Researchers at Niigata University found that APOE ε4, a genetic variant best known as a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, may influence how ALS pathology spreads in the brain and spinal cord. Analyzing 145 autopsy-confirmed ALS cases, the team showed that APOE ε4 carriers were more likely to have widespread TDP-43 pathology. The findings suggest a new genetic clue to ALS heterogeneity and may support future personalized care.

Animals such as bats rely on sound for navigation and locating prey. However, they must distinguish between important signals and surrounding noise. Researchers from Doshisha University, Japan, now report that greater Japanese horseshoe bats actively create a “silent spectral window” through ultrasonic frequency control, which allows them to clearly detect echoes from their prey against the background clutter. This strategy not only stabilizes echoes but also suppresses environmental noise, inspiring future noise cancellation technologies.

Seismic anisotropy near stagnant slabs in the mantle transition zone and uppermost lower mantle suggests an additional slab-related source. High-pressure deformation experiments on hydrous minerals δ-AlOOH and δ-H at 20.5–24.5 GPa and 800–1000 °C show that they develop strong crystallographic preferred orientations. The resulting fabrics produce negative radial seismic anisotropy (V_SV > V_SH) under horizontal flow, distinct from many major mantle minerals, and may contribute to anisotropy near flattened slab tops.

An Osaka Metropolitan University-led research team demonstrated that when female Tongeia fischeri, a near-threatened butterfly species in Japan, feed on an invasive plant during the larval stage, the reflectance spectrum of their adult wings changes, making them less preferred for mating by wild males. 

People buy things using services like Amazon and Rakuten and share information on social media. We call these places of commerce and exchange “platforms,” and nowadays, they’ve become essential parts of our lives. On the other hand, various issues have also been pointed out in recent years regarding the direction of these platforms, such as oligopolies formed by massive corporations and scams from fake advertising. We sat down with Professor ZENNYO Yusuke of the Graduate School of Business Administration, who researches platform businesses, to tell us about the background and current state of these rapidly growing businesses as well as some challenges moving forward.

What plant do cats love most? In Europe and North America, many people would say catnip, while in Japan the answer would more likely be silver vine (matatabi in Japanese). A research team from Iwate University and Nagoya University found that domestic cats respond more reliably to silver vine than to catnip when they are free to approach or ignore the plants. In outdoor experiments, free-roaming cats repeatedly rubbed and rolled on fresh silver vine but showed little response to nearby catnip plants. The same pattern was observed in 22 captive purebred cats tested in a large indoor environment. Surprisingly, chemical analysis showed that catnip contained abundant active compounds, including nepetalactone isomers, and laboratory cage tests confirmed that catnip-derived compounds can trigger the typical feline response. The findings show that chemical activity in the laboratory does not always predict real-world behavior, highlighting the importance of studying animals under conditions that allow natural choice.

A collaborative research team from Kanazawa University and Kyoto University reports in the Journal of the American Chemical Society the successful visualization of how densely assembled macrocyclic host molecules cooperate to capture guest molecules on a surface. Using two advanced atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques, the team directly observed host–guest complex formation and reversible association–dissociation dynamics at the single-molecule level. The study reveals that when one macrocyclic molecule captures a guest molecule, this event influences neighboring host molecules and promotes further guest capture. This cooperative behavior emerges only when the host molecules are densely assembled on a surface. The findings provide new insight into how surface-confined molecular interactions give rise to cooperative behavior and could contribute to the design of next-generation chemical sensors, separation systems, and storage materials.

Despite widespread claims that social changes have intensified loneliness, no study has yet examined how loneliness has changed over time in Japan. To address this gap, graduate student Momo Homma from the Department of Psychology at Chuo University, Japan and Professor Kenkichi Takase from the same institution conducted a cross-temporal meta-analysis to investigate how loneliness has changed over time in Japan and identify the factors contributing to this change. The results indicated that loneliness increased in Japan from 1983 to 2023. Furthermore, the increase was particularly pronounced among adolescents and women, and social indicators such as marriage rates were found to covary with loneliness. These findings provide a foundation for future research on loneliness and help identify target populations for interventions aimed at reducing loneliness.

NIMS developed TEGNet (Thermoelectric Generator Neural Network), a neural network for designing thermoelectric generators by utilizing artificial intelligence (AI). TEGNet can predict performance of a power generator, a process which used to take enormous computational time with traditional simulation techniques, with only about 1/10,000 of the time conventionally needed, while maintaining over 99% accuracy. This technology significantly accelerates optimization from material development to device design, and is expected to be applied to waste heat recovery and stand-alone power supply for IoT sensors, for example. This research result was published in Nature at 11:00 U.S. Eastern Standard Time, April 15, 2026 (0:00 Japan Standard Time, April 16, 2026).

Researchers from the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo have developed a game-based rainfall–runoff model that allows users to explore how floods form by adjusting land and environmental conditions. A classroom study with high school students showed that interactive, trial-and-error gameplay with score-based feedback improved their understanding of complex hydrological processes.