Science Advances

A joint study by National Taiwan University’s Prof. Hsiao-Mei Wu and Academia Sinica’s Dr. Yi-Chung Tung reveals that oxygen tension elevation during week 4–6 promotes neurogenesis in brain organoids, regulated by Neuroglobin.

What’s Your Body Really Worth? New AI Model Reveals Your True Biological Age from 5 Drops of Blood

Researchers have developed metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) that efficiently produce hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) using small temperature differences, offering a sustainable approach to chemical production.

Cryo-electron microscopy reveals molecular structure of twin motors that power mycoplasma’s ability to glide

What created the Noto Peninsula landscape we know today? After examining the devastation from the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake, researchers from Tohoku University have a theory.

Researchers from Osaka University have developed a groundbreaking method to expand the palette of bioluminescent protein colors for cell labeling. By creating 20 distinct colors, they have enabled the simultaneous detection of multiple labeled cells using a standard camera. This innovative approach simplifies the tracking of individual cells within a population and holds significant potential for applications such as monitoring cell fate or identifying rare cells with unique responses to drugs.

Groundbreaking cerium oxide-based thermal switches achieve remarkable performance, transforming heat flow control with sustainable and efficient technology.

A team from Osaka University has reported a Raman microscopy technique that produced images up to eight times brighter than those achieved with conventional Raman techniques. Imaging of frozen biological samples reduced the noise introduced by the motion of material over long acquisition times. The technique is expected to broaden understanding in many areas of the biological sciences by allowing high-quality images and chemical information to be captured without the need for staining.

To understand the mysteries surrounding black holes, researchers at Tohoku University created a simulation of accretion disk turbulence that possesses the highest-resolution currently available.

Researchers from Tohoku University and Kyoto University have succeeded in developing a DNA–based molecular controller. Crucially, this controller enables the autonomous assembly and disassembly of molecular robots, as opposed to manually directing it.

Researchers from Osaka University found that germ cells, which develop into eggs and sperm, drive sex-dependent differences in lifespan in vertebrates. Female and male germ cells increase and reduce lifespan, respectively. These effects are controlled via estrogen and growth factor hormones in females and vitamin D in males. Vitamin D supplementation extends lifespan in both males and females. The results clarify the link between reproduction and aging and show that vitamin D may improve longevity in vertebrates.

Duke-NUS study reveals why some pancreatic and colorectal tumours resist targeted anti-Wnt drugs and suggests how to overcome it, offering new hope to patients with fully treatment-resistant cancers

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) are neurodegenerative diseases that commonly occur in middle-aged people. FTD is second only to Alzheimer's disease in terms of dementia prevalence. Both ALS and FTD arise from neuronal degeneration through mechanisms that remain unclear. Dr. Yun-Ru (Ruby) Chen's team in the Genomics Research Center (GRC), Academia Sinica recently discovered a new pathological mechanism for neuronal degeneration using synthetic peptides. They also discovered that a disaccharide can increase neuronal survival and reduce degeneration. The result provides therapeutic strategies for future treatment of these neurodegenerative diseases. The study was published in the top international journal "Science Advances" on February 23, 2024.

Asteroids offer valuable windows into the early solar system, given that they are remnants of planetary embryos that failed to form into planets. A recent analysis of samples from Ryugu offered insights into the composition of water- and carbon-rich small bodies in the solar system.

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.

Chemotherapy for cancer treatment often results in collateral damage to healthy cells and other adverse effects. A research team led by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) recently developed “sono-sensitised chemotherapy” (SSCT), a new form of ultrasound-activated chemotherapy, which further enhances the precision for eradicating deeper tumours with centimetre range of tissue penetration and minimises side effects.

Scientists have revealed that the outer part of our brain (the cortex) is skilled at managing all the info it gets from the outside world thanks to special groups of nerve connections called modules, which work together but also independently.

