Clinical Dohsa-hou, also called Dohsa-hou, is a Japanese psychotherapy that explores the mind-body connection. Associate Professor Reika Nomura has worked as a clinical psychologist on the front lines of care both in hospitals and disaster-affected areas, where the gravity of human life is deeply felt. Motivated by her own experience of hospitalization and supporting a family member living with illness, she has demonstrated integrated engagement across clinical practice, research, and education. We interviewed her about Dohsa-hou and her hopes for the next generation of psychological professionals. She also shared her views on what it means to offer sincere support.

The cradles of baby stars have a wheel-and-spoke like shape, with streams of gas converging toward a dense central hub. Using 3D simulations, researchers from Kyushu University and Nagoya University found that when an external shockwave strikes a gas cloud with a pinched magnetic field, it reorganizes the cloud into radial filaments. These findings open a new window into the environments where massive stars and star clusters are born.

Genetically engineered cyanobacteria developed at Institute of Science Tokyo (Science Tokyo), Japan, produce sulfated polysaccharides using sunlight and carbon dioxide. By transferring an entire gene cluster responsible for the production of a sulfated polysaccharide, the researchers enabled a non-producing cyanobacterial strain to produce such a polysaccharide. The research demonstrates a sustainable route for manufacturing biomaterials using photosynthesis, expanding the possibilities for synthetic biology and green chemistry applications.

Living cells cool much slower than our current understanding of heat conduction can explain, according to new research from the University of Tokyo. Researchers used two techniques — high-speed temperature mapping and artificial heating — to observe how heat dissipated from living cells and similar-sized artificial, fluid-filled sacs (liposomes). While heat dispersed quickly from the artificial liposomes as expected, cells cooled significantly more slowly due to other biomolecules within the cell. Understanding the process behind slower heat dissipation within cells could affect how we treat conditions linked to changes in body temperature, such as epilepsy, inflammation and cancer.

As a growing share of total power output comes from wind turbines, sudden spikes in power generation from unpredictable changes in atmospheric conditions is becoming an increasingly urgent and potentially dangerous threat to grid stability. Using a 20 km-wide wind farm as a giant physics experiment, researchers have now developed a framework to predict the risk of power fluctuations for individual turbines, farms, and the whole grid, based on existing geospatial data. Their model will help establish the risk profile of existing and future developments, providing a powerful tool to ensure reliable and sustainable power generation for plant operators, grid engineers, and energy planners.

An Osaka Metropolitan University-led research team found that deficiencies in vitamin B₁₂ and folate lead to elevated homocysteine levels, which may be linked to fatigue and decreased motivation.

Researchers from The University of Osaka created stable cobalt-based honeycomb structures inside a layered material and observed ferromagnetic-like ordering at low temperatures. By introducing a small amount of cobalt into NaSbO₃, the team demonstrated a new platform to study Kitaev materials using abundant 3d transition metals, potentially supporting future cost-effective quantum technologies.

Researchers from The University of Osaka and collaborators proposed the Insect Synergy Circuit (ISC), a new concept for bio-hybrid control that uses AI to interpret internal biological signals from insects. By integrating heartbeat, neural signal features, and body movement data, the team developed a cyborg cockroach system that can estimate environment-associated internal states and guide movement while reducing unnecessary stimulation.

 Researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) and the University of California, San Diego, have revealed the exact mechanism underlying how a key protein, called SPD-5, helps regulate where and when spindle fibers assemble in C.elegans during cell division.  Published in Science Advances, the study shows that SPD-5 is activated through a precise, step-by-step process that changes the protein’s shape, unlocking the binding sites needed to begin forming spindle fibers.