Honeybee products have been a familiar part of people's daily lives since ancient times. Most notable among them is honey, which has a high sugar content and is often used as a sweetener in drinks and in cooking. Additionally, honey is rich in minerals and has an antibacterial effect, so it is also used as a preserved food. Another honeybee product is royal jelly, which is fed solely to queen bee larvae. Containing a high level of protein, as well as certain fatty acids, royal jelly is very nutritious and is not only added to health foods, but also to cosmetics as a moisturizing ingredient. With a lineup that also includes propolis and beeswax, the blessings of honeybees are bountiful indeed.

Like humans, honeybees have gut microbes. However, recent studies found the gut microbiota of a honeybee has a highly distinctive feature: whereas the human gut microbiota is said to consist of 100 trillion microbes across 1,000 species, 95% of the gut microbiota in honeybees is composed of no more than 8-10 genera of bacteria. This small number of gut bacterial species is beneficial to honeybees: for example, some of the bacteria assist in breaking down several pollen components that honeybees themselves can't easily digest. Several studies also suggest that gut bacteria also play a role in the behavior of honeybees.

Honeybee populations are in decline. The fall in the number of European honeybees, which are the main species used in beekeeping, is particularly pronounced. The main causes with direct impact, scientist's theories, are disease borne by varroa mites, and hornets, which are natural predators of honeybees. In contrast, the Japanese honeybee —— a subspecies native to Japan —— is resistant to varroa mites and employs a technique called the "hot defensive bee ball" to fight off hornets. Scientists say that genetic analysis of the Japanese honeybee could potentially be applied to its conservation and even to selective breeding of honeybees.

The relationship between honeybees and humans has continued unbroken since ancient times. Beekeeping —— also known as apiculture —— was already being carried out in ancient Egypt, more than 4,000 years ago. While the substances produced by honeybees have been prized through the ages as precious sources of nutrition, today honeybees are renowned as insects that are also essential to the production of agricultural crops, due to their role as pollinators that carry pollen between plants. At the same time, there are many as-yet-unexplained mysteries concerning these highly evolved social insects, which display diverse and complex social behaviors consisting of ingenious communication, such as their figure-eight waggle dance. Hopes for future research are high.

Scientists have long known about the gut–brain axis —— the network linked by the vagus nerve that allows the brain and the gut to exchange information and influence each other via hormonal interactions. In recent years, it has become apparent that gut microbes are closely involved in this process. This raises questions about their relationship to diseases of the brain. Attention is focusing in particular on the connection to dementia. At the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology (NCGG)'s Center for Comprehensive Care and Research on Memory Disorders, scientists began researching the relationship between gut microbes and dementia in 2016. These studies have brought to light lifestyle habits that can assist in prevention.

Organisms exert effects on each other as they evolve. Similarly, microorganisms have interacted with other organisms over the course of their survival. For example, the gut microbiome, which is composed of a diverse array of microbes, coexists with humans and virtually all other animals, and is involved in the biological activity of the host. Human microbiome is also greatly influenced by the host human. Accordingly, factors that are the root cause of dysbiosis —— changes in the gut microbiome —— have come under the spotlight. Shedding light on the mechanism would lead to more effective preventive measures and treatment.

Some gut microbes that have coexisted with humans for a long time diversifies, a process known as codiversification. While gut microbes affect our immune system and health, it is unclear which species have coevolved with humans and to what extent. Coevolution is the evolution of organisms sharing the same environment in ways that affect each other, and coevolved microbes are important, because they provide clues not only for discovering more about human evolution, but also for exploring the involvement of gut microbes in health and disease. Exploring codiversified microbial species is the first step in seeking coevolved microbial species.

While scientists have long known that the different bacteria that live in our gut affect our health, the public has been much less aware of this fact. Over the past decade, however, advances in analytical technology have begun to reveal the specific mechanisms. For example, scientists have discovered that gut bacteria are involved in aspects previously thought to be strongly influenced by our genome, such as our body weight and physical constitution, as well as the efficacy of drugs. Research into postbiotics —— metabolites produced by gut bacteria —— and the symbiotic relationship between different species of bacteria is also reported to be progressing. At the moment, gut bacteria are attracting as much attention as our genes.

The bones of elderly people —— particularly women —— become more brittle with age. This can have an extremely serious impact on daily life if they suffer a fracture due to a fall, for example. Increasing bone density is crucial in order to extend healthy life expectancy. So, how can we do this? In fact, scientists say that being active during our elementary and junior high school period is important. Exercise habits in childhood affect future healthy life expectancy. However, the reality is that many children do no exercise. It is desirable for children to experience various forms of sport and physical play, in order to develop a sense of enjoyment from physical activity.

Arteriosclerosis is the phenomenon whereby arteries lose their flexibility as we age. While the extent of progression varies from one individual to another, depending on such factors as lifestyle, it is generally possible to delay the progression of arteriosclerosis through appropriate exercise. Moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise over a long period is effective, but as it takes at least two months for the effects to begin emerging, many middle-aged and older people give up before their arteriosclerosis improves and very few continue in the longer term. Accordingly, work is progressing on the development of biomarkers that can predict the effects of exercise. It is hoped that the ability to predict effects will help motivate people to continue exercising.