This past November, I logged into Facebook and noticed a post at the top of my timeline. It was about a project called “Choral meets Machine Learning,” put together by six 18-year-old gymnasium (German high school) students who were members of the Regensburg Domspatzen (Regensburg Cathedral Choir, literally: Regensburg Cathedral Sparrows), the oldest and one of the most renowned youth choirs in t…
Not far from RIKEN, you can visit Heirinji Temple in Niiza City, Saitama Prefecture. This temple is the bodaiji (family temple) of Nobutsuna Matsudaira, a past lord of Kawagoe Domain and ancestor of RIKEN’s third president, Masatoshi Ōkōchi. Located on the temple’s grounds is the Ōkōchi family grave. Recently I visited the temple, and it got me thinking about these two men, their similar attitude…
Researchers led by Ken Shirasu at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) in Japan have identified an ancient protein that has the potential to help defend plants against tens of thousands of different bacteria and other pathogens. Dubbed “SCORE”, this receptor detects cold-shock protein—variations of which are found in more than 85% of known bacteria, as well as fungi and insect…
Researchers led by Hiroshi Ohno 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. Published in the scientific journal Gut, the study shows that smoking produces metabolites that encourage bacteria from the mouth to grow in the lar…
Researchers led by Genki Kobayashi at the RIKEN Pioneering Research Institute (PRI) in Japan recently discovered a way to max out the amount of hydrogen that can be stored in perovskite crystalline powder. The trick is to introduce the hydrogen into the perovskite lattice structure using mechanochemistry – chemical reactions that occur by physically grinding and mixing compounds together. This pr…
This past May, I had the opportunity to experience something truly futuristic at EXPO 2025 Osaka in Japan. At the Future Life Village section of the Expo, RIKEN’s Guardian Robot Project (GRP) showcased three cutting-edge, though still under development, robots—each with a unique personality and purpose. These weren’t your typical machines. They are designed to feel, respond, and even grow alongsi…
Understanding how galaxies form is a central problem for astrophysicists. Although we know that powerful events like supernovae can drive galaxy evolution, we cannot simply look to the night sky and see it happen. Scientists rely on numerical simulations that are based on large amounts of data collected from telescopes and other devices that measure aspects of interstellar space. Simulations must…
The RIKEN Center for Computational Sciences (R-CCS) has recently been very active in the supercomputer community. They hosted the TPC Winter 2025 Hackathon from March 5 to 7 in Kobe, Japan and then had an exhibition booth at SupercomputingAsia (SCA) 2025, which was held in Singapore from March 10 to 13.
The TPC Winter 2025 Hackathon was organized by the Trillion Parameter Consortium (TPC). TPC is…
RIKEN Center for Brain Science (CBS), published in Communications Psychology, challenges conventional wisdom that larger group size reduces cooperation by showing that fluid connections and innate prosocial instincts enable humans to thrive in larger social circles.
Humans are inherently social creatures and heavily rely on teamwork to succeed. This ability to collaborate is deeply rooted in how …
Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Brain Science (CBS) have uncovered how perceptual memories linked to positive emotions, such as joy or happiness, are strengthened during sleep. The study, published in the scientific journal Neuron, could help scientists understand the neurological basis for overcoming conditions like drug or sexual addiction.
Why do emotional events, whether positive or negat…
