Science Talk

How do scientists explore places that are difficult for humans to reach? In this talk, I will introduce three types of exploration: volcanic fieldwork in Africa, glacier observations in Antarctica, and lunar exploration.

Although these places may seem completely different, every exploration begins with the same questions: What do we want to discover? What observations do we need? And how can we develop instruments that will work reliably in extreme environments?

I will share my experiences in Africa and Antarctica, as well as with SLIM, Japan’s lunar exploration mission. These experiences involved not only scientific discoveries, but also unexpected problems, failures, and the teamwork needed to overcome them.

I will then discuss the future of lunar exploration and development. I will also introduce Ritsumeikan University’s new Graduate School of Frontier Exploration in Earth and Space (tentative name; currently under planning), where students will learn through participation in real exploration projects. I hope this talk will inspire you to imagine unexplored frontiers—and perhaps one day join us in exploring them.

Every living creature has a ‘genome’, a set of life-making instructions encoded in DNA’s four-letter alphabet: A, T, G, and C. By reading these instructions from tens of thousands of humans, we’ve learned how DNA variations create individuality, and sometimes disease. Yet, the meaning of the instructions remains mostly mysterious.

Our research uses two revolutionary tools to interpret the meaning from DNA. First, we use iPS cells, personal stem cells that share an individual's genome and can be converted into any cell type in the human body. Second, we employ CRISPR-Cas9, molecular scissors programmed to edit DNA with precision. This talk will spotlight examples of how we use these tools to explore the human genome, manipulating the DNA instructions to improve health and stop disease. 

Our sense of smell begins with very thin hairs (cilia, 100 nm diameter) elongated from the apical part of sensory cells (olfactory receptor cells) located in the nose. When odorant molecules bind to diverse receptor proteins on cilia, G-proteins are activated, triggering enzymatic reactions to produce small messenger molecules called cAMP (cyclic adenosine monophosphate). Cytoplasmic cAMP binds to and opens cyclic nucleotide-gated (CNG) cation channels. Opening of CNG channels causes cell excitations and leads to an increase in the cytoplasmic Ca2+ concentration, which in turn opens excitatory Cl-channels. It is remarkable that all the processes are conducted in nanoscale ciliary structures. In addition, this sensation possesses a system known as “adaptation”. The olfactory adaptation is controlled by a self Ca2+ feedback within CNG channels. Through this mechanism, individual sensory cells can adjust the sensitivity to the odor stimulus across a wide range of intensities. Since ancient times, people have used various substances to “mask” unpleasant odors encountered in daily life. For instance, the aromatic resin called myrrh was used during the mummification process in ancient Egypt, while perfume was developed in medieval Europe to elegantly mask body odor. We have revealed that this masking effect is regulated by the inhibition of CNG channels by the masking substances themselves. 

In this lecture, we will explore the scientific background, and provide an opportunity for you to smell various scents and experience the characteristics of the sense of smell first-hand.