SPRING 2021 SHOWCASING THE BEST OF JAPAN’S PREMIER RESEARCH ORGANIZATION • www.riken.jp/en/ COVID-19 A dynamic response HEAVY HITTERS Streaks of light illuminate dark matter EVOLUTION BEEP FROM THE DEEP Ultrasound-carrying STRIPPED BACK rays map ocean floor E. coli mutation possibilities converge ▲ Purpose in the pandemic Coronavirus particles (green) in a host cell. The virus is named for the corona (crown) of surface proteins (dark dots) used to penetrate cells. RIKEN is contributing to many aspects of coronavirus research (page 29) including modeling droplet spread with supercomputer Fugaku (page 32). 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Articles showcase Saitama, 351-0198, Japan • Hitoshi Okamoto (CBS) • Yasuo Nabekawa (RAP) Initially established RIKEN’s groundbreaking Tel: +81 48 462 1225 • Kensaku Sakamoto (BDR) • Shigehiro Nagataki (CPR) as a private research results and are written for a Fax: +81 48 463 3687 • Kazuhiro Sakurada (MIH) • Masaki Oura (RSC) foundation in Tokyo in 1917, non-specialist audience. [email protected] • Harukazu Suzuki (IMS) • Toru Tamagawa (RNC) RIKEN became a national • Toshitada Takemori (IMS) • Tomohiro Uesaka (RNC) research and development RIKEN Research is published ISSN 1883-3519 • Koji Yonekura (RSC) • Yasunori Yamazaki (CPR) institute in 2015. by RIKEN in collaboration www.riken.jp/en with Nature Research CHEMISTRY COMPUTER / RIKEN Research is an online Custom Media, a part • Hideki Abe (CSRS) COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCE and print publication that of Springer Nature. • Keisuke Tajima (CEMS) • Toshiaki Iitaka (ISC) highlights the best research • Katsunori Tanaka (CPR) • Takahito Nakajima (R-CCS) published by RIKEN. This • Hirofumi Tomita (R-CCS) © AMI IMAGES / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY TABLE OF CONTENTS Editorial Research 3 Creating our 10 highlights future ourselves 10 Picking up on autism earlier in life People COVER STORY 11 Hitching a lift on rays to 4 Repurposing storm map the ocean floor and space tech 12 Pulling a golden trigger Teruaki Enoto to kill cancer cells RIKEN Hakubi Team Leader 13 Quantum mechanics sets speed limit p.12 Human-spun spider silk 14 Cassava flowering cues Nur Alia Oktaviani 15 A harmonic marriage Special Postdoctoral between light and Researcher mechanics 16 Artificial skin could save animals’ skins 17 Taking a walk on the random side p.14 Briefs 6 Remembering Akito Arima (1930–2020) Star chemist awarded JST prize First clinical trial of cancer immunotherapy using iPS-NKT cells The future is Fugaku Two join Japan Academy SPRING 2021 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Research COVER STORY 18 highlights Feature 26 Microbes are perhaps more manageable than we thought 18 The origins of psychosis The likely adaptive trajectories for viruses and bacteria might COVER STORY be fewer than previously 19 Exotic space matter thought, and there may remains elusive be implications for the superbugs crisis. 20 Stringing together dark matter 21 Pulsar distinctions are not so cut and dried 22 Quantum filter allows qubits to have their cake and eat it Perspectives COVER STORY Responding to the challenge of COVID-19 23 Mimicking sea 29 A strong research capacity in immunology, molecular biology cucumbers using titanium and computational sciences and access to sophisticated 24 Brain region processes infrastructure gave RIKEN room to work on goals as diverse novel encounters as diagnostics, therapeutics, vaccines and understanding social behavior. 25 The genetics of the Japanese heart p.18 Infographic COVER STORY 32 How does COVID-19 travel? As the world settles into daily life alongside COVID-19, the RIKEN Center for Computational Science and its collaborators have been using RIKEN's supercomputer Fugaku to simulate p.23 droplet and aerosol spread dynamics in common travel settings. 