New research shows that the gum disease bacterium P. gingivalis can slip into the bloodstream and infiltrate the heart. There, it quietly drives scar tissue buildup—distorting the heart’s architecture, disrupting electrical signals, and raising the risk of atrial fibrillation.

In Japan, phrases like "sustainable society" and "sustainable development goals (SDGs)" have become buzzwords in recent years. With the numerous challenges facing modern-day societies, which include environmental issues such as air pollution, climate change, and marine plastic pollution, what approaches can be taken to achieve a truly sustainable society?

To explore this question, we spoke with Lecturer Tomoaki Nakaishi from the Faculty of Economics, who is conducting research that merges the fields of economics and data science to achieve what he calls “sustainable consumption and production.”

A significant advancement in molecular engineering has produced a large, hollow spherical shell nanostructure through the self-assembly of peptides and metal ions, report researchers from Japan. This dodecahedral link structure, measuring 6.3 nanometers in diameter, was achieved by combining geometric principles derived from knot theory and graph theory with peptide engineering. The resulting structure demonstrates remarkable stability while featuring a large inner cavity suitable for encapsulating macromolecules, opening pathways for producing complex artificial virus capsids.

As a recent leap in green chemistry, scientists from Japan have unveiled a new catalyst that enables high yields of sulfones using molecular oxygen—close to room temperature. By fine-tuning the structure of oxygen vacancies in perovskite oxide catalysts, the researchers successfully reduced the reaction temperature from 80–150°C to nearly 30°C, offering improved energy efficiency. The study marks a significant milestone in advancing complex sulfide oxidation reactions, offering sustainability with excellent efficiency.

MicroRNA-27a has been shown to stimulate both the wingless-type integration site family, or Wnt signaling, and the bone morphogenetic protein pathways to actively promote bone regeneration, according to a recent study from Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan. Their important findings shed light on the intrinsic cellular pathways and mechanisms that are critical for the development of new bone-like tissue and could inform the design and development of future tissue regeneration therapies.

The recent global monkeypox (mpox) outbreak, with a new and aggressive variant, has underscored the dire need for safe, broadly effective, and accessible vaccines. The LC16m8 vaccine, an attenuated vaccinia virus strain originally developed for smallpox, is a promising option for countering the mpox virus. Exploring this potential further, researchers employed a cross-species immunological analysis to provide new insights into LC16m8’s immunogenicity and safety against mpox. The recent global monkeypox (mpox) outbreak, with a new and aggressive variant, has underscored the dire need for safe, broadly effective, and accessible vaccines. The LC16m8 vaccine, an attenuated vaccinia virus strain originally developed for smallpox, is a promising option for countering the mpox virus. Exploring this potential further, researchers employed a cross-species immunological analysis to provide new insights into LC16m8’s immunogenicity and safety against mpox.