Nature Materials contents: October 2014 Volume 13 Number 10 pp 913-995

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TABLE OF CONTENTS October 2014 Volume 13, Issue 10 Editorial Research Highlights News and Views Letters Articles Subscribe   Facebook   RSS   Recommend to library   Twitter   Advertisement The Futures 2 anthology e-book is now available to buy. 100 writers offer their take on what the future will look like in this anthology of sci-fi short stories from the award-winning Futures column in Nature. Purchase now for only $3.99.   Editorial Top A tale of many electrons   p913 doi:10.1038/nmat4104 Density functional theory, invented half a century ago, now supplies one of the most convenient and popular shortcuts for dealing with systems of many electrons. It was born in a fertile period when theoretical physics stretched from abstruse quantum field theory to practical electrical engineering. Research Highlights Top Breaking barriers | Artificial spin rotors | Contacts matter | All-optical dynamic imaging | Flocking of lifeless matter News and Views Top Nonlinear optics: Modulating optical power   pp917 - 918 Anjun Qin and Ben Zhong Tang doi:10.1038/nmat4096 Effective limiting of the intensity of low-power light transmitted through organic thin films under ambient conditions has been achieved by proper design of donor–acceptor systems. See also: Article by Hirata et al. Cellular mechanotransduction: Stiffness does matter   pp918 - 920 Sanjay Kumar doi:10.1038/nmat4094 Extracellular-matrix stiffness regulates cell behaviour even when decoupled from ligand density and tethering. See also: Article by Chaudhuri et al. | Article by Wen et al. Thermal emission: Ultrafast dynamic control   pp920 - 921 Ognjen Ilic and Marin Soljačić doi:10.1038/nmat4085 Control of thermal emission with microsecond switching times has been achieved by using sub-band transitions in composite quantum-well and photonic-crystal structures. See also: Letter by Inoue et al. Material witness: Watching wood dry   p922 Philip Ball doi:10.1038/nmat4095 Nature Materials JOBS of the week Assistant Professor of Electronic & Photonic Materials University of California - Santa Barbara Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopist / Engineeer (ID 686078) Aarhus University Postdoctoral Associate – Nanosensor Design and Application Colorado School of Mines Full, Associate, or Assistant Professor University of California, San Diego ( UCSD ) Research Specialist Michigan State University More Science jobs from Nature Materials EVENT Magnetic Resonance and Muons - A Complementary View of Materials 15.12.14 London, UK More science events from Letters Top A time-dependent order parameter for ultrafast photoinduced phase transitions   pp923 - 927 P. Beaud, A. Caviezel, S. O. Mariager, L. Rettig, G. Ingold, C. Dornes, S-W. Huang, J. A. Johnson, M. Radovic, T. Huber, T. Kubacka, A. Ferrer, H. T. Lemke, M. Chollet, D. Zhu, J. M. Glownia, M. Sikorski, A. Robert, H. Wadati, M. Nakamura, M. Kawasaki, Y. Tokura, S. L. Johnson & U. Staub doi:10.1038/nmat4046 The temporal dynamics of phase transitions in strongly correlated states of matter are often dictated by the interplay between structural and electronic degrees of freedom. These are now probed in a perovskite manganite using an X-ray free-electron laser, and found to be well described by a single order parameter. Realization of dynamic thermal emission control   pp928 - 931 Takuya Inoue, Menaka De Zoysa, Takashi Asano and Susumu Noda doi:10.1038/nmat4043 The dynamic control of thermal emission via the control of emissivity through intersubband absorption in n-type quantum wells, at a speed four orders of magnitude faster than is currently possible, is now demonstrated. See also: News and Views by Ilic & Soljačić Articles Top Electric control of the spin Hall effect by intervalley transitions   pp932 - 937 N. Okamoto, H. Kurebayashi, T. Trypiniotis, I. Farrer, D. A. Ritchie, E. Saitoh, J. Sinova, J. Mašek, T. Jungwirth & C. H. W. Barnes doi:10.1038/nmat4059 The spin Hall effect plays a central role in generating and manipulating spin currents, but its magnitude is ultimately fixed by spin–orbit coupling