CTAB concentration-controlled assembly of Cu2O enables on-demand switching between distinct glucose sensing modes

The healing of infected wounds is often hampered by a dynamically evolving pathological microenvironment. Conventional static therapeutic approaches lack the adaptability to address these changes. Herein, a pH/reactive oxygen species (ROS) dual-responsive cerium single-atom nanozyme spray was developed, intelligently adapting to the dynamic microenvironment of infected wounds. In the initial infection, it responds to an acidic microenvironment and exerts potent antibacterial activity by exhibiting cascade glucose oxidase (GOD)- and peroxidase (POD)-like activities to generate abundant ROS. As the infection is controlled and the pH neutralizes, the nanozyme switches to mimic superoxide dismutase (SOD)- and catalase (CAT)-like activities, scavenging excess ROS and revering the pro-inflammatory immune microenvironment. This "on-demand switching" capability enables microenvironment-dependent adaptive therapeutic strategies for antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects, facilitating transitions seamlessly throughout the treatment process and offering a novel solution for dynamic wound healing.

Switchable adhesion between hydrogels by wrinkling

Executive control and task switching in pigeons

In this study, we explore the use of cold standby sparing to enhance system dependability while maintaining finite system resources. Scheduled backups are utilized to store completed sections of computing tasks, as active components periodically fail and standby components must assume the mission tasks as needed. These backups enable efficient system recovery, allowing standby components to continue from where the primary components left off, rather than restarting from scratch. The focus of this research is a plate manufacturing company that produces two types of plates: full and half plates. The system comprises three similar units, with the first unit producing full plates, the second unit producing half plates, and the third unit kept on cold standby initially for full plate production. By employing semi-Markov processes and the regenerative point technique, we analyze the cost and reliability of a system featuring one main unit and two replaceable, non-identical components. The system's state diagram incorporates probabilities, failure rates, and repair rates for individual system parameters. Specific values of unit failure/repair rates are used to generate tables and graphs, which are then analyzed to provide insights into the system parameters.

Current spectral adaptation of vision systems is volatile operation that relies on cascading optical filters and electronic components, resulting in bulky architectures and high energy consumption. Inspired by the spectrally tunable vision of a migratory fish, we propose a spectral-adaptive nonvolatile-operating device based on a two-dimensional MoS2 channel with CuInP2S6 (CIPS) gate, in which the ferroelectric-photosensitive synergy of CIPS routes the carriers, emulating retina's adaptive feedback. The ferroelectric polarization dynamically tunes spectral synaptic plasticity and keeps the high spectral suppression ratio up to 102 without constant gate voltage or optical filters, which enhances target spectral feature extraction and elevates image recognition accuracy in cluttered scenes from 71.4 to 95.2%. Furthermore, the ferroelectric-photosensitive synergy of CIPS gate endows the Weber contrast (>102) on-demand switching in spectral dynamic scene, enabling autonomous driving seamless adaptation from glare to low-light environments. Nonvolatile reconfiguration of spectral adaptation presents a power-efficient non-von Neumann vision sensor.

The integration of stimuli‐responsiveness into energy storage devices has become an attractive way to manage the operation of devices. Current stimuli approaches (light, chemical, and temperature) require transparent windows and specific systems, or are subject to the tolerant temperature of batteries, hampering their widespread applications. Herein, a fast and reversible on‐demand switching of batteries, which is realized by incorporating a magnetic control component, is reported. The component is capable of undergoing a reversible transition between electrical conduction and insulation over 500 cycles, showing superior cycling stability. Batteries with this component internally incorporated can retain excellent electrochemical performance in a wide potential window at normal conditions. More importantly, this approach can manage the operation of batteries in light of human requirements. The battery can shut down within 0.11 s of applying a magnetic field and rapidly resume a normal battery function under the magnetic field, showing an excellent response speed. Notably, this on‐demand switching behavior in batteries can be repeated over 25 times, excelling most reported switching batteries. The design combines fast and repeatable characteristics without sacrificing electrochemical performance, providing possibilities in advancing the development of smart electronics.

