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Bacteria Yield Spider Silk WINTER 2020 SHOWCASING THE BEST OF JAPAN’S PREMIER RESEARCH ORGANIZATION • www.riken.jp/en/ HUMAN HIBERNATION? Mouse studies hint at possibilities CURRENT THINKING Low-energy skyrmion control MULTIPLE DESIGNER SCLEROSIS Bacteria pair worsen symptoms THREADS ONE Bacteria yield spider silk DIRECTION How magnets manipulate sound ▲ Problematic pair Multiple sclerosis (MS) is caused by MS-microglia cells (red) that damage the myelin sheath of neuron axons (blue). In an article published in Nature in September 2020, researchers from the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences (IMS) looked at how two gut bacteria working together worsened MS. ADVISORY BOARD RIKEN, Japan’s flagship of the articles published to arrange an interview with a BIOLOGY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE research institute, conducts by RIKEN at: https://www. researcher, please contact: • Kuniya Abe (BRC) • Hiroshi Nakagawa (AIP) basic and applied research in riken.jp/en/news_pubs/ RIKEN International • Makoto Hayashi (CSRS) • Satoshi Sekine (AIP) a wide range of fields research_news/ Affairs Division • Shigeo Hayashi (BDR) including physics, chemistry, Please visit the website for 2-1, Hirosawa, Wako, • Joshua Johansen (CBS) PHYSICS medical science, biology recent updates and related Saitama, 351-0198, Japan • Atsuo Ogura (BRC) • Akira Furusaki (CEMS) and engineering. articles. Articles showcase Tel: +81 48 462 1225 • Yasushi Okada (BDR) • Hiroaki Minamide (RAP) RIKEN’s groundbreaking Fax: +81 48 463 3687 • Hitoshi Okamoto (CBS) • Yasuo Nabekawa (RAP) Initially established as a results and are written for a [email protected] • Kensaku Sakamoto (BDR) • Shigehiro Nagataki (CPR) private research foundation in non-specialist audience. • Kazuhiro Sakurada (MIH) • Masaki Oura (RSC) Tokyo in 1917, RIKEN became ISSN 1883-3519 • Harukazu Suzuki (IMS) • Toru Tamagawa (RNC) a national research and RIKEN Research is published www.riken.jp/en • Toshitada Takemori (IMS) • Tomohiro Uesaka (RNC) development institute in 2015. by RIKEN in collaboration • Koji Yonekura (RSC) with Nature Research COMPUTER / RIKEN Research is an online Custom Media, a part CHEMISTRY COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCE and print publication that of Springer Nature. • Hideki Abe (CSRS) • Toshiaki Iitaka (ISC) highlights the best research • Keisuke Tajima (CEMS) • Takahito Nakajima (R-CCS) published by RIKEN. This For further information on the • Katsunori Tanaka (CPR) • Hirofumi Tomita (R-CCS) publication is a selection research in this publication or Getty / selvanegra © Images TABLE OF CONTENTS Editorial Research 3 Supporting serendipity 10 highlights in a post-COVID-19 world 10 Mystery of particle generation in proton collisions deepened People 11 Unlocking the key to cell identity and health 4 Searching for the secrets of spin 12 How the brain sorts smells p.12 Xiuzhen Yu 13 Blood cell mutations linked Team Leader to leukemias are inevitable as we age Helping regenerative ideas flourish 14 Finding materials that buck the trend Cody Kime Special Postdoctoral 15 Detecting the death of Researcher decrepit mitochondria 16 Starved fish are hungry p.15 for victory Briefs 6 Celebrating 30 years of RIKEN-RAL Plans for a new RIKEN quantum computing center RIKEN and JAXA collaborate on real-time rainfall forecasts Yokohama campus holds its annual open day online Global Summit of Research Institute Leaders Secondary and tertiary students participate in Fugaku Challenge RIKEN Image/Video Competition winners WINTER 2020 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Research COVER STORY 17 highlights Perspectives 26 Hijacking hibernation: In the last few years, scientists have 17 Pulses that are short on time, but high on energy been able to clarify the energy- saving mechanisms at work in hibernation, culminating in two COVER STORY important papers published in 18 Tag team worsens June 2020. But what does this FEATURES multiple sclerosis mean for human hibernation? symptoms 19 Skyrmions without the frustration COVER STORY Feature COVER STORY 20 Gently nudging A one-way street for sound waves: A new way for sound skyrmions along 29 waves to interact with magnetic film could lead to 80% more 21 Supernova had a missing directional control companion star COVER STORY 22 Modified bacteria weave spider silk 23 Plant defence provides opening for parasite 24 Mystery of oversized placentas solved 25 Light induces a different kind of sound wave A ONE-WAYInfographic STREET 32 How best to map tissue cells: The most powerful of 13 single-cell RNA sequencing methods tested by an international group for their ability to map the cells FORin complexSOUND tissues is RIKEN's Quartz-Seq2. WAVES We look at the results of a study designed to help large-scale A new way collaborativefor sound tissue waves mapping to projects, such as the Human Cell Atlas, as they seek to interact withstandardize magnetic sequencing film could methods. p.24 lead to 80% more directional control © 2020 RIKEN 2 WINTER 2020 RIKEN RESEARCH 29 EDITORIAL Supporting serendipity in a post-COVID-19 