Japan

Scientists predict that continued global warming under current trends could lead to an elevation of the sea level by as much as five meters by the year 3000 CE.

We have succeeded in establishing a mouse model that develops gastric cancer closely resembling advanced human gastric cancer. Using this model, we have discovered gastric cancer stem cells, i.e. Lgr5+ gastric cancer cells, essential for the development, maintenance, and metastasis of cancer. Our study provides an experimental system that enables detailed analysis of highly malignant gastric cancer and is expected to lead to the development of a breakthrough treatment for advanced human gastric cancer.

In a study of 280 patients who underwent transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVI), researchers investigated the 3-year prognostic impact of frailty evaluated by the Kihon checklist (KCL), a survey originally developed to identify elderly individuals who were at risk of requiring support within the Japanese long-term care insurance system. Results showed that the estimated 3-year mortality rate was significantly higher in individuals who ranked high on the KCL, showcasing the checklist as a simple tool to be used alongside other surgical risk scores, in identifying patients who are too frail to benefit from TAVI

Researchers are closer to understanding potential common features of sources of oxidative stress observed in several diseases, from Parkinson’s disease to cancer.

An international team of astronomers has revealed a new map of the Milky Way galaxy’s outer disc showing remains of tidal arms excited from interactions with satellite galaxies in the distant past.

In a study published in Nature Energy this month, researchers led by Kyoto University’s Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) describe how nanodiamond-reinforced composite membranes can purify hydrogen from its humid mixtures, making the hydrogen generation processes vastly more efficient and cost-effective.

The Akira Suzuki Award and the ICReDD Award, both sponsored by the Tosoh Corporation, were established in 2021 by the Akira Suzuki Award Organizing Committee, led by professors at the Institute for Chemical Reaction Design and Discovery (ICReDD), in commemoration of Professor Akira Suzuki’s winning of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and in celebration of his 90th birthday.

Using data on electromagnetic (EM) waves and plasma particles measured simultaneously via multiple satellites, an international collaborative research group has discovered the existence of invisible “propagation path” of EM waves and elucidated the mechanism by which EM waves propagate to the ground.

A team of astronomers including Kavli IPMU's Ji-an Jiang has discovered the fastest optical flash of a Type Ia supernova.

If researchers can detect Q-balls in gravitational waves, it could help explain why more matter than anti-matter was left over after the Big Bang.

Scientists at Hokkaido University and Texas A&M University have identified a key mechanism used by the SARS-CoV-2 virus to evade host immune systems.

Examination of Japanese cases of gynecological cancer offers a better understanding of the profile of a rare ovarian tumor and could change treatment guidelines.

Researchers from the The University of Tokyo Institute of Industrial Science use electron energy loss spectroscopy to understand local thermal behavior at grain boundaries in polycrystals

Synthesized microrobots that are capable of converting their mechanical motion into a means of self-propulsion in water have been developed by scientists at Hokkaido University.

In a continuing effort to improve upon previous work, a research team at the Graduate School of Science, Osaka City University, have applied their recently developed Bayesian phase difference estimation quantum algorithm to perform full configuration interaction (full-CI) calculations of atoms and molecules without simulating the time evolution of the wave function conditional on an ancillary qubit. Superior to conventional methods in terms of parallel execution of quantum gates during quantum computing, this new algorithm is expected to be much easier to implement in actual quantum computers.

Researchers from the Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine have shown in patients with early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma who received cancer treatment that eliminating the hepatitis C virus with a direct-acting antiviral treatment reduces the risk of the liver cancer progression and increases overall patient survival.

Feeling unsure of yourself? Your brain’s background noise may be interfering with the long memory signals communicated by your neurons’ electrical chatter.

A new method for creating one of chemistry’s most widely used class of compounds could revolutionize industrial processes, making them cheaper, simpler and more environmentally friendly.

Surveys have revealed an upward trend in the number of brown bears over the past three decades in Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost island. Researchers at Hokkaido University have been investigating the causes and implications of the increase.

Researchers at The University of Tokyo use numerical simulations to model the process called devitrification during which glasses crystallize, which may help improve the long-term stability of glassy materials, like pharmaceuticals and smartphone screens.

Scientists are turning to genomics to better understand the epidemiology of malaria and to inform control and elimination interventions and strategies. In the Lake Victoria region of Kenya, malaria burden remains very high despite more than a decade of intense control activities. A team of researchers from Osaka City University, Nagasaki University, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Mount Kenya University generated whole Plasmodium falciparum genome sequences from the lake region. Their analyses revealed that malaria parasites from this region appear distinct from other parasites from East Africa, while frequencies of known drug resistance markers were similar to those in other East African parasite populations. Their findings will help to develop improved surveillance tools to determine parasite transmission routes and aid clinical disease management.

Giants in History: A Japanese surgeon, Tetsuzo Akutsu (20 August 1922 – 9 August 2007) built the first artificial heart capable of keeping an animal alive.

Japanese customers have higher expectations of restaurants selling traditional foods more when they display an older year of establishment.

We have clarified at the molecular level the mechanism by which a microenvironment, a so-called niche that surrounds cancer cells, is formed in which stromal cells and immune cells are attracted at an initiation stage of breast cancer onset. A molecule called FRS2β is found to be critical for creating this microenvironment. The present finding is expected to be beneficial in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancers at the initiation stage.

The diversity of threatened fish in estuaries increases when surrounded by forest cover, whereas estuaries surrounded by farmland show the opposite effect.

Malfunctioning of the so-called Hippo signalling pathway within animal cells leads to irregular activity of proteins that regulate genes involved in cell proliferation. Researchers have identified a key step in the process of this aberration, opening the door to new therapeutics for cancers such as head-and-neck squamous cell carcinoma and lung adenocarcinoma.

Researchers from The University of Tokyo Institute of Industrial Science use optical microscopy to form a picture of what’s really going on inside surfactant onions

Ghana’s high youth population suggests that evidence-based programs specifically targeting young people’s development and mental health are key to the country’s socio-economic growth. As a result, social scientists are focusing on rigorous testing of the links between these two sides of personal thriving.

Researchers from The University of Tokyo Institute of Industrial Science find that drones may be the next generation of communication bases to monitor the ocean and seafloor because of their high-speed positioning, stability, and efficiency.

A collaborative project between the Osaka City University Graduate Schools of Medicine and BioMedical Engineering Center (BMEC) revealed new bone formation in critical bone defects of animal model with an exposure to a pencil-type non-thermal atmospheric-pressure plasma at surgery.