How comprehensive is our healthcare system, and who is being left behind? In this study, The University of Tokyo researchers synthesized the patients’ real-world experiences with complex genetic disorders into a single case. The study reveals how compartmentalized care leads to treatment refusal and patient harm, while coordinated interdisciplinary teams can restore well-being. It highlights the urgent need for reforms in medical education, care continuity, and health policy to create more inclusive, patient-centered healthcare systems.

Two-dimensional topological materials are widely studied because they can be efficient and cost-effective catalysts. Their unique electronic properties give rise to robust topological surface states. However, this assumption is often made under the premise that their surfaces remain clean and unchanged during reactions, which is rarely the case. Using quantum computing, a research team has recreated a 2D material’s true working surface under reaction conditions. 

Researchers have developed a method to reduce uncertainties in observational measurements of cosmic birefringence, which might help explain the Universe’s symmetry.

A recent review article explores how software-based AI systems are changing the design process of solid electrolytes, enabling faster development of solid-state batteries. 

Precise control of local structure has long limited efforts to understand how dopants enhance lattice oxygen storage and release of ceria-based materials. Using a continuous-flow hydrothermal method, AIMR researchers synthesized ultrasmall Mn–CeO2 nanoparticles with tunable Mn environments, revealing distinct low- and high-temperature mechanisms and achieving a fourfold boost in low-temperature oxygen storage and release capacity.

What if that traffic associated with the daily commute could be put towards computing? It may sound like a stretch, but that is what researchers from Tohoku University have recently proposed, developing a new artificial intelligence framework that harnesses road traffic as a computing resource. The framework would lessen AI’s reliance on power-hungry hardware, making it more sustainable.

Researchers at Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI) and the Cancer Research Institute at Kanazawa University led have uncovered how targeted lung cancer drugs alter the shape and behavior of a key cancer-driving protein—revealing a hidden mechanism that helps explain why some treatments stop working over time.

We've all been there…

You know you need to make that complaint phone call, but you cannot bring yourself to dial. Or there is a project your demanding boss assigned, and even though you know you should start, you just…can't. You’re stuck at the starting line, caught in that all-too-familiar sense of motivational paralysis.

Why is it so hard to just get started?

Now, scientists at Kyoto University's Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Biology (WPI-ASHBi) have discovered what's happening in the brain during these frustrating moments. The research team conducted research on macaque monkeys and identified a specific brain circuit that acts like a "motivation brake": a neural pathway connecting two brain regions (the ventral striatum and ventral pallidum) that kicks in when we are confronted with tasks that come with negative consequences. When the scientists temporarily disabled this circuit, the motivational brake released: tasks that were once avoided suddenly became approachable. This discovery may help explain why, for some people (such as those living with depression), starting even simple tasks can feel impossibly hard. By identifying the brain "switch" behind this motivational paralysis, researchers may be one step closer to developing new treatments that help people overcome this invisible barrier.

The research is led by Dr. Ken-ichi Amemori, Dr. Jungmin Oh, and Dr. Satoko Amemori, with Dr. Masahiko Takada (Professor, Center for Human Behavior Evolution Research; currently Professor Emeritus), Dr. Ken-ichi Inoue (Assistant Professor; currently Associate Professor at Nagoya City University), and Dr. Kei Kimura (Assistant Professor, Tohoku University). The findings of this study will be published online in Current Biology at 11:00 a.m. on January 9, 2026 (EST; January 10, 1:00 a.m. JST).