A research team led by Professor Jo-Woon Chong of SKKU, in collaboration with Texas Tech University, has identified—through EEG analysis—the impact of fragrance on consumers’ emotions, memory, and deep emotional connections with luxury brands.

Researchers at Hokkaido University studied 56 japonica rice cultivars from across Japan and discovered that they contain unique beneficial fats.

In theTibetan Plateau, organophosphate tri-esters (tri-OPEs) and di-OPEs in soil and biota of a typical terrestrial food chain (plant–plateau pika–eagle) have been simultaneously identified with trophic dilution behavior. Differential metabolism—weak in plants versus strong in plateau pika and eagle—likely drove this pattern, highlighting metabolism's key role in OPE trophic transfer.

An Osaka Metropolitan University-led research team used hourly precipitation data from 1981 to 2020 and spatial modeling to predict extreme precipitation events for the next 100 years in Japan.

A research team from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has developed GrainBot, an AI-enabled toolkit that automatically extracts and quantifies multiple microstructural features from microscopy images. Designed to meet the growing need for data-driven and autonomous research workflows in materials science, the tool provides a systematic method for converting complex image information into quantitative data, thereby accelerating the discovery and development of next-generation materials.

Accurate crowd monitoring is crucial for guiding emergency evacuations. Non-repetitive scanning LiDAR systems are affordable and offer wide coverage, but their sparse and discontinuous depth data limit practical use. A study from Doshisha University introduces a color-guided depth completion method to reconstruct missing 3D information. The researchers also created a simulated dataset to support the evaluation of future depth reconstruction approaches.

Researchers at Kumamoto University have announced the world’s first rum produced using the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces japonicus, marking a breakthrough in fermentation science and craft spirits innovation. The new product, “JAPONICUS RHUM AGRICOLE,” goes on sale February 27, 2026.

> Developed a novel technology (PL-Display) that enables high-precision, high-speed drug target discovery without using cells

> By firmly immobilizing candidate peptide and their coding DNA onto a magnetic bead, highly accurate screening is possible

> A peptide found in only one out of 10,000 can be detected in a single screening

> Efficiently detect target peptides from a library of approximately 1.7 million random peptides

> Efficiently concentrate the target by amplifying the DNA encoding the detected peptide via PCR

Plastic products are ubiquitous in our food supply chain, shedding microplastics into every part of the human ecosystem. As they degrade, microplastics break down into even smaller fragments called nanoplastics — tiny particles that can affect biological molecules in ways not fully understood. In a new study, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign examined what happens when nanoplastics interact with Salmonella, potentially affecting food safety and human health.