Overheating batteries are a serious risk, in the worst cases leading to fires and explosion. A team including researchers from the University of Tokyo has developed a simple, cost-effective method to test the safety of lithium-ion batteries, which opens up opportunities for research into new and safer batteries for the future. The researchers created an intentionally unstable battery which is more sensitive to changes that could cause overheating. The battery is one-fiftieth the size of conventional batteries, so is less resource intensive and tests can be carried out in a smaller lab environment.

Monitoring urban plant health traditionally requires extensive manual labor and botanical expertise, creating challenges for cities facing expanding green spaces, higher population densities, and increasing threats to plants. Now, researchers from Japan have developed ‘Plant Doctor,’ an artificial intelligence-based tool that could revolutionize plant health monitoring. The proposed system can track individual leaves in urban video footage and precisely quantify the damage from pests and diseases, enabling scalable, non-invasive urban plant management.

National Institute for Physiological Sciences (NIPS) announced the appointment of Tadashi Isa, PhD, as its new Director General, effective April 1.

The research group led by Drs. Miyuki Omori-Miyake and Masakatsu Yamashita has discovered that Bach2, a protein essential for regulating T cells function, plays a crucial role in the remission of atopic dermatitis symptoms. These findings suggest that modulating Bach2 levels in T cells may provide a potential strategy to prevent the progression the pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis.

A multi-institutional team led by The University of Osaka developed a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell-based strategy for specifically targeting AML cells in patients who relapsed following other treatments. The team identified a monoclonal antibody called KG2032 that reacts with a certain variant of the HLA-DRB1 molecule. KG2032 CAR T cells displayed strong anti-AML effects in a mouse model, and CAR natural killer cells showed similar results. Clinical trials are currently being planned. 

A research group led by Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine in Japan has uncovered a potential mechanism linking maternal inflammation to delayed neurodevelopment in infants. The research suggests the role of CD11c-positive microglia—immune cells in the brain crucial for myelination—during infant brain development. Their findings suggest new strategies to mitigate the long-term neurodevelopmental effects of maternal inflammation. 

A well-timed “furrowed face”—a subtle expression we instinctively recognize as “thinking”—can make androids appear less creepy and more relatable to humans.

Self-healing coatings are advanced materials that can repair damage, such as scratches and cracks on their own. Researchers from Waseda University have developed an efficient method for preparing self-healing films consisting of alternating layers of highly cross-linked organosiloxane and linear polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Their film is more durable than conventional self-healing PDMS materials, offering superior hardness and greater thermal stability while self-healing at mild temperatures, paving the way for stronger, more reliable, and easier-maintained self-healing materials.

A novel technique to visualize gene-active and gene-repressive DNA regions in living cells, developed by a multi-institutional team based in Japan. The technique reveals the distinct physical properties of chromatin—gene-active euchromatin acts like a liquid, while gene-repressive heterochromatin behaves like a gel—shedding light on their roles in gene expression and DNA replication, with potential implications for understanding genome regulation.