Contemporary civil engineering practices highlight the need for safer, more reliable, uplift-resistant foundations for lifeline infrastructure and also seek solutions for environmental and social problems associated with surplus soil from construction projects. Using surplus construction soil, researchers have developed a winged composite pile system that can enhance uplift resistance. This approach supports cleaner and safer construction practices, helping projects achieve environmental goals without sacrificing structural integrity.

Researchers at the National Institute for Basic Biology (NIBB) have developed an alternative approach for preparing pseudopregnant recipient mice by utilizing female mice showing nonestrous signs. By combining the Lee-Boot and Whitten effects, this method achieves stable copulation and pregnancy rates. The approach offers a practical solution for research facilities to significantly reduce the number of stock animals maintained for embryo transfers, directly aligning with the "Reduction" principle of laboratory animal welfare (the 3Rs).

Researchers at Tohoku University have discovered a promising strategy that converts harmful carbon dioxide into valuable fuels and chemicals by precisely altering nanoclusters made of copper.

The abundance of sulfur not only makes lithium-sulfur batteries cheaper to manufacture, but they also boast superior energy-storage capacity to current lithium-ion technologies. But one problem preventing practical deployment is polysulfide shuttling—when polysulfides formed during battery cycling escape the cathode and drift into unwanted areas and cause the battery to erode. Now, a group of researchers from Tohoku University has solved this problem with a molecularly designed covalent organic framework (COF)–graphene interlayer. Like a security checkpoint that both identifies threats and efficiently streams people where they need to go, the interlayer combines chemical trapping, rapid charge transport, and sulfur-conversion promotion. 

Magnets can store data – but there is a limit. To improve the data density of memory devices, researchers at Tohoku University delved into ways to exert precise control over a unique material called metallic helimagnets.

Located 1,000 meters underground in Japan, the Super-Kamiokande observatory strains to detect the faintest of signals amongst all sorts of noise: ghost-like neutrino particles. A recent analysis of 5,000 days of data provides an exciting, world-first indication of a flux of neutrinos called Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background (DSNB) – emitted by supernovae over cosmic history.

Masahiro Tatsumisago, Former OMU President and current Executive Advisor at Osaka Metropolitan University, has been selected for the NIMS Award 2026 from the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS).