The It Ain't Magic Science Blog

Robotic AI helps efficient growth of replacement organs

Humans team-up with a robotic AI to speed up experiments to find the best way to regrow damaged eye tissue from stem cells.

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Purple biomass makes a good crop fertilizer

Biomass made from purple marine bacteria provides more than enough nitrogen to plants without harming the environment

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Decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 series — installment #2: RIKEN CBS Unit Leader Rei Akaishi talks about government decision-making during the pandemic.

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Hepatoma (liver cancer) blocked by a sugar look-a-like

A sugar (fucose) analog can prevent liver cancer (hepatoma) from invading healthy liver cells.

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Next stop: clinical hair regeneration

A new recipe for continuous cyclical hair regeneration in mice. This means that the hair will continue to fall out and regrow like normal hair.

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Gene linked to intellectual ability affects memory replay in mice

Scientists have discovered a gene in mice that allows memory replay at rest, a process necessary for forming long-lasting memories in mice.

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Topics

Latest research animations

Self-assembly of spider silk

This gut microbe might protect against diabetes and reduce insulin resistance

NEW: One-way hydrogel guides motion of tiny worms!

Latest Posts

Aug

Scary places burned into our minds by constant memory replay

by riken research highlights | Research Highlight

Researchers discover the mechanism through which places associated with negative experiences are burned into our memories.

Aug

Toward human hibernation: cold-resistant mouse stem cells

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Cold-resistant stem cells from “deep torpor” mice are a big step toward understanding why tissue survives hibernation.

Aug

A researcher’s journey part 2: emotional memory and being human

by adam phillips | Interviews

Joshua Johansen from RIKEN CBS explains emotional memory, what his lab is doing, and what makes a good researcher.

Aug

Mathematical model predicts self-organized learning in real neurons

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

The free energy principle predicted how real neural connections changed as neurons “learned” in a dish.

Aug

Deadly fungi beaten with fatty acid synthase inhibitor

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

A new approach to attacking fungi involves inhibiting a gene needed for making fatty acids.

Jul

A new and improved way to store hydrogen

by masataka sasabe | Hot Off the Press

A simple chemical reaction allows hydrogen-carrying ammonia to be stored and retrieved cheaply and easily.

Jun

A new alpha-particle treatment for multiple cancers

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

A new type of alpha-particle therapy allows selective targeting of tumors in multiple cancers.

Jun

A researcher’s journey: from surfing to studying pain

by adam phillips | Interviews

Joshua Johansen from RIKEN CBS tells us about his journey from surfer to pain researcher and beyond. Stay tuned for part II …

Jun

The first drug treatment for brain aneurysms (in mice)

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Scientists discover that most aneurysms result from mutations. A mouse model shows they can be treated with drugs.

Jun

Simple but revolutionary modular organoids

by jens wilkinson | Hot Off the Press

A new way to construct complex 3D organoids without using elaborate techniques! The trick using modular cubes with hydrogel layers.

May

Thoughts on the genetics of medicinal licorice

by jens wilkinson | Drop of science

Jens talks about licorice and a recent RIKEN study that finally mapped its genome.

Apr

Pathogenic genetic variation linked to H. pylori-related stomach cancer

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Researchers find that the risk of stomach cancer due to infection withH. Pylori bacteria increases with specific genetic variations.

Mar

ERRg predicts atrial fibrillation and hidden comorbidity

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Polygenic risk scores based on the genetic data from more that a million people predicted atrial fibrillation, stroke, and mortality.

Dec

Memories are made of this ?? – (Part 2)

by adam phillips | Interviews

Thomas McHugh from the RIKEN Center for Brain Science continues his discussion about memories, emotions, the brain, and life.

Dec

Replicating opossum heart regeneration to help fight cardiovascular disease

by adam phillips | Research Animation

Animated research highlight: Opossum hearts hint at new ways of fighting cardiovascular disease

Dec

Spacey, nerdy nights in Tokyo

by kelly | What's Up With Us

Kelly, our new It Ain’t Magic contributor, writes about her nerdy nighttime experiences in Tokyo.

Dec

Memories are made of this ? ? – (Part 1)

by adam phillips | Interviews

Brain science ’round midnight episode 8: Thomas McHugh from the RIKEN Center for Brain Science discusses memories and the brain

Nov

Hibernation-like state can protect kidneys during heart surgery

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Activating Q-neurons in the mouse brain led to a hibernation-like state that protected kidneys during heart surgery.

Sep

Crying baby? Science says walk, then sit

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Recipe for success: Walk 5 min, sit 8 min, lay no-longer-crying baby down. Now you can relax.

Sep

Cyborg cockroaches to the rescue!

by masataka sasabe | Hot Off the Press

The key to this remote-controllable cyborg cockroach is a solar-cell rechargeable battery and an ultrathin flexible backpack.

Aug

Ethanol pretreated soil protects plants from drought

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Pretreating soil with ethanol protected plants, including wheat and rice, from the adverse effects of water deprivation.

Aug

Marsupial heart regeneration ability given to mice

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Regeneration of mouse hearts ? ?? after birth achieved by figuring out how it’s possible in opossums.

Aug

How an herbal medicine protects against inflamed bowels

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

A Japanese herbal medicine promotes good bacteria and innate immune cells in the gut, which protects against intestinal inflammation.

Jul

Robotic AI helps efficient growth of replacement organs

by masataka sasabe | Hot Off the Press

Humans team-up with a robotic AI to speed up experiments to find the best way to regrow damaged eye tissue from stem cells.

Jun

Extra “eye” movements are the key to better self-driving cars

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

If self-driving cars make saccades like people, they might make fewer mistakes identifying important features of the road.

May

Palaeospondylus: mystery of vertebrate evolution solved

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Micro-CT scans using synchrotron radiation X-rays reveal Palaeospondylus morphology, finally allowing its placement on the evolutionary tree.

Apr

Xist knockout rescues miscarriages in mice

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Xist knockout rescues miscarriages in mice whose egg cells lack H3K27me3 epigenetic instructions.

Apr

A new type of cell death discovered in fly guts

by masataka sasabe | Hot Off the Press

A completely unknown type of cell death called “erebosis” has been discovered in the guts of the common fruit fly.

Apr

Diagnosing fetal heart disease benefits from explanatory AI

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Diagnosis accuracy improved when doctors used explanatory AI to help diagnose congenital heart disease from fetal ultrasound videos.

Apr

Chaos theory provides hints for controlling the weather

by jens wilkinson | Hot Off the Press

Computer simulations were used to show that small adjustments to certain variables in the weather system could modify weather phenomena such as sudden downpours.

Mar

Robotic exoskeleton learns to help people stand up

by jens wilkinson | Hot Off the Press

This new robotic exoskeleton uses machine learning to know when users want help standing up.

Feb

Nanocarrier spray: better crops without genetic modification

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Gene expression, but not genomes, altered in plants and crops with a spray containing bioactive molecules tethered to nanocarrier peptides

Feb

Introducing Nikola, the emotional android boy

by adam phillips | Featured, Hot Off the Press

A new android named Nikola will help researchers study facial expressions, emotions, and social interactions.

Feb

Green hydrogen production for fuel cells and fertilizers

by adam phillips | Featured, Hot Off the Press

A new method of water electrolysis avoids rare metals, making hydrogen production green and sustainable.

Feb

Social contact-seeking behavior and loneliness in the brain

by adam phillips | Featured, Hot Off the Press

Levels of the peptide amylin in the brain are related to loneliness; activating amylin neurons in the MPOA drives isolated mice to seek social contact.

Feb

New treatment assembles cancer drug inside the body

by masataka sasabe | Featured, Hot Off the Press

Cancer drugs assembled inside the body on cancer cells should reduce harmful side effects to other tissue.

Jan

New lab-grown retinal sheets almost ready for clinical trials

by adam phillips | Featured, Hot Off the Press

A new retinal transplant technique works by preventing bipolar cells from maturing in lab-grown retinal sheets.

