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November 21, 2024
 

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Rowan Hooper

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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
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 17, 2014
Alien invasion threatening native species
An invasion has been going on under our noses. It is multipronged, ruthless and very difficult to repel. It has been called an "ecological apocalypse."
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Apr 19, 2014
Now is the time to research Alzheimer's
The team leader at the Laboratory for Proteolytic Neuroscience at Riken's Brain Science Institute is not a man usually given to making apocalyptic statements.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Mar 15, 2014
Historical ifs and weathers or not
To suggest that history is shaped by chance weather events and climatic variation doesn't lend it quite the same gravitas as if it were wrought by great leaders. It certainly isn't as inspirational. But such processes can be just as important — and the weather can sometimes foil even the best-laid...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Feb 15, 2014
Stem-cell leap defied Japanese norms
It's not surprising that last week Haruko Obokata issued a plea for privacy. On Jan. 29 she published a scientific paper on stem cells that could revolutionize medicine, and overnight the researcher based at the Riken Center for Developmental Biology (CDB) in Kobe became a domestic and international...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jan 18, 2014
Cooperation vs. competition in space
Shadows of winter clouds
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 14, 2013
2013: A year to clone in Japanese science
In a year when the science news in Japan is still dominated by Fukushima, there have also been plenty of inspirational stories. For this final column of 2013, I have picked a few of my favorites.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Nov 16, 2013
Creationists all thumbs over digits research
It's back to basics this month, with a look at evolution, science and religion.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Oct 19, 2013
'GTAV' aggro-risks doubt
In the last week I've been drunk in a strip club, got shot at by gangsters and driven a sports car into the ocean — where, regretfully, my partner drowned. But that's nothing compared to a friend of mine who has robbed a convenience store at gunpoint and broken into a military air base — then stolen...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Sep 7, 2013
Fukushima: health disaster or PR fail?
One thing about having a nuclear accident in a rich country is that at least there is going to be good medical care and long-term monitoring. The repair and clean-up operation is another matter, of course — which is why Japan is currently under pressure to accept help from abroad in fixing the appalling...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 10, 2013
In science terms, Japan has no need at all to kill whales
Final arguments from the defence and prosecution were heard in mid-July, and the world court is now considering its judgment. At issue is Japan's right to conduct its seasonal "scientific" whaling program in Antarctic waters. But the case has involved arguments about how to define science itself.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jul 13, 2013
Effects will become more obvious as Japan's climate changes
Residents of Japan's big cities, and of Tokyo in particular, are well aware of the heat-island effect — especially now with the onset of summer.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 9, 2013
Unraveling the mystery of male birds' missing members
How the chicken lost its penis: It sounds like a weird cousin of one of Rudyard Kipling's 'Just So Stories for Little Children' from 1902, which featured 'How the Leopard Got His Spots' and 'How the Camel Got His Hump.'
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 12, 2013
Japan's Suzaku satellite shows how all bets are off around Cygnus X-1
This month, the Vermillion bird of the South — which is currently flying 550 km above Earth — meets an astronomical swan some 6,000 light-years away.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Apr 14, 2013
Casting a little light on fireflies
If dragonflies are the insects of Japan's day, then the mysterious, magical fireflies are its bugs of the night.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Mar 10, 2013
Embrace the DNA that makes you a mongrel
This month, we celebrate the mongrel, a word that means different things to different people. For some, it may bring to mind nonpedigree dogs, mutts that don't belong to a specific breed; in Japanese, the word is daken, which has the definite negative connotation of a 'skulking cur.'
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Feb 10, 2013
Fugu reveals its simple gender switch
It's the most celebrated and notorious fish in the world, certainly in culinary circles. Now the puffer fish — one of Japan's most enigmatic creatures — meets some of biology's deepest questions: Why did sex evolve? Why are there two sexes? Why is the male sex chromosome such a puny little thing?...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jan 13, 2013
How Japan's teens can avoid sleep demons
Have you ever woken up but been unable to move; felt a powerful pressure holding you down, gripping you tight? Haruki Murakami has, and he describes it like this: "I was having a repulsive dream — a dark, slimy dream. ... After I awoke, my breath came in painful gasps for a time. My arms and legs felt...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 9, 2012
World still waits for Japan to stop being apathetic about whaling
It was hardly the result the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) hoped for, or expected.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Nov 11, 2012
Japan's live organ donors enjoy better health than 'normal' citizens do
At age 56, Toshinobu Horiuchi was a desperate man. He had suffered kidney failure and needed a transplant. As a doctor, based in Tokyo, he knew better than most that he faced a long wait.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Oct 14, 2012
Why stem-cell science thrives in Japan
It's easy to take for granted the epic scale of what some scientists are attempting these days. When the news broke a couple of weeks ago that Japanese scientists had turned normal cells from a mouse into eggs, and then fertilized them and seen them develop into baby mice, I thought it was pretty cool....
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.

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