Japan

A new bacterial species discovered at the deep-sea hydrothermal vent site ‘Crab Spa’ provides a deeper understanding of bacterial evolution.

Aids local governments in adapting to the threats of climate change

Researchers at Kanazawa University report in Science Advances how they can accelerate and decelerate chirality inversion in large cage molecules using alkali metal ion binding.

A research team from Osaka Metropolitan University has successfully developed a novel pneumococcal vaccine by combining the team’s proprietary mucosal vaccine technology with pneumococcal surface proteins that can cover a wide range of serotypes. Experiments were conducted using mice and macaques and it was confirmed that pneumonia caused by pneumococcal infection was clearly suppressed in the target groups of animals inoculated with the vaccine.

Researchers from Osaka University found that HSP47, a collagen-specific chaperone, is a key determinant of body fat levels. HSP47 expression levels are upregulated with obesity and greater food intake and decreased with fasting, exercise, calorie restriction, bariatric surgery, and wasting syndrome, suggesting that HSP47 modulation has a profound effect on fat storage.

Osaka Metropolitan University researchers and their colleagues have successfully detected an ultra-high-energy cosmic ray with an energy level comparable to the most energetic cosmic ray ever observed. The cosmic ray is set to be named after the Japanese sun goddess, Amaterasu. No promising astronomical object has been identified in the direction from which this cosmic ray originated, implying the potential existence of unknown astronomical phenomena and novel physical origins beyond the Standard Model.

Researchers from Osaka University have shown that lysosomes, key organelles for maintaining cellular stability, can be repaired once damaged by a process termed microautophagy. They identified molecules called STK38 and GABARAPs as key regulators of this process. Depletion of microautophagy regulators lead to increased cellular senescence and a shorter lifespan, indicating the importance of this process. This study is highly significant for the achievement of healthy aging and points toward new therapies for age-related diseases.

Glass is a fundamental material. Yet its atomic structure still baffles scientists to this day. Researchers have developed a new way to quantify ring shapes in chemically bonded networks of glass, chipping away at some of the mysteries behind glass’s atomic structure.

Researchers develop new method suppressing the distribution of drugs to healthy tissues, but also to rapidly removes the drugs once distributed in the body, which could improve the accuracy of imaging diagnosis of difficult cancers, reduce toxicity to healthy tissues, and furthermore improve the effectiveness of treatment.

Out of this living laboratory emerged unexpected insights on coexistence from an “unusual” source.

This paper highlights the underexplored potential of chiral self-sorting in the design of switchable and metastable discrete supramolecular structures.

Researchers at Kanazawa University report in Nature Communications how they can control chirality inversion in α helical peptides.

Rapid preparation and application of a panel of clinical antibodies armed with B-BiTE for refractory malignancies

Researchers from Osaka University found that Japanese people who used medical information were more likely to wear masks and disinfect their hands even before the COVID-19 outbreak, while those who exchanged information with acquaintances were more likely to newly start mask-wearing and hand disinfection post outbreak. This will assist in the development of risk communication strategies to promote infection-preventive behavior in a timely manner.

Cancer stem cells cause the aging of macrophages in mice with healthy immune systems, creating conditions for the formation of tumors.

Steel and aluminum are key players in supporting economic growth, yet materials joining them remain unexplored due to their fusion zones’ brittleness. A new 3D printing method’s fix may be a step toward a steel-aluminum hybrid renaissance.

New insights on how individual immune responses to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, particularly in mutant strains, can influence the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines

A new study suggests that self-deception is the key to understanding irrational actions of national leaders in war, as exemplified by Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

Researchers at Kanazawa University report in Cancer Research how Kras and p53 mutations influence the tumor suppressor and promoter functions of a TGF- ß pathway. The findings may lead to a new approach for colorectal cancer therapy.

A research team led by Osaka University used 125 physical markers to understand the detailed mechanics of 44 different human facial motions. The aim was to better understand how to convey emotions with artificial faces. Beyond helping with the design of robots and androids, this research can also benefit computer graphics, facial recognition, and medical diagnoses.

Microscopes usually use backscattered radiation to create images, but a research group from the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, is developing an all-new method to study materials using the faint light they emit, generated by heat

Researchers at the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo study the quantum mechanical phenomenon known as vacuum fluctuations using a nanoscale hybrid device, which may lead to ultrasensitive quantum sensors or information processors.

Future missions will be able to find signatures of violating the parity-symmetry in the cosmic microwave background polarization more accurately after a pair of researchers has managed to take into account the gravitational lensing effect, reports a new study in Physical Review D, selected as an Editors' Suggestion.

A researcher from Osaka University has investigated the associations between mask usage and the reasons people give for wearing a mask. Online surveys were conducted before and after policies that downgraded the status of COVID-19. The study found that 59% of respondents continued wearing masks even after policy changes. Several sociological and psychological reasons other than disease prevention for mask usage were identified.

Osaka University and NEC Corporation are jointly developing a data infrastructure called RED-ONION to accelerate open science by reducing the burden on researchers to record the research process, share research data and publish them on the data aggregation platform. They are currently engaged in the R & D of three elemental technologies: (1) Technology to integrate a data aggregation platform and data publication platform, (2) Technology to generate research process information on supercomputers, and (3) A high-speed data transmission function. These research results will be showcased at the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis (SC23) scheduled to be held from November 12 to 17, 2023 in Denver, Colorado.

Researchers at Kanazawa University report in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters high-speed atomic force microscopy studies that shed light on the possible role of the open reading frame 6 (ORF6) protein COVID19 symptoms.

To quickly and accurately characterize prospective materials for use in solar energy, researchers built an automated system to perform laboratory experiments and used machine learning to help analyze the data they recorded. Their goal is to identify semiconductor materials for use in photovoltaic solar energy, which are highly efficient and have low toxicity.

Research out of Osaka University finds an overlap in the mechanism of hair color determination and bone resorption, which is associated with bone related diseases like osteoporosis. The findings revealed that proteins named Rab32 and Rab38 play pivotal roles in bone resorption in osteoclast, cell specialized in the process. These proteins are also crucial for pigmentation of hair and skins.

Research from Osaka University demonstrates a nanopore-based technique that can detect different variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The method was very effective in detecting the Omicron variant of the virus in the saliva of people with COVID-19.

Pair-bonded Java sparrows show enlarged eye rings to signal breeding readiness.