Wind tunnels are not only used for engineering purposes such as airplanes and rockets. We used the hypersonic wind tunnel in the experimental building to simulate the entry of an icy object into the atmosphere by placing ice in a Mach 7 airflow. The ice melted due to the aerodynamic heating caused by the collision of the high-speed airflow, but the melted ice turned into ice again in another place, creating a mysterious formation. I will talk about how this led me to expand my imagination to the history of the earth and life.

　In order for a protein to function, a "string" of amino acids must fold into a specific shape (folding), but if the string becomes entangled, it becomes an aggregate. In the cell, a group of proteins called chaperones helps the folding process. In this lecture, the formation of protein aggregates and the mechanism of chaperone action will be outlined.

　Today, when most of the population is concentrated in cities, building a sustainable society is synonymous with building a sustainable city. However, reshaping a city is not just a matter of construction work; it is about changing the social system. It requires careful planning, cooperation from other disciplines, and a long-term perspective. This is an area where academic integration is required. I would like to talk about the future vision of local cities that we are currently working on in our laboratory.