Finding a needle in a haystack: A new technology is demonstrated to enrich circulating tumor cells (CTCs) with high efficiency by integrating an antibody‐coated silicon nanopillar (SiNP, see picture; gray) substrate with an overlaid polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic chaotic mixer (turquoise). It shows significantly improved sensitivity in detecting rare CTCs from whole blood, thus providing an alternative for monitoring cancer progression.

This minireview discusses the advantages and challenges in constructing bioinspired double-network hydrogels mimicking the structure and/or properties of biological tissue.

The present study reports the synthesis of poly(2‐isopropenyl‐2‐oxazoline) (PiPOx) dual‐crosslinked hydrogels by both covalent and physical (i.e., metal–ligand coordination) interactions. First, chemical crosslinking of a modified PiPOx polymer containing terpyridine (TPy) unit is achieved by reacting with azelaic acid (non‐anedioic acid). Transient crosslinks are subsequently introduced by complexation of the TPy units with different divalent transition metal ions. This strategy provides access to hydrogels with superior mechanical properties compared to the pure covalently crosslinked PiPOx hydrogels. The mechanical properties and water uptake of the hydrogels could be easily controlled by swelling in different aqueous metal ion solutions. PiPOx hydrogels swollen in Zn2+ solution are found to possess ultrahigh compression strength (9 MPa), remarkable toughness (99 MJ m−3) and outstanding self‐recoverability (98% toughness recovery after swelling for 60 min without external stimuli), which are among the highest reported in literature to date. These remarkable properties are assigned to the thermodynamically stable, but kinetically labile Zn2+‐TPy complexes that produce a dynamic network with fewer imperfections and better adaptive properties under mechanical stress compared to those with other metal ions.