Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences (IMS) in Japan have discovered why smoking tobacco helps people suffering from ulcerative colitis, a chronic disease typified by inflammation of the large intestine. The study shows that smoking produces metabolites that encourage bacteria from the mouth to grow in the large intestines where they trigger an immune response that suppresses the inflammation. These findings imply that protection against ulcerative colitis can be achieved through prebiotics like hydroquinone or probiotic therapy with bacteria like Streptococcus mitis, thus eliminating the need to smoke and all the associated risks for other diseases.

A new analysis by UN University scientists finds that the total human population directly exposed to wildfires rose 40% globally, with 85% of that in Africa, leading to 1.5 million indirect deaths each year. 

Indoles, which form the backbone of many bioactive compounds, are valuable in drug development but are difficult to modify at certain positions. Researchers at Chiba University have developed a cost-effective method using a copper-based catalyst to selectively attach alkyl groups to the C5 position, which has been especially challenging to target. This approach simplifies the synthesis of indole-based precursors and is expected to lead to the development of novel drug candidates in the future.  

Sustained hypoxia affects orthodontic tooth movement (OTM) by altering osteoclast and osteoblast differentiation, report researchers from Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan. Hypoxic conditions resulted in reduced alveolar bone levels after OTM and lower expression of runt-related transcription factor 2 and vascular endothelial growth factor. These findings, observed in a rat model, provide critical insights into the bone remodeling process in OTM under hypoxia.

Four and a half billion years ago Jupiter rapidly grew to its massive size. Its powerful gravitational pull disrupted the orbits of small rocky and icy bodies similar to modern asteroids and comets, called planetesimals. This caused them to smash into each other at such high speeds that the rocks and dust they contained melted on impact and created floating molten rock droplets, or chondrules, that we find preserved in meteorites today. Now, researchers at Nagoya University in Japan and the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) have for the first time determined how these droplets formed and accurately dated the formation of Jupiter based on their findings. Their study, published in Scientific Reports, shows how the characteristics of chondrules, particularly their sizes and the rate at which they cooled in space, are determined by the water contained in the impacting planetesimals. This explains what we observe in meteorite samples and proves that chondrule formation was a result of planet formation. 

Researchers at AIMR and NUS have demonstrated field-free, energy-efficient switching of perpendicular magnetization using magnon torques in a WTe₂/NiO/CoFeB heterostructure. By exploiting crystal symmetry and spin canting, they achieved low-current operation with minimal impact of Joule heating—offering a promising path toward scalable, low-power spintronic memory devices based on magnon transport.

The research team directed by H. Shimomoto and E. Ihara in Ehime University succeeded in preparing a new type of carbon-carbon main chain polymers, in which cyclic repeating units are densely incorporated around the carbon-based main chain. In addition, the team demonstrated the unique thermal behavior of the obtained polymers, compared to the corresponding polymers without cyclic structures. This achievement will contribute to the development of new functional polymer materials.

Researchers at The University of Osaka and collaborating institutions have developed a cryo-optical microscopy technique that rapidly freezes live cells with millisecond precision during optical imaging. This enables detailed quantitative imaging of fast cellular events via optical microscopy techniques, including super-resolution fluorescence and Raman microscopy. With near-instant immobilization, a single time point in the cells can then be visualized with multiple imaging techniques, providing new insights across cell biology, biophysics, and medical research.