Two-dimensional framework materials offer atomic-level control over electronic properties and enable novel quantum phenomena and tunable functionality. This Review highlights how structural design, doping and measurement techniques influence conductivity, and it underscores key strategies for optimizing transport properties, with broad implications for electronics, energy and quantum technologies.

Airway mucus complicates treatment of respiratory disease by both defending the lungs and hindering inhaled drugs to cross the barriers. This Review explores translational advances in inhalable materials and biologics that enhance mucus protection or drug penetration.

Accurate, spatiotemporally resolved monitoring of environments and ecosystems serves as the starting point to both identify and remedy natural or anthropogenic environmental hazards. This Review covers materials science advances supporting a new paradigm in environmental sensing: distributed networks of sensing elements capable of system-level profiling with the possibility of harmless environmental resorption after a predetermined recording period.

The van der Waals MA₂Z₄ materials are a rapidly growing class of 2D materials with diverse electronic phases. This Review explores the structure, synthesis, properties and diverse applications of the emerging MA₂Z₄ family, highlighting their potential across electronics, catalysis and energy storage.

mRNA-loaded lipid nanoparticles have gained recognition as a promising therapeutic platform against a wide range of diseases. However, a key component of mRNA-loaded lipid nanoparticles, the polyethylene glycol-conjugated lipid, presents inherent barriers to their therapeutic success. Emerging strategies are now offering potential ways to overcome these limitations.

The development of safer, cheaper and more durable all-solid-state batteries demands a fundamental rethinking of composite cathode design. All-in-one cathode materials that integrate ionic conductivity, electronic conductivity and redox activity within a single phase redefine battery architecture by unifying electrochemical roles in one material.

Horizon scanning is a strategic tool used by regulatory bodies to identify emerging technologies and guide decision-making. In its latest report on nanomedicines, the European Union Innovation Network presents key recommendations that illustrate the current dynamics between researchers and regulators and how strengthening this relationship could accelerate the translation of nanotechnology-based medicines into patient benefit.

Materials researchers are trained to innovate and create. But now that it is clear the world has too much stuff, what is the path forward?

Despite transformative advances in materials discovery, real-world performance still hinges on an often-overlooked variable: processing. To bridge the gap between discovery and deployment, processing must be elevated from an afterthought to a central pillar in design frameworks, data generation and machine learning.

The inability to observe the rapid, initial transformations that dictate nanomaterial fate constitutes a fundamental scientific gap, forcing risk assessments to rely on retrospective, incomplete data. A paradigm shift to real-time, operando characterization is vital to build the predictive understanding required for the development of safe and sustainable nanomaterials and applications.