findings suggest that, in addition to nitrogen and phosphorus, potassium is also crucial for not only cereal yield but also soil carbon sequestration, which should be fully valued in future soil nutrient management, especially in potassium-deficient regions.

Abstract The ability to accurately measure aberrant DNA methylation levels is integral to the understanding of DNA methylation biology. It is well-established that in cancer, the largest, and thus, most biologically important absolute gains of DNA methylation levels occur at CpG sites with low native levels while the largest losses occur at CpG sites with high native levels. Conventional wisdom assumes that the observed association between the degree of the alterations and the native levels are largely due to the limitations of change within the DNA methylation scale. Here, we present evidence that this association is largely caused by alterations occurring as a global rate of change relative to the native level. We show that DNA methylation alterations can be accurately compared by calculating the rate of change relative to the native level. Most importantly, this approach enables the identification of more biologically significant DNA methylation alterations.

Copy number variation (CNV) plays a fundamental role in modulating plant agronomic traits and tumorigenesis in animals. While frequently linked to replication stress, the mechanisms giving rise to CNVs are not fully elucidated. Here we characterize the mutational consequences associated with losing the conserved TONSOKU (TSK/TONSL) pathway (CAF-1-H3.1-TSK), which is required to resolve impaired DNA replication forks. Using Arabidopsis thaliana, we demonstrate that tsk mutants rapidly accumulate large, heritable tandem duplications within their genomes that are consistent with DNA Polymerase θ (Pol θ) activity. These duplications are associated with late replicating heterochromatin enriched in sources of replication stress. We also show that stochastic developmental phenotypes in tsk plants are the result of the DNA Damage Response (DDR), with phenotype suppression occurring when ATR–WEE1 checkpoint signaling is removed. We thus describe a previously uncharacterized source of large tandem duplications that are relevant to understanding genome stability in diverse eukaryotes, and in disease contexts. Large tandem duplications arise in Arabidopsis genomes in the absence of the DNA repair protein TONSOKU. This is linked to the activity of Pol θ and sites of late-replicating heterochromatin. This genome instability causes developmental defects dependent on the ATR-WEE1 axis of the DNA damage response.