Scientists have isolated potent neutralising antibodies from a COVID-19 vaccinated SARS survivor that exhibited remarkable breadth against known sarbecoviruses. The antibodies targeted a conserved region of the spike protein and blocked receptor binding and viral fusion. These findings could guide the development of broadly active therapeutics against current and future coronaviruses.

Researchers at Kanazawa University report in Science Advances high-speed atomic force microscopy experiments that show the structural and chemical changes in an enzyme thought to play a vital role in modulating the strength of neural connections.

Hailey-Hailey disease is a rare, inherited condition characterized by patches of blisters appearing mainly in the skin folds of the arm pits, groin and under the breasts. It is caused by a mutation in the gene that codes for a specific protein. Tohoku University scientists have uncovered some critical details of this protein’s structure, and the findings could build the foundation for developing treatment for Hailey-Hailey disease and other neurodegenerative conditions.

Hydrothermal vents have been identified as a previously undiscovered source of dissolved black carbon in the oceans, furthering the understanding of the role of oceans as a carbon sink.

Researchers from Osaka University have identified a protein, FER1L5, that is essential for sperm to acquire fertilizing ability. Sperm from mice lacking this protein were unable to undergo the “acrosome reaction”, which releases molecules that facilitate fertilization, resulting in impaired male fertility. As FER1L5 is also present in human sperm, this work may lead to new diagnostic methods and treatments for male infertility in humans.

Understanding how dust grains form in interstellar gas could offer significant insights to astronomers and help materials scientists develop useful nanoparticles.

Researchers from Osaka University have developed a culture system using pluripotent cells from southern and northern white rhinos, which was refined to produce primordial germ cell-like cells (PGCLCs). These cells are the equivalent of primordial germ cells, the origin of eggs and sperm. The study marks an important first step in the potential production of northern white rhino gametes, which could be used in breeding programs, and is the first to induce PGCLCs in a wild animal.

Osaka Metropolitan University researchers introduced seven proteins, thought to let bacteria swim by switching the direction that their helical bodies spiral, into a strain of synthetic bacterium with minimal genetic information. As a result, they confirmed that the synthetic bacterium named syn3, which is normally spherical, formed a helix that could swim by spiraling. Further investigation revealed that only two of these newly added proteins were required to make syn3 capable of minimal swimming. This swimming synthetic bacterium can be said to be the smallest mobile lifeform genetically, as it contains the fewest number of genes.

A Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) collaborative research team has synthesised a nanoparticle named TRZD that can perform the dual function of diagnosing and treating glioma in the brain. It emits persistent luminescence for the diagnostic imaging of glioma tissues in vivo and inhibits the growth of tumour cells by aiding the targeted delivery of chemotherapy drugs. The nanoparticle offers hope for the early diagnosis and treatment of glioma, especially cerebellar glioma, which is even harder to detect and cure with existing methods.

A multinational team of researchers, co-led by a City University of Hong Kong (CityU) physicist, has found that a novel metallic crystal displays unusual electronic behaviour on its surface, thanks to the crystal’s unique atomic structure. Their findings open up the possibility of using this material to develop faster and smaller microelectronic devices.

A collaborative research team co-led by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has developed a wearable tactile rendering system, which can mimic the sensation of touch with high spatial resolution and a rapid response rate. The team demonstrated its application potential in a braille display, adding the sense of touch in the metaverse for functions such as virtual reality shopping and gaming, and potentially facilitating the work of astronauts, deep-sea divers and others who need to wear thick gloves.

Researchers from Osaka University have demonstrated a proof-of-concept for a novel molecular hydrogen production method that bypasses the need for expensive purification steps. They developed a system where hydrogen is separated and stored in liquid organic hydrogen carriers by catalysis of triaryl boranes in one seamless process. The results of this work will help facilitate the transition to a hydrogen-based economy that is necessary for a more sustainable future.

Scientists have uncovered new details of how ice forming below the ocean surface in Antarctica provides cold dense water that sinks to the seabed in an important aspect of global water circulation.