Proteins are fundamental biomolecules that perform a broad range of vital functions within the human body. They serve as an essential structural and functional component of cells, tissues and organs participating in processes ranging from basic cellular mechanisms such as DNA replication to complex physiological functions, including those involved in visual perception. In the visual system, proteins are important and crucial for light detection, the biosynthesis of photopigments in photoreceptor cells and intracellular signal transduction. Dysregulation or any kind of mutation in these proteins can disrupt the normal vision process and lead to various vision-related diseases. Recently, researchers from the Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences – International Centre for Translational Eye Research (ICTER) described the structural insight into the RBP3 protein improving our understanding of the visual cycle and its connection to retinal diseases.

Multicolored optical switching is essential for potential advancements in telecommunication and optical computing. However, most materials typically exhibit only single-colored optical nonlinearity under intense laser illumination. To address this, researchers have demonstrated that exciting the multivalley semiconductor germanium with a single-color pulse laser enables ultrafast transparency switching across multiple wavelengths. This breakthrough could drive the development of ultrafast optical switches for future multiband communication and optical computing.

POSTECH research team develops a new alloy that maintains tensile properties from -196℃ to 600℃.

A team from the Universitat Jaume I in Castelló, led by researcher Eva Falomir Ventura, coordinator of the Chemistry for Medicine (JMC) group, has achieved promising results in testing molecules previously designed and synthesised by the same group. These molecules have the potential to block cancer cell growth by altering key microenvironment properties, such as immunity, inflammation, and the formation of new blood vessels.

An Osaka Metropolitan University researcher has developed an autonomous driving algorithm for agricultural robots used for greenhouse cultivation and other farm work.

Recent studies have revealed that electrons passing through chiral molecules exhibit significant spin polarization--a phenomenon known as Chirality-Induced Spin Selectivity (CISS). This effect stems from a nontrivial coupling between electron motion and spin within chiral structures, yet quantifying it remains challenging.

To address this, researchers at the Institute for Molecular Science (IMS) /SOKENDAI investigated an organic superconductor with chiral symmetry. They focused on nonreciprocity related to spin-orbit coupling and observed an exceptionally a large nonreciprocal transport in the superconducting state, far exceeding theoretical predictions. Remarkably, this was found in an organic material with inherently weak spin-orbit coupling, suggesting that chirality significantly enhances charge current-spin coupling with inducing mixed spin-triplet Cooper pairs.