AIST and JOGMEC worked to identify microbes that are critical for the stable bioreactor performance and optimize the operating conditions. The results indicated that only one sulfate-reducing bacteria was exceptionally tolerant of relatively aerobic environments, and that maintaining the activity of this bacterium could be important for stable wastewater treatment. Since this system can remove heavy metals from the wastewater with low cost and low environmental impact, it will be also applied to industrial wastewater.

AIST researchers elucidated the insecticide resistance mechanism through interaction between pest insects and gut symbiotic bacteria in collaboration with Hokkaido University and Akita Prefectural University, and with the cooperation of the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO).
The mechanism of gut symbiotic bacteria involvement in the insecticide resistance of pest insects is not known. AIST worked with other institutions to investigate how the gut symbiotic bacteria of the pest insect stinkbugs detoxify insecticides and identified a symbiont gene essential for the detoxification. Symbiotic bacteria use this gene to quickly degrade insecticides that have entered the pest insect's body. It was found that the insecticide degradation product is highly toxic to the symbiotic bacteria, but this substance is non-toxic to the host pest insect, and the pest insect quickly excretes it out of its body. As a result, the symbiotic bacteria can detoxify insecticides and continue to live in the body of the pest insect. This research discovered that pest insects and symbiotic bacteria intimately interact in the insecticide detoxification process.

AIST proposed the general requirements of an international standard for dynamic signs with Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, and the proposal was adopted as ISO 23456-1:2021.
The more effective sign system will be established by developing individual standards under this international standard. We are expecting for the society sharing with various age groups, cultures, and perceptual and physical characteristics, such as the elderly and wheelchair users under the concept of accessibility for all people.

Researchers in AIST developed a catalytic process for converting PET resin in used PET bottles into dimethyl terephthalate at ambient temperature with high yield and high purity.
This technology utilizes an alkaline catalyst with dimethyl carbonate to efficiently depolymerize PET resin at ambient temperature in a short reaction time. It enables to recover the raw material, dimethyl terephthalate, in more than 90 % yield. The reaction temperature can be significantly lowered from that of the conventional method processing at about 200 °C. This technology potentially reduces the cost of bottle-to-bottle recycling.

Researchers in AIST were focusing on ferromagnetic materials as a new candidate spin source layer material to improve the performance of SOT-MRAM (left figure). They have significantly improved spin conversion efficiency by clarifying the origin of the conversion mechanism.
Researchers in AIST were focusing on charge-to-spin conversion phenomena in ferromagnetic materials which could potentially improve the performance of SOT-MRAM. However, the detailed mechanism of charge-to-spin conversion in ferromagnetic materials has not been clarified. Thus, there was no valid guidelines to realize the high efficiency of charge-to-spin conversion (spin conversion efficiency) essential for application. This work developed a magnetic multilayer structure enabling to accurately detect the charge-to-spin conversion in ferromagnetic material and succeed on systematical examination of its spin conversion efficiency. As a result, it was clarified that there were two different spin conversion mechanisms originating from the interface and interior (bulk) of the ferromagnetic material. They also improved the spin conversion efficiency by controlling the magnetic material at the interface (right figure). These achievements contribute to next-generation memory SOT-MRAM, which combines ultra-fast operation with power savings, and it will lead to energy saving and higher performance in mobile terminals and data centers in the future.

AIST has published a next-generation geological map “Urban Geological Map of Central Tokyo (Special Wards Area)”. It visualizes the subsurface geological structures beneath central Tokyo to a depth of tens of meters in three dimensions.
It was difficult to accurately express subsurface geological structures beneath urban areas with conventional planar geological maps. Analysis of large amounts of survey data from as many as 50,000 sites with originally developed 3D modeling technology enabled to visualize the detailed subsurface geological structure of central Tokyo in three dimensions. As a result, the distribution of a valley-filling soft stratum called the post-Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) deposits in the lowlands of downtown Tokyo was depicted in great detail. Furthermore, it was clarified that a weak stratum similar to the post-LGM deposits is also distributed in a part of the Musashino Upland in the Yamanote area, which had generally been considered hard ground. This 3D geological map can be easily viewed by anyone free of charge, so widespread use is expected such as for earthquake hazard maps and urban infrastructure development in central Tokyo (special wards area). The map was released on the “Urban Geological Map of Central Tokyo” page of the AIST website on May 21, 2021.

In collaboration with Osaka University, researchers in AIST developed the world's first metasurface reflector that reflects incident waves in a desired arbitrary direction at 140 GHz.
The reflection efficiency excluding the internal material losses was calculated to exceed 99 %. Furthermore, high efficiency operations were experimentally demonstrated with measured efficiency, including practically unavoidable material losses, of up to 88%. This is the world's first demonstration of a highly efficient metasurface reflector in the D-band. The developed technology is expected to contribute to flexible coverage designs of the beyond-5G/6G communication by bypassing obstacles and providing non-line-of-sight communications.