Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), marked by excessive activity and impulsivity, is linked to changes in the brain's dopamine system, though the mechanisms remain unclear. Researchers in Japan investigated the role of N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor (NSF), a protein linked to dopamine receptors, in D2 receptor-expressing cells. Using genetically modified mice, they found that loss of NSF led to lower dopamine levels and ADHD-like behaviors, offering insight into how brain changes may contribute to ADHD and informing future treatments.

Kyoto, Japan -- The development of cooking was a major milestone in the evolution of human civilization, as it made our food easier to digest and thus more energy efficient. Heating our food can also kill harmful pathogens, and simply makes certain foods taste better. Overcooking, on the other hand, can have adverse effects, particularly on proteins.

Severe heating can modify proteins in a way that reduces their nutritional value. For this reason we do not tend to overcook our food, but some of the processed food we now consume may be subject to severe heating during production.

Scientists have suspected that a diet including high-temperature-treated proteins may have nutritional deficiencies, yet how exactly long-term intake of these treated proteins affects physiological and behavioral responses has not been well understood. This motivated a team of researchers at Kyoto University to investigate how such a diet would affect mice.

Mars once had abundant liquid water, yet orbiters and rovers have found far less carbonate rock than expected for a planet that may have had a thick, carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere. A new geochemical modelling study led by Chang-Chin Wang, with Professor Tomohiro Usui at JAXA and the University of Tokyo, and Associate Professor Mohit Melwani Daswani at ELSI, shows that the type of rock water reacts with, not just water itself, controls whether calcium/iron-rich or magnesium-rich carbonates form. Feldspar-rich rocks, increasingly detected on the Martian surface, readily produce the calcium/iron-rich carbonates seen in many locations. The simulations also show how percolating groundwater could be quietly burying carbonates underground, helping explain their apparent scarcity on the surface.

A team led by researchers from the University of Osaka has revealed the first structure of an umami taste receptor. They found that the pufferfish receptor can sense many more amino acids than the human receptor, including some linked to flavors humans detect as sweet. This helps the fish to detect more types of savory chemicals in their food. The research also shows how the receptor’s structure makes this flexibility possible. The findings could help develop new umami flavors.

Kyoto, Japan -- You may not know what roll waves are, but you've probably seen them on a rainy day. When it rains, these traveling waves appear on steep asphalt pavements, slowly making their way down the slope. Because roll waves propagate without deforming and are typically characterized by abrupt discontinuities, they play an important role in hydraulic engineering. Understanding unsteady flows like roll waves is crucial for the design, management, and safety of hydraulic structures such as dam spillway chutes.

However, despite one accurate line of research developed by mathematicians, the partial differential equations governing roll waves have remained a niche and "astonishingly" under-explored area of research, according to an international team of scientists at Kyoto University and German Jordanian University. This group realized that a rigorous mathematical investigation was not only compelling, but unavoidable.

"We noticed the striking gap between the mathematical and visual beauty of roll‑wave phenomena, and the civil engineering community's persistently superficial understanding of them," says first author Koichi Unami. "It became difficult to ignore how confidently steady‑state assumptions were repeated despite clear evidence to the contrary."

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly advancing—and with it, the promise of solving some of academia’s toughest problems. But while many researchers focus on using AI to find answers, Associate Professor Hiroshi Kera of the Institute for Advanced Academic Research/Graduate School of Informatics is asking a different question: How can we design better problems for AI to solve?

A specialist in algebra—the branch of mathematics that explores equations using symbols and letters, from the quadratic equations taught in junior high and high school to far more abstract structures—Dr. Kera is working at the intersection of computational algebra and AI. By combining computer-based algebraic computation with AI, he aims to open new frontiers in mathematical discovery. We spoke with Dr. Kera about how AI could reshape—and expand—the world of mathematics.