Kyoto, Japan -- Six years before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, an Ebola outbreak in West Africa had people fearing the possibility of a global outbreak. This was the first time many had ever heard of the virus, but since it was first identified in 1976, there have actually been more than 20 serious Ebola incidents. Thankfully, none of them had the global reach of the coronavirus.

Ebola has not been eradicated, however. This deadly virus, which causes severe hemorrhagic fever in humans and has a fatality rate of about 50%, is still at large and could thus still cause a major outbreak, unless further research finds an effective solution.

A major challenge lies in the virus' structure and regulatory mechanisms, which have remained largely unclear. In particular, scientists have long struggled to fully understand its nucleocapsid, the protein shell that plays an important role in genome replication and transcription.

Researchers at Kumamoto University have made a significant breakthrough in the field of control engineering by developing a highly accurate mathematical modeling technique for linear periodically time-varying (LPTV) systems. This pioneering research, led by Associate Professor Hiroshi Okajima of the Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology, opens new possibilities for improving technologies such as autonomous driving, robotics, and satellite navigation.

A researcher at Osaka Metropolitan University examined the impact of opening a multifunctional facility on residents' daily walking time. The results indicate that the facility significantly increased the average walking time of visitors compared to non-visitors.

A Japanese research team has discovered a novel global cooperative phenomena of cell interactions in cervical cancer cells. Their findings suggest that the cells are metabolically connected in a functional network. The framework they used in their studies could prove useful for investigating the hidden state of a group of cells.

A team from The University of Osaka has created nickel(0)-boron bonds in square-planar complexes. The researchers prepared and characterized nickel complexes containing tris(perfluoroaryl)boranes and showed that the bulky Z-type ligands formed stable bonds that were supported by noncovalent interactions with the other ligands in the complexes. This first for nickel and boron is expected to open new avenues in catalysis for the synthesis of high-value products such as pharmaceuticals and polymers.