Disaster waste from earthquakes and tsunamis can severely delay recovery in coastal communities, but existing predictive models often ignore how damaged transportation networks can hinder waste disposal efforts. In a recent study, researchers developed a probabilistic framework that jointly models waste disposal and road network systems under seismic and tsunami hazards. By accounting for their interdependencies and restoration dynamics, the framework offers more realistic estimates of cleanup times and highlights key strategies to improve resilience.

Researchers developed a safe and simple sublimation method that produces sheets of atomically-thin semiconductor crystals. This could streamline the process for creating faster, more efficient computers.

A group from Nagoya University in Japan has succeeded in performing a previously difficult-to-perform reaction to build the bases that make the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons used in organic LEDs, transistors, and solar cell technology. Their technique allows the creation of these complex molecules in a new, cleaner, more efficient way by linking multiple aromatic rings together with a carbon-to-carbon bond.

Osaka Metropolitan University researchers found that solvent polarity significantly affects how well drugs can be loaded into metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), a promising drug delivery system. The study highlights the overlooked role of solvents in drug delivery and offers insights that could improve treatment precision and reduce side effects.

Aichi, Japan—Researchers from the Institute for Molecular Science (IMS)/SOKENDAI and Kyushu University have uncovered the molecular mechanism that drives the "ticking" of the circadian clock in cyanobacteria. Their study reveals how a clock protein called KaiC controls chemical reactions with remarkable precision, acting like the hand of a clock that waits, then moves at just the right moment. The findings were published in PNAS Nexus on April 28, 2025.

A research team led by Dr. Keisuke Obara, Dr. Kento Yoshioka, and Professor Yoshio Tanaka from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Toho University has revealed that ferulic acid (FA), a polyphenol abundant in rice bran, suppresses intestinal smooth muscle contractions by inhibiting voltage-dependent calcium channels. This finding may open new avenues for dietary-based strategies to manage intestinal motility disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

A research team led by Professor Eiji Inoue from the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Toho University conducted a study on the Japanese weasel (Mustela itatsi). The Japanese weasel is an endemic species to Japan, but it was intentionally introduced to a number of non-native islands and its naturalization on some islands has resulted in severe negative consequences to the local ecosystems. 

A surgeon can excise breast cancer from the body, but even the most skilled scalpel may not be able to remove every cell — especially when the cells have spread from the original disease site elsewhere in the body. This proliferation and migration of breast cancer cells involves many still unknown molecular means, but researchers at Hiroshima University have elucidated at least one mechanism, involving protein receptors that bind to one another. With the discovery, they may have also uncovered how short chains of protein building blocks could serve as a novel anticancer drug.

Researchers from Fujita Health University have found that chronic hyponatremia (CHN), a condition of prolonged low blood sodium, induces anxiety-like behaviors in mice. CHN disrupts serotonin and dopamine levels and reduces extracellular signal-regulated kinase phosphorylation in the amygdala, a key brain region for emotion. These changes are reversible with sodium level correction. The findings suggest that CHN directly affects brain function and support early diagnosis and treatment to improve mental well-being in affected individuals.

Hyperthermia, a cancer treatment using controlled heat to kill tumor cells, shows promise but faces limitations due to some tumor cells' unexpected heat resistance. Researchers from Japan have now discovered that high cholesterol levels in cancer cell membranes act as a protective barrier, shielding against heat-induced membrane breakdown. When cholesterol was depleted using drugs, previously heat-resistant tumors became vulnerable to hyperthermia treatment, opening new possibilities for personalized cancer therapy targeting cholesterol levels to improve outcomes.