Child neglect—or the failure to provide care during early years—is the most prevalent yet understudied form of child maltreatment, often leaving no visible scars but causing long-term harm. Now, researchers from Japan have used advanced neuroimaging to examine the brain’s white matter in neglected children. They identified structural abnormalities in brain regions linked to emotion, behavior, and cognition, offering objective markers for early intervention and highlighting the profound impact of neglect on development.

This new crystal growth technology uses tungsten to create single crystals that can stand extreme temperatures - a new achievement in the field.

Researchers from Japan found that macro-heterogeneity (the presence of multiple cell types) and micro-heterogeneity (variability in cell behavior within a cell type) are crucial for muscle breakdown and rearrangement in the pupal stage of fruit fly development. Computational modeling of cell interactions suggested that designing heterogenous robot swarms based on similar principles could improve their ability to multitask.

A giant anomalous Hall effect (AHE) has been observed in a nonmagnetic material for the first time, as reported by researchers from Japan. This surprising result was achieved using high-quality Cd₃As₂ thin films, a Dirac semimetal, under an in-plane magnetic field. By modulating the material’s band structure, the team isolated the AHE and traced its origin to orbital magnetization rather than spin, challenging long-held assumptions in condensed matter physics.

Soft–hard composite materials can overcome the inherent trade-off between strength and toughness, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Recently, researchers from Japan and China developed a minimal three-dimensional composite model that eliminates nonlinear effects, isolating key design principles. This framework revealed how varying the mixing ratio of soft to hard materials leads to brittle-to-ductile transitions and identified the optimal ratio that maximizes toughness, offering insights for the development of next-generation structural and biomedical materials.

Conventional wearable sweat sensors utilize hydrophobic ion-selective membranes (ISMs) and require tight contact and adhesives to achieve signal stability. However, this can lead to user discomfort and skin-related diseases, necessitating the development of non-contact alternatives. In a new study, inspired by the self-cleaning behavior of rose petals, researchers developed novel ISM-based sweat sensors that feature enhanced signal stability and performance, avoid skin contact, and are reusable, making them practical for daily use.

RNA-binding proteins use a dual binding mechanism involving zinc finger (ZnF) domains and intrinsically disordered regions (IDR), reports a new study from Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan. Using advanced molecular modeling, the study analyzes a “FUS protein-RNA” complex—revealing how the protein uses its ZnF domain for RNA sequences recognition and its flexible IDR domain for its non-specific interactions. This breakthrough strategy is likely common to nucleic acid binding, offering fresh insights into molecular science.