A study from the Research Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA) has uncovered a theoretical mechanism showing how the electronic band structures of strongly correlated insulators can be reshaped by spin and charge perturbations, opening up new possibilities for electronics with tunable band structures.

A single atom can make all the difference. Researchers at Tohoku University have shown that subtle changes in the nitrogen coordination around cobalt dramatically reshape oxygen reduction reaction performance, a cornerstone process for fuel cells and clean chemical production. These insights provide a powerful blueprint for designing next-generation single-atom catalysts to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy.

We all want cheap, long-lasting, green, and efficient energy. Researchers are helping to make this dream a reality with a new distortion-resistant material that greatly improves these aspects of a battery’s cathode.

Researchers at AIMR achieved breakthrough 95.8% purity synthesis of (6,5) carbon nanotubes using a novel NiSnFe trimetallic catalyst. The discovery of Ni₃Sn crystal formation within catalyst nanoparticles enabled selective chirality control. This advancement opens pathways for semiconductor device applications and establishes multi-element catalysts as a promising approach for single-chirality nanotube synthesis.

Storing hydrogen efficiently is still challenging. Researchers at Tohoku University have developed a new catalyst that coordinates the two key steps of hydrogen formation in alkaline water electrolysis, helping the reaction run more smoothly. A promising step toward practical green hydrogen.

Less than 2% of the human genome encodes proteins. The remaining DNA was once dismissed as “junk DNA,” but is now known to contain thousands of regulatory sequences called cis-regulatory elements (CREs). These elements act as gene “switches” and “dials,” controlling when, where, and how strongly genes are expressed. While gene sequences are largely similar between individuals, CREs vary much more extensively, and these differences are thought to be a major source of variation in physical traits and disease risk.

A research team led by Zicong Zhang and Associate Professor Fumitaka Inoue at the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Biology (WPI-ASHBi), Kyoto University, has developed a new method for studying CREs at scale. The method makes it possible to examine, within the same sample, what a CRE does and how it does it. Using this method, the researchers examined approximately 10,000 CREs and their variants by simultaneously measuring transcriptional activity, chromatin accessibility, and the active histone modification H3K27ac. This allowed them to pinpoint which DNA changes matter and to gain insight into how transcription factors coordinate gene regulation.

This This work was published in Nature Communications, with the Accelerated Article Preview released on January 14, 2026 (GMT), and the final version published on February 17, 2026 (February 18 JST).

Imagine a “smart fluid” whose internal structure can be rearranged just by changing temperature.

In a new study in Matter, researchers report a way to overcome a long-standing limitation in a class of “smart fluids” called nematic liquid crystal microcolloids, allowing for reconfigurable self-assembly of micrometer-sized particles dispersed in a nematic liquid crystal host.

The Interactions Collaboration has announced the winning images of the 2025 Global Physics Photowalk.