Kyoto, Japan -- Japan is well known for its large earthquakes, but not all regions show the same patterns of earthquake activity. One way to understand which places tend to experience large or small earthquakes is the b-value, a key statistical measure long used by researchers for understanding seismicity and assessing earthquake occurrence patterns.

The b-value describes the relative numbers of small and large earthquakes in a given area. A high b-value means that small earthquakes are comparatively more frequent, whereas a low b-value indicates a relative increase in the proportion of larger earthquakes.

Many previous studies have suggested that b-values may decrease before -- or increase after -- large earthquakes, possibly reflecting changes in stress before and after rupture. Other studies have proposed that large earthquakes tend to occur in areas where b-values are low. Until now, however, it has remained unclear whether time-dependent changes or spatial differences are more important when comparing many large earthquake sequences.

Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan have developed a computer-guided electron beam technique that forms dome-shaped bumps on nanofilms in water within 10 seconds. These nanostructures can be flattened, reshaped, or repositioned as needed, offering potential applications in cell movement and nanorobot power systems.

A large international team including researchers from the University of Tokyo wanted to know if and how climate change might increase the number of suicides associated with temperature around the world. Previous studies showed that hotter weather is often linked to a higher risk of suicide, but the present study combined data from an unprecedented 751 locations in 26 countries and used advanced climate models to estimate how the number of suicides related to temperature might change by the 2050s under different climate change scenarios. 

A newly developed high-speed clinostat enabled researchers at Okayama University of Science to observe shrimp feeding under simulated microgravity for the first time. The study provides new evidence supporting the feasibility of space aquaculture and advances technologies needed for long-term human exploration of the Moon and Mars.A newly developed high-speed clinostat enabled researchers at Okayama University of Science to observe shrimp feeding under simulated microgravity for the first time. The study provides new evidence supporting the feasibility of space aquaculture and advances technologies needed for long-term human exploration of the Moon and Mars.

Scientists from Hokkaido University show that hidden within the DNA of the Asian house shrew is a record of human migration, trade, and cultural exchange stretching from East Asia to the Arabian Sea.

Tokyo, Japan – Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University studying inkjet printing have introduced ultra-fine bubbles into ink droplets and showed that their drying behavior can be tuned without using additives. They discovered that the shape of the particle-laden film left after a droplet dries can be radically modified by adjusting the number of bubbles. This is great news for the printing of microdevices, where additives to ink can come out of solution and negatively affect the properties of ink deposits.

A research team synthesized and determined the structure of a borate-linked 3D crystalline covalent organic framework, TCTP-COF, via electron diffraction for the first time. These findings will help scientists determine the structure-property relationships for other 3D COFs and facilitate their tuning for advanced applications.

Echo state networks (ESNs) are a promising machine learning framework for predicting changing patterns over time, but their accuracy depends strongly on how their settings are chosen. Researchers at Tokyo University of Science found that the time scale of a target system, or how quickly it changes, can help guide these settings. The findings could make ESNs easier to tune and improve applications such as weather forecasting, robotics, and signal processing.

Myeloablative therapies such as radiation and chemotherapy damage not only hematopoietic cells but also the bone marrow (BM) niche—the specialized environment that supports BM cells. However, the mechanisms and therapeutic strategies for BM niche recovery after injury remain unclear. Now, researchers have identified the role of YAP/TAZ signaling pathway that regulates the BM niche and developed a novel small molecule that promotes niche recovery and thereby accelerates hematopoietic regeneration.

Stars like our Sun are formed from the gravitational collapse of prestellar cores. However, prestellar cores have strong magnetic fields that need to be weakened for gravitational collapse to take over allowing a star to form. By observing two tracer molecules in a prestellar core, researchers have observed ambipolar diffusion, a velocity discrepancy between ions and neutral particles. This process weakens the magnetic field of the core, which eventually collapses to form a protostar.