Rowan Hooper - The Japan Times

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Rowan Hooper

Rowan Hooper has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from Sheffield University, UK, and he worked as an insect biologist in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, for five years before spending a two-year period at The Japan Times in Tokyo. He is now news editor for New Scientist magazine, based in London.

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Jan 27, 2005

Bull-headed shrike

* Japanese name: Mozu * Scientific name: Lanius bucephalus * Description: At first glance, bull-headed shrikes look like large (20-cm-long) house sparrows, albeit they have thick, hooked, black bills and are more strongly colored, with black and white feathers in their wings, rust flanks, gray-brown...

Japan Times

JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS

Jan 13, 2005

Fossils reveal human drift to 'beauty'

The 18th-century British philosopher David Hume said "Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty."

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Jan 13, 2005

Japanese white-eye

* Japanese name: Mejiro * Scientific name: Zosterops japonicus * Description: The white-eye is a small, delicate bird, with an olive-green upper body, wings and head, and a gray to pale-brown belly. The distinguishing feature is the bright-white eye ring made of feathers (the Japanese name means...

JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS

Dec 30, 2004

Controversies cloud a breakthrough find on 'once-luxuriant bush'

This year has been a vintage one for biologists interested in human evolution. In a cave on an Indonesian island, the remains of a new species of human were found, a species that lived only 18,000 years ago and hence overlapped with modern Homo sapiens.

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Dec 23, 2004

* Japanese name: Raicho * Scientific name: Lagopus mutus * Description: Ptarmigan are medium-size, plump birds about 35 cm long with a 54-60 cm wingspan. They weigh around 500 grams. Since the birds depend on camouflage for defense, their plumage changes with the season. In summer, the top half is a...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Dec 9, 2004

Long-tailed tit

* Japanese name: Enaga * Scientific name: Aegithalos caudatus * Description:The long-tailed tit is a small, fluffy, pinkish bird; it would be the Bridget Jones of the bird world if only it were better fed. The flanks and shoulders are pink-brown; the eyes red; the wings black; and the tail, which is...

JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS

Dec 9, 2004

Deception detectors set to rival Wonder Woman's rope

Women are nicer than men. I'm sure most people will agree. Of course there are the nasty, heartless, scheming ones -- but there are plenty of men who fit that description. On average, though, women are better at empathizing with others, and better at picking up on others' moods and caring about how they...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Nov 25, 2004

* Japanese name: Herasagi * Scientific name: Platalea leucorodia * Description: Spoonbills are tall white birds with long legs, similar to egrets, but fatter. The legs vary from pink-gray to black. They have a defining characteristic: a long black bill that forms a spoon shape at the end. The body grows...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Nov 11, 2004

* Japanese name: Aosagi * Scientific name: Ardea cinerea * Description: Gray herons, the largest of herons, grow to be almost 1 meter tall, with a wingspan of 2 meters. Despite their Japanese name (which means "blue heron"), these birds are more gray than blue, with a white neck and a black underside....

JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS

Nov 11, 2004

Promiscuous primates play a seminal role in sex

On average, men are bigger, stronger and more aggressive than women. The behavioral and physiological differences are the result of sexual competition: Males tend to fight among themselves for females, and so tend to be bigger and stronger. The pattern holds across most species.

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Oct 14, 2004

* Japanese name: Misosazai * Scientific name: Troglodytes troglodytes * Description: The wren is tiny, the smallest Japanese bird, only 10 cm long. It has brown upperparts and gray-brown underparts. There is a white stripe above the eye. (The Japanese name refers not to its brown color and thus similarity...

JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS

Oct 14, 2004

Tracing the origins of that 'most intimate of structures'

Former Colorado congresswoman Pat Schroeder once quipped: "I have a brain and a uterus and I use both." The former is what separates humans from other mammals; the latter is what separates mammals from everything else.

JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS

Sep 30, 2004

Deaf school phenomenon points to innate language origins

So there's this deaf American visiting Russia, and he's thirsty. Using American Sign Language, he says to his deaf-guide, "I really want a soda." But in Russian Sign Language, the gestures he used correspond to, "I really want to have sex." Guessing at some linguistic problem, the Russian guide diplomatically...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Sep 23, 2004

* Japanese name: Segurokamome * Scientific name: Larus argentatus * Description: Herring gulls are large, noisy, boisterous birds. They are white with light gray backs, black wingtips and pink legs that have webbed feet. A key identifying mark is the red spot on the lower tip of their yellow bills....

JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS

Sep 9, 2004

Heartening news for some from an Ice Age gene mutation

In Terry Gilliam's 1985 film "Brazil," a tiny printing error in a bureaucratic document leads to the mistaken arrest and detention of an innocent man. A single letter is changed in a file and the set of instructions are automatically followed by the authorities.

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Sep 9, 2004

Barn swallow Tsubame

* Japanese name: Tsubame * Scientific name: Hirundo rustica * Description: A common and easily recognizable bird, barn swallows have long, pointed wings and deeply forked tails. The feathers on the back and wings are a metallic dark blue; the underside is white or cream. The face is scarlet red. Both...

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Aug 26, 2004

Brown-lined puffer

* Japanese name: Kitamakura * Scientific name: Canthigaster rivulata * Description: Puffer fish have plump bodies and thick, smooth skin interrupted by large bulging eyes. In many parts of Japan, puffer fish are called fugu, which is written using Chinese characters that mean "river pig." In western...

Japan Times

JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS

Aug 26, 2004

Does language determine thought? Are there concepts in some languages that can't be understood in others because that language doesn't have the word for it?

Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Aug 12, 2004

Black-eared kite Tobi

* Japanese name: Tobi * Scientific name:Milvus lineatus * Description: Kites are large raptors, birds of prey with a noticeably forked tail. The black-eared kite has dark brown plumage (darker than the plumage of its close relative, the red kite), and black feathers over its ears. They have large wings...

Japan Times

JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS

Aug 12, 2004

Sensitive science in the race for glory in athletic pursuits

With the 28th Olympic Games about to start, who would put a bet on a white athlete winning the 100 meters? Certainly not the American writer Jon Entine. "The complete domination of the 100 meters by people of West African origin means no white man will ever again win the event. It simply won't happen,"...

You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.

Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.

The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'

By Tomoko Otake

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