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Jesse Ehrenfeld, the board chairman of the American Medical Association, in Chicago in 2019. The F.D.A. has approved many new programs that use artificial intelligence, but doctors are skeptical that the tools really improve care or are backed by solid research.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 1, 2023

Doctors wrestle with AI in patient care, citing lax oversight

Are AI programs likely to identify something a doctor would miss?
A study using a late 20th century baseline determined that glaciers in south Greenland shrank in length by 18% on average, while glaciers in other parts of Greenland retreated by up to 10%.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 17, 2023

Greenland’s glaciers are shrinking at ‘unprecedented’ rate as Earth warms

Over 1,000 peripheral glaciers and ice caps are disappearing twice as fast as they did during the 20th century.
A woman sits where her apartment once stood in Lahaina, Hawaii, after the city was devastated by a wildfire, on Aug. 11.
ENVIRONMENT
Nov 17, 2023

Nowhere is safe from worsening climate change, new U.S. report warns

The report comes at a time of record-shattering heat, with recent months ranking as the hottest on record across the world.
OpenAI said it fired chairman Sam Altman after it concluded that he was not candid with the company's board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 21, 2023

Profit, not progress, animates the tech world

Reliable sources said Altman's firing came amid difference in views about the speed at which OpenAI should push its artificial intelligence.
Nelson Mandela (left) is embraced by Palestine Liberation Organisation leader Yasser Arafat as he arrives at Lusaka airport on Feb. 27, 1990.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 5, 2023

A decade after Mandela's death, his pro-Palestinian legacy lives on

Many South Africans saw parallels between their own struggle against white minority rule and the Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation.
Scientists discovered what they described as widespread and dangerous levels of toxic chromium in areas of Northern California severely burned by wildfires in 2019 and 2020.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Dec 15, 2023

Wildfires are unleashing dangerous metals from soil, study shows

Firefighters and anyone living downwind of a wildfire would be at most immediate risk if chromium 6 becomes airborne.
Music streaming service Spotify started offering audiobooks in October, but not everyone in the book industry is thrilled.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 20, 2023

Spotify's push into audiobooks sparks concern among authors

Spotify began offering complimentary audiobooks to millions of customers in October as part of their monthly subscriptions.
While non-Japanese readers have in recent years been spoiled for choice when it comes to Japanese literature in translation, there is still a wealth of notable works that translators would love to see rendered into English.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 20, 2023

A wish list of hidden gems for Japanese literature lovers

Eight translators reveal their top Japanese books that English readers have yet to enjoy.
A pint is poured inside the Grapes public house in Limehouse, south London, on Dec. 14. Pubs have served Roman soldiers, knights and poets, and have been a gathering place for communities to enjoy a brew beside a crackling fire for centuries.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 20, 2023

Last orders? British pubs hit by rising costs and changing tastes

High inflation, energy bills and business rates are cutting into increasingly stretched earnings, as many find other ways to spend time and money.
Author Yasunari Kawabata’s “The Rainbow” seems to suggest it is never too late to heal, so long as we face our pain rather than run away.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 21, 2023

‘The Rainbow’: Artistic world underscores truths of the human heart

Despite resonant themes, this translation of Nobel Prize-winner Yasunari Kawabata’s novel about lingering grief and regrets feels strangely distant.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa attends the 10th trilateral foreign ministers' meeting in Busan, South Korea, on Nov. 26.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 27, 2023

It's time to consider a woman to take Japan's top job

Is a controversial call for Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa to become the LDP's first female prime minister a Hail Mary or a masterstroke?
The New York Times headquarters in New York. The New York Times has sued Microsoft and OpenAI for using its content to help develop artificial intelligence services, in a sign of the increasingly fraught relationship between the media and a technology that could upend the news industry.
BUSINESS
Dec 28, 2023

NYT sues Microsoft and OpenAI for copyright infringement

While OpenAI has been sued by prominent authors, the suit is the first challenge to its practices by a major media organization.
Scientists announced on Wednesday that they have identified genetic variations associated with human bisexual behavior.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 4, 2024

Scientists discover genetic underpinnings of bisexuality

Data has revealed the proportion of people reporting both bisexual and homosexual behavior has been rising for decades.
Rie Qudan speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday after being awarded the Akutagawa Prize.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 19, 2024

