Kyoto, Japan -- Amphibian larvae -- often known as tadpoles -- exhibit a behavior known as social aggregation, where they gather together as a way to avoid predators. These interactions are evidence of their association preferences, or their tendency to recognize members of their own species. Some varieties of tadpoles have even shown a preference for their siblings.

These association preferences and kin recognition in tadpoles have become a key topic in understanding the evolution of social behavior. Recent studies have suggested that microorganisms may be influencing communication through animal body odors, indicating the possibility that pond water rich in microbes may also affect social behavior. Yet whether this sociality is innate, shaped by early life experiences, or the aquatic environment, has remained unclear.

This uncertainty motivated Kazuko Hase at Kyoto University to investigate how early-life social experiences and the aquatic environment influence the development of sociality.

New Reactor Developed to Efficiently Enable Solid Organic Waste Solubilization and Methane Production by Anaerobic Microorganisms

Kinesin is a vital molecular motor that transports cargoes along microtubule tracks in the cell, but atomic structural dynamics of its guiding neck region have remained unresolved. Researchers performed massive all-atom molecular dynamics simulations on the supercomputer Fugaku to accurately model this neck region and observed its physical interactions with the microtubule surface. The study revealed that physical contact between the neck region and the track surface directs the motor to step forward with a counterclockwise bias, providing a structural foundation for understanding fundamental intracellular transport mechanics. 

Nephrotic syndrome is caused when the filtering system in the kidneys is damaged, allowing large amounts of protein to leak into the urine. It is usually treated with steroids, but in some cases steroids alone are insufficient, and long-term steroid use has serious side effects. Some patients develop a difficult-to-treat form of the disease which returns when the steroid dose is reduced. For these patients, the intravenous drug rituximab (RTX) has been found to be effective. RTX removes B cells from the blood, a type of immune cell thought to contribute to the disease. Now, researchers from Nagoya University in Japan have found that the drug does more than eliminate B cells. It also triggers a reaction in another immune cell type, T cells, increasing their energy production and lowering cell stress in patients who respond to RTX treatment. These changes were largely absent in non-responders. The findings, published in iScience, identify a previously unknown link between B cells and T cells that could help predict how a patient with nephrotic syndrome will respond to RTX. 
 

A new theoretical framework reveals how thermoelectric materials, electrodes, and heat leakage work together to determine the time-dependent response of thermoelectric systems. By identifying a common scaling law governing this behavior, the study provides a new basis for optimizing materials, electrode structures, and measurement conditions as an integrated system.

Kyoto, Japan -- As tiny as they are, marine plankton play pivotal roles in biogeochemical cycles and in sustaining aquatic ecosystems, producing around half of the oxygen on Earth and also acting as carbon sinks. When they die, their decomposing cells produce dissolved organic carbon that can be transformed and stored in the ocean for thousands of years, so understanding plankton mortality is essential for uncovering the mechanisms behind marine ecosystems.

However, assessing the death of a particular plankton population out of a community consisting of hundreds of coexisting species poses a complex challenge. A team of researchers at Kyoto University addressed this by focusing on viral infection and cell lysis, the process through which a cell's membrane breaks down and releases its genetic information into the environment.

First, the team developed a method for measuring plankton lysis by growing cultures of two phytoplankton species, diatoms and raphidophytes, in a seawater-based medium, and then extracting rRNA and quantifying it using digital PCR. Since rRNA released into seawater degrades over time, the researchers added a culture of spike-in ribosomes to the medium and measured the degradation rate constant. The resulting flux model incorporated both changes in host cell-free rRNA and the degradation constant, making it possible to accurately assess the rate of cell lysis.

When tiny devices called MEMS (used in microphones, biosensors) undergo physical stress, their performance is compromised. Researchers found a new way to track this stress using a sensor that is part of the device.

Many cutting-edge technologies rely on molecules that can be switched on and off with light, but making them respond efficiently to visible light without losing stability has long been a challenge. Researchers at Tohoku University, working with Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, solved this by attaching a "molecular antenna" that captures visible light and funnels the energy directly into the photoswitch, achieving some of the highest visible-light sensitivities ever reported.

Chiba University and a Finnish wireless power company will study how wireless power behaves inside an enclosed space as devices enter, leave, and change operating conditions.

Researchers at University of Tsukuba analyzed the genetic makeup of Eleusine indica (goosegrass, known in Japan as "ohishiba") growing on Nishinoshima, a volcanic island located approximately 130-km northwest of Chichijima, Ogasawara Islands. Their findings suggest that the species most likely originated in tropical regions and reached Nishinoshima via Okinawa and the Ogasawara Islands via long-distance dispersal by seabirds. Their study provides rare evidence of plant colonization on newly formed oceanic islands and the development of ecosystems.