Businesses are increasingly shifting toward online marketing. However, the effects of offline and online marketing on consumer behavior have not been comparatively examined. A team of Japanese researchers demonstrated that offline promotional media increase cognitive engagement and consequently promote consumers’ behavioral responses (e.g., coupon redemptions), especially those with low brand attachment. Although offline marketing was associated with high costs, it increased product sales. Thus, marketing teams should recalibrate their views on offline marketing.

A recent study at Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) at Institute of Science Tokyo has developed a theoretical model that uncovers the dual role of polyploidy—organisms carrying extra genome copies—in evolution. Their findings reveal that polyploidy can stabilise populations in predictable environments, where the evolution of novel traits is not required, enabling organisms to adapt and thrive in challenging conditions by accelerating evolutionary innovation. This breakthrough offers fresh insights into evolutionary mechanisms and their implications for microbiology, biotechnology, and medicine.

A new computational tool improves the analysis of genetic data, making it easier and faster to study the evolutionary relationships between species.

Researchers from Osaka University have developed a groundbreaking method to expand the palette of bioluminescent protein colors for cell labeling. By creating 20 distinct colors, they have enabled the simultaneous detection of multiple labeled cells using a standard camera. This innovative approach simplifies the tracking of individual cells within a population and holds significant potential for applications such as monitoring cell fate or identifying rare cells with unique responses to drugs.

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is prominently used for analyzing elemental composition in individual cells. However, the conventional sample introduction system of ICP-MS causes damage to large mammalian cells. Now, researchers from Japan suggest an efficient method of introducing mammalian cells using a microdroplet generator (µDG) that maintains the cell’s structure without compromising elemental composition. These findings can open new avenues for the diagnosis and prognosis of diseases.

Thermal sensations are consciously differentiated as hot or cold by the brain; however, the neural mechanism that enables this differentiation is not well understood. To address this, researchers from Waseda University have used electroencephalography to record brain activity during hot or cold stimuli. They found that while both temperatures activate the same ten cortical regions, their patterns of EEG across frequencies differ, influencing behavior. These findings contribute to developing objective methods for evaluating thermal comfort.