Across cultures, the way we soothe an unsettled baby tends to look much the same: hold them close and gently rub their back. The act is so familiar that it's easy to forget how little is actually understood about why it works.

A research team led by researchers at Toho University in Japan has now put that everyday act to the test, comparing several spots a caregiver might stroke. One stood out: the back. Only back stroking reliably quieted infants' movements, and the same held true in newborn mice. In the mice, where the team could look in much more detail, this calming response turned out not to be built in at birth: it developed only in pups that had received normal maternal care, and it depended in part on a gene active in the hypothalamus, Cacna1b. The findings appear in Communications Biology.

In human infants, the team tracked one shared sign of calm — a drop in spontaneous movement. In mouse pups, back stroking did more: it slowed the heart, sped the onset of sleep, and blunted the surge of stress hormones that normally follows separation from the mother.

Researchers at the Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI) at Kanazawa University have uncovered the hidden mechanism behind a molecular switch—a molecule that can change between different structural states in response to a chemical signal. Their study, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, reveals how molecules can gradually switch between alternative states, a process that could help scientists design future molecular machines, smart materials, and molecular information technologies. To make the discovery, Shigehisa Akine and colleagues created a specially designed molecular cage that changes shape unusually slowly. This allowed them to observe, for the first time, the sequence of molecular events that occurs after the molecule receives a chemical input. The study provides one of the clearest views yet of how molecular recognition triggers structural change and demonstrates that the response speed of a molecular system can itself be engineered through molecular design. 

Researchers from the Cognitive Neurotechnology Unit, Vision and Action Laboratory, and Visual Perception and Cognition Laboratory in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Toyohashi University of Technology have conducted a psychophysical study using virtual reality (VR) to investigate how humans flexibly use exploratory behaviors—such as changing their viewpoint by moving their head and manipulating objects with their hands—when discriminating the material properties of objects. Participants wore a head-mounted display and freely observed and manipulated virtual objects while judging whether each object appeared more metallic or more glass-like. The results showed that the more ambiguous the material was between metal and glass, the more actively participants explored it by moving their heads and hands. Moreover, individual differences in these exploratory behaviors were associated with a tendency to discriminate material properties more accurately. The researchers also found that participants flexibly switched their exploration strategies depending on the viewing context: they relied more on head movements to change their viewpoint when multiple objects could be compared simultaneously, whereas they relied more on hand movements to manipulate the object when only a single object was available for observation. These findings suggest that human material perception may rely not only on passively seeing an object, but also on actively seeking the visual information needed for material discrimination by moving the head and hands.

The study was published in Journal of Vision on June 8, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1167/jov.26.6.4

A non-genetically modified brewing yeast that accumulates high levels of ornithine has been developed, providing a new strategy for value-added fermentation. Using traditional microbial breeding, whole-genome sequencing, and structural modeling, the study identifies a single ARG6 mutation that enhances ornithine production while preserving normal brewing performance. The findings establish a practical route toward ornithine-enriched craft beer and other functional fermented beverages, while bridging natural microbial resources with modern fermentation biotechnology.

Quantum mechanics and gravity are two fundamental theories in physics that govern the natural world. However, uniting these two principles into the single theory of “quantum gravity” has yet to be done. Now, researchers have developed a theoretical framework that outlines what observations can distinguish between classical and quantum descriptions of gravity. The framework provides researchers a roadmap for designing experiments to find answers to one of the most sought-after theories in modern science.

A long-term study found that post-COVID symptoms were most common during the Delta period and declined during the Omicron periods. Children consistently showed far lower rates than adults across all periods. Yet some adults continued to experience symptoms beyond two years, highlighting the continuing need for long-term support.

How did a large crab end up trapped inside a plastic bottle with an opening smaller than its body? Hiroshima University researchers investigated this unusual marine mystery, revealing a lesser-known impact of marine plastic pollution on crustaceans.

Oxidative addition is often carried out using transition metals and is challenging to perform at centers of more abundant main-group elements, particularly group 13 elements. Researchers at The University of Osaka, led by Takuya Kodama, achieved oxidative addition of an aryl iodide to a group 13 (gallium) center. The reaction is initiated by visible light. The reaction proceeds via a novel mechanism, photoinduced disproportionation, whereby photoexcited gallium exchanges electrons with ground-state gallium.