A programmable microfluidic device developed at Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan, combines deterministic lateral displacement, a microfluidic technique that is used to separate particles according to their size, with temperature-responsive polymer micropillars to dynamically change the separation conditions along a single channel. Using this device, the researchers successfully separated multiple particle populations. Additionally, they efficiently isolated viable cancer cells, white blood cells, and red blood cells from diluted whole blood.

Laparoscopic gastrectomy is a well-established but technically demanding treatment against gastric cancer. Robotic gastrectomy, developed to overcome these limitations, has gained popularity in Japan since national health insurance coverage began in 2018. This study comparing matched patient pairs treated between 2023–2024 found that robotic gastrectomy reduced blood loss, conversions to open surgery, and hospital stays. Robotic distal gastrectomy also lowered complications and infections, supporting adoption to improve outcomes with minimally invasive surgery in Japan.

Plastic might be the last ingredient you would ever add to a cookie recipe. But a team of researchers is looking to change that. They’ve programmed yeasts to turn plastic and agricultural waste into edible proteins and flavoring molecules, creating a treat from trash. The technology not only offers a new upcycling method, but could also sustain life in disaster zones or manned deep-space missions. The researchers will present their results at ACS Fall 2026.

Green and blue spaces, such as woodlands and riversides, could provide a vital line of defence for cities facing increasingly hot summers, according to new research from the University of Surrey. 

Researchers led by Profs. ZENG Changgan and CHENG Guanghui from the University of Science and Technology of China of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with the collaborators, have demonstrated for the first time that the vacuum fluctuations can enhance superconductivity, a significant advance in the control of quantum states of matter.

In the animal kingdom, energy conservation is essential for survival. That’s why our brains have evolved to be extremely energy and resource efficient at storing and processing information. Since the 1980s, computational scientists have tried to mimic brain structure and function, but have not yet succeeded in creating functional, low-memory solutions that work in real-world scenarios. Published in Neuromorphic Computing & Engineering, a new fly brain-inspired algorithm developed by researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) demonstrates promise for achieving practical applications under realistic constraints. 

A research team at Kumamoto University has developed a new blood-based approach that could help detect breast cancer recurrence by looking beyond conventional genetic mutations and examining how DNA is packaged inside cells.

Foliar application of ZnO nanoparticles at booting outperforms ZnSO₄ in direct-seeded rice, simultaneously raising polished grain Zn, spikelets per panicle and 1000-grain weight while lowering amylose and chalkiness. Transcriptomics links these gains to upregulated α-amylase genes (OsAmy1C, OsRAmy1A) and suppressed cytokinin-degrading OsCKX2, revealing a nano-specific transcriptional rewiring that breaks the yield–quality trade-off.