Researchers from Japan successfully parallelized both the backward narrowing and transition subsumption steps in the powerful analyzer Maude-NPA for cryptographic protocol analysis

A joint research team from Japan has observed "heavy fermions," electrons with dramatically enhanced mass, exhibiting quantum entanglement governed by the Planckian time – the fundamental unit of time in quantum mechanics. This discovery opens up exciting possibilities for harnessing this phenomenon in solid-state materials to develop a new type of quantum computer.

Researchers at Tohoku University developed a method that uses an abundant, renewable biomass to ultimately create environmentally-friendly fuels.

In Indonesia, a research team from University of Tsukuba and other institutions studied genetic diversity and structure using both natural populations and plantations of teak, a valuable tree species utilized for furniture and various other applications. The results indicated a strong correlation between genetic diversity and temperature. In addition, the team assessed the adaptability of teak populations ranging from India to Indochina in relation to climate change and found that populations in southern India exhibit high adaptability.

A new empirical study conducted in collaboration with University of Tsukuba and other institutions revealed that over the past 50 years, bird species that expanded their populations on the mainland have colonized 10 islands in the Izu Islands. However, bird taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity has declined on nearly all of these islands. On four islands where predators—Japanese weasels—were introduced, the degradation in bird communities was particularly pronounced. This degradation may have spread throughout the Izu Islands owing to reduced bird species populations that move between the islands.

Astronomers have observed an explosion in space that is pushing back against and influencing the baby star which triggered the explosion in the first place. If explosions like this one are common around young stars, then the young stars and their planets are exposed to a harsher environment than previously thought.

Gram-negative bacteria are highly resistant to antibiotics due to their robust outer membrane (OM), which is built and maintained by specialized molecular machinery. In a recent study, researchers from Japan uncovered how a small protein called LptM stabilizes the LptDE complex, which is essential for proper OM function. Their structural and biochemical analyses revealed how LptM fine-tunes the structure of LptDE during maturation, offering key insights that may support future antibiotics targeting this complex.

The evolutionary success of our species may have hinged on minute changes to our brain biochemistry after we diverged from the lineage leading to Neanderthals and Denisovans about half a million years ago 

Two of these tiny changes that set modern humans apart from Neanderthals and Denisovans affect the stability and genetic expression of the enzyme adenylosuccinate lyase, or ADSL. This enzyme is involved in the biosynthesis of purine, one of the fundamental building blocks of DNA, RNA, and other important biomolecules. In a study to be published in PNAS, researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), Japan and the Max Plank Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany have discovered that these changes may play an important role in our behavior, contributing new pieces to the great puzzle of who we humans are and where we come from. “Through our study, we have gotten clues into the functional consequences of some of the molecular changes that set modern humans apart from our ancestors,” says first author Dr. Xiang-Chun Ju of the Human Evolutionary Genomics Unit at OIST.  

Kyoto, Japan -- Opioids like morphine are widely used in medical practice due to their powerful pain-relieving effects. However, they carry the risk of serious adverse effects such as respiratory depression and drug dependence. For this reason, Japan has strict regulations in place to ensure that these medications are prescribed only by authorized physicians.

In the United States, however, the opioid OxyContin was once prescribed frequently triggering a surge in the misuse of synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. As a result, the number of deaths caused by opioid overdose surpassed 80,000 in 2023, escalating into a national public health crisis now referred to as the "opioid crisis".

Opioids may soon have a rival, however. A team of researchers at Kyoto University has recently discovered a novel analgesic, or pain reliever, which exerts its effect through an entirely different mechanism. Clinical development of their drug ADRIANA is currently underway as part of an international collaborative effort.

While Japan is renowned among mountaineers for its challenging mountain terrain, it is also known for its high number of mountaineering accidents. Therefore, researchers developed a deep learning model that uses contextual information such as time of day, weather, mountain characteristics, and climbers’ details to accurately identify and predict four major categories of climbing accidents. This enables climbers and rescue teams to be better informed and prepared with safety measures at the planning stage. While Japan is renowned among mountaineers for its challenging mountain terrain, it is also known for its high number of mountaineering accidents. Therefore, researchers developed a deep learning model that uses contextual information such as time of day, weather, mountain characteristics, and climbers’ details to accurately identify and predict four major categories of climbing accidents. This enables climbers and rescue teams to be better informed and prepared with safety measures at the planning stage.