Two formulations are at the heart of the study of turbulence: Kolmogorov’s universal framework for small-scale turbulence, which describes how energy propagates and dissipates through increasingly small eddies; and Taylor-Couette (TC) flows, which are very simple to create yet exhibit extremely complex behaviors, thereby setting the benchmark for the study of the fundamental characteristics of complex flows.

For the past many decades, a central contradiction between these potent formulations has plagued the field. Despite extensive experimental research and despite being found universal to almost all turbulent flows, Kolmogorov’s framework has apparently failed to apply to turbulent TC flows.

But now, after nine years developing a world-class TC setup at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), researchers have finally resolved this tension by conclusively demonstrating that, contrary to the prevailing understanding, Kolmogorov’s framework does apply universally to the small scales of turbulent TC flows – precisely as predicted. 

Researchers from The University of Osaka have found that rituximab, a monoclonal antibody approved for the treatment of nephrotic syndrome in children in Japan, also improves disease management in adults. The drug kept adults with frequently relapsing nephrotic syndrome or steroid-dependent nephrotic syndrome relapse-free for longer, compared with placebo, with good safety. By reducing the frequency of relapses, rituximab may reduce the reliance on corticosteroids and help to improve quality of life among adult patients with these challenging conditions.

Translation factors eIF1A and eIF5B are key repressors of an abnormal protein translation process linked to neurodegenerative disorders, as reported by researchers from Science Tokyo. Using a human cell-free translation system, they reconstructed the aberrant translation of a mutated C9orf72 gene. This translation process revealed that the initiation factors (eIF1A and eIF1B) act at distinct checkpoints to suppress toxic protein synthesis implicated in frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Are we ready to live with caregiving robots? With Japan facing a projected shortage of 570,000 care workers by 2040, researchers at Chiba University surveyed older adults, families, caregivers, and developers about their acceptance of home-care robots. They found that openness to using robots influenced willingness among both users and developers, while other factors differed between the groups—revealing distinct perspectives and highlighting the need for collaboration and ethical awareness in developing home-care robots.

The Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) at Institute of Science Tokyo is proud to announce that it will host the PCST Japan Symposium 2025, to be held from 11–13 November 2025. This joint international symposium marks the first time the Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST) Network brings a symposium to Japan, and the seventh conference of the Japan SciCom Forum (JSF).

An Osaka Metropolitan University-led research team has developed a new regenerative treatment using stem cells derived from fat for spinal fractures in elderly people.

♦Successful development of a stealth cloak (invisibility cloak) to protect nanomachines introduced into living organisms from foreign body reactions over extended periods: Constructed a stable ion pair network composed of polyanions and polycations on the nanomachine surface, devising a structure that prevents protein adsorption and attacks from macrophages.

♦Achieved ultra-long circulation in vivo with a half-life exceeding 100 hours after intravenous administration (10 times longer than previous stealth DDS systems).

♦Nanomachines equipped with asparaginase, an enzyme that breaks down L-asparagine, circulate long-term within the body, depleting L-asparagine—essential for cancer cell survival—from tumor tissues.

♦Confirmed the efficacy of starvation therapy for refractory breast cancer using a mouse model.

♦Furthermore, it breaks down the thick stroma (fibrous tissue) that blocks drug penetration into pancreatic cancer (such as immune checkpoint inhibitors), achieving extremely high efficacy (long-term survival) through synergistic effects with cancer immunotherapy.

♦A paper detailing the presentation content：

Junjie Li^*, Kazuko Toh, Panyue Wen, Xueying Liu, Anjaneyulu Dirisala, Haochen Guo, Joachim F. R. Van Guyse, Saed Abbasi, Yasutaka Anraku, Yuki Mochida, Hiroaki Kinoh, Horacio Cabral, Masaru Tanaka, and Kazunori Kataoka^*

Nature Biomedical Engineering (2025)

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-025-01534-1