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Abstract Geometrically frustrated kagome lattices are raising as novel platforms to engineer correlated topological electron flat bands that are prominent to electronic instabilities. Here, we demonstrate a phonon softening at thek_z = πplane in ScV₆Sn₆. The low energy longitudinal phonon collapses at ~98 K andq = $$\frac{1}{3}\frac{1}{3}\frac{1}{2}$$ $\frac{1}{3}\frac{1}{3}\frac{1}{2}$due to the electron-phonon interaction, without the emergence of long-range charge order which sets in at a different propagation vectorq_CDW = $$\frac{1}{3}\frac{1}{3}\frac{1}{3}$$ $\frac{1}{3}\frac{1}{3}\frac{1}{3}$. Theoretical calculations corroborate the experimental finding to indicate that the leading instability is located at$$\frac{1}{3}\frac{1}{3}\frac{1}{2}$$ $\frac{1}{3}\frac{1}{3}\frac{1}{2}$of a rather flat mode. We relate the phonon renormalization to the orbital-resolved susceptibility of the trigonal Sn atoms and explain the approximately flat phonon dispersion. Our data report the first example of the collapse of a kagome bosonic mode and promote the 166 compounds of kagomes as primary candidates to explore correlated flat phonon-topological flat electron physics. 

Pairs of interacting transcription factors (TFs) have previously been shown to bind to enhancers and promoters and contribute to their physical interactions. However, to date, we have limited knowledge about such TF pairs. To fill this void, we systematically studied the co-occurrence of TF-binding motifs in interacting enhancer–promoter (EP) pairs in seven human cell lines. We discovered 423 motif pairs that significantly co-occur in enhancers and promoters of interacting EP pairs. We demonstrated that these motif pairs are biologically meaningful and significantly enriched with motif pairs of known interacting TF pairs. We also showed that the identified motif pairs facilitated the discovery of the interacting EP pairs. The developed pipeline, EPmotifPair, together with the predicted motifs and motif pairs, is available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.14192000. Our study provides a comprehensive list of motif pairs that may contribute to EP physical interactions, which facilitate generating meaningful hypotheses for experimental validation. 

Among extant vertebrates, mammals are distinguished by having a chain of three auditory ossicles (the malleus, incus and stapes) that transduce sound waves and promote an increased range of audible—especially high—frequencies. By contrast, the homologous bones in early fossil mammals and relatives also functioned in chewing through their bony attachments to the lower jaw. Recent discoveries of well-preserved Mesozoic mammals have provided glimpses into the transition from the dual (masticatory and auditory) to the single auditory function for the ossicles, which is now widely accepted to have occurred at least three times in mammal evolution. Here we report a skull and postcranium that we refer to the haramiyidan Vilevolodon diplomylos (dating to the Middle Jurassic epoch (160 million years ago)) and that shows excellent preservation of the malleus, incus and ectotympanic (which supports the tympanic membrane). After comparing this fossil with other Mesozoic and extant mammals, we propose that the overlapping incudomallear articulation found in this and other Mesozoic fossils, in extant monotremes and in early ontogeny in extant marsupials and placentals is a morphology that evolved in several groups of mammals in the transition from the dual to the single function for the ossicles.