effects. It is now shown that the spin-Hall-effect angle can be tuned electrically in GaAs. Large reverse saturable absorption under weak continuous incoherent light   pp938 - 946 Shuzo Hirata, Kenro Totani, Takashi Yamashita, Chihaya Adachi and Martin Vacha doi:10.1038/nmat4081 Aromatic molecules and transition-metal complexes dispersed in hydroxyl steroidal matrices reveal efficient reverse saturable absorption when irradiated with low-power light. These materials extend the range of applications of optical limiters. See also: News and Views by Qin & Tang Nanoelectrical analysis of single molecules and atomic-scale materials at the solid/liquid interface   pp947 - 953 Peter Nirmalraj, Damien Thompson, Agustín Molina-Ontoria, Marilyne Sousa, Nazario Martín, Bernd Gotsmann & Heike Riel doi:10.1038/nmat4060 The use of a gold substrate coated with organic monolayers and a highly viscous immobilizing liquid allows the characterization of the electronic properties of carbon-based materials deposited on the coated substrates at the solid/liquid interface. Separation of rare gases and chiral molecules by selective binding in porous organic cages   pp954 - 960 Linjiang Chen, Paul S. Reiss, Samantha Y. Chong, Daniel Holden, Kim E. Jelfs, Tom Hasell, Marc A. Little, Adam Kewley, Michael E. Briggs, Andrew Stephenson, K. Mark Thomas, Jayne A. Armstrong, Jon Bell, Jose Busto, Raymond Noel, Jian Liu, Denis M. Strachan, Praveen K. Thallapally & Andrew I. Cooper doi:10.1038/nmat4035 The selective separation of molecules with similar size and shape at low concentration in air is an important technological challenge. A porous organic-cage molecule is now shown to exhibit unprecedented performance for the separation of rare gases and the selectivity arises from a precise size match between the rare gas and the organic-cage cavity. Stable lithium electrodeposition in liquid and nanoporous solid electrolytes   pp961 - 969 Yingying Lu, Zhengyuan Tu and Lynden A. Archer doi:10.1038/nmat4041 Non-uniform metal deposition and dendrite formation on negative electrodes during repeated cycling are major hurdles to commercialization of batteries. Electrodeposited lithium in liquid electrolytes reinforced with halogenated salt blends has now been used for lithium cells, and exhibits stable long-term cycling. Extracellular matrix stiffness and composition jointly regulate the induction of malignant phenotypes in mammary epithelium   pp970 - 978 Ovijit Chaudhuri, Sandeep T. Koshy, Cristiana Branco da Cunha, Jae-Won Shin, Catia S. Verbeke, Kimberly H. Allison & David J. Mooney doi:10.1038/nmat4009 Malignant phenotypes in the mammary epithelium have been correlated to increases in extracellular matrix stiffness. It is now shown that the effect of matrix stiffness in normal mammary epithelial cells can be offset by an increase in basement-membrane ligands and that both the stiffness and composition of the matrix are sensed by the β4 integrin. The results suggest that the relationship between matrix stiffness and composition is a more relevant predictor of breast-cancer progression. See also: News and Views by Kumar Interplay of matrix stiffness and protein tethering in stem cell differentiation   pp979 - 987 Jessica H. Wen, Ludovic G. Vincent, Alexander Fuhrmann, Yu Suk Choi, Kolin C. Hribar, Hermes Taylor-Weiner, Shaochen Chen & Adam J. Engler doi:10.1038/nmat4051 Recent work has proposed that both protein tethering to the extracellular matrix and matrix porosity can regulate stem cell differentiation. It is now shown that differentiation is driven by matrix stiffness independently of tethering and porosity. See also: News and Views by Kumar Enhanced lubrication on tissue and biomaterial surfaces through peptide-mediated binding of hyaluronic acid   pp988 - 995 Anirudha Singh, Michael Corvelli, Shimon A. Unterman, Kevin A. Wepasnick, Peter McDonnell & Jennifer H. Elisseeff doi:10.1038/nmat4048 A polymer–peptide surface coating that non-covalently binds the natural lubricant hyaluronic acid (HA) is shown to enhance the lubricity of tissue surfaces and to retain HA in articular joints and on ocular tissue surfaces in vivo. 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