A team from The University of Osaka found that the intestinal flora works together with the OTUD3 and STING genes to aggravate ulcerative colitis, a disease with no cure that causes major intestinal pain and bloody diarrhea. When the OTUD3 gene is mutated, microbes in the intestinal flora trigger STING signalingOTUD, leading to inflammation in the colon. The intestinal flora and STING signaling may be important new targets for ulcerative colitis treatment.

A new international study suggests that ancient viral DNA embedded in our genome, which were long dismissed as genetic “junk”, may actually play powerful roles in regulating gene expression. Focusing on a family of sequences called MER11, researchers from Japan, China, Canada, and the US have shown that these elements have evolved to influence how genes turn on and off, particularly in early human development.

Rabi-like splitting is one of the key concepts in modern quantum technology. Fully understanding it can help us advance our knowledge in quantum information processing.

For many years, scientists have struggled to understand the mechanisms behind palladium/platinum catalysts for propylene electrooxidation, a sustainable means of producing valuable oxygen-containing organic compounds used in various industrial processes. Yet a research group has further clarified the matter in a recently published journal.

Researchers at Tohoku University used machine learning potential to create large-scale models of tin (Sn) catalysts under different conditions. The results may help design high-performance catalysts that can take harmful carbon dioxide and convert it into green, carbon-based fuels.

Researchers have explored how  artificial intelligence and machine learning are helping scientists identify catalysts for methane pyrolysis, a reaction that produces hydrogen without emitting carbon dioxide.

Researchers at the Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI), Kanazawa University, report in Small, a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering nanotechnology, published by Wiley-WCH, Germany, how short peptides self-assemble linearly on atomically-thick solid surfaces, such as graphite and MoS₂. The research addresses a longstanding challenge in materials science: understanding the complex, sequence-specific interactions between peptides and solid substrates, and the critical role of local hydration structures in guiding nanoarchitecture formation. This work offers new strategies for integrating biomolecules with advanced materials in future bioelectronics and sensor devices.

A groundbreaking study led by a global research consortium offers new hope for patients with mycetoma, a neglected tropical disease. Researchers using an insect model and transcriptome analysis have unravelled the mechanism of iron regulation between host tissue and the mycetoma grain, a fungal mass characteristic of the disease. This discovery illuminates how the causative fungus invades and develops these protective grains within subcutaneous tissue, paving the way for new drug development and less invasive treatment strategies beyond surgical removal, potentially reducing the burden on patients significantly.