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July 04, 2025
 

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Will Dunham
Killer whales have been caught on video breaking off pieces of seaweed and using them to rub and groom each other, scientists announced on Monday, saying it is the first evidence of cetacean tool manufacturing.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 25, 2025
Killer whales use seaweed as tools to groom each other
The researchers hypothesize that the behavior promotes skin health while strengthening social bonds.
An elephant walks through the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 20, 2025
Humans adapted to diverse habitats before trekking out of Africa
Homo sapiens acquired an adaptability useful for tackling the wide range of conditions awaiting beyond the continent.
A new study is offering fresh insight into where consciousness resides in the brain.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 2, 2025
Scientists explore where consciousness arises in the brain
There are practical applications in gaining a deeper understanding of the mechanics of consciousness in the brain.
A handout artist's impression released on Thursday by N. Madhusudhan/University of Cambridge shows the K2-18b super-Earth, a hycean world, in which astronomers say they have found the strongest yet “hints” of life outside our solar system.
WORLD
Apr 17, 2025
Scientists find strongest evidence yet of life on an alien planet
The scientists stressed they are not announcing the discovery of actual living organisms and that the findings should be viewed cautiously.
The Penghu Islands coast at low tide, located off the coast of Taiwan. Although the exact location is unknown, the fossilized mandible of a male Denisovan, an extinct archaic human, was discovered off the coast of this island.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Apr 11, 2025
Jawbone from Taiwan shows geographic reach of enigmatic archaic humans
Confirmed Denisovan fossils have been identified from only two other places — Denisova Cave in Russia and Baishiya Karst Cave in China's Gansu province.
A genetically modified wolf juvenile, one of three successfully bred by reconstructing a genome from the ancient DNA of fossils from dire wolves that had been extinct for over 12,500 years by Colossal Biosciences, billed as "the world’s only de-extinction company," is seen at age five months after his Oct. 1, 2024 birth, at a secure site in the northern United States.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 9, 2025
U.S. company resurrects the extinct dire wolf, or some version of it
Dallas-based Colossal Biosciences has announced the birth of three genetically engineered wolf pups — all with striking white fur — created with the help of ancient DNA.
A Red Knot (left) and a Ruddy Turnstone gather with other shorebirds to feed on Atlantic horseshoe eggs along a beach in Little Creek, Delaware.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Mar 14, 2025
Many U.S. bird species seen as reaching population 'tipping point'
A report found that avian populations are decreasing in almost every habitat, including grasslands and arid regions.
A monarch butterfly is seen at an enclosure at Boone Hall Plantation and Gardens in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, in August 2019.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Mar 7, 2025
Butterfly populations plummet by 22% in U.S. since turn of century
Studies in some other countries have documented declines at roughly the same rate as in the U.S. data.
A panoramic view of Earth taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS)
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 15, 2025
Was the emergence of intelligent life on Earth just a fluke? Some scientists think not.
Some scientists says that Homo sapiens may be the probable end result when a planet has a certain set of attributes that make it habitable.
Former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos (left) and Robert Socolow, a professor emeritus in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University, reveal the location of the minute hand on the Doomsday Clock at a Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists news conference in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Society
Jan 29, 2025
'Doomsday Clock' moves closer than ever to midnight
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said the United States, China and Russia have the prime responsibility to pull the world back from the brink.
African tiger fish swim in the Okavango river in Botswana.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Jan 13, 2025
Study documents extinction threats to world's freshwater species
Threats to such species include pollution, dams and water extraction, agriculture and invasive species.
The skeleton of a mammoth, one of the large mammals that roamed North America during the last Ice Age, is displayed at the Mammoth Site where numerous mammoth fossils have been excavated, in Hot Springs, South Dakota, on Aug. 31, 2018.
WORLD
Dec 5, 2024
Mammoths topped the menu for North American Ice Age people
Scientists discovered that the woman's diet was mostly meat from megafauna — the largest animals in an ecosystem — with an emphasis on mammoths.
A fossil footprint in northern Kenya hypothesized to have been created by a Homo erectus individual, is seen in this photograph released on Nov. 28.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 3, 2024
Fossil footprints in Kenya show two ancient human species coexisted
The fossils provide the first evidence that Paranthropus boisei and Homo erectus shared the same landscape, literally crossing paths.
The discovery of the Navaornis hestiae fills the intermediate step in evolution between the first bird-like dinosaurs, such as Archaeopteryx, and living birds.
