Immune environments in most tongue cancer tumors help identify cases for effective treatment, report researchers from Institute of Science Tokyo. By profiling immune cell presence and activity in tumor samples from 87 patients, they identified five immunotypes, with most patients categorized in these immunotypes featuring low immune engagement. These findings explain why immune checkpoint inhibitors prove inefficacious in tongue cancer and suggest that immune-based classification could better guide personalized treatment strategies.

A study from Fujita Health University reveals that meal type, rather than meal sequence, significantly impacts how long people eat, how much they chew, and how fast they chew. Bento meals—typically eaten with chopsticks—led to longer mealtimes and more chewing than fast food like pizza. This is the first study to isolate meal structure as a key factor in eating speed, offering simple, practical strategies to combat obesity and promote mindful eating.

In a step towards engineering artificial cell membranes, researchers at Institute of Science Tokyo (Science Tokyo) used quartz crystal microbalance with energy dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) to study how DNA nanopores interact with lipid bilayers. Unlike conventional optical methods, QCM-D tracks changes in mass and viscosity in real time, offering unique mechanical insights into DNA–lipid interactions. This approach paves the way for designing DNA-based membrane technologies that modify the functionality of cell lipid membranes.  

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, precautionary measures were swiftly adopted. While the early pandemic effects were studied extensively, little is known about long-term impacts on vulnerable groups like the elderly. Researchers in Japan analyzed healthcare use and socioeconomic disparities among older adults during the prolonged pandemic. Their findings reveal both resilience and inequality—offering crucial insights into how healthcare systems can adapt to maintain access for aging populations during extended public health emergencies.

The Japan SciCom Forum (JSF) will host its 7th annual conference as a special joint event, the PCST Symposium Japan 2025, from November 11 to 13 at the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI), Institute of Science Tokyo. This marks the first PCST event in Japan, with a focus on “Strategic Development of Science Communication and Public Engagement in Asia.” The symposium will spotlight innovative, inclusive approaches to science communication in non-Western contexts and aim to strengthen a sustainable engagement ecosystem across the region.

Researchers at The University of Osaka have developed a groundbreaking energy-efficient and high-precision measurement system leveraging the inherent similarity between waveforms generated by the same type of signal source. Unlike black-box approaches such as generative AI, the system is built on the explicit theoretical framework of compressed sensing. This innovative approach drastically reduces the amount of data required for accurate signal reproduction, leading to significant energy savings. Demonstrated with an electroencephalogram (EEG) measuring system, the technology achieved world-leading energy efficiency using only commercially available electronic components, consuming a mere 72μW. This breakthrough paves the way for long-term, battery-powered wearable devices and self-powered, battery-free IoT devices that can operate on minimal energy harvested from the environment, with broad applications in healthcare, disaster prevention, and environmental monitoring.

Jellyfish cyborgs may sound like something straight out of science fiction. But harnessing jellyfishes’ natural locomotion provides an efficient and environmentally-friendly means to monitor coral reefs, track oil spills or observe climate change. Now,  a team from Tohoku University’s Department of Robotics has successfully modulated the swimming behavior of jellyfish using gentle electric pulses and generated a means of measuring it via AI. In doing so, they have created a gentle way to harness the powerful swimming mechanisms of jellyfish.

Certain 2D van der Waals bilayers, such as WTe₂ and h-BN, exhibit sliding ferroelectricity, yet its stability above room temperature remained unexplained. AIMR researchers developed a thermodynamic model linking this stability to monolayer stiffness. Their findings reveal a soft “sliding phonon” governing the phase transition, with implications for next-generation nanoelectronics.