Japan

Osaka University researchers used sputtered silver to bond copper electrodes as part of 3D integrated circuits. By gently annealing the silver layers, enough surface roughness was created to connect the layers without added pressure. This work may lead to cheaper and smaller electronic devices that use less energy.

Researchers from Osaka University have found that nematodes can be coated with a protective hydrogel sheath that can be engineered to carry functional cargo. This system could potentially be developed to deliver anti-cancer drugs to tumors using worms with a natural predilection for human cancer cells.

The formation of cell membrane pores is a major mechanism by which cancer-inducing proteins are released and hasten tumor development in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis-associated liver cancer.

An international team led by Osaka University used experimental measurements and theoretical modeling to better understand the shape formed by the protons and neutrons in the atomic nucleus of calcium-40. They found that destructive interference affects the mixture of elongated and spherical states. This research may help shed light on the reasons for the relative stability of atomic nuclei and how they are formed.

Researchers from the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, find that the risk of human–elephant conflict in Thailand is likely to shift with climate change

Researchers from the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, have developed a model to explore carbon storage in mangrove forests.

Osaka Metropolitan University scientists detected, for the first time, collective resonance at remarkably high and broad frequency bands. In a magnetic superstructure called a chiral spin soliton lattice (CSL), they found that resonance could occur at such frequencies with small changes in magnetic field strength. The findings suggest CSL-hosting chiral helimagnets as promising materials for future communication technologies.

Researchers in Japan outline preliminary research that could pave the way for a future test to diagnose ALS, a progressive disease of the nervous system.

The molecule is unusual and has ‘great potential’ in catalysis, conduction and other applications.

Commercially available transparent face masks allow for the perception of facial expressions while suppressing the dispersion of respiratory droplets that spread the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and thus have a clear advantage over surgical face masks.

A research group led by Osaka Metropolitan University and Panasonic Corporation Living Appliances and Solutions Company discovered how nano-sized electrostatic atomized water particles disinfect SARS-CoV-2. The nano-sized electrostatic atomized water particles developed by Panasonic Corporation have an electron rich nano-sized water shell that contains reactive oxygen species. The researchers showed that the water particles damage the viral envelope, protein, and RNA. They also revealed that the damaged virus did not bind to host cells. These phenomena are considered the main inactivation mechanism of the nano-sized electrostatic atomized water particles on SARS-CoV-2.

A research group led by Professor Yoshio Teki of the Osaka Metropolitan University Graduate School of Engineering has succeeded in developing a new pentacene derivative that is more than 100 times more photostable than TIPS-pentacene, a photostable pentacene derivative. Additionally, the team has further clarified the ultrafast excited state dynamics in this system. In the pentacene moiety of this system, we were able to demonstrate that the transition from the excited singlet state to the excited triplet state occurs ultrafast in the time region of a 10-13 seconds. In purely organic materials without heavy atoms such as rare metals, such intersystem crossing usually occurs on time scales longer than 10-9 seconds. The empirical results of this study are expected to be applied as a method for stabilizing and developing light-unstable materials in the future.

Scientists have revealed the genetic structure and diversity, and inferred the population history, of the wild house mouse across Europe and Asia.

An international team of researchers, including former Kavli IPMU Project Researcher Oscar Macias (currently at the University of Amsterdam), have found that old and fast spinning neutron stars called millisecond pulsars could be responsible for an unexplained signal from the center of our Milky Way.

Researchers at The University of Tokyo create vertical field-effect transistors that can be used to store information in a 3D array, which may lead to faster and more energy-efficient data storage

Potential of a novel therapeutic strategy for rheumatoid arthritis by UHRF1 stabilization We identified an epigenetic regulator UHRF1 that suppresses various pathogeneses in rheumatoid arthritis. The UHRF1 expression level in synovium showed a negative correlation with the severity of pathogenesis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and mouse arthritis models. In addition, stabilization of the UHRF1 expression achieved improvement of the arthritis pathology. Our results indicate that the stabilization of the UHRF1 protein is a potential therapeutic strategy for rheumatoid arthritis patients.

Researchers at the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo studied the anomalous properties of amorphous solids, including glasses, using computer simulations, and found a common vibrational mechanism underlying them, which may help control the glass properties

Researchers have created time machine-like simulations recreate the full life cycle of some of the largest collections of galaxies observed in the distant universe 11 billion years ago.

Scientists have revealed two enzymes that regulate protein degradation of proteins in the cell membrane of plants, and established the roles they play in plant growth and development.

A research team has studied how humans react to the introduction of AI decision making. Specifically, they explored the question, “is society ready for AI ethical decision making?” by studying human interaction with autonomous cars.

Scientists at Osaka Metropolitan University utilized a Japan-developed, objective, and simple nutritional indicator called the Nutrition Risk Index (NRI) to unveil a long-suspected yet unverified relationship between sarcopenia and malnutrition in end-stage kidney disease patients. Their findings confirmed that malnutrition contributes to sarcopenia, which can be detected through NRI.

Scientists have described the youngest therizinosaur fossil from Japan and the first in Asia to have been found in marine sediments.

Dr. Nishikawa at Osaka Metropolitan University focused on the Kondo effect on minimal ferrimagnetism and attempted to elucidate it theoretically. As a result, they found that the Kondo effect occurred via multiple "quantum entangled states" depending on temperature and other factors. They also found that the Kondo effect suppressed electrical conductivity through minimal ferrimagnetism, when usually it is amplified in many other cases.

Particle accelerators have helped researcher to draw new leading limits on the existence of magnetic monopoles from the collisions of energetic cosmic rays bombarding the Earth’s atmosphere.

Researchers at Kanazawa University in collaboration with teams from Toyama Prefectural University and BioSeeds Corporation report in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces the identification of a molecule with enhanced antiproliferative activity in cancer cells. The underlying biomolecular mechanism is the inhibition of an enzyme that is overproduced in several types of cancer.

Researchers in Japan demonstrated the benefits of a new non-radioactive, neutral negative staining reagent by imaging viruses at nanometer-scale.

A model that rapidly searches through large numbers of materials could find sustainable alternatives to existing composites.

Among anesthetics, ketamine has a unique effect: it also acts as an antidepressant. A research team led by Osaka Metropolitan University Professor Makoto Kondo linked ketamine to brain regulation of IGF-1, which works independently of other ketamine-associated factors. The discovery may help untangle ketamine’s positive and negative effects, allowing future drug development to target IGF-1 directly.

Tetraphenylammonium, with all four hydrogens of ammonium (NH4+) replaced with benzene rings, has neither been discovered in nature nor chemically synthesized, calling into question whether it could exist. Here, we succeeded in synthesizing tetraphenylammonium for the first time, demonstrating its stable existence. The synthetic strategy used in this study, radical coupling, may be applicable to the synthesis of various related ammoniums with high structural novelty.

The antibiotic rifampicin is shown as a potential medicine for preventing Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Frontotemporal dementia (FTD).