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Using observations from 2017 and 2018, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration, which includes researchers at Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA), National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) and National Sun Yat-san University (NSYSU) in Taiwan, has deepened our understanding of the supermassive black hole at the center of Messier 87 (M87*). This study opens a new window into multi-year analysis at horizon scales by leveraging a new simulation library of super-computer-generated images which is three times larger than the library used for interpreting the 2017 observations, with more than 120,000 additional images compared to the last one. The team confirmed that M87*’s black hole rotational axis points away from Earth and demonstrated that turbulence within the accretion — rotating gas around the black hole — plays an important role in explaining the observed shift in the ring’s brightness peak compared to 2017. This research has been published on January 22, 2025 in Astronomy & Astrophysics, mark a major step forward in unraveling the complex dynamics of black hole environments.

Please see the list of contents below:

We are pleased to announce the new publication of issue 26.1 of Language and Linguistics. This issue includes 5 articles, 1 book review and our annual acknowledgements:

The issue contains 3 articles and 1 book review.

The latest issue of Journal of Social Sciences and Philosophy has just been published by the Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences. Articles in this issue (Vol. 36, No. 5) include: 

The newest issue of the Journal of Social Sciences and Philosophy has just been published by the Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences. Articles in this issue (Vol.36, No.4) include:

This issue has a total of three research articles. The authors and titles of these articles are as follows:

The issue contains 3 articles, 1 research and discussion and 1 book review

The issue contains 3 articles and 1 book review

The newest issue of Academia Economic Papers has been published. Articles in this issue include

Pain is a common yet complex phenomenon involving both physical sensations and emotional responses. While the basic understanding of pain has advanced, the brain mechanisms driving these responses remain unclear. A team led by Dr. Chien-Chang Chen from the Institute of Biomedical Sciences (IBMS), Academia Sinica, has made a significant breakthrough in understanding the neural basis of chronic pain. The study revealed that chronic pain activates specific neuronal populations in the anterior paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVA). These neurons are responsible for processing either the sensory or emotional aspects of pain, with their activity changing based on the pain type. Stimulating these neurons led to tactile hypersensitivity and avoidance behaviors, while suppressing them alleviated pain. Additionally, these neurons send signals to the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) and the nucleus accumbens (NAc), which independently regulate different pain-related behaviors. This research not only deepens our understanding of pain mechanisms but also paves the way for innovative chronic pain treatments that could significantly improve patients' quality of life. The research was conducted by Dr. Chien-Chang Chen and his lab members, including Dr. Selomon Assefa Mindaye (first author, a TIGP-INS alumnus) and Dr. Wei-Hsin Chen, in collaboration with IBMS investigators Dr. Shih-Yu Chen and Dr. Shih-Pin Yang, as well as Dr. Arthur Chun-Chieh Shih from the Institute of Information Science, Academia Sinica. The findings were published in Cell Reports on November 26, 2024.

Transcriptional rewiring generates phenotypic novelty during evolutionary divergence in all organisms. The detailed molecular mechanisms underlying transcriptional rewiring are not fully understood and the diverse transcriptional regulatory networks are not comprehensively delineated. A research team led by Dr. Jun-Yi Leu at the Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica characterized the Sef1 regulatory networks in different yeast species, and demonstrated that an incompletely rewired Sef1 network can evolve strong phenotypic divergence by using a conserved target gene NDE1 with a new function. The study provided novel insights to understand the evolutionary trajectories of transcriptional regulatory networks. The research has been published on November 20, 2024 in Nucleic Acids Research. The first and co-corresponding author is Dr. Po-Chen Hsu, the IMB senior scientist. Collaborators include Dr. Tzu-Chiao Lu at the Baylor College of Medicine and Dr. Po-Hsiang Hung at the Stanford University. This study was supported by the Investigator Project Grant (Academia Sinica) and Frontier Science Research Program (National Science and Technology Council).