We are moving from an era where it was said that "women are not necessary" to an era where "women’s active participation is expected." The realization of a society where women can fully demonstrate their abilities will lead to the realization of a society where everyone can demonstrate their abilities in a society where diversity is expanding. Positive action is being discussed and tried as a measure to bring that society closer to reality. There are sufficient reasons for the opposition to positive action, but I hope that we can first see the view that lies ahead and, hopefully, by moving forward while modifying it to the view we want to see, we can realize a society where everyone is evaluated fairly. Women are also voicing their opposition to "women’s quotas" and "women-only open recruitment" as they degrade women. Due to a history of creating a distorted evaluation axis and the difficulty of changing attitudes, no magic bullet has been found to improve the Gender Gap Index, which is sluggish internationally. I would like you to think together about "what women should do now."

Sumanene is one of the representatives "buckybowl", which possess partial structure of fullerene C₆₀. It is known that sumanene has a highly symmetrical bowl-shaped molecular structure and an associated curved π-conjugated system, which enables to form a characteristic one-dimensional column structure in the solid state. Furthermore, in solution, it shows a unique dynamic behavior called "bowl inversion" in which the front and back of the molecular plane are turned upside down. Based on these characteristics, we have studied the intracrystalline dynamics and the dielectric response based on the fluorine-introduced sumanenes, fluorosumanenes. In this paper, we focus on their in-plane motion in the one-dimensional columnar structure and the equilibrium between the two isomers induced by the bowl inversion, which significantly affect the resulting crystal structure and the dielectric properties.

Plant cells possess totipotency, and their flexibility in proliferation and differentiation is a driving force of plastic morphogenesis and high organ regeneration ability in plants. On the other hand, plants have evolved highly functionalized cells that completely discard their totipotency through programmed cell death, and successfully integrated such cells into their developmental programs. In this article, the latest findings on the molecular mechanisms of flexible regulation of cell proliferation and differentiation and cell fate determination in plants are reviewed, mainly from a viewpoint of posttranscriptional gene regulation such as RNA metabolism and protein modification. Also the reason why post-transcriptional gene regulation is important for the regulation of cell proliferation and differentiation in plants will be discussed.

The structure of nucleic acids is a double helix structure (duplex) consisting of Watson-Crick base pairs. Recently, it has become clear that nucleic acids can also form non-canonical structures such as triplexes and Gquadruplexes depending on surrounding environments. Interestingly, nucleic acid sequences that can form noncanonical structures are often found on genes associated with cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Moreover, it has been reported that the formation of non-canonical structures can induce mutations in gene expression, such as transcription and translation. The role of non-canonical structures in the onset and progression of disease has therefore attracted attention, and research to clarify the correlation between the formation of non-canonical structures and changes in disease gene expression is being conducted worldwide. These findings may help to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of disease onset and progression. This review outlines the non-canonical structures formed on disease-related genes (particularly oncogenes) and the effects of nucleic acid structures on gene expression.

T cells, a type of immune cell, are activated as part of the overall immune system and eliminate virus-infected cells and cancer cells. CAR-T cell therapy is an immunotherapy that aims to efficiently eliminate cancer cells by expressing recombinant chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) that can directly recognize cancer cells in T cells. While CAR-T cell therapy is expected to be highly effective, it has issues such as reduced effectiveness due to immune escapes by cancer cells, frequent side effects such as fever, and severe side effects due to a systemic inflammatory response called cytokine release syndrome. This review summarizes the basis of CAR structure research and introduces the technology of dual-targeted CAR, which can recognize multiple tumor antigens, and the concept of logic-gated CAR, which controls activation by applying logic gates. Both of these were developed as solutions to these issues. Moreover, considering the application of CAR technology to various immune cells, including NK cells, we will prospect the future image of "CAR-cell therapy," which encompasses all CAR technologies.

Evidence indicates that Japan’s proportion of women researchers is extremely low by international standards. In the 'Second Basic Plan for Gender Equality,' science and technology were identified as fields requiring new initiatives. The 'Third Basic Plan for Science and Technology' strengthened efforts to support women researchers. Building on these plans, MEXT began allocating budgetary resources to promote women researchers in 2006. While the proportion has increased, Japan still ranks lowest among OECD countries. This paper reviews initiatives aimed at supporting women researchers and underscores the need for a "selection and concentration" approach in resource allocation, particularly in the fields of mathematics, physics, information science, and engineering, where the participation rate of women researchers remains low.

The purpose of this article is to consider scientific knowledge and organizations from the perspective of feminist science studies. Then, I will describe the prospects and challenges for changing scientific knowledge and organizations. In Japan, the representation of women in STEM is lower than other countries. In the past, many policies and studies have been made. Many of these are based on the pipeline model: Pipeline is metaphor of career paths, if more women are at the pipeline entrance, there will be more women scientists at the exit. This has led to policies aimed at promoting girls ‘choice of science. However, according to feminist science studies, gender-biased scientific knowledge and scientific organizations cultures and structures have excluded women. Therefore, there is a need not only to try to increase women at the entry points of the pipeline, but also to transform gender-biased scientific knowledge, and scientific organizations cultures and structures.

On receiving a distinguished award from the Japanese Association of Women Scientists, expressing gratitude to supporters and detailing the career journey shaped by historical adversity and scientific ambition. Dr.Ohkura grew up during WWII, experiencing hardship, displacement, and a post-war Japan marked by chaos. This background led her to pursue science, particularly botany, and pharmacology, conducting pioneering work on natural compounds and plant-based therapies. Over decades, she developed an integrated medical approach, merging Western and Eastern medical philosophies, and created a diagnostic device for non-invasive health assessment using skin impedance. Her contributions bridge scientific rigor with holistic healthcare.

A decade after the STAP cell incident—a widely discussed case of research misconduct—media coverage and public reactions often placed disproportionate emphasis on matters unrelated to the research findings, such as the researcher’s appearance and private life, thereby blurring the line between legitimate scientific scrutiny and personal disparagement. This paper addresses fundamental issues in research, including the essential role of maintaining laboratory notebooks and the fabrication of data, while also examining societal and media responses and the risks inherent in the oversimplified construction of gendered representations of researchers , exemplified by the Japanese term “Rikejo” (a neologism referring to women in science, literally “science girls”). It further underscores the importance of research integrity education and calls for a re-examination of the relationship between researchers and society. The discussion emphasizes that sustaining and investigating an intuitive sense of unease—rather than suppressing it—while engaging in verification grounded in scientific evidence constitutes a cornerstone of ethical discernment for researchers.

Gender gap index of Japan is in the lowest group in the world, and despite the Japanese government's policy of promoting gender equality since the 2000s, the proportion of women in academia has only increased slightly and remains low. Several academic societies are engaged in diversity promotion activities, and some are planning to create new committees in the 2020s or in the future. We will introduce the activities of the Gender Equality Academic Association Liaison Committee and the activities of several academic societies that began diversity promotion activities.