world Yuko Harayama Executive Director n early October we hosted the Global Summit encounter new ideas beyond the sphere of the scien- of Research Institute Leaders, a roundtable on tific community to which we belong. WINTER 2020 SHOWCASING THE BEST OF JAPAN’S PREMIER RESEARCH ORGANIZATION • www.riken.jp/en/ academic management that is held annually as When thinking about this missing piece, I con- part of the Science and Technology in Society template diversity, which is part of my responsibility IForum. This year, of course, was special, as the at RIKEN. We often think of diversity in terms summit was held as an online event. of gender or ethnicity, but I think that we should HUMAN HIBERNATION? We are learning a great deal about living and think of it in a broader way, in terms of ways of Mouse studies hint at possibilities CURRENT working in a world with COVID-19. It’s a bit ironic thinking, feeling and acting. In this new era, we will THINKING Low-energy skyrmion control MULTIPLE DESIGNER that while we have realized that cooperation is more be required to act more intentionally to compensate SCLEROSIS Bacteria pair worsen symptoms THREADS important than ever, we have also found that collab- for the lack of spaces for serendipity and casual ONE Bacteria yield spider silk DIRECTION How magnets oration has become more complex. interactions between different types of people and manipulate sound We have found many tools to help us work scientific communities. I hope that we can think of together, which is encouraging. However, I think ways to promote informal communication among COVER STORY: A RIKEN team have there is something missing. I feel that one important people both within, and among, different institutes. produced very strong element of meetings and events is the chance for I believe that talking among ourselves will give us and lightweight spider informal communication. These discussions can fresh ideas on how to move forward and to design silk using photosynthetic not only be a wonderful source of inspiration, but new spaces for serendipity. bacteria. Page 22 can also lead to new research collaborations, even We would love to hear any ideas from our © 2020 Greg Seymour / years later. It’s a chance to run into people and to partners both inside and outside Japan on this and Getty Images; maintain friendships. However, our new working other issues related to our work in this new era. EyeEm / Getty Images style makes those kinds of contact more difficult, and conversations tend to be much more focused. This can make it hard to experience ‘serendipity’, which is important to science, as it allows us to Keep up to date Online Facebook Twitter LinkedIn www.riken.jp/en facebook.com/RIKEN.english twitter.com/RIKEN_en linkedin.com/company/riken WINTER 2020 3 PEOPLE structures that correlate with novel physical properties. It has allowed us to Searching for the prove that when external stimuli trigger a structural transition in crystals of topo- logical spin textures between tetragonal secrets of spin and hexagonal lattices, there is an effect on these topological spin-textures; they transform between the meron and Xiuzhen Yu skyrmion spin states. Team Leader Electronic States Microscopy Research Team, How did you join RIKEN? RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science The director of the Center for Emergent Matter Science, Tokura Yoshinori, is a pioneer of condensed matter physics and I had always wanted to join Describe your role at RIKEN. Please briefly describe your Tokura’s RIKEN group. Luckily, I I lead a team focused on microscopic current research. became part of the Tokura FIRST phenomena, including tiny magnetic We are using atomic resolution Lorentz program as a postdoctoral fellow in vortices called skyrmions transmission electron microscopy to 2010. The FIRST program funded young and antiskyrmions. directly observe emergent phenomena PhD candidates to train with world- These phenomena in strongly correlated electron leading researchers to encourage them are found in systems, including the realization of to direct research and development substances in different topological spin textures. with practical applications. their solid state, also known My research is important to as condensed society because… matter materials. The ability to manipulate nanom- My team was the eter-scale spin textures is a key to the development of spintron- first to observe skyrmions in ics (next-generation electronic a helimagnet and recently devices that consume very little power). We believe that observed its antiparticle in these spin textures could real time. be used to transmit data and logic in a similar way to the What do you think has been bits in standard the most interesting discovery in computing. The your field in the last few years? secret to the low Although researchers have been power consump- hypothesizing about skyrmions for tion of spin several decades, they were only textures is that it experimentally proven for the first can be stimulated time in 2009. After that finding, using minimal there was a boom in worldwide electric charge.
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