We examined the relationship between spontaneous gesture production and spoken lexical ability in children with Down syndrome (DS) in a naming task. Fifteen children with DS (3;8–8;3 years) were compared to 15 typically developing (TD) children matched for developmental age (DATD) (2;6–4;3 years of chronological age) and 15 matched for lexical ability identified by the MacArthur-Bates CDI questionnaire (LATD) (1;9–2;6 years of chronological age). Children of the DATD group displayed a larger number of correct spoken answers compared to other groups, while DS and LATD groups showed a similar naming accuracy. In comparison to both groups of TD children, a higher number of unintelligible answers was produced by children with DS, indicating that their spoken language is characterized by serious phono-articulatory difficulties. Although children with DS did not differ from DATD and LATD controls on the total number of gestures, they produced a significantly higher percentage of representational gestures. Furthermore, DATD children produced more spoken answers without gestures, LATD children produced more bimodal answers, while children with DS gestured more without speech. Results suggest that representational gestures may serve to express meanings when children’s cognitive abilities outstrip their productive spoken language skills.

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In the quest to decipher the chain of life from molecules to cells, the biological and biophysical questions being asked increasingly demand techniques that are capable of identifying specific biomolecules in their native environment, and can measure biomolecular interactions quantitatively, at the smallest possible scale in space and time, without perturbing the system under observation. The interaction of light with biomolecules offers a wealth of phenomena and tools that can be exploited to drive this progress. This Roadmap is written collectively by prominent researchers and encompasses selected aspects of bio-nano-photonics, spanning from

Biosensing applications based on fluorescence detection often require single-molecule sensitivity in the presence of strong background signals. Plasmonic nanoantennas are particularly suitable for these tasks, as they can confine and enhance light in volumes far below the diffraction limit. The recently introduced antenna-in-box (AiB) platforms achieved high single-molecule detection sensitivity at high fluorophore concentrations by placing gold nanoantennas in a gold aperture. However, hybrid AiB platforms with alternative aperture materials such as aluminum promise superior performance by providing better background screening. Here, we report on the fabrication and optical characterization of hybrid AiBs made of gold and aluminum for enhanced single-molecule detection sensitivity. We computationally optimize the optical properties of AiBs by controlling their geometry and materials and find that hybrid nanostructures not only improve signal-to-background ratios but also provide additional excitation intensity and fluorescence enhancements. We further establish a two-step electron beam lithography process to fabricate hybrid material AiB arrays with high reproducibility and experimentally validate the higher excitation and emission enhancements of the hybrid nanostructures as compared to their gold counterpart. We foresee that biosensors based on hybrid AiBs will provide improved sensitivity beyond the capabilities of current nanophotonic sensors for a plethora of biosensing applications ranging from multicolor fluorescence detection to label-free vibrational spectroscopy.