Origami device fabrication has huge potential in the fields of health, agriculture, and space technology. However, portability of the presently used fabrication devices is a concern and on-site production of three-dimensional (3D) devices remains a challenge. To address this, researchers have developed a portable, multimaterial printer using electrowetting on dielectric technology. This device allows rapid fabrication of 3D devices, eliminating the challenges of the existing technologies and improving the applicability of paper-based devices.

Water is one of the most familiar substances on Earth, yet its behavior under extreme confinement remains poorly understood. In a recent study, researchers from Japan revealed how water confined within nanopores can transition into a unique ‘premelting’ state, behaving partly like ice and partly like liquid water. Using static solid-state deuterium nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, the researchers identified hierarchical molecular structure and uncovered dynamic properties with potential applications in energy storage and materials science.

The chaotic nature of Earth’s climate system means projected hazards like flooding under climate change have high uncertainty. To more accurately predict flood risks, researchers from The University of Tokyo developed a method to merge data from multiple future climate scenarios with similar warming levels. This approach is important because it provides reliable, practical flood risk information allowing socioeconomic variables to be largely ignored in favor of specific warming levels, such as 2°C or 3°C.The chaotic nature of Earth’s climate system means projected hazards like flooding under climate change have high uncertainty. To more accurately predict flood risks, researchers from The University of Tokyo developed a method to merge data from multiple future climate scenarios with similar warming levels. This approach is important because it provides reliable, practical flood risk information allowing socioeconomic variables to be largely ignored in favor of specific warming levels, such as 2°C or 3°C.

AIMR researchers developed a unified analytical model that explains how complex orbits—halo, and quasi-halo—emerge near Lagrange points in the restricted three-body problem. By introducing a nonlinear coupling mechanism, their approach reveals that orbit bifurcations arise without requiring frequency resonance, advancing both space trajectory design and bifurcation theory.

This innovative technique allows for precise measurement of brain activity without the need for open-brain surgery by using blood vessels as conduits for electrodes.  This holds immense potential for improving neurological care, advancing our understanding of the brain, and unlocking new possibilities for brain-computer interfaces.

A joint team has uncovered how soft, deformable particles, like cells, behave in microfluidic channels. Using precisely fabricated hydrogel particles and simulations on the supercomputer "Fugaku," they demonstrated that particle softness dramatically alters their focusing patterns, deviating significantly from rigid particle behavior. These findings reveal distinct "phase transitions" in focusing, shifting from mid-edge to eight-point, diagonal-edge, and finally center focusing as deformability increases. This breakthrough, explained by a new theoretical model incorporating inertia and deformability, offers crucial insights for designing next-generation microfluidic devices for highly efficient cell sorting and other biomedical applications like early cancer detection. The ability to control particle focusing based on deformability opens exciting possibilities for advanced particle manipulation and separation technologies.

In a recent breakthrough, researchers from Japan discovered a unique Hall effect resulting from deflection of electrons due to “in-plane magnetization” of ferromagnetic oxide films (SrRuO₃). Arising from the spontaneous coupling of spin-orbit magnetization within SrRuO₃ films, the effect overturns the century-old assumption that only out-of-plane magnetization can trigger the Hall effect. The study offers a new way to manipulate electron transport with potential applications in advanced sensors, quantum materials, and spintronic technologies.

Cell membranes in our body relies on membrane viscosity to transport membranes and carry-out cellular functions. But measuring this viscosity has been notoriously difficult, with scientists often relying on model membranes. Now, a collaborative research team has developed a new method to directly measure the viscosity of living cell membranes directly. 

Osaka Metropolitan University researchers investigated how the combined stress of cold temperatures and mental fatigue affects endurance exercise performance.