A Japanese superconducting quantum computer, designed and built with homegrown components and software, went live on July 28th at The University of Osaka’s Center for Quantum Information and Quantum Biology (QIQB). This achievement signifies Japan's technological prowess in quantum computing, demonstrating the nation's capacity to design, manufacture, and integrate a complete quantum system. Visitors to Expo 2025, Osaka, Kansai, Japan will have the opportunity to interact with this cutting-edge technology through a dedicated exhibit.

Centromeres hold the arms of chromosomes together and initiate their separation into the daughter cells during cell division. Recently, ‘satellites’ or tandem repeats were believed to stabilize the centromere’s position and size. Now, researchers from Okayama University have reported structural organization of centromeres in Welsh onion, onion, and garlic. Their findings suggest that centromeres may not be static but rather vary significantly in their size, DNA sequence organization, and mobility even in closely related species.

Targeted drug delivery to tumors is crucial for effective and safe treatment of cancer. In a recent breakthrough, researchers from Okayama University have developed a pH-responsive nanomaterial using graphene oxide and polyglycerol for cancer drug delivery. The surface of the developed nanomaterial changes its charge in an acidic tumor environment and enables uptake of drugs by cancer cells while avoiding immune clearance. This innovative approach opens doors to precision-driven and more efficient cancer therapies.

A machine learning method developed by researchers from Institute of Science Tokyo, the Institute of Statistical Mathematics, and other institutions accurately predicts liquid crystallinity of polymers with 96% accuracy. They screened over 115,000 polyimides and selected six candidates with a high probability of exhibiting liquid crystallinity. Upon successful synthesis and experimental analyses, these liquid crystalline polyimides demonstrated thermal conductivities up to 1.26 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹, accelerating the discovery of efficient thermal materials for next-generation electronics.

Osaka Metropolitan University researchers have determined the peak time of medaka reproductive behavior in a laboratory environment and found this behavior is 3 to 4 hours later than in a near-natural environment.

Speculative decoding has emerged as a potential solution for speeding up inferences using large language models (LLMs). However, training-based speculative methods require the creation of draft models that typically lack generalizability, whereas training-free speculative frameworks offer only limited speed-up gains. SPECTRA, a novel speculative framework developed by researchers from JAIST, accelerates LLM inferences without additional training and surpasses existing speculative decoding methods across diverse functionalities, making it a practical tool for real-world LLM applications.

Kyoto, Japan -- Northern fur seals are long-distance migrants, moving seasonally between breeding colonies and wintering grounds. After leaving breeding colonies in autumn, they travel south for winter foraging, returning in early spring. This allows them to avoid sea ice and harsh conditions in northern waters while relocating to ice-free areas.

The southward migration of these seals has been relatively well-documented. One of their primary wintering areas is the Sea of Japan, where they can find abundant prey. They have also been reported to damage fishing gear and remove catch directly from nets, potentially competing with local fisheries.

The seals' northbound migration from wintering grounds back to breeding colonies in spring remains poorly understood, however. Factors such as tag loss, limited battery life, and the difficulty of capturing animals at sea pose particular challenges.

Many animals, including humans, can flexibly modulate their responsiveness to sounds according to different situations. This ability allows them to optimize the use of their limited brain resources by prioritizing the processing of critical information at any given moment. In line with this idea, a research team at Nagoya University in Japan has demonstrated that when female fruit flies are eager to mate, dopaminergic signals can influence their sensitivity to sounds, including courtship sounds from males, which are an essential source of information for species reproduction.

We have proposed a new therapeutic effect of CAR-T-cell therapy through a lymphoma case treated with bispecific antibody (BsAb). Memory-formed T cells had been developed in the body after CAR-T-cell therapy. Interestingly, bystander CAR-negative CD8⁺ T cells in the CAR-T-cell product successfully expanded in periphery and lymph node, and mostly propagated after treatment with BsAb, which resulted in complete remission. Therefore, such sequential approach using CAR-T/BsAb might have a potential to further enhance antitumor effects.

A group at Niigata University (Japan) has investigated the pathogenic mechanisms of nephrotic syndrome, one of the most prevalent kidney diseases, which presents severe proteinuria, and revealed that elevated activity of cdc42, a small GTPase, caused by anti-nephrin antibody is a critical initiation event leading to proteinuria. The major parts of nephrotic syndrome are reported to be induced by autoantibody against nephrin. Suppression of cdc42 activity could be a promising therapy for nephrotic syndrome.