Biogeography confounds the signal of cospeciation in Batesian mimicry.

Since the inception of the field of evolution, mimicry has yielded insights into foundational evolutionary processes, including adaptive peak shifts, speciation, and the emergence and maintenance of phenotypic polymorphisms. In recent years, the coevolutionary processes generating mimicry have gained increasing attention from researchers. Despite significant advances in understanding Batesian and Müllerian mimicry in Lepidopteran systems, few other mimetic systems have received similar detailed research.

High-resolution three-dimensional imaging of topological textures in nanoscale single-diamond networks.

Topological defects-extended lattice deformations that are robust against local defects and annealing-have been exploited to engineer novel properties in both hard and soft materials. Yet, their formation kinetics and nanoscale three-dimensional structure are poorly understood, impeding their benefits for nanofabrication. We describe the fabrication of a pair of topological defects in the volume of a single-diamond network (space group Fd m) templated into gold from a triblock terpolymer crystal.

Mechanically triggered on-demand degradation of polymers synthesized by radical polymerizations.

Polymers that degrade on demand have the potential to facilitate chemical recycling, reduce environmental pollution and are useful in implant immolation, drug delivery or as adhesives that debond on demand. However, polymers made by radical polymerization, which feature all carbon-bond backbones and constitute the most important class of polymers, have proven difficult to render degradable. Here we report cyclobutene-based monomers that can be co-polymerized with conventional monomers and impart the resulting polymers with mechanically triggered degradability.

Visible light-responsive materials: the (photo)chemistry and applications of donor-acceptor Stenhouse adducts in polymer science.

Donor-acceptor Stenhouse adduct (DASA) photoswitches have gained a lot of attention since their discovery in 2014. Their negative photochromism, visible light absorbance, synthetic tunability, and the large property changes between their photoisomers make them attractive candidates over other commonly used photoswitches for use in materials with responsive or adaptive properties. The development of such materials and their translation into advanced technologies continues to widely impact forefront materials research, and DASAs have thus attracted considerable interest in the field of visible-light responsive molecular switches and dynamic materials.