The developmental biology of Charnia and the eumetazoan affinity of the Ediacaran rangeomorphs

Molecular timescales estimate that early animal lineages diverged tens of millions of years before their earliest unequivocal fossil evidence. The Ediacaran macrobiota (~574 to 538 million years ago) are largely eschewed from this debate, primarily due to their extreme phylogenetic uncertainty, but remain germane. We characterize the development of...

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Genomic signatures of the unjamming transition in compressed human bronchial epithelial cells

Epithelial tissue can transition from a jammed, solid-like, quiescent phase to an unjammed, fluid-like, migratory phase, but the underlying molecular events of the unjamming transition (UJT) remain largely unexplored. Using primary human bronchial epithelial cells (HBECs) and one well-defined trigger of the UJT, compression mimicking the mechanical...

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New mechanism and exact theory of superconductivity from strong repulsive interaction

We introduce a general mechanism for superconductivity in Fermi systems with strong repulsive interaction. Because kinetic terms are small compared to the bare repulsion, the dynamics of charge carriers is constrained by the presence of other nearby carriers. By treating kinetic terms as a perturbation around the atomic limit, we show that pairing can...

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Intrasaccadic motion streaks jump-start gaze correction

Rapid eye movements (saccades) incessantly shift objects across the retina. To establish object correspondence, the visual system is thought to match surface features of objects across saccades. Here, we show that an object’s intrasaccadic retinal trace—a signal previously considered unavailable to visual processing—facilitates this match making. Human...

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Layer-engineered interlayer excitons

Photoluminescence (PL) from excitons serves as a powerful tool to characterize the optoelectronic property and band structure of semiconductors, especially for atomically thin two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) materials. However, PL quenches quickly when the thickness of TMD materials increases from monolayer to a few layers, due...

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A malaria parasite phospholipid flippase safeguards midgut traversal of ookinetes for mosquito transmission

Mosquito midgut epithelium traversal is essential for malaria parasite transmission. Phospholipid flippases are eukaryotic type 4 P-type adenosine triphosphatases (P4-ATPases), which, in association with CDC50, translocate phospholipids across the membrane lipid bilayers. In this study, we investigated the function of a putative P4-ATPase, ATP7, from...

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X-ray videocystometry for high-speed monitoring of urinary tract function in mice

Lower urinary tract dysfunction (LUTd) represents a major health care problem with a high, unmet medical need. Design of additional therapies for LUTd requires precise tools to study bladder storage and voiding (dys)function in animal models. We developed videocystometry in mice, combining intravesical pressure measurements with high-speed fluoroscopy...

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An integrated giant polyoxometalate complex for photothermally enhanced catalytic oxidation

A strategy integrating near infrared (NIR) photothermal and catalytic effects within one active center beyond ultraviolet and visible light is proposed without the combination of separated photothermal transformation components. A giant polyoxomolybdate, which has high NIR photothermal conversion efficiency, is selected as the model catalyst, while...

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Graphene-mediated ferromagnetic coupling in the nickel nano-islands/graphene hybrid

Nanoscale magnetic structures are fundamental to the design and fabrication of spintronic devices and have exhibited tremendous potential superior to the conventional semiconductor devices. However, most of the magnetic moments in nanostructures are unstable due to size effect, and the possible solution based on exchange coupling between nanomagnetism...

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Fxr signaling and microbial metabolism of bile salts in the zebrafish intestine

Bile salt synthesis, secretion into the intestinal lumen, and resorption in the ileum occur in all vertebrate classes. In mammals, bile salt composition is determined by host and microbial enzymes, affecting signaling through the bile salt–binding transcription factor farnesoid X receptor (Fxr). However, these processes in other vertebrate classes remain...

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