Wearables as medical technologies are becoming an integral part of personal analytics, measuring physical status, recording physiological parameters, or informing schedule for medication. These continuously evolving technology platforms do not only promise to help people pursue a healthier life style, but also provide continuous medical data for actively tracking metabolic status, diagnosis, and treatment. Advances in the miniaturization of flexible electronics, electrochemical biosensors, microfluidics, and artificial intelligence algorithms have led to wearable devices that can generate real-time medical data within the Internet of things. These flexible devices can be configured to make conformal contact with epidermal, ocular, intracochlear, and dental interfaces to collect biochemical or electrophysiological signals. This article discusses consumer trends in wearable electronics, commercial and emerging devices, and fabrication methods. It also reviews real-time monitoring of vital signs using biosensors, stimuli-responsive materials for drug delivery, and closed-loop theranostic systems. It covers future challenges in augmented, virtual, and mixed reality, communication modes, energy management, displays, conformity, and data safety. The development of patient-oriented wearable technologies and their incorporation in randomized clinical trials will facilitate the design of safe and effective approaches.

Lateral flow assays (LFAs) have been the pillar of rapid point‐of‐care (POC) diagnostics due to their simplicity, rapid process, and low cost. Recent advances in sensitivity, selectivity, and chemical stability enhancement have ensured the foothold of LFAs in commercial POC diagnostics. This paper reviews recent developments in labeling strategies and detection methods of LFAs. Moreover, vertical flow assays (VFAs) have emerged as an alternate paper‐based assay due to faster detection time and unique multiplexing capabilities. Smartphones as LFA readers have been transformed into a universal integrated platform for imaging, data processing, and storage, providing quantitative results in low‐resource settings. Commercial LFAs and VFAs products are evaluated with regards to their performance, market trends, and regulatory issues. The future outlook of the flow‐based assays for POC diagnostics is also discussed.

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Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) studies of the deposition of Ag on bcc NiAl(110) in the temperature range from 200 to 300 K reveal an initial bilayer growth mode. In this regime, which encompasses at least the first two levels of bilayer islands, the film appears to have an fcc Ag(110)-like structure. Selection of this structure reflects an almost perfect lateral match between the Ag(110) and NiAl(110) lattice constants. Density functional theory (DFT) analysis of supported Ag films with an ideal fcc(110) structure on NiAl(110) indicates that the bilayer growth mode is promoted by a quantum size effect. However, the system does not exhibit perfect Ag(110) film growth. STM analysis reveals that the tops of Ag islands are decorated by a ripple structure even in the initial levels of growth and also shows a deviation from Ag(110)-like bilayer growth to Ag(111)-like monolayer growth for thick films. DFT analysis is also applied to provide some insight into the observed deviations from perfect Ag(110) film structure.

This article describes a class of robots-"arthrobots"-inspired, in part, by the musculoskeletal system of arthropods (spiders and insects, inter alia). Arthrobots combine mechanical compliance, lightweight and simple construction, and inexpensive yet scalable design. An exoskeleton, constructed from thin organic polymeric tubes, provides lightweight structural support. Pneumatic joints modeled after the hydrostatic joints of spiders provide actuation and inherent mechanical compliance to external forces. An inflatable elastomeric tube (a "balloon") enables active extension of a limb; an opposing elastic tendon enables passive retraction. A variety of robots constructed from these structural elements demonstrate (i) crawling with one or two limbs, (ii) walking with four or six limbs (including an insect-like triangular gait), (iii) walking with eight limbs, or (iv) floating and rowing on the surface of water. Arthrobots are simple to fabricate and are able to operate safely in contact with humans.

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We investigate the equilibration of a fivefold surface of the icosahedral Al-Pd-Mn quasicrystal at 900-915 and 925-950 K, using scanning tunneling microscopy. After annealing at the lower temperatures, there is a high density of shallow voids on some terraces but not on others; at 925-950 K, the void-rich terraces are much rarer. The terminations that are consumed by voids exhibit a distinctive local atomic configuration, called a "ring" by previous authors. Apparently, through growth and coalescence of the voids, a different termination becomes exposed on the host terraces, which also leads to a change in step heights at the edges of the terraces. We suggest that the shallow steps associated with the voids, and the ring configuration, signal a surface that is in an intermediate stage of structural equilibration. We investigate the equilibration of a fivefold surface of the icosahedral Al-Pd-Mn quasicrystal at 900-915 and 925-950 K, using scanning tunneling microscopy. After annealing at the lower temperatures, there is a high density of shallow voids on some terraces but not on others; at 925-950 K, the void-rich terraces are much rarer. The terminations that are consumed by voids exhibit a distinctive local atomic configuration, called a "ring" by previous authors. Apparently, through growth and coalescence of the voids, a different termination becomes exposed on the host terraces, which also leads to a change in step heights at the edges of the terraces. We suggest that the shallow steps associated with the voids, and the ring configuration, signal a surface that is in an intermediate stage of structural equilibration.

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