Rowan Hooper - The Japan Times

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 / Science & Health

Jul 7, 2001

Biodiversity crucial for ecosystems

Wildlife variety is the spice of life -- we know it, and now scientists have confirmed it. Biodiversity is crucial for ecosystems to work properly, according to a French-British study published in Nature this week.

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Jul 6, 2001

Beach wood louse

* Japanese name:Funamushi * Scientific name: Ligia exotica * Description: Beach wood lice are isopods, which are in the crustacean group, like shrimps. But unlike shrimps, their bodies are flattened parallel to the ground. Like regular wood lice, they have seven pairs of legs and large eyes. They...

JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS

Jul 5, 2001

Humans, evolve you must

Us lot, contemporary humans in a postindustrial society, we've got a welfare system, social security and even, in some countries, free health care. Premature babies survive, the wounded get better, the hungry get fed. We're shielded from the blind hand of natural selection, aren't we?

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Jun 29, 2001

Far East tree frog

* Japanese name:Nihon amagaeru * Scientific name:Hyla japonica * Description: These small, green frogs grow up to 5 cm long. They have discs for toes and a brown stripe running down each side of the body starting from the nostrils.

JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS

Jun 28, 2001

Unraveling the nature of the beast

Nurture got a poke in the eye from nature last week, with the publication of a wide-ranging study of identical and fraternal twins that showed differences in certain attitudes are partly due to genetic factors.

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Jun 22, 2001

* Japanese name: Genjibotaru * Scientific name: Luciola cruciata * Description: Fireflies aren't flies -- they are beetles, as you can tell from the hard shell that protects their wings when they're not flying. Adults are 12-18 mm long. They have black bodies and legs, and a red thorax. The most...

JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS

Jun 21, 2001

Living and dying by the sword

Alfred, Lord Tennyson famously drew attention to the rigors of the natural world when he wrote of "Nature red in tooth and claw." His poem, "In Memoriam," was published in 1859 (the same year as "The Origin of the Species"). But had Tennyson known of the sexual habits of the common bedbug, and if he...

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Jun 15, 2001

Hummingbird hawkmoth

* Japanese name: Oosukashiba * Scientific name: Cephonodes hylas * Description: These moths are sometimes mistaken for hummingbirds, because they fly just like them. But they are in fact insects -- day-flying moths. The thorax and abdomen of this species are bright green, with red, black and yellow...

JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS

Jun 14, 2001

New hope for dementia

In 1906, a German doctor called Alois Alzheimer discovered strange clumps in the brain of a woman who had died of a then-mysterious mental illness.

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Jun 8, 2001

*Japanese name:Nihon yamori *Scientific name:Gekko japonicus * Description: A type of lizard, geckos are soft-bodied, 10-14 cm long, bright gray in color, with bands or speckles on their backs and bulging eyes in a large head. Geckos have special expanded toes with suction pads that allow them...

JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS

Jun 7, 2001

Good intentions jinx the 'living dead'

Doom and gloom this week for those who believe in the essential goodness of the human race, with two papers in the journal Science that implicate humans in mass extinctions of mammals in North America and Australia.

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

Jun 1, 2001

Japanese rat snake

* Japanese name: Aodaisho

JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS

May 31, 2001

White lines, blowin' through my brain

Until 1903, a bottle of Coca-Cola contained around 60 mg of cocaine -- enough, it has now been shown, to trigger long-lasting changes in brain activity. According to a report in today's issue of Nature, giving a single dose of cocaine to mice changes the way that nerve connections transmit signals in...

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

May 25, 2001

* Japanese name: Haruzemi * Scientific name: Terpnosia vocua

JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS

May 24, 2001

Bone collectors dig into our past

Two papers published today shed light on our early evolution, though "early" is a relative term. The first describes what could've been the first species of mammal, a tiny beast that quivered in the shadows of the dinosaurs 195 million years ago. The second reports on a shift in eating habits of early...

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

May 18, 2001

Pipistrelle bat

*Japanese name: Abura komori *Scientific name:Pipistrellus abramus

JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS

May 17, 2001

Mimicry demonstrated to drive origin of species

One of the claims often made by opponents of the theory of evolution -- there are some still left, mainly in Kansas -- is that because natural selection is a phenomenon we can't directly observe, the theory is untenable. And while creationists insist that species are immutable despite a staggering amount...

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

May 11, 2001

*Japanese name: Kooimushi *Scientific name:Diplonychus japonica *Description: Water scorpions are aquatic insects that look a bit like beetles. They have wings, but they don't have the protective shell that beetles have. Their mouthparts are also unlike beetles: They have a sharp beak that is used...

JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS

May 10, 2001

What's your cerebrotype?

In "The Prince," Machiavelli set out his manifesto of duplicity and deception. His name stands for cunning, for forming alliances with those in power. The theory of Machiavellian Intelligence proposes that with the advent of social interaction, the advantage gained by manipulating others was the driving...

ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER

May 4, 2001

River damselfly

*Japanese name: Kawatombo *Scientific name: Mnais costalis *Description: Damselflies perch with their wings folded shut (their bigger cousins, dragonflies, perch with their wings held open). There are many damselflies that live around rivers, but some male river damselflies have orange wings, making...

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SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’

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