Researchers at Tohoku University found a method to break down specific contaminants in water in order to help replenish one of our most precious resources: fresh water.

Osaka Metropolitan University researchers observed medaka raised in a close-to-natural environment for 24 hours straight and found out when the fish’s spawning and courtship behavior peaked.

Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan found that the brains of male mosquitoes respond to a wider range of sounds than females and have more diverse responses. The research may explain why mosquito traps often underperform: male mosquitoes respond not just to simple wingbeat sounds but to complex acoustic cues that current traps fail to replicate. 

Organoids, lab-grown 3D miniatures derived from patient tumors, are shedding new light on why some esophageal cancers resist chemotherapy. Researchers at Institute of Science Tokyo (Science Tokyo) used these organoids to pinpoint the molecular drivers of resistance and identified fedratinib as a potential drug. Their findings offer fresh hope for patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, one of the deadliest forms of cancer, by paving the way for more effective, personalized therapies.

Guaiazulene is a compound that gives off a beautiful blue colour, and it is often found in topical creams for skincare. It has also been touted as a potential food coloring agent. Yet this has been stymied because of its poor water solubility and color degradation under acidic conditions. A group of researchers overcame this common stumbling block by introducing guaiazulene into a hydrophilic poly(allylamine). 

Researchers from the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, have discovered the importance of the microscopic structural ordering of water in ice nucleation, in which an ice crystal forms and grows near a solid surface. The nucleation pathway depends strongly on surface hydrophilicity, with intermediate values of hydrophilicity corresponding to the highest nucleation rates. These findings demonstrate how surfaces can be used to control crystallization, which could have profound industrial applications.

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A research team from the Urban and Transportation Systems Laboratory, Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology, conducted research on the impact of digital services alternative usage on equity and sustainability in cities. The study reveals how the use of digital services, such as online shopping and remote work, interacts with social networks and demographics to affect residential location choice and urban structure. The results of this research were published in the international academic journal "Sustainability".

When a water-based polymer solution dries, the liquid surface splits in uneven, unpredictable ways—a phenomenon called symmetry breaking. Using a natural polymer in a controlled drying setting, researchers from JAIST, Japan, identified that the irregular patterns in symmetry breaking don’t just form by chance but follow hidden physical rules. This discovery offers new insight into how asymmetric patterns in nature form and could impact fields from material design to biological development.

Potatoes produce a molecule that is converted by microbes and causes potato parasites to hatch. The Kobe University discovery of this three-way relationship not only adds a new perspective to how plants interact with their environment, it also opens an avenue for developing countermeasures against the parasite.