Electrically controlled solid chemical propulsion: A review

Recently, we discovered that silaiminyl-silylene, [LSi–Si(NDipp)L] (L = PhC(NtBu)2, Dipp = 2,6-diisopropylphenyl), can be converted from a mono-silylene to bis-silylene by using Lewis acids. This revelation led us to further use silaiminyl-silylene as a silylene-based ligand, which can coordinate to one metal center and later, on demand, release one more silylene center to coordinate to a second metal. Furthermore, an insight into the mechanism of this unusual rearrangement reaction is presented. Initially, mono-silylene complexes [LSi{M(Mes)}–Si(NDipp)L] (M = Ag, Au) were isolated. These complexes were then used as templates to access bis-silylene coordinated homo-dinuclear, [LSi{M(Mes)}–(NDipp)–{M(Mes)}SiL] (M = Ag, Au) and hetero-dinuclear, [LSi{Ag(Mes)}–(NDipp)–{Au(Mes)}SiL] complexes via a Lewis acid triggered ligand rearrangement. Notably, using this silylene, a selective coordination of the two different coinage metals Ag and Au was achieved stepwise. This differs from the reactivity when a conventional bis-silylene is employed. The isolation of [LSi{Ag(Mes)}–(NDipp)–{Au(Mes)}SiL] showcases the utility of strong σ-donor silylene-based switchable ligands. This represents the first example of a heterobimetallic complex ligated by a spacer-separated bis-silylene ligand.

Self-propelled particles serve as minimal models for emulating the dynamic self-organization of microorganisms, yet most synthetic systems remain limited to a single mode of motion, namely active Brownian particles (ABPs). Here, we present an experimental strategy to encode various persistent random walks in ABPs by combining light-modulated propulsion strength with magnetic control of propulsion direction. Our system enables programmable Lévy walks with tunable step-length distributions, run-and-tumble dynamics, self-avoiding random walks, and Gaussian walks, with on-demand switching between motion modes within a single experiment. In addition, particles are steered along complex trajectories such as Fibonacci spirals and nested polygons. Beyond single-particle behavior, we show that propulsion modes influence clustering dynamics by comparing ABPs with chiral active particles undergoing circular motion. These results establish a versatile platform for investigating how encoded motion at the level of individual particles governs transport, search strategies, and emergent organization in active matter systems. Synthetic self-propelled particles often emulate the dynamics of microorganisms but are typically limited to a single mode of active Brownian motion. Here, the authors introduce a method to encode diverse motion types into active Brownian particles, revealing how individual propulsion modes shape the emergent organization of active matter systems.

We describe a system called Time Warp Football (TWF) which puts fans in control of the game watching experience. TWF uses annotated video streams to enable instantaneous forward and backward play-by-play navigation and on-demand switching between multiple camera angles. These features allow fans to easily watch and re-watch plays they are interested in from any camera angle. The annotations also allow for instantaneous game statistics whenever the fan desires. We took TWF into eleven different homes, connected it to the home TV, and provided a standard wireless video game controller to control the experience. Based on in-home user evaluations, we found that TWF provides an easy to learn interactive TV control system, effectively uses on screen prompts to enable groups to watch an interactive sporting event, and overall provides a successful interactive TV experience.

Evolution has decided to gift an articular structure to vertebrates, but not to invertebrates, owing to their distinct survival strategies. An articular structure permits kinematic motion in creatures. However, it is inappropriate for creatures whose survival strategy depends on the high deformability of their body. Accordingly, a material in which the presence of the articular structure can be altered, allowing the use of two contradictory strategies, will be advantageous in diverse dynamic applications. Herein, spatial micro‐water molecule manipulation, termed engineering on variable occupation of water (EVO), that is used to realize a material with dual mechanical modes that exhibit extreme differences in stiffness is introduced. A transparent and homogeneous soft material (110 kPa) reversibly converts to an opaque material embodying a mechanical gradient (ranging from 1 GPa to 1 MPa) by on‐demand switching. Intensive theoretical analysis of EVO yields the design of spatial transformation scheme. The EVO gel accomplishes kinematic motion planning and shows great promise for multimodal kinematics. This approach paves the way for the development and application of smart functional materials.