Jan

The free-energy principle explains neural network behavior

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Scientists show that the free-energy principle can explain how neural networks work.

Jan

How does gravity affect antimatter?

by jens wilkinson | Featured, Hot Off the Press

Scientists find that antimatter reacts to gravity the same way that regular matter does.

Are you “at risk” of being a habitual coffee drinker?

Several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are related to dietary habits, including coffee, tea, tofu, and yogurt consumption.

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Diagnosing fetal heart disease benefits from explanatory AI

Diagnosis accuracy improved when doctors used explanatory AI to help diagnose congenital heart disease from fetal ultrasound videos.

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Consciousness, brain connections, and the claustrum

Research shows that the claustrum acts as a ‘consciousness conductor’ that synchronizes and connects areas within the mouse brain.

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Summer fun: how plants beat the heat

Scientists have discovered a gene that allows plants to cope with extreme heat by changing the composition of chloroplast membranes.

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Laser melting ice-core sampler for studying climate change

This laser melting ice core sampler can determine temperature changes thousands of years ago on very fine timescale.

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Brain clock ticks differently in autism

A new brain imaging study shows that autistic severity is linked to how long certain regions of the brain store information.

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Dec

Albumin drops medicine off at cancer site then leaves the body

by masataka sasabe | Hot Off the Press

By changing albumin’s identity, drugs can carried to their targets and then removed from the body after being used.

Oct

Protein antigens in meat, milk, and other foods suppress gut tumors

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Food antigens were found to prevent small intestinal tumors in gut-tumor prone mice by making ensuring we have enough T cells for defense.

Oct

Stem cell exhaustion and proliferation: An aging fly’s tale

by masataka sasabe | Hot Off the Press

Blocking the gene ced-6 led to stem cell exhaustion in aging fruit flies and prevented repair of damaged intestines.

Aug

Chromosome copying errors pinpointed in developing embryos

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

The DNA duplication process changes during embryogenesis and chromosome copying errors increase during the transition.

Aug

Predictive grid cells help self navigation in the brain

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Scientists have discovered grid cells in the brain that map an animal’s (or human’s) future position in space.

Aug

Dopamine reduces beta-amyloid plaques in Alzheimer’s disease

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Increasing dopamine in the brains of AD model mice led to increased neprilysin, which broke down amyloid-beta plaques and improved memory.

Jul

RIKEN discovers new T cells related to immune disorders

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Immune-related diseases like multiple sclerosis associated with genetic variation in newly discovered, rare T cells.

Jul

Will the “love hormone” ever be used to treat a rare genetic disease?

by masataka sasabe | Drop of science, What's Up With Us

One of the pitfalls of researching an extremely rare disease: getting enough data to support clinical trials could be impossible.

Jun

Purple biomass makes a good crop fertilizer

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Biomass made from purple marine bacteria provides more than enough nitrogen to plants without harming the environment

Diazoxide pills for Alzheimer’s disease?

Drug therapy with with diazoxide relieved symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease in the brains of mice and improved memory.

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Eating a high fat diet without getting obese?

Scientists discover that without innate immune cells in the intestines, eating a high fat diet does not lead to obesity in mice.

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How does gravity affect antimatter?

Scientists find that antimatter reacts to gravity the same way that regular matter does.

Read on

Social contact-seeking behavior and loneliness in the brain

Levels of the peptide amylin in the brain are related to loneliness; activating amylin neurons in the MPOA drives isolated mice to seek social contact.

Read on

Jan

Bye-bye microplastics: new plastic is fully ocean-degradable

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

A new bioplastic that dissolves in saltwater — no more pesky microplastics!

Dec

Scientists develop new and improved quantum gates

by jens wilkinson | Hot Off the Press

High-fidelity, low error quantum gates allow more reliable and accurate quantum computations, making the future of quantum computers more promising.

Dec

Nanopores in deep-sea hydrothermal vents and the origin of life

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

“Naturally occurring selective nanopore ion channels in deep-sea hydrothermal vents are similar to ion channels found in cells and could help explain the origin of life.