Researchers at AIST, in collaboration with IAI Incorporated, the Industrial Research Institute of Shizuoka Prefecture, Numazu Technical Support Center and Shizuoka University, have demonstrated that organic liquid fertilizer made from food processing wastewater can be used in hydroponic tomato cultivation.
IAI had developed the system for producing organic liquid fertilizer with AIST and the other members. Yet, the performance of the produced organic liquid fertilizer had not been evaluated in detail. For the evaluation, the performance of the organic liquid fertilizer produced was compared with that of a commercially available chemical liquid fertilizer, by hydroponically cultivating tomatoes using them respectively. In general, it is known that chemical fertilizers, whose nutrient content can be easily adjusted, have higher plant growth efficiency than organic fertilizers. However, the organic liquid fertilizer produced in this study showed a fertilization effect equivalent to that of the chemical fertilizer (Using the organic fertilizer resulted in some plant parts growing approximately 10% more than when the chemical fertilizer was used). This organic liquid fertilizer contains microorganisms. It was suggested that some of the microorganisms may settle on tomato roots and form a biofilm, thereby preventing infection by other undesirable microorganisms. This technology contributes to the realization of a sustainable society by promoting nitrogen resource recycling through the use of waste-derived fertilizers.

Researchers at AIST, in collaboration with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma America and the University of Lausanne, have used ants, social insects, to reveal part of the mechanism by which social isolation cause behavioral abnormalities and shortened individual life spans.
Various living creatures, including humans, live in groups with a social structure. While we experience in our daily lives that social interactions with family and friends influence our behaviors and physiological states, the actual situation and mechanisms of social interactions have remained largely unknown. This is because only a limited number of species are socially active, and most social organisms have long individual life spans, making it difficult to evaluate them and conduct manipulation experiments.
In this study, we used an ant, a social insect that lives in a complex social structure and has a relatively short individual life span of approximately one year, as a research model and found that social isolation environments induce a high oxidative stress response. By alleviating the oxidative stress in the isolated environment through drug administration, we succeeded in alleviating the behavioral abnormalities and shortened life span of ants in the isolated environment. This is an important achievement that will provide a basis for future research to understand social isolation stress responses in other species and to mitigate and solve problems related to social environment and health.

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 at AIST, in collaboration with the University of Tokyo, have realized a low-cost, waste-minimized, scalable chemical synthesis of peptides. Complex peptides consisting of nine amino acids can be produced with minimal use of protecting groups.
To produce peptides in large quantities, "chemical synthesis " is required. Conventional methods elongate amino acids one-by-one in a specific order, but the methods are costly due to requiring expensive amino acid starting materials having protective groups and elaborated chemical activators (condensation reagents). In recent years, chemoselective ligations for unprotected peptide chains have been widely used to efficiently produce large peptides, but most of these ligations have limitations in the scope of amino acid sequences. The newly developed peptide synthesis can be applied to any amino acid sequences, and can connect peptide chains in block-by-block style. By using this method, large peptides can be produced in large quantities with minimal use of protecting groups. As a demonstration of this method, we have succeeded in the scalable synthesis of the bioactive peptide consisting of nine amino acids.
This achievement will contribute not only to the development and supply of new pharmaceuticals (middle-sized molecular drugs), but also to pioneer new applications of peptides, such as industrial uses in foods, agrochemicals, cosmetics, and materials. In addition, synthetic methods that reduce production costs and environmental impact will contribute to the realization of a sustainable society.

AIST researchers have developed a terahertz absorber with high absorptance and fast thermal response, as well as superior productivity.
Terahertz power sensors determine the absolute power of incident electromagnetic (EM) waves through temperature rise in an absorber which coverts EM energy into heat. Therefore, an absorber with high absorptance and fast thermal responsivity enables us to realize accurate power measurement with fast response time. However, in the frequency range in the 6th generation mobile communication systems (6G), how to achieve both high absorptance and fast rise in temperature remains an open challenge. In this study, we proposed a three-dimensional hollow structure that achieves both high absorptance and fast temperature rise, and fabricated an absorber using a 3D printing and electroless plating technique. Its evaluation result showed that absorptance more than 99% was achieved in the frequency range in 6G, and the temperature rise time was more than twice in comparison with conventional absorbers. This technology will allow us to develop terahertz power sensors with high accuracy and fast response time. The highly efficient power sensors help us to spread next-generation communication technology using terahertz waves.

Researchers at AIST, in collaboration with Tohoku University, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, the University of Tokyo, Kyushu University, and others, conducted a direct comparison of remote-sensed data of the Cb-type asteroid Ryugu’s surface observed by the Asteroid Explorer Hayabusa2 and lab-measured data using Ryugu samples brought back to the Earth by Hayabusa2 spacecraft without exposure to the Earth's atmosphere. The remote-sensed and lab-measured reflectance spectra of Ryugu are quite similar, however, a clear difference is the OH absorption band depth: the OH band of remote-sensed spectra is more than half weaker than that of lab-measured spectra. To clarify what causes that difference, we performed lab experiments and data comparisons using primitive carbonaceous chondrites similar to Ryugu. Then we revealed that the most likely cause is that the surface of Ryugu, about 1/100 mm in depth, has been affected by space weathering, alteration caused by exposure to cosmic rays and cosmic dusts, resulting in partial dehydration and the OH band weakening. Our result has been enabled for the first time by the combination of remote sensing of asteroid Ryugu and laboratory measurements using collected samples by Hayabusa2, and suggests the importance of sample return missions playing an important role in planetary science.

AIST researchers have developed a technique to evaluate the reflection and transmission characteristics (S parameters) of radio-frequency (RF) components at arbitrary temperature from 4 K to 300 K (-269 °C to 27 °C).
Quantum computer systems contain many RF components to transmit analog signals between the cryogenic quantum chip and the room-temperature electronics. However, most of them do not have guaranteed characteristics in cryogenic environments. Unexpected malfunctions of even a single RF component in a circuit consisting of many components can hinder the large-scale integration of quantum computers. Therefore, there is a need to establish a low-temperature evaluation method for RF components. This method improves on existing methods for measuring reflection and transmission characteristics to enable evaluation of RF components at arbitrary temperatures from 4 K to 300 K. The temperature-dependent information obtained by this technique is essential for the development process of high-performance RF components and will contribute to the advancement of quantum-related technologies. The technology will be deployed in a quantum hardware testbed at the Global Research Center for Quantum and AI Fusion Technology Business Development, which will begin offering measurement services to industry.