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 15, 2024
'One-of-a-kind' fossil from Brazil reveals birds' brain evolution
The fossil discovery filled in a gap of 70 million years in the understanding of the evolution of avian neuroanatomy.
An image of the planet Uranus captured by the NASA spacecraft Voyager 2 in 1986
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 12, 2024
Scientists reveal misunderstanding about magnetic field around Uranus
The Voyager 2 probe encountered Uranus just a few days after solar wind had compressed its magnetosphere to about 20% of its usual volume.
A bed of rock shows chunks of ripped-up seafloor as debris from a tsunami that followed a huge meteorite impact on Earth dating back to about 3.26 billion years ago, seen in a region called the Barberton Greenstone Belt in northeastern South Africa in this undated photograph.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 22, 2024
Ancient meteorite was 'giant fertilizer bomb' for life on Earth
The space rock that slammed into Earth 66 million years ago and doomed the dinosaurs was far from the largest meteorite to strike our planet.
A flock of Common Teal fly across a wetland on a winter day on the outskirts of Srinagar.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Oct 5, 2024
Study documents extinction of 610 bird species and ecological impacts 
The disappearance of avian species erases functions they serve in innumerable ecosystems and may lead to "secondary knock-on extinctions."
Scientists now think they know the reason behind Mount Everest's growth, and it has to do with the monumental merger of two nearby river systems.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 4, 2024
Scientists explain Mount Everest's anomalous growth
The geological process at work on Mount Everest, scientists say, is called isostatic rebound.
An artist's impression of a large asteroid impacting at Chicxulub on the Mexican coastline, which caused the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, 66 million years ago, with the planet Mars and asteroid bodies in the background.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 16, 2024
Asteroid that doomed the dinosaurs originated beyond Jupiter
After migrating inward to become part of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, the asteroid was somehow sent hurtling in the direction of Earth.
Scientists have proposed a way to heat up Mars using heat-trapping iron or aluminum particles as an initial step toward making the planet habitable for people.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 10, 2024
Scientists propose warming up Mars by using heat-trapping 'glitter'
The scientists who developed the proposal see it as a potentially doable initial step toward making the planet habitable.
Magnitude 5.5 earthquake jars Tokara Islands amid flurry of seismic activity
A strong quake struck off the Tokara Islands on Thursday afternoon, with the island chain having recorded around 1,000 earthquakes since a burst of seismic activity first began on June 21.
Onosato's yokozuna promotion causes rare quirk in new sumo rankings
Newly promoted yokozuna Onosato holds a copy of the latest banzuke ranking in Anjo, Aichi Prefecture, on Monday.
A prophesied disaster (likely) won’t strike Japan this weekend
A viral manga prediction of a July 5 disaster has gripped Japan with anxiety and triggered an economic impact, but experts warn that while such dates are unreliable, the threat of a massive earthquake remains real. 
Over 900 earthquakes strike Tokara islands in space of two weeks
A screenshot shows many quakes occurring in the Tokara islands over the past 30 days, in this image taken from the U.S. Geological Survey website.
Ghibli’s Isao Takahata exhibit shows how beloved anime is made
“The man who planted Japanese animation” exhibition includes a variety of sketches, drawings and animation cels from Isao Takahata films such as color design for characters by Michiyo Yasuda from "Grave of the Fireflies."
Ghibli’s Isao Takahata exhibit shows how beloved anime is made
“The man who planted Japanese animation” exhibition includes a variety of sketches, drawings and animation cels from Isao Takahata films such as color design for characters by Michiyo Yasuda from "Grave of the Fireflies."
Flag football facing challenges and opportunities ahead
Japan’s women’s flag football team at the 2025 International Bowl in Los Angeles in June. The sport is enjoying continued growth in the country.
From Hokusai’s Great Wave, shinkansen to One Piece: a cultural treasure box for Lego Japan
Michael Ebbesen, general manager of Lego Japan, says Lego bricks based on Japanese culture have a rich global appeal and are sellable around the world.
With farmed fish, RelationFish swims against the tide in fine dining
Chef Hideaki Matsuo (middle) and the staff of Oseto Suisan Fisheries prepare to check on their sustainably farmed fish.
As Southeast Asia heats up, a Japanese cooling giant sees a major opportunity
An employee of Daikin Cambodia explains the use of different tools during an air conditioner installation training session in Phnom Penh. Daikin is one of Japan’s oldest air conditioning companies, but as Japan’s population falls, the firm is keying in on overseas growth.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

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