- The amygdala plays a key role in driving increased risk-taking -

A research team led by Dr. TANAKA Toshiko and Dr. HARUNO Masahiko at the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT, President: TOKUDA Hideyuki Ph.D.), investigated how avatar-mediated communication affects human decision-making. They discovered that participants were more likely to take risks when facial expressions (such as admiration or contempt) were displayed by avatars than when the same expressions were shown on real human faces. This increase in risk-taking was found to result from a more favorable valuation of the "uncertainty" of facial feedback in the avatar condition.

Tokyo, 31.3.2025 - In a bold step toward revolutionizing network technologies, the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) and the Fraunhofer Heinrich-Hertz-Institut (HHI) in Germany launch the Optical Testbed Dataspace (OTDS). OTDS is a pioneering platform designed to accelerate the development and testing of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) models for optical networks. It fosters global collaboration by enabling international partners to securely share and aggregate testbed data from diverse environments, pushing the boundaries of network optimization and automation.

– Providing evidence for the hierarchical representation of relative numerical magnitudes in the human brain –

The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT, President: TOKUDA Hideyuki, Ph.D.) has revealed, through fMRI-based brain activity analysis, that multiple regions in the human cerebral cortex flexibly represent numerical quantity. This finding comes from research by HAYASHI Masamichi (Researcher (Tenure-Track)) at Center for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), part of NICT’s Advanced ICT Research Institute, in collaboration with the University of Tokyo’s graduate student KIDO Teruaki (NICT cooperative visiting researcher), and Prof. YOTSUMOTO Yuko.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA, President: Hiroshi Yamakawa) and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT, President: Hideyuki Tokuda) have successfully completed the commissioning and the initial calibration & validation　 for the Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR), which was jointly developed by JAXA and NICT, onboard Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) (Nickname: “Hakuryu”).

- Frontiers of Responsible Research and Innovation in Neuroscience -

As neuroscience progresses, ethical, legal, and sociological issues (ELSI) in neuroscience are not only expanding, but also becoming more complex. This conference will be an in-person international meeting with participants from not only the field of neuroscience, but also internationally recognized leaders and promising young researchers from fields related to ELSI in neuroscience, such as ethics, law, and sociology.

- A significant step towards miniaturizing quantum circuits for quantum computers -

The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT, President: TOKUDA Hideyuki, Ph.D.), NTT Corporation (NTT, President: Mr. SHIMADA Akira), Tohoku University (President: Dr. TOMINAGA Teiji) and the Tokai National Higher Education and Research System Nagoya University (President: Dr. SUGIYAMA Naoshi) succeeded in developing a new type of superconducting flux qubit that operates in zero magnetic field.

Facilitating a smooth transition to post-quantum cryptography to ensure the safety and security of social infrastructure

Tokyo - October 7, 2024 - TOPPAN Digital Inc. (TOPPAN Digital), a TOPPAN Group company and wholly owned subsidiary of TOPPAN Holdings Inc. (TYO: 7911), the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), and ISARA Corporation (ISARA) have developed SecureBridge™, a smart card system capable of supporting both currently used public-key cryptography and post-quantum cryptography (PQC) that is secure against attacks from quantum computers.

- A simple, wide-band optical communication system realized with optical comb and frequency reference distribution -

An international research team led by the Photonic Network Laboratory of the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT, President: TOKUDA Hideyuki, Ph.D.) demonstrated a coherent optical fiber communication system with a total transmission capacity of 336 Tb/s. The system uses a single light source combined with optical comb generation and frequency reference distribution, eliminating the need for hundreds of built-in light sources within transponder modules.

TOKYO—September 3, 2024—NTT Corporation (Headquarters: Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo; Representative Member of the Board and President: SHIMADA Akira; hereinafter "NTT") and Cybersecurity Laboratory of the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT, President: TOKUDA Hideyuki, Ph.D.) conducted a systematic review of papers published as user studies (studies involving participants) in the security and privacy field. The review quantitatively revealed that many existing studies focus on populations from limited geographical and cultural regions, primarily in the West.

The Universal Communication Research Institute of the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT, President: TOKUDA Hideyuki, Ph.D.) has successfully developed a 21-language, fast and high-fidelity neural text-to-speech technology. The development of this technology has made it possible to synthesize one second of speech at high speed in just 0.1 seconds using a single CPU core, which is about eight times faster than the conventional methods. This technology also enables fast synthesis with a latency of 0.5 seconds on a mid-range smartphone without network connection.