This article presents a miniaturized antenna operating on ultra-wideband (UWB) spectrum having two reconfigurable notch bands. Initially, an antenna is designed for UWB applications, offering a 3.3–14.5 GHz impedance bandwidth. Subsequently, a semicircular stub and an arc-shaped slot are etched to achieve two distinguish notch bands at 3.7 and 8.1 GHz. PIN diodes are loaded onto the antenna to enable on-demand switching between notch bands. The final geometry of the antenna offers compact size of 15 mm × 20 mm × 1.6 mm and is designed using commercially available substrate material FR-4. The structure of antenna consists of a rectangular stub loaded into a circular patch, while an additional semicircular stub and arc-shaped slot are utilized to achieve notch bands. The antenna provides a moderate value of gain surpassing 2.5 dBi in the operational region. The antenna has the capability to operate between the UWB mode or the UWB mode having single or dual notch bands using two PIN diodes. To validate the simulated results, a hardware prototype of the design is fabricated and tested, yielding similar results obtained from software-based antenna. Finally, the antenna performance is compared with recently reported similar work in literature, demonstrating advantages such as miniaturization, wideband, moderate gain, and high efficiency along with on-demand switching characteristics while maintaining simple geometrical configuration. These characteristics highlight the scientific contribution of the proposed work along with making it a potential candidate for targeted applications.

Temperature critically governs crop growth. While greenhouses address food security, they rely on energy-intensive temperature control systems. Transitioning to smart, self-regulating greenhouse covers with minimal energy demand is essential for sustainable agriculture. We present a transparent nanophotonic film that maintains crops within a stable and narrow temperature range despite external fluctuations, enabling energy-efficient, all-weather thermoregulation. The film features a TiO2/Ag/TiO2 antireflection nanostructure deposited on a flexible polydimethylsiloxane substrate, delivering: (i) high visible transmittance with enhanced light diffusion for optimal photosynthesis, (ii) on-demand switching between radiative cooling and heat retention to stabilize temperatures with minimal fluctuations, and (iii) exceptional long-term durability and scalability─collectively boosting crop yields. Outdoor tests confirm reduced air/soil temperature swings versus conventional covers, substantially boosting crop yields by ≥106.4%. Global projections indicate up to 38.3% higher food productivity. This work overcomes traditional greenhouse limitations─accelerating growth, maximizing biomass, and enhancing stress resilience─ushering in sustainable, high-yield agriculture.

We demonstrate the programmable control of kinetic soliton dynamics in all-Josephson-junction (all-JJ) networks through a novel tunable cell design. This cell enables on-demand switching of transmission lines and operates across defined parameter regimes supporting diverse dynamical modes. By introducing a structural asymmetry into a transmission line, we implement a Josephson diode that enforces unidirectional soliton propagation. The programmability of the kinetic inductance then provides a crucial mechanism to selectively enable or disable this diode functionality. By engineering artificial inhomogeneity into the circuit architecture, we enhance robustness in all-JJ logic circuits, 2D transmission line all-JJ lattices, and neuromorphic computing systems.

Many in-memory computing frameworks demand electronic devices with specific switching characteristics to achieve the desired level of computational complexity. Existing memristive devices cannot be reconfigured to meet the diverse volatile and non-volatile switching requirements, and hence rely on tailored material designs specific to the targeted application, limiting their universality. “Reconfigurable memristors” that combine both ionic diffusive and drift mechanisms could address these limitations, but they remain elusive. Here we present a reconfigurable halide perovskite nanocrystal memristor that achieves on-demand switching between diffusive/volatile and drift/non-volatile modes by controllable electrochemical reactions. Judicious selection of the perovskite nanocrystals and organic capping ligands enable state-of-the-art endurance performances in both modes – volatile (2 × 106 cycles) and non-volatile (5.6 × 103 cycles). We demonstrate the relevance of such proof-of-concept perovskite devices on a benchmark reservoir network with volatile recurrent and non-volatile readout layers based on 19,900 measurements across 25 dynamically-configured devices.