A nationwide survey in Japan suggests cultural worldviews are more strongly linked to support for climate policies than to support for biodiversity conservation measures. While hierarchical worldviews were linked to lower perceived climate risks and weaker support for climate measures, these associations were weaker for climate-related biodiversity conservation approaches and not clearly observed for stand-alone conservation policies, pointing to potential common ground.

Associate Professor Kenta Kasai of Science Tokyo has developed a high-rate quantum low-density parity-check (LDPC) code by adapting design theory from classical communications and storage. By imposing orthogonality only where quantum mechanics requires it, the method retains the freedom used to control connection degrees, randomness, and short loops in classical LDPC codes. Overseas teams have already extended the design to neutral-atom hardware and broader code frameworks, referring to the resulting family as “Kasai codes.”

Researchers at Tohoku University have discovered that changing the number of layers in a crystal can systematically tune both the magnetic and topological properties of a material. By synthesizing a brand-new compound, the team showed how adding spacer layers shifts magnetic order from antiferromagnetic to ferrimagnetic - while also producing a highly tilted "type-II" Dirac electron state that can't exist for particles in a vacuum.

A research team comprising Associate Professor FUNAKOSHI Yohei, Associate Professor YAKUSHIJIN Kimikazu, Professor MINAMI Hironobu, and Associate Professor OHJI Goh of Kobe University, together with graduate student MASUDA Genki, then-graduate student IIZUMI Shunsuke, Associate Professor OHUE Masahito, and colleagues at the Institute of Science Tokyo, has developed a new analysis method, LM-QASAS. This method combines antibody language models with B-cell receptor (BCR) repertoires(*1) collected before and after vaccination to identify and track candidate BCR sequences that are likely to have responded to an immune stimulus, without using a database of known antigen-specific antibodies. LM-QASAS extends QASAS(*2; Quantification of Antigen-Specific Antibody Sequence), a method for quantitatively evaluating immune responses to a specific antigen through antigen-receptor repertoire analysis

A team led by the University of Osaka researchers discovered that cells producing IgG1 antibodies multiply more, are less prone to cell death in the spleen, and migrate more efficiently to the bone marrow, where long-lived antibody-producing cells can become established. Understanding how these cells gain these advantages could help researchers design vaccines that provide longer-lasting protection against infection.

Porous liquids combine permanent nanoscale cavities with fluidity, making them promising for applications like carbon dioxide capture, gas separation, and other chemical processes. Their viscosity must be tailored to the intended application: lower-viscosity liquids are easier to pump and circulate while facilitating faster heat and mass transfer, whereas higher-viscosity liquids provide greater structural stability in membrane formation.

Until now, viscosity and pore volume have been notoriously difficult to tune independently. While diluting solvent-containing porous liquids reduces viscosity, it simultaneously lowers the concentration of the porous components. In solvent-free “type I” porous liquids, where the porous molecules themselves form the fluid, changing the length of the attached polymer chains alters the ratio of nonporous material and can inadvertently block access to the pores altogether.

A Kyoto University research team—including Xiangmei Xiang, Dr Zaoming Wang, Professor Kenji Urayama, and Professor Shuhei Furukawa from the Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (WPI-iCeMS), working with collaborators in Japan and Taiwan—has now developed a molecular strategy that changes the viscosity of a type I porous liquid by more than eight orders of magnitude while retaining its intrinsic porosity. The study was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society on August 4, 2026.

Finding better materials to store hydrogen safely and efficiently is key to clean energy, but AI models trained on incomplete data can recommend candidates that don't actually work in practice. An international team led by Tohoku University, drawing on insight from 69 researchers, has proposed a "physics-aware" framework that combines thermodynamic constraints, reproducible data, and real experimental feedback to make AI-guided materials discovery more reliable. The roadmap could help accelerate the search for practical hydrogen storage solutions to support future clean-energy systems.

Japan has been experiencing increasingly severe damage from torrential rainfall triggered by typhoons and stationary linear rain bands. In response, an ambitious and unconventional idea is taking shape: artificially inducing heavy rainfall over the ocean to reduce extreme downpours on land. This pioneering project was selected for the Cabinet Office’s Moonshot Research and Development Program and is led by Professor Shunji Kotsuki of the Institute for Advanced Academic Research/Center for Environmental Remote Sensing, who serves as project manager.

While Professor Kotsuki runs his laboratory and discussions with rigorous logic, he is guided by a clear belief: “When you aim to accomplish something meaningful, it ultimately comes down to passion and energy.” In this interview, we spoke with him about the current state of weather control and AI-based weather forecasting research, as well as the mindset that underpins his pursuit of challenging, future-oriented science.

Nanographenes can be considered as molecular fragments of graphene, a 2D conductive material in which carbon atoms are connected in a honeycomb pattern. Because their electronic and photophysical properties vary depending on the size and shape of the molecule, nanographenes are expected to find applications in OLEDs, organic solar cells, organic field-effect transistors, and more. For this, simple methods to synthesizing nanographenes that avoid complex multi-step processes are desired. Now, a team of scientists from WPI-ITbM at Nagoya University and from RIKEN have established a new two-step annulative p-extension (APEX) method that generates structurally diverse nanographenes. This research was published online in the scientific journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition on August 25.

We have preferences for some foods over others, and this behavior is also seen in animals. Now, researchers at the University of Fukui have found that rats produce distinct ultrasonic vocalizations while consuming highly palatable food. Using machine learning, they identified a specific 40 kHz inverted-U vocalization that occurred more frequently during chocolate consumption than regular chow feeding. The findings could provide a measurable way to study food-related reward and positive emotional states.We have preferences for some foods over others, and this behavior is also seen in animals. Now, researchers at the University of Fukui have found that rats produce distinct ultrasonic vocalizations while consuming highly palatable food. Using machine learning, they identified a specific 40 kHz inverted-U vocalization that occurred more frequently during chocolate consumption than regular chow feeding. The findings could provide a measurable way to study food-related reward and positive emotional states.