Kyoto, Japan -- Cases of Borna disease virus 1, or BoDV-1, are extremely rare in humans, but in those who develop disease the outcome is severe, almost always resulting in fatal encephalitis or inflammation in the brain. This zoonotic virus belongs to the order Mononegavirales, which includes the lethal viruses responsible for Ebola virus disease, measles, and rabies.

The nucleoprotein-RNA complex in these viruses protects its genomic RNA and supports viral RNA synthesis, so understanding the structure of this complex is essential to targeting viral replication. Structural characterization has been completed for several mononegavirus families that more commonly infect humans, but detailed information for the family Bornaviridae has not been sufficiently explored.

After their previous structural work on Ebola virus nucleoprotein-RNA complexes, a team of researchers from Kyoto University, Osaka Dental University, and Osaka Metropolitan University recognized this key unresolved question and collaborated to address it.

Precise intracellular transport is essential for neuronal function, yet the exact mechanism of selective cargo delivery by motor proteins remains unclear. Now, researchers from Japan have reported that distinct kinesin-2 motor protein assemblies have specific cargo preferences. Their report mentions that the KIF3B/B/KAP3 kinesin complex specifically transports TRIM46 to the axon initial segment of a neuron. This discovery reveals the underlying mechanism of transport specificity in neurons and may help understand transport defect-related disorders.

When the option is to adapt or starve, animals are no stranger to getting scrappy in the face of climate change. Researchers conducted fieldwork in East Antarctica, where they revealed an underdocumented link in the food web of the Southern Ocean: Adélie penguins and their shelled pteropod consumption. Shelled pteropods, specifically Thecosomata, are a suborder of free-swimming sea snails. The study aimed to better understand Adélie penguin foraging behaviour and, in doing so, provided the first clear video evidence of Adélie penguins actively feeding upon shelled pteropods during their foraging sessions.

Mercury released into the oceans affects marine environments worldwide. Traditionally, its distribution and quantity have been estimated using marine biogeochemical simulation models. A recent international study led by Japanese researchers analyzed blood mercury concentrations in more than 11,215 seabirds from 108 species, of which 659 newly collected samples and over 10,556 from previous studies. This is the first biologically based estimate of oceanic mercury distribution.

An Osaka Metropolitan University researcher investigated how multimodal travel affects daily physical activity in Senboku New Town, Osaka. The study found that combining Demand-Responsive Transport (DRT) with fixed-route buses was associated with an increase of approximately 1,730 steps per day, more than double the increase seen with DRT alone.

In 1972, a series of solar proton events occurred between the Apollo 16 and 17 missions. Had they coincided, astronauts would have been exposed to deadly particle radiation with very little warning and no shielding. As we return to the Moon, understanding these volatile events is increasingly urgent. 

Guided by a medieval Japanese poet and tree-ring analysis of buried cypress trees, researchers have achieved world-leading precision in carbon-14 measurements, finding evidence supporting the occurrence of a solar proton event dated to winter 1200 CE–spring 1201 CE. This research helps fill gaps in our knowledge of extreme space weather and its relation to solar cycles. 

As climate change intensifies harmful algal blooms worldwide, an international team led by Hiroshima University has developed a hybrid modeling approach that combines algal movement simulations, AI, and long-term monitoring data to sharpen forecasts of these bloom events—linked to environmental damage, mass fish die-offs, economic losses, and risks to human health.

When you build a structure, the materials matter. The poorer the materials, the less reliable  the structure. Databases are no different, and with the rise of AI-driven discovery, the importance of feeding highly reliable data has gained added salience. A new study has examined the database architecture being used in materials science to see how it impacts the reliability and vitality of research results.

Dragonflies have evolved special light-sensing proteins that let them see deeper red light than most animals. Researchers have now discovered that the mechanism of red vision is shared with humans and this ability comes from small molecular changes that could inspire new biomedical technologies.

Nagoya University researchers demonstrated that native soil bacteria, when treated with decoy molecules, can degrade non-native compounds, including persistent pollutants such as dioxins, without genetic modification.