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News from Japan

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 19-Oct-2026 22:16 ET (20-Oct-2026 02:16 GMT/UTC)

How game publishers set international prices: a study reveals four pricing approaches on steam

University of Tsukuba
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Companies selling products through digital platforms often set different prices for the same product across countries to reflect local purchasing power and market conditions. In this study, researchers at the University of Tsukuba analyzed pricing data from Steam, one of the world's largest PC game distribution platforms, and identified four distinct approaches that publishers use to set prices across international markets.

Journal: Journal of International Marketing

Ultrasonic beam extends acoustic levitation range sixfold

University of Tsukuba
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A research team at University of Tsukuba and the University of Bristol has experimentally demonstrated, for the first time, stable three-dimensional acoustic levitation within the high-pressure core of a zero-order Bessel beam. Using a specially designed ultrasonic beam emitted from a single side, the researchers successfully levitated and translated millimeter-scale objects in midair without physical contact over distances of up to approximately 40 cm. This working distance is approximately six times greater than that achieved using conventional single-sided acoustic levitation methods.

Journal: Physical Review Letters

New labeling tool uncovers hexokinase-1 as a G-quadruplex binding protein

Tohoku University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new labeling tool reveals an unlikely candidate involved in the DNA folding process: hexokinase-1. The exciting new method can be used to determine how DNA and proteins interact.

Journal: Communications Chemistry

Counting to five reveals how children's "inner speech" develops

University of Tsukuba
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A simple activity familiar to young children—counting from 1 to 5—offers a new way to study inner speech, the silent use of language in the mind. Researchers at the University of Tsukuba found that children's silent counting became increasingly consistent with age. Around age 5, children were also more likely to count entirely in their minds, without speaking aloud or moving their fingers or lips.

Journal: Acta Psychologica

Mammals produce cyclo-octasulfur to protect cells from lipid damage

Tohoku University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Elemental sulfur is widely known to occr in microorganisms, plants, and fungi, but whether mammals produce and use elemental sulfur has remained unclear.Now, a collaborative team has finally answered this question, discovering that mammalian cells and tissues produce and store cyclo-octasulfur - a stable form of elemental sulfur composed of eight sulfur atoms arranged in a ring.

Journal: Science

Multimorbidity in most Japanese home care patients

University of Tsukuba
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Understanding the health needs of home care patients has become increasingly important as populations age and more people rely on home-delivered medical care. Researchers at University of Tsukuba examined 506 patients receiving physician-led home care in Japan and found that 94.7% were living with multimorbidity, defined as the presence of two or more chronic conditions. Patients with higher levels of multimorbidity were significantly more likely to require emergency home visits. Multimorbidity assessment may help healthcare providers anticipate sudden changes in patients' conditions and plan care accordingly.

Journal: Journal of General and Family Medicine

Structure in the unstructured: New phenomenon discovered in the solar wind

School of Science, The University of Tokyo
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Turbulence is ubiquitous and occurs in our everyday lives on Earth, such as when milk is stirred into coffee, or in the stormy motions of the ocean and the atmosphere. Media in space and astrophysical systems can also develop turbulence, but the physics is different because the medium is in an ionized state (known as the plasma state) and the flow motion is strongly coupled to electromagnetic fields. Furthermore, space plasma is collisionless because the medium is so dilute that the particles do not collide with each other. How does plasma develop into turbulence? How is the fluctuation energy distributed in collisionless turbulence? Turbulence in space plasma remains a mystery in physics.

An international research team from the Technische Universität Braunschweig and University of Tokyo in cooperation with Tohoku University, Kyushu University, Osaka University, and multinational research institutes has now demonstrated, for the first time, a reversal phenomenon of magnetic field rotation in space turbulence. A structure emerges within the unstructured space plasma. The results are published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Journal: The Astrophysical Journal Letters

Liquid metal dealloying creates nanoporous silicon carbide at just 800°C

Tohoku University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers discovered that using liquid metal dealloying can help produce a special silicon carbide at a markedly lower temperature than conventional methods, while still allowing for control of its structure at the nanometer scale.

Journal: Scripta Materialia

THE World University Rankings include Okayama University of Science for Third Consecutive Year

Okayama University of Science
Business Announcement

Okayama University of Science has been included in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for the third consecutive year, placing in the 2001+ band in the 2027 edition. OUS again performed particularly well in the Industry pillar, which evaluates areas including universities’ links with industry.

A new, robust, long-lasting, and safe nucleic acid therapeutic

Institute of Science Tokyo

Scientists at the Institute of Science Tokyo have developed a cholesterol-conjugated PMO/RNA heteroduplex oligonucleotide (Chol-HDO[PMO]) designed for treating disorders of the central nervous system. This advanced nucleic acid technology enables precise targeting of diverse genes while maintaining a strong balance between therapeutic efficacy and safety, offering a versatile platform for developing improved therapies for a wide range of neurological diseases.

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, Japan Society for Promotion of Science, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, Ltd.

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