Core-collapse supernovae are thought to be powered by neutrino-driven energy transport. Now, researchers in Japan have shown that neutrino fast flavor conversion can either enhance or suppress supernova explosions depending on the progenitor star. Using advanced multiangle neutrino radiation hydrodynamics simulations, the team demonstrated that the mass accretion rate is the key factor governing this bifurcated behavior, offering new insight into the evolution and death of massive stars.

Researchers have developed a new approach to compressing X-ray imaging data in real time, reducing the size of data files by more than 8,000 times, while at the same time preserving the detailed X-ray intensity information required for quantitative analysis.

In a new Nature Communications study, researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) and the Institute of Protein Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences have described in detail a structural adaptation supporting the survival of one of the Dead Sea’s few hardy inhabitants — a single-celled archaea called Haloarcula marismortui (H. marismortui). Using single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), the researchers characterized the proteins that form the archaeal filament (also known as archaellum), a long tail-like structure essential for movement.

In a case series, an Osaka Metropolitan University-led research group assessed CT findings of pulmonary lymphoma in a dog and two cats.

Chiral objects can behave differently depending on their handedness. However, existing methods cannot reveal how chirality varies across a material. Researchers from Chiba University developed a terahertz imaging technique that maps right- and left-handed chirality using spiral-shaped light. The researchers visualized different chiral regions on a moiré-type metasurface with a resolution of about 100 μm, marking the first direct observation of spatial chirality distributions within a material.

Kyoto, Japan -- A stroke is a devastating condition that disrupts proper brain function. After a stroke, many patients will typically experience pain in the limbs on the side of their bodies opposite to the brain lesion. In rare cases, pain also develops on the same side as the lesion, spreading bilaterally in a mirror-like manner. This is a phenomenon known as bilateral pain, or mirror-image pain.

The lipid Lysophosphatidic acid, or LPA, has attracted attention as a molecule that may exacerbate chronic pain. LPA is derived from cell membranes and other cellular components that regulate inflammation, vascular function, and cell migration, and its levels tend to increase following tissue injury.

A team of researchers previously reproduced mirror-image pain in a mouse model and established the involvement of LPA in strokes. However, the pathways through which pain and inflammation brain signals propagate to the contralateral side had remained unclear, prompting them to investigate further.

A new study shows that researcher independence is not a simple PhD milestone but rather an ongoing, uneven process. Using a “river of experience” method with six researchers, it reveals independence as a lifelong journey shaped by personal agency, relationships and structural conditions, highlighting the need for more sustained and contextualized approaches to researcher development.

Cytochrome P450 enzymes are promising biocatalysts for greener chemical manufacturing, but many remain difficult to study because their activity relies on unidentified partner proteins. Now, researchers from Japan have engineered the P450 enzyme CYP107J1 from Bacillus subtilis into a new hydrogen peroxide-driven form that no longer requires these partners. The modified enzyme exhibited 28-fold higher catalytic activity than its natural counterpart and efficiently produced indigo dye, demonstrating a promising strategy towards sustainable oxidation chemistry.