author

 
Menu
Search
 
November 21, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access
Rowan Hooper

Meta

Twitter

@rowhoop

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
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Oct 27, 2017
Research into reverse-sex genitalia deserved award
In caves in Brazil there lives a tiny insect with the most extraordinary story. It feeds on bat droppings and chews on the dead carcasses of fallen bats. When it copulates, it does so slowly — a single sexual act takes up to 70 hours, or three full days. But that's not even the oddest thing about it....
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Sep 23, 2017
Cephalopods show signs of intelligence
Is it morally acceptable to eat intelligent animals? Everyone can make their own mind up about this. Some people think that there's nothing wrong with eating any kind of animal. For me, I drew a somewhat arbitrary zoological line in the sand and decided that any animal "above" a fish was off-limits....
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jul 21, 2017
Did DNA influence Japan's collectivist society?
If you've spent any time in Japan you will have heard the expression, "Deru kugi wa utareru" ("The nail that sticks out gets hammered down"). The phrase is used to explain how Japanese society traditionally prefers conformity and social harmony to independence and individual expression. There is a similar...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jul 6, 2017
'Gloomy Japan' highlights a loss of hope
"In recent times, reflections on the future of Japanese society have not generally been couched in optimistic terms," says Yuji Genda, a professor of Labor Economics at the University of Tokyo's Institute of Social Science.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 27, 2017
Waking up to the mechanics of sleep
Feeling tired? Wish you had more time in your life? Got too much to do? I answer all three questions in the affirmative, and I am far from alone — in fact, almost everyone I know feels the same. The problem may be a lack of sleep, and, counterintuitively, it may also be a lack of play. But let's start...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Apr 15, 2017
Creating a real ghost in the shell
Yasuo Kuniyoshi is a man with an extraordinary plan. Kuniyoshi, a professor at the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, has been attempting to produce an utterly convincing artificial being for the past 30 years.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Mar 18, 2017
Darwin specimens showcase evolution for first time in Tokyo exhibition
Charles Darwin certainly did not consider it a sin to kill a mockingbird. The 19th-century English biologist killed many of the birds whilst on board the HMS Beagle survey ship as he traveled around the world. The specimens are more important than you might think and you can see a number of them at "Treasures...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Feb 18, 2017
'Moving Zen' and the modern samurai
"Be true to the thought of the moment and avoid distraction. Other than continuing to exert yourself, enter into nothing else, but go to the extent of living single thought by single thought."
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jan 14, 2017
Recalling the ins and outs of our memory
In the Harry Potter films, Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore shows the young wizard memories that he keeps in glass vessels. The franchise portrays memories as things that possess a physical structure that can be moved around. Although they appear to look like wispy bits of fluff, they are given...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 17, 2016
Scientific discoveries inspire amid a turbulent 2016
A number of the notable science stories of the past year are, quite literally, out of this world.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Nov 19, 2016
Manipulating the brain to hasten learning
For some athletes, success has come from a dedication to practice and the repetition of a particular routine. Baseball icon Ichiro Suzuki or English soccer star David Beckham are two examples that immediately spring to mind.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Oct 15, 2016
Space exploration and human evolution
Can we become a multiplanetary species? There have been several spectacular announcements along these lines recently. Both SpaceX founder Elon Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos have unveiled ambitious plans and tested rockets. Now aerospace multinational Boeing has ramped up its plans to get to Mars....
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Sep 17, 2016
Did Japan fudge the truth about whaling?
If you've been following the tragic farce that is Japan's official stance on whaling, you'll know that the arguments made by the country's Institute for Cetacean Research (ICR) to try and justify the hunting of whales have been soundly rejected. Japan maintains it needs to kill whales as part of a scientific...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 20, 2016
The gene that may benefit sumo giants
Samoa, with its string of beautiful islands and coral atolls in the South Pacific, is attracting more than just tourists these days. Scientists are heading there, too. The nation holds the uneviable position of being No. 1 in the world for obesity. Among Samoan men, 80 percent are either overweight or...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jul 16, 2016
Rethinking the age-old question of youth
Japan used to follow a wonderful practice to mark old age: Everyone who reached their 100th birthday received a silver sake cup called a sakazuki. It's certainly better than the tradition in Britain, where centenarians simply get a letter from the queen.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 18, 2016
Autism may not be confined to the brain
Thirteen-year-old Naoki Higashida describes his own personal feelings about having autism as follows:
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 14, 2016
Change in the brain: Central nervous system cells finally get the recognition they deserve
As you read this, some 100 billion neurons are transmitting information through electrical and chemical signals via synapses in your brain.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Apr 16, 2016
Saluting Shakespeare's scientific legacy
On April 23, the literary world marks the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare. It's a good excuse for a lot of fuss: Britain's Royal Mint has produced a new £2 coin, the postal service has prepared a set of commemorative stamps depicting portraits of the Bard and thousands of theaters...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Mar 19, 2016
Do chimp rituals reveal roots of religion?
How did gods evolve? I can't promise to answer a question of such gravity this week, but I can perhaps raise some interesting ideas.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Feb 20, 2016
Stem cells used to replace part of the human brain
Sometimes I imagine famous scientists and doctors from the past magically catching a glimpse of our modern world. Sure it's fun to picture their gawping faces, but the daydream also helps remind me that we take so much for granted these days. And, in fact, it illustrates the incredible pace of discovery,...
Ishiba delays meeting with Trump, citing legal restrictions
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waves upon arrival for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, in Callao, Peru, on Friday.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Rising sex tourism exposes loopholes in Japan's anti-prostitution law
While financial misfortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic may have driven some women to work the streets, others simply want more money to spend — or want to pay off their debts — at host clubs.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

Podcast

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

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’
Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER