(Funded by the U.S. Department of Defense)
By taking two flakes of special materials that are just one atom thick and twisting them at high angles, researchers at the University of Rochester have unlocked unique optical properties that could be used in quantum computers and other quantum technologies. Until now, scientists have explored the optical and electrical properties of 2D materials when layered on top of one another and twisted at very small angles (typically 1.1 degree). In this study, the researchers twisted layers of a 2D material, called molybdenum diselenide, at up to 40 degrees, and found that the resulting structure produced excitons – essentially, artificial atoms – that can act as quantum information bits, or qubits, and can retain information when activated by light. The research was conducted at the University of Rochester’s Integrated Nanosystems Center.

(Funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation)
Researchers from the University of Texas at Dallas, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and international collaborators have found that rhombohedral graphene behaves similarly to semiconductors and exhibits novel magnetism and superconductivity, as well as the quantum anomalous Hall effect, at extremely low temperatures. Graphene – a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a flat honeycomb pattern – can be stacked in two different ways: Hexagonal stacking occurs when even-numbered graphene layers are aligned (with the odd-numbered layers rotated 60 degrees relative to the even layers); in contrast, rhombohedral stacking features a unidirectional 60-degree rotation for each successive layer.

(Funded by the National Institutes of Health)
Scientists from The Johns Hopkins University, the Mayo Clinic, and Tufts University have developed a potential new way to treat a variety of rare genetic diseases marked by too low levels of specific cellular proteins. To boost those proteins, the scientists created a genetic “tail” that attaches to messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules that churn out the proteins. To deliver these genetic tails, also called “mRNA boosters,” the scientists encased them in nanoparticles covered in lipids. The nanoparticles are naturally absorbed by cells through their fatty outer membranes. After the scientists administered the mRNA boosters to laboratory mice, each group of mice had 1.5 to two times more of the proteins specific to the mRNA boosters than control mice that did not receive the boosters.

(Funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
Researchers from the University of Connecticut will grow rod-shaped nanoparticles, called Janus base nanotubes, on the International Space Station. These nanotubes will carry interleukin-12, a protein produced naturally by the human body to stimulate the development of helper T-cells, immune cells known for killing pathogens and cancer cells. With cross sections of just 20 nanometers, the nanotubes can slip into the cracks and attack solid tumors from the inside and then release interleukin-12 inside a tumor. Manufacturing these nanotubes in space has many advantages. “Since our nanotubes are self-assembled, there is a lot of similarity to crystallization,” says Yupeng Chen, one of the researchers involved in this study. “Without gravity, there’s no sedimentation, the molecules can rotate and assemble freely, and make better structures.”

(Funded by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. National Science Foundation)
Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Southern California have devised a method to create large amounts of a material that can be used to make two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors with record high performance. That material, tellurium, has a fast conducting speed and is stable in the air, so it does not easily degrade. The researchers used 2D tellurium to create an ultralight-weight photodetector – a device that can detect light – which is highly tunable, allowing its parameters to be changed so it can be used in a variety of applications, a property that is not true of other photodetectors.