Japan

Chika Kuroda (24 March 1884 – 8 November 1968) was a Japanese chemist whose research focussed on the structures of natural pigments.

Umetaro Suzuki (7 April 1874 – 20 September 1943) was a Japanese scientist best remembered for his research on beriberi, a disease caused by vitamin B1 deficiency, characterized by limb stiffness, paralysis and pain.

Theoreticians in two different fields defied the common knowledge that planets orbit stars like the Sun. They proposed the possibility of thousands of planets around a supermassive black hole.

Husband and wife team, Kimishige (3 December 1925 – 6 July 2018) and Teruko Ishizaka (28 September 1926 – 4 June 2019) discovered the antibody class Immunoglobulin E (IgE) that triggers allergic reactions.

Using the Cooled Mid-Infrared Camera and Spectrometer on the Subaru Telescope, astronomers have detected an unidentified infrared emission band from comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner in addition to the thermal emissions from silicate and carbon grains.

Two peacock-shaped gaseous clouds were revealed in the Large Magellanic Cloud by observations with Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.

Differences in gene expression led to different bird songs between species.

Researchers using telescopes around the world confirmed and characterized an exoplanet orbiting a nearby star through gravitational microlensing.

A group of neurons called the corticobasal ganglia projecting neurons are important for vocal learning in young birds, but not in adult birds, according to a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

A compound effective in killing chemotherapy-resistant glioblastoma-initiating cells (GICs) has been identified, raising hopes of producing drugs capable of eradicating refractory tumors with low toxicity.

Stereotypical gender role attitudes and negative images of STEM fields of Japanese parents may be associated with girls’ reduced university participation, new study finds.

PhD students in Japan compete in communicating their research vision in three minutes

X-rays could be tuned to deliver a more effective punch that destroys cancer cells and not harm the body.

An experiment shows that one of the basic units of life — nucleobases — could have originated within giant gas clouds interspersed between the stars.

Dissolved oxygen in pore solution is often a controlling factor determining the rate of the corrosion process of steel bars in concrete. This study reports on the corrosion resistance and polarization properties of steel bars in a mortar specimen mixed with aerobic microorganisms. The addition of the microorganisms in mortar mixtures led to higher corrosion resistance, which was confirmed by the reduced rate of oxygen permeability, based on cathodic polarization properties.

Determination of the crystal structure of a DNA-stabilized silver nanocluster

The dinosaur, whose nearly complete skeleton was unearthed from 72 million year old marine deposits in Mukawa Town in northern Japan, belongs to a new genus and species of a herbivorous hadrosaurid dinosaur, according to the study published in Scientific Reports. The scientists named the dinosaur Kamuysaurus japonicus.

A new beaked whale species Berardius minimus, which has been long postulated by local whalers in Hokkaido, Japan, has been confirmed.

The leaf shapes of certain species of the Isodon group of flowering plants act as deterrents against a leaf-rolling weevil, according to a paper published in Nature Plants.

Variations in the depth of snow cover in the Arctic region from late winter to spring determines the summer temperature pattern in Eurasia, according to Hokkaido University researchers. In particular, deeper-than-usual snow cover in Western Russia enhanced the likelihood of summer heat waves in Europe and Northeast Asia in recent years.

A highly conducting state has been found in a molecular crystal under UV-irradiation. The state reversibly appears in accordance with UV-irradiation, but does not appear by any other method such as raising the temperature, which often induces metallic behavior in insulating molecular crystals. The UV-excited state exhibits conduction and magnetic behavior characteristic of metallic substances. The result suggests that there is an optically accessible, but thermally inaccessible, state of matter.

An international team has used AI to create a 3D simulation of the Universe.

Environmental DNA (eDNA) has successfully proven the presence of invasive crayfish in almost all the small streams around Lake Akan in Japan, suggesting that eDNA analysis is an efficient and highly sensitive method to assess the distribution of aquatic organisms.

Phase H is a hydrous mineral that is considered to be an important carrier of water into deep Earth. We determined the dissociation condition of phase H by a theoretical calculation based on quantum mechanics. Phase H decomposes at approximately 60 GPa at 1000 K. This indicates that the transportation of water by phase H may be terminated at a depth of approximately 1,500 km in the middle of the lower mantle.

Researchers at the Center for Innovative Integrated Electronic Systems (CIES) at Tohoku University have successfully observed microscopic chemical bonding states in ultrathin MgO - an important determinant in STT-MRAM performance. The observation was carried out via an angle-resolved hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (AR-HAXPES) in collaboration with Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI) at its Spring-8 Synchrotron Radiation facility.

Two known gene mutations induce pathways that enhance pancreatic cancer’s ability to invade tissues and evade the immune system. Researchers report the molecular details of this process providing insights into druggable targets for immunotherapies.

Scientists have succeeded in reducing levels of the bovine leukemia virus (BLV) in cows with severe infections by combining an immune checkpoint inhibitor and an enzyme inhibitor. The finding could be utilized to control other diseases in cattle, and perhaps in humans someday.

Researchers reveal previously undiscovered hot spots on the surface of bacteria’s critical enzyme, which could guide novel approaches to antibiotic design.

The rise in temperature and precipitation levels in summer in northern Japan, has negatively affected the growth of conifers and resulted in their gradual decline, according to a 38-year-long study in which mixed forests of conifers and broad-leaved trees were monitored by a team of researchers from Hokkaido University.

Researchers have completed a successful clinical trial to detect and image radioactive tracers used in PET and in SPECT scans at the same time in a patient. It is hoped the method will enable doctors to scan patients for abnormalities in shorter times while reducing the amount of radiation patients would be exposed to.