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The authors reveal a thermal actuating bilayer that undergoes reversible deformation in response to low-energy thermal stimuli, for example, a few degrees of temperature increase. It is made of an aligned carbon nanotube (CNT) sheet covalently connected to a polymer layer in which dibenzocycloocta-1,5-diene (DBCOD) actuating units are oriented parallel to CNTs. Upon exposure to low-energy thermal stimulation, coordinated submolecular-level conformational changes of DBCODs result in macroscopic thermal contraction. This unique thermal contraction offers distinct advantages. It's inherently fast, repeatable, low-energy driven, and medium independent. The covalent interface and reversible nature of the conformational change bestow this bilayer with excellent repeatability, up to at least 70 000 cycles. Unlike conventional CNT bilayer systems, this system can achieve high precision actuation readily and can be scaled down to nanoscale. A new platform made of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) in tandem with the bilayer can harvest low-grade thermal energy and convert it into electricity. The platform produces 86 times greater energy than PVDF alone upon exposure to 6 °C thermal fluctuations above room temperature. This platform provides a pathway to low-grade thermal energy harvesting. It also enables low-energy driven thermal artificial robotics, ultrasensitive thermal sensors, and remote controlled near infrared (NIR) driven actuators.

Photonic materials have drawn considerable attention for a great deal of promising applications with versatile optical characteristics and functionalities. This review provides a concise overview of co‐assembly strategies for the creation of photonic crystals, offering precise control over structural colors throughout the entire visible spectrum by manipulating the interaction of light with complex micro‐nano structures. Specifically, the utilization of block copolymers (BCPs) and colloidal nanoparticles as wavelength‐scale building blocks facilitates the modulation of defined nanostructures with functionality and tailorability for diverse coloration effects. Additionally, by facilely adjusting the relative ratios, a flexible balance can be struck between photonic crystals and photonic glasses for dynamic control of arrangements. Finally, this review concludes by discussing the future outlook and challenges in advancing co‐assembly‐based photonic functional materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automated laboratory pipelines empowered by the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) have been reshaping the paradigm of chemical and material discovery. While intelligent decision‐making strategies have been developed that enable fast convergence to optimal reaction conditions, the overall efficiency is still bottlenecked by the slow acquisition of online characterization units, especially in microfluidics‐based systems. In response, an ultrafast machine vision framework is hereby developed to directly predict optical spectra from real‐time high‐speed imaging in this article. Utilizing uniquely engineered deep‐learning algorithms, this framework automatically detects droplets and recapitulates high‐quality spectra from embedded image features in a sub‐millisecond timeframe. In a proof‐of‐concept example, droplets are detected with an average precision of 99.75% within 0.51 ms, and their spectra spanning the entire visible wavelengths are predicted with an average peak error of 5.32 nm, which is equivalent to 1.6% of the visible range. The work demonstrates the first example of an all‐imaging‐based machine learning framework deployed in a real‐time environment for the full replacement of an analytical instrument. It highlights the broader possibility of AI in material researches to break the physical limitations of online diagnostics and to further boost efficiencies in self‐driving laboratories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid extraction and screening of high-purity DNA fragments is an indispensable technology in advanced molecular biology. In this article, mesoporous magnetic composite microspheres (MSP@mTiO2) with tunable pore sizes were successfully fabricated for high-purity DNA extraction and fragment screening. Owing to the strong complexation ability of Ti ions with DNA phosphate groups and the high specific surface area of mesoporous microspheres, the MSP@mTiO2 microspheres possess excellent adsorption performance, where the saturated loading capacity of MSP@mTiO2 with a specific surface area of 122 m2 g−1 is as high as 575 μg mg−1 for a salmon sperm specimen. ITC experiments demonstrated that DNA adsorption on MSP@mTiO2 microspheres is mainly driven by entropy, which gives us more potential ways to regulate the balance of adsorption and desorption. Meanwhile, the mesoporous MSP@mTiO2 microspheres exhibit a much higher extraction efficiency compared with non-porous MSP@TiO2 for whole genome DNA from Arabidopsis thaliana plants. Interestingly, DNA fragments with different lengths could be screened by simply regulating the pore size of MSP@mTiO2 or the concentration of Na3PO4 in the eluent. A small pore size and low phosphate concentration are advantageous for the extraction of short-stranded DNA fragments, and DNA fragments (≤1000 bp) can be efficiently extracted when the mesopore size of MSP@mTiO2 is lower than 7.6 nm. The extraction results from the mesoporous composite microspheres provide new promising insights into the purification and screening of DNA from complex biological samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play a key role in various biological processes by influencing the translation of target messenger RNAs (mRNAs) through post‐transcriptional regulation. The miR‐184‐3p has been identified as an abundant conserved miRNA in insects. However, less is known about its functions in insect–plant virus interactions. RESULTS: The function of miR‐184‐3p in regulation of plant viral infection in insects was investigated using a rice black‐streaked dwarf virus (RBSDV) and Laodelphax striatellus (Fallén) interaction system. We found that the expression of miR‐184‐3p increased in L. striatellus after RBSDV infection. Injection of miR‐184‐3p mimics increased RBSDV accumulation, while treatment with miR‐184‐3p antagomirs inhibits the viral accumulation in L. striatellus. Ken, a zinc finger protein, was identified as a target of miR‐184‐3p. Knockdown of Ken increased the virus accumulation and promoted RBSDV transmission by L. striatellus. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that RBSDV infection induces the expression of miR‐184‐3p in its insect vector L. striatellus. The miR‐184‐3p targets Ken to promote RBSDV accumulation and transmission. These findings provide a new insight into the function of the miRNAs in regulating plant viral infection in its insect vector. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]