Engineering articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Interface engineering by local polarization is becoming increasingly important for tunable electronics. Here, authors demonstrate an electric pulse-tuned piezotronic effect in Ag/HfO2/n-ZnO junction, enabling reversible and accurate regulation of barrier height and piezotronic modification range.

    • Qiuhong Yu
    • , Rui Ge
    •  & Yong Qin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors introduce Photoacoustic Tomography with Temporal Encoding Reconstruction (PATTERN) - a high-speed, non-destructive photoacoustic brain imaging technique that constructs 3D fluorescent maps of the brain and improves upon some of the limitations associated with traditional whole-brain optical imaging techniques.

    • Yuwen Chen
    • , Haoyu Yang
    •  & Bo Lei

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Infarted myocardium hampers the synchronous electroactivity of the cardiac tissue. Here, the authors showcase a battery-free conductive cardiac patch made of reduced graphene and its therapeutic efficacy for cardiac repair.

    • Renjie Qiu
    • , Xingying Zhang
    •  & Leyu Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the role of coherent structures in the dynamics of turbulent flows is of high relevance for fluid dynamics, climate systems, and aerodynamics. The authors propose a deep learning approach to evaluate the importance of various types of coherent structure in the flow, to uncover main mechanisms of wall-bounded turbulence and develop techniques for its control.

    • Andrés Cremades
    • , Sergio Hoyas
    •  & Ricardo Vinuesa

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here the authors have developed a superconducting microwave frequency comb that is fully integrated, easy to manufacture, and operates with ultra-low power consumption, and could significantly advance microwave photonics and quantum processor integration.

    • Chen-Guang Wang
    • , Wuyue Xu
    •  & Peiheng Wu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    By mimicking the strong adhesive locomotion ability of snails, the authors present a sliding suction method to allow robots to climb with high adhesive force and low energy consumption up walls and on ceilings.

    • Tianqi Yue
    • , Hermes Bloomfield-Gadêlha
    •  & Jonathan Rossiter

  • Article
    | Open Access

    As demand for organ transplants exceeds availability there has been an unmet need to extend preservation of deceased donor kidneys. Here, the authors show that a cell-free nutrient-supplemented perfusate allows 4-day preservation of human kidneys using spatially resolved lipidomics and metabolomics.

    • Marlon J. A. de Haan
    • , Marleen E. Jacobs
    •  & Ton J. Rabelink

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A field-programmable radio frequency surface (FPRFS) is proposed that can implement arbitrary antennas and impedance matching networks. An asymmetric excitation scheme is demonstrated to ensure radiation efficiency independent of the number of FPRFS switches.

    • Tianzhi Li
    • , Yang Yu
    •  & Efstratios Skafidas

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Despite advances in active drug-targeting for blood-brain barrier penetration, challenges related to brain biodistribution, and drug accumulation persist. Here the authors show a molecular library design centered on cyclic tertiary amine compounds and develop a self-enhanced brain-targeted nucleic acid delivery system inspired by the neuroprotective properties of vinpocetine.

    • Xufei Bian
    • , Ling Yang
    •  & Chong Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Conventional material processing methods often suffer by strength-ductility trade-off. Here, the authors show high-pressure and high-temperature treatment can transform an eutectic high entropy alloy to having a hierarchical microstructure with simultaneous enhancements of strength and ductility.

    • Yao Tang
    • , Haikuo Wang
    •  & Haofei Zhou

  • Article
    | Open Access

    When a solid object is placed in a supersaturated environment, it can exhibit interesting dynamics. Spagnolie et al. conducted an experiment using raisins and 3D-printed bodies in carbonated water and found that the motion of the solid object is influenced by the accumulation and release of bubbles as they reach the surface.

    • Saverio E. Spagnolie
    • , Samuel Christianson
    •  & Carsen Grote

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The BHMbot provides an efficient running gait and a novel actuation mechanism for insect scale legged microrobots to solve the bottleneck problem of the severe running speed degradation after carrying essential payloads for untethered locomotion.

    • Zhiwei Liu
    • , Wencheng Zhan
    •  & Xiaojun Yan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In this work, authors propose a flash Joule heating-based process for meat preservation, enabled by the formation of a thin, microbe-inactivated, and dehydrated layer on the surface. The method is energetically efficient and shown to significantly extend the food shelf life while maintaining food freshness.

    • Yimin Mao
    • , Peihua Ma
    •  & Liangbing Hu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Creating accurate digital twins and controlling nonlinear systems displaying chaotic dynamics is challenging due to high system sensitivity to initial conditions and perturbations. The authors introduce a nonlinear controller for chaotic systems, based on next-generation reservoir computing, with improved accuracy, energy cost, and suitable for implementation with field-programmable gate arrays.

    • Robert M. Kent
    • , Wendson A. S. Barbosa
    •  & Daniel J. Gauthier

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Plastics, chemical production, and fertilizers commonly rely on fossil fuels. Here the authors examine these uses in China and find that in 2017, 5%, 15%, and 7% of China’s total coal, crude oil, and natural gas were used as feedstocks in the chemical industry.

