Science

SINGAPORE, November 7, 2023 – TechInnovation 2023, IPI's flagship event and a premier technology-matching platform, successfully concluded on Thursday, 2 November 2023, profoundly impacting audiences with insights into Sustainability, Health & Well-being, and AI in Healthcare. Over 5,000 people registered to attend TechInnovation, which brought together industry leaders, innovators, and technology experts alike to share and discover opportunities to partner and collaborate to create a sustainable future.

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

Almost every large galaxy has a supermassive black hole at its center. An international research team has recently observed the Circinus galaxy, which is one of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way, with high enough resolution to gain further insights into the gas flows to and from the black hole at its galactic nucleus.

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.

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.

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

A huge step forward in the evolution of perovskite solar cells recorded by researchers at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) will have significant implications for renewable energy development. The CityU innovation paves the way for commercialising perovskite solar cells, bringing us closer to an energy-efficient future powered by sustainable sources.

New perspective argues pursuing fair AI for healthcare requires cross-disciplinary collaboration to translate methods into real-world benefits.

Thirty-eight scholars of The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) were named among the top 2% most-cited scientists in the world, in the latest annual rankings published by Stanford University.

Researchers from Osaka University developed wirelessly powered soil moisture sensing technology that will help meet the needs of sustainable precision agriculture. Both the soil moisture content and the position of each sensor are readily detected and transmitted, even at high sensor densities. The sensors are largely biodegradable and can be tilled into the soil at the end of the crop season. This work might help farmers allocate resources to cropland in a timely, targeted manner.

The shortlist for the Applied Microbiology International Awards 2023 has now been announced. The AMI Awards programme is designed to celebrate the brightest minds in our field and promote the research, group, projects, products and individuals who continue to help shape the future of applied microbiology.

New research reveals how disrupted energy production in the kidneys contributes to progressive kidney disease in diabetes.

The latest ‘large language model’ artificial intelligence system, GPT-4, could aid chemistry researchers, but limitations reveal the need for improvements.

Osaka Metropolitan University scientists, in cooperation with researchers from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, have captured cosmic-ray extensive air showers with unprecedented precision using the prime-focus wide field camera mounted on the Subaru Telescope, situated atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Analyzing approximately 17,000 images captured between 2014 and 2020, they pinpointed 13 images containing extensive air showers, with a number of particle tracks far exceeding the usual count.

Researchers from the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, synthesize a two-center zinc complex that absorbs visible light as a solid and in solution.

Observations during two flybys by the Mio spacecraft as part of the BepiColombo International Mercury Exploration Project have revealed that chorus waves occur quite locally in the dawn sector of Mercury. Mercury's magnetic field is about 1% of that of Earth, and it was unclear whether chorus waves would be generated like on Earth. The present study reveals that the chorus waves are the driving source of Mercury’s X-ray auroras, whose mechanism was not understood.

Hunting for supermassive black holes, Coastal survival at risk, Calcium and dead cell clean-up, Two naps are better than one & Pineapple leaf prosthetics. Read all in the latest Editor's Choice.

Acoels have been found to host a wide diversity of symbiotic, photosynthetic microalgae.

Researchers from Osaka University have developed a data-driven AI algorithm for controlling the heating and cooling of an office building. The system does not require ambient sensors or specific knowledge of the building’s rooms. During heating operations, the system was able to achieve energy savings of up to 30%, which can represent significant reductions to cost and environmental impact.

Insect cyborgs may sound like something straight out of the movies, but hybrid insect computer robots, as they are scientifically called, could pioneer a new future for robotics. It involves using electrical stimuli to control an insect’s movement. Now, an international research group has conducted a study on the relationship between electrical stimulation in stick insects' leg muscles and the resulting torque (the twisting force that causes the leg to move).

Friction, an everyday phenomenon, has perplexed scientists for centuries. Though extensively researched, our　understanding remains fragmented, primarily due to the multifaceted interactions that span across varying scales.　Achieving an accurate grasp of the precise contact conditions between objects has been a longstanding challenge, a feat recently made possible through advancements in scanning probe microscopy.

The annual burning of crop residue in India causes widespread air pollution, particularly in the northwestern regions. A group of international researchers has used low-cost yet reliable instruments to gauge the effects of air pollution in these areas, making it the first quantitative study of its kind.

Researchers at Osaka Metropolitan University have succeeded in printing uniformly sized droplets with a diameter of approximately 100 µm using a liquid film of fluorescent ink. This ink, with a viscosity roughly 100 times that of water, was irradiated with an optical vortex, resulting in prints of exceptional positional accuracy at the micrometer scale.

The authors discovered a shorter isoform of Rubicon called RUBCN100, which enhances autophagy in B cells.

The authors identified a structure in the circadian mRNA Period2 that affects the sleep-wake cycle. The results indicate how translation and post-transcriptional processes influence the body’s internal clock and its impact on sleep patterns.

Concave, umbrella-like metal complexes provide space to enable the largest molecular rotor operational in the solid-state.

A team led by researchers at SANKEN (The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research), at Osaka University has used neutron crystallography to image all of the atoms in a radical intermediate of a copper amine oxidase enzyme. They disclosed previously unknown details, such as precise conformational changes, that help to explain the enzyme's biochemistry. This work might help researchers engineer enzymes that facilitate unusual chemistry or are highly efficient at room temperature that are useful in chemical industry.

An international group of researchers have discovered a previously unknown species of large foraminifer, shedding new light on the ecological evolution and biodiversity of coral reefs in the Ryukyu Islands.

Researchers led by Osaka University developed a novel genome editing technique known as NICER, which results in significantly fewer off-target mutations than CRISPR/Cas9 editing. The technique uses a different type of enzyme that makes single-stranded “nicks” in the DNA. Repair of these nicks is more efficient and accurate than repair of double-strand breaks caused by the current CRISPR/Cas9 editing. This technique represents a novel approach for the treatment of genetic diseases caused by heterozygous mutations.

Lab-based studies reveal how carbon atoms diffuse on the surface of interstellar ice grains to form complex organic compounds, crucial to reveal the chemical complexity in the universe.