2 RIKEN RESEARCH EDITORIAL Creating our future ourselves Shigeharu Kato Executive Director, RIKEN y the time this issue of RIKEN Research is abolishing inefficiencies (including the need for published, vaccinations against COVID-19 stamps on documents) through the introduction of SPRING 2021 SHOWCASING THE BEST OF JAPAN’S PREMIER RESEARCH ORGANIZATION • www.riken.jp/en/ will have begun in some countries. But digital tools. Making administration more effective that does not mean the struggle against and efficient will also benefit our scientists, thus BCOVID-19 is over. One thing is clear: we cannot helping us to carry out our mission more effectively. return to the days before the pandemic. Rather, I brought young administrative staff into this we must devise and adapt to a new way of life, project to encourage them to create their future including new ways of working, to give us more themselves. We set up taskforces working on COVID-19 A dynamic response resilience toward future pandemics. specific areas. They worked through the summer HEAVY HITTERS Streaks of light illuminate dark matter EVOLUTION BEEP FROM RIKEN has already taken steps in that direction. and autumn and came up with various proposals, THE DEEP Ultrasound-carrying STRIPPED BACK When the government declared a state of emergency and some of them have already been implemented. rays map ocean floor E. coli mutation possibilities converge in April last year, we quickly introduced teleworking The aim of this reform is not just the digitaliza- (with the exception of essential personnel). We tion of documents, but rather the digital transfor- COVER STORY: The response of Escheri- faced some hurdles: poor internet connections, mation of our administrative work. I am hopeful chia coli bacteria to hardware problems and a lack of face-to-face that this process, carried out by young staff, will 95 different stresses communication. However, teleworking brought help bring a new mindset to RIKEN administrators: reveals that the benefits: more time to spend with our families, “creating our future ourselves.” evolution of E. coli is less complex than previ- more flexible time management and relief from We are also looking forward to sharing experi- ously thought, opening Japan’s notorious commuter rush. ences and ideas with our international partners, so up new possibilities for Based on my recommendations, our Board of please get in touch with us if you would like to work countering antibacterial Executive Directors decided in June to reform our together on these changes. resistance. Page 26 administrative processes. The chief goal was to © 2021 RIKEN allow our administration to remain functional even under a state of emergency, but another goal was to enhance the quality of life of our administrative workforce by rationalizing work regulations and Keep up to date Online Facebook Twitter LinkedIn www.riken.jp/en facebook.com/RIKEN.english twitter.com/RIKEN_en linkedin.com/company/riken SPRING 2021 3 PEOPLE x-ray astronomical CubeSat (named NinjaSat) as part of collaborations with Repurposing storm the RIKEN Tamagawa High Energy Astrophysics Laboratory and young researchers from a number of institutes. and space tech NinjaSat is a small 6U-sized spacecraft that will be used to observe bright x-ray sources in the sky. We can observe Teruaki Enoto x-rays from accreting matter that falls into RIKEN Hakubi Team Leader, Extreme Natural Phenomena RIKEN Hakubi black holes or neutron stars. This small Research Team, RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research observatory will help gravitational-wave observatories to search for coherent gravitational waves from fast-rotating neutron stars. Describe your role at RIKEN. thunderclouds; exploring new astro- I lead the Extreme Natural Phenomena nomical techniques for observing black My research is important to society RIKEN Hakubi Research Team, a group holes and neutron stars using CubeSats; because... that studies high-energy phenomena. and probing for hidden water on the We are developing a new non-contact In January 2020, my team became part Moon using neutron signals produced water sensor using our neutron-meas- of the second round of RIKEN Hakubi by cosmic rays. urement technology. This device uses teams, a five-year program that allows the fact that neutrons bounce off protons young researchers What has been the most interesting in water. The same techniques have to pursue independ- recent discovery in your field? been used to find corrosion in bridges ent projects. Before I came to RIKEN, my group and pipes, and to measure moisture in Currently, my measured high-energy atmospheric the soil. We’re particularly interested team has three radiation (such as gamma rays, neutrons, in advancing space exploration by main projects: and positrons, which are antiparticles examining the possibility of hidden water understand- of electrons) originating from winter on the lunar surface. We will work to ing the lightning and thunderstorms in Japan. develop new neutron