Parasitic plants can take genes from their host, structurally remodel them and ultimately assimilate then into their own genome. Despite remodeling over millions of years, the gene continued to perform the same biochemical job. 

Researchers from the University of Osaka found that amyloid formation is promoted by a combination of shear stress and constrained geometry in an in vitro model of amyloidogenic light chain disease. Applying mechanical agitation or pressure, as well as disaggregating agents, effectively removed amyloid deposits. These findings provide a novel framework for understanding amyloid deposition in organs.

The quark–gluon plasma, thought to have filled the universe shortly after the Big Bang, is usually studied in large nuclear collisions. Now, researchers from Japan show that oxygen–oxygen collisions produce a mixture of equilibrated and non-equilibrated matter. Once particle multiplicity exceeds about 20, the equilibrated component becomes dominant, yet approximately 30% of the matter remains non-equilibrated even in the most central collisions, revealing that these intermediate-sized systems do not fully reach thermal equilibrium.

Researchers at the University of Osaka developed a catalyst that uses ultrasonic vibration to convert CO₂ into CO. By modifying the catalyst with a metal–organic framework (MOF) incorporating isolated copper atoms, the catalyst is designed to concentrate CO₂ near copper reaction sites and make better use of piezo-induced charges generated by vibration. It achieved a CO production rate of 114 μmol g^-1 h^-1, nearly five times that of pristine BaTiO₃. The findings provide a new strategy for using mechanical energy to support more efficient carbon recycling.

A research team at Saitama University has developed a sustainable strategy for converting polyamide microplastics into defect-engineered carbon quantum dots and incorporating them into poly(vinyl alcohol) films for food-packaging applications. The resulting transparent, flexible, luminescent composite films showed tunable optical properties, strong UV-blocking performance, good photostability, and the ability to reduce fruit weight loss during grape storage tests.

Researchers at the University of Osaka developed chiral hole-transport materials that selectively conduct electrons according to spin. Across three classes of materials, molecular handedness consistently determined the direction of spin polarization. The homochiral material also showed nearly threefold higher hole mobility and improved charge extraction and surface passivation in perovskite solar cells, highlighting new possibilities for controlling spin, charge transport, and interfaces through molecular design.

A research team has uncovered fundamental molecular mechanisms governing the formation of tendons and ligaments, which are essential for musculoskeletal integration. Understanding these mechanisms could pave the way for the regeneration of tendons, ligaments, and their attachment sites, known as entheses, which have limited capacity for functional repair after injury because of their poor vascularization.

Complex mathematical problems, such as combinatorial optimization problems, have wide-ranging industrial applications and require extensive computational resources to solve. Slime molds represent a promising avenue for developing new, efficient computing paradigms to mitigate this issue. However, their physical implementation is still challenging. Now, researchers have developed a new, simpler amoeba-inspired computing model that enables physical implementation across diverse materials and physical phenomena, without compromising optimization performance.

Researchers at the University of Osaka and the Osaka Institute of Public Health found that pertussis-associated DNA in wastewater increased weeks before reported cases, with the main analysis showing a 10-week lead. The findings suggest that wastewater monitoring could complement clinical surveillance by detecting changes in community transmission earlier, although further research is needed before it can be used as a validated forecasting tool.

Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology developed DCA2MC, a divide-and-conquer approach for model checking linear temporal properties. The method splits large verification problems into smaller, independently checkable tasks to address state-space explosion and improve performance through parallelization. A supporting tool is implemented in Maude and provides an environment integrating with external model checkers such as Spin, while a semi-automated method helps select effective layer configurations. Case studies demonstrated improved verification of larger state spaces.