Science

Mathematician Yukari Ito was excited at first to work from home. There was no need to commute to her office at the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe, where she is professor, and she could attend seminars by mathematicians around the world from her living room. But there are also challenges, so she hopes some things will go back to the way they used to be.

Researchers aim to streamline the time- and resource-intensive process of screening ligands during catalyst design by using virtual ligands.

A recent summertime climate pattern could be driving co-occurring European heatwaves and large-scale wildfires over Siberia, Canada and Alaska.

The Global Navigation Satellite System associated with a Japanese cell phone carrier can enhance monitoring of crustal deformation changes for earthquake early warning models.

Giants in History: Roseli Ocampo-Friedmann (23 November 1937 – 4 September 2005) was a Filipino-American scientist whose research focused on cyanobacteria and microorganisms that inhabit extreme environments.

- New HPHAC analogues with an embedded nonbenzenoid aromatic ring have been synthesized. - The newly synthesized HPHACs exhibit multistep redox properties and their dicationic species showed an aromatic nature based on macrocyclic conjugation. - Methylation on the nonbenzenoid aromatic ring resulted in the development of "antiaromaticity".

A research team led by the National Institute for Physiological Sciences and joined by Hokkaido University explored the role of pain neurons in the regulation of endotoxic death. They found that peptide named Reg3γ acts as a pain neuron-enriched brain-targeted hormone that protects the host from endotoxic death.

Scientists develop a method to genetically label neurons with a single gene of interest in mice by combining the anterograde transsynaptic spread of adeno-associated virus serotype 1 (AAV1) with intersectional gene expression. In two distinct circuits: the retina/primary visual cortex to the superior colliculus and the bilateral motor cortex to the dorsal striatum, injections of AAV1 expressing either Cre or Flpo recombinases and the Cre/Flpo double-dependent AAV into two upstream regions and the downstream region, respectively, were used to label postsynaptic neurons receiving inputs from the two upstream regions.

A team at Japan’s Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI), at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) is conducting evidence-based outreach to demonstrate why science communication training is so important, with an aim of encouraging other higher education and research institutions to follow its lead.

Device designers at the University of Tokyo are developing cheap and accessible ways to monitor and explore the sea.

A surprising tree-inspired discovery is helping scientists design surfaces that encourage different liquids to move in varying directions.

Dr Hou Wai-kai, Associate Professor at the Department of Psychology (PS), The Education University of Hong Kong, has been elected a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science (APS) for his outstanding contribution to the discipline. 

Giants in History: Gopalasamudram Narayanan Ramachandran (8 October 1922 – 7 April 2001) is best known for developing the Ramachandran plot to understand the structure of short chains of amino acids, known as peptides.

Our visual processing is facilitated by spaces near the hand in a process known as hand proximity attention. Using a visual phenomenon called the flash-lag effect, researchers showed that proprioceptive information of a hand contributed to hand proximity attention.

Scientists demonstrate an optical trapping technique using nanotextured black silicon that can efficiently trap polymer chains. By adjusting the laser intensity, these “optical tweezers” can control the florescence color emitted through a local concentration of a perylene-modified polymer solution. From a low intensity blue to high intensity orange, this reversible and fully remote technology can almost reach the entire RGB spectrum.

With the aid of mathematics, materials chemistry enables dimension travel, unveiling that all properties of materials are governed by their dimension.

A Detailed comparative study on the structures and electrical properties of related insulators and superconductors

Induction into the Hall of Master Academic Clinicians is the highest accolade for clinical faculty at the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre. Exemplary clinical faculty members are selected by a special committee for their subject matter mastery, academic excellence and exceptional mentoring for Duke-NUS students.

Scientists have developed a prototype sensor that could help doctors rapidly measure adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and lactate levels in blood samples from patients, aiding in the rapid assessment of the severity of some diseases.

Using electricity, a new method offers the possibility of recycling CO2 while also performing a notoriously difficult reaction, producing compounds potentially useful for drug development.

In a recent study published in the journal ACS Catalysis researchers from Kanazawa University describe novel scanning electrochemical cell microscopy measurements to determine sites of photoelectrochemical activity in titanium dioxide nanotubes.

Giants in History: Barry Paw (29 August 1962 – 28 December 2017) was a biologist and oncologist born in Myanmar who discovered several novel genes and their functions in red blood cells.

This is a novel study that attempted to construct a pH-sensitive delivery system into T cells and their subsets using carboxy-terminal Phe- and CHex-modified dendrimers with different structures, i.e. PAMAM-CHex-Phe and PAMAM-Phe-CHex. The findings contribute to the development of nanoplatforms for direct delivery to T cells to control the functions of T cells, which play key roles in cancer immunotherapy. This is the first report on direct delivery into T cells using pH-sensitive DDS.

Simulations have led to the fabrication of a polymer-DNA gel that could be used in tissue regeneration and robotics.

Through numerical simulations, a researcher details the discovery of a new isolated skyrmion with a half-integer topological quantum number in the ferromagnetic phase of the magnetic quantum fluid Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). The new skyrmion is generated by applying a spin current to a magnetic domain wall and it has an eccentric (off-center) spin singularity inside it.

Helping elevate the careers of over 50 women researchers, the partnership has recognized prize-winning science from more than 20 countries in the Global South since 2013

Low volcanic temperature ushered in global cooling and thriving dinosaurs, Broccoli compound induces cell death in yeast, A single molecule makes big splash in quantum mechanics, Dengue virus makes mosquitos bite more often, and Asia Research News: How it all began, all in the February's Editor's Choice

Giants in History: Eminent Filipina scientist and educator Clara Lim-Sylianco (18 August 1925 – 23 July 2013) is remembered for her extensive research on mutagens – often-carcinogenic agents that permanently alter genetic materials such as DNA – antimutagens and bioorganic mechanisms.

The Sanriku Coast - which includes present day Iwate and parts of Aomori and Miyagi - has been prone to tsunamis throughout its history. Analyses of tsunami deposits along the coast, however, haven’t always provided conclusive findings. Now, a research team has utilized a new radiocarbon dating method to clarify the region’s tsunami history and better understand the frequency at which these disasters occur.

Researchers from Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo find that the occurrence of red snow is closely tied to the length of the snow melt season and new snowfall events