Scientific publishing is currently undergoing a fast change towards open access. More I observe the quickly changing publications landscape, more questions come to my mind. Why should scientists pay for making their work and their findings available to others? Let’s discuss this issue together.

We report the use of affordable and widely-available UV-Vis spectroscopy to monitor redox activities during charge storage. The data allowed us to distinguish charge storage mechanisms and quantify the oxidation state changes, similar to synchrotron-based X-ray absorption spectroscopy.

Dynamic control of electromagnetic wave jamming is needed for protecting electronic devices working at gigahertz frequencies. We describe a method for modulating reflection and absorption of electromagnetic waves using micron-thick films of 2D carbides (MXenes).