    • Meng Jiang
    • , Yuheng Cao
    •  & Bing Zhu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Conventional chemical engineering has limitations on heat transfer, leading to large setups. Here, authors propose a distributed electrified heating method, realizing fast and uniform heating of gaseous reactants, promising an energy-concentrated and compact reactor design.

    • Hanmin Yang
    • , Ilman Nuran Zaini
    •  & Tong Han

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Solving ill-posed inverse problems require regularisation based on prior knowledge, which is formulated mathematically or learned from data. Here, the authors demonstrated the concept of semantic regularisation based on large language model to circumvent the current limitation.

    • Hongrui Zhang
    • , Yanjin Chen
    •  & Lianlin Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Multiplexed spiking data coding schemes could enable artificial visual neurons to emulate the human visual system in a more biologically plausible way. Here, Li et al. present an artificial neuron device capable of encoding visual analog signals into spike trains using multiplexed rate and temporal fusion coding. Reviewer recognition:

    • Fanfan Li
    • , Dingwei Li
    •  & Bowen Zhu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ising machines have been usually applied to predefined combinatorial problems due to their distinct physical properties. The authors introduce an approach that utilizes equilibrium propagation for the training of Ising machines and achieves high accuracy performance on classification tasks.

    • Jérémie Laydevant
    • , Danijela Marković
    •  & Julie Grollier

  • Perspective
    | Open Access

    Evolutionary and rational design approaches are commonly used to engineer biological systems but are typically seen at odds with each other. In this perspective the authors argue for the concept of an evolutionary design spectrum to help unify and compare these design methodologies to support more effective biological engineering.

    • Simeon D. Castle
    • , Michiel Stock
    •  & Thomas E. Gorochowski

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Skin substitutes generated by tissue engineering have limited properties. Here, authors established niche encroachment method. Cell competition enabled skin organogenesis from allogeneic and xenogeneic stem cells on p63 knockout embryos, resulting in a complete skin graft on dermis with hair.

    • Hisato Nagano
    • , Naoaki Mizuno
    •  & Hiromitsu Nakauchi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Magnetostatic wave filters have a wide working frequency range, small size and high Q-factor, however, they are hampered by the need for a large external electromagnet to provide a bias magnetic field. Here, Du et al demonstrate an extremely small and low power external magnetic bias assembly with zero static power consumption, removing the need for bulky and energy intensive electromagnets.

    • Xingyu Du
    • , Mohamad Hossein Idjadi
    •  & Roy H. Olsson III

  • Review Article
    | Open Access

    Untethered soft robots offer numerous advantages in terms of mobility, versatility, and autonomy, making them increasingly valuable for a wide range of applications. Jung et al. review the new types of untethered soft actuators that represent breakthroughs and discuss the future perspective of soft actuators.

    • Yeongju Jung
    • , Kangkyu Kwon
    •  & Seung Hwan Ko

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Conventional lighting requires an AC-DC converter for LEDs. Here, the authors report a tandem structure by connecting two QLEDs with opposite polarity in parallel, enabling AC driven operation. A household AC electricity plug-and-play QLEDs panel with tuneable colour and brightness is achieved.

    • Jiming Wang
    • , Cuixia Yuan
    •  & Shuming Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Pulse tube refrigerators are a critical enabling technology for many disciplines that require low temperatures, including quantum computing. Here, the authors show that dynamically optimizing the acoustic parameters of the refrigerator can improve conventional cooldown speeds up to 3.5 times.

    • Ryan Snodgrass
    • , Vincent Kotsubo
    •  & Joel Ullom

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The intelligent responses of Venus flytrap to various stimuli provide valuable insights into electronic design. Here, the authors report a liquid metal-based logic module with memory and counting properties to intelligently respond like the flytrap.

    • Yuanyuan Yang
    •  & Yajing Shen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The mechanical properties of heterogeneous cell populations in colorectal tumors and the relevance to cancer metastasis remain not fully understood. Here, the authors suggest that the variations in malignant phenotypes between LGR5-positive cancer stem cells and LGR5-negative cells could be due to their distinct mechanical phenotypes observed in vitro, determined by the membrane to cortex attachment proteins Ezrin/Radixin/Moesin.

    • Sefora Conti
    • , Valeria Venturini
    •  & Xavier Trepat

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Oscillating neural networks promise ultralow power consumption and rapid computation for tackling complex optimization problems. Here, the authors demonstrate VO2 oscillators to solve NP-complete problems with projected power consumption of 13 µW/oscillator.

    • Olivier Maher
    • , Manuel Jiménez
    •  & Siegfried Karg

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Concerns over the immunogenicity of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) are growing, and the implications for tissue engineering are unknown. Here the authors evaluate the impact of anti-PEG antibodies and PEG immunogenicity on the efficacy of a PEG hydrogel-based tissue engineering therapy.

    • Alisa H. Isaac
    • , Sarea Y. Recalde Phillips
    •  & Daniel L. Alge

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Inducible gene expression systems can be used to control the expression of a gene of interest by means of small molecules. Here the authors present CASwitch, a synthetic gene circuit platform enhancing inducible gene expression systems by reducing leakiness and boosting fold induction, for real world applications like gene therapy vector production and biosensors.

    • Giuliano De Carluccio
    • , Virginia Fusco
    •  & Diego di Bernardo

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