Researchers at the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, have determined the molecular origin of line tension for a water nanodroplet on a surface. This tension is the force along the droplet edge where liquid, solid, and gas phases meet. Computational studies showed that at complete wetting, collapse of tetrahedral order in liquid water causes the line tension to change sign. An ice bilayer did not wet a hydrophilic surface, showing that local order can outweigh surface chemistry.

A one-off training session increased how much time fathers spent with their children and on chores by about two hours a week, reports a new study from the University of Tokyo. A team in Japan provided male employees and their managers with either information on positive office attitudes towards paternity leave or a work-life balance training session. The former corrected common misconceptions, but fathers who attended the training reported real behavioral change. This unexpectedly freed up 3.6 hours of time which mothers used for their own work. This study shows how small workplace interventions can have wider positive impacts, for families and businesses.A one-off training session increased how much time fathers spent with their children and on chores by about two hours a week, reports a new study from the University of Tokyo. A team in Japan provided male employees and their managers with either information on positive office attitudes towards paternity leave or a work-life balance training session. The former corrected common misconceptions, but fathers who attended the training reported real behavioral change. This unexpectedly freed up 3.6 hours of time which mothers used for their own work. This study shows how small workplace interventions can have wider positive impacts, for families and businesses.

A chance discovery at Nagoya University in Japan has shown a well-known brain enzyme has a hidden ability: it builds a sugar chain on itself, becomes secreted from the cell and deactivates, then switches on outside the cell once the chain is removed. The finding, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, overturns a decades-old assumption about how polysialic acid, a sugar chain critical for brain development and function, is produced and shows a new way an enzyme can regulate its own activity.    

Researchers at Niigata University’s Brain Research Institute have discovered that amyloid precursor protein (APP), long associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), plays a previously unknown protective role in clearing nuclear-derived waste material via lysosomal exocytosis. Reduced APP function or familial AD-associated APP mutations impair this clearance, promoting neuroinflammation and cell death. The findings suggest that nuclear damage and intracellular waste clearance failure may contribute to AD pathogenesis.

Newborn nerve cells must squeeze through crowded, narrow spaces—through dense tissue, past other cells, between fibres—to reach the areas where they form neural circuits in the brain cortex. 

In a new study published in Nature, researchers at Kyoto University's Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (WPI-iCeMS) and their collaborators report that this journey causes widespread DNA damage in neurons, resulting in double-strand breaks where both strands of the double helix are completely severed. While this is the most severe type of DNA damage—capable of causing mutations and cell death—the team surprisingly found that it is a normal, routine feature of brain cortex formation, and a healthy brain quickly repairs it before harm occurs. 

Cells have surface receptors that couple to proteins and other molecules to initiate or inhibit certain behaviors. Typically, the number of these receptors increases as the cell matures, but researchers have now identified that one receptor influences cell behavior much earlier than previously thought and appears to help trigger the cell differentiation process to form neurons. 

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), with help from a ‘natural telescope’ formed by gravity, have identified the source of a neutrino burst. The team expected a supermassive black hole to be the engine driving the remarkably bright galaxy. Instead, the team found that the galaxy was driven by vigorous star formation. This result provides important observational evidence to help explain the mysterious origin of cosmic neutrinos.

Continuous consumption of foods containing heat-inactivated Lactiplantibacillus pentosus can help reduce gum bleeding, report researchers from Institute of Science Tokyo. These postbiotic foods can improve inflammatory conditions and enhance gum health in adults with mild gingivitis. The study suggested that these postbiotic foods offer a simple and practical way to support oral health in daily life without altering oral care habits. The findings also aid in the prevention of early-stage periodontal disease.

Published on June 12 in the Journal of Micro/Nanopatterning, Materials, and Metrology (JM³), Professor Tsumoru Shintake of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), has proposed a radical redesign to the illumination systems and projectors used in high numerical aperture (high-NA) EUV lithography. Simulations suggest that his design could eliminate troublesome optical (so-called ‘mask 3D’) effects, enhance resolution and enable the manufacture of smaller computer chips at lower cost than current EUV methods.