Akutagawa Prize draws controversy after win for work that used ChatGPT

Rie Qudan won Japan’s most important prize for early career writers for “Tokyo-to Dojo-to,” a novel that “exposes the prophecy of the AI generation.”
A mid-19th century ukiyo-e woodblock print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi depicts Xu Fu’s voyage in search of the elixir of life. He can be seen near the left side of the image, with what looks to be Penglai, or Mount Fuji, in the background.
JAPAN / History / Longform
Jan 20, 2024

Eternal pursuits: A history of Japanese quests for immortality

Whether it's a permanent state of meditation or feasting on mermaid, the quest for immortality in Japan isn't too far off from those in other cultures.
International rules governing the ethical conduct of war prohibit the direct targeting of civilians but permit striking military targets, even when it is known that the strikes will kill some civilians.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2024

The killing of innocents in the Israel-Gaza conflict

Unmasking the true horrors in Hamas' raid into Southern Israel and the Israeli response in Gaza.
Emperors sought eternal life for centuries, but scientists believe our physical bodies have limits. That's where technologists come in.
BUSINESS / Tech / Longform
Feb 3, 2024

The digital beyond: Is an eternal existence within grasp?

Immortality has been a dream for centuries, but scientists doubt its possibility. Can technologists and coders find a virtual path instead?
“The Rise and Fall of the EAST” author Yasheng Huang blames the “keju,” the imperial national civil service exam, for the decline in China’s technological innovation. Its influence continues in the “gaokao,” the annual university entrance exam that high school students take in June.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 19, 2024

‘The Rise and Fall of the EAST’: China’s ancient successes paint worrying picture of its future

Economist Yasheng Huang delves into the impact of the "keju" imperial national civil service exam on the ebb and flow of China’s technological innovation.
Tech behemoths have lavished their CEOs with astronomical salaries under the guise of retaining top talent, instead of spreading the wealth.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 25, 2024

Tech CEOs need to start sharing the wealth

The time has come to curb Big Tech's market power and establish the mechanisms to prevent the benefits of technological innovation from being monopolized.
I was skeptical of Lillian Cumic's avocado tempura, but I wound up loving it.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 3, 2024

Vegan or no, ‘Hawaii Washoku’ is a cookbook for all eaters

Chef Lilian Cumic offers creative versions of many of Japan’s most iconic dishes crafted from scratch with pantry staples found in most kitchens.
 A cow is prepared for slaughter at a facility in Corbas, France.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2024

Does religious freedom trump animal welfare?

The European Court of Human Rights found that protecting the welfare of animals is part of the legitimate government objective of protecting public morals.
A co-production between Hiroshi Koike Bridge Project and the Grotowski Institute in Wroclaw, Poland, “N/Kosmos” features performers from Poland and Japan, each of whom mostly uses their native tongue.
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 21, 2024

‘N/Kosmos’ puts on a dazzling display of controlled chaos

Stage director Hiroshi Koike welcomes pandemonium in his latest genre-fluid production in collaboration with Polish electronic musician Waclaw Zimpel.
In Hideo Yokoyama’s “The North Light,” an architect sets out to solve a mystery when he finds out the family he built a prizewinning house for has vanished.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 23, 2024

'The North Light': One man's psychological journey subverts the crime genre

Hideo Yokoyama's novel centered on a man confronting the shattered pieces of his life offers a look into post-bubble Japan's architectural world.
A new brain wave study published Friday suggests that hearing the names of their favorite toys actually activates dogs' memories of those objects.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 23, 2024

'Good boy!' Dogs do understand us, says new study

A new study published suggests that hearing the names of their favorite toys actually activates dogs' memories of those objects.
An analysis of all the publicly available viral genome sequences yielded a surprising result: humans give more viruses — about twice as many — to animals than they give to us.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 27, 2024

Humans give more viruses to animals than they give us, study finds

Researchers looked at nearly 12 million virus genomes and detected almost 3,000 instances of viruses jumping from one species to another.
Joel Vaudreuil's "When Adam Changes" won the grand prix at this year's Niigata International Animation Film Festival, the largest festival devoted to feature-length animation in Asia.
CULTURE / Film / CULTURE SMASH
Mar 28, 2024

Niigata film festival showcases cutting-edge overseas talent

The six-day event dedicated to feature-length animation presented a lineup of stories that were psychologically rich and emotionally dark.
D.B. Weiss, co-creator of the Netflix sci-fi drama series "3 Body Problem," is interviewed in Las Vegas, in January.  Some Chinese viewers have expressed disappointment with the adaptation's departure from the original source material.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 10, 2024

The ‘3-Body Problem’ of adapting content across borders

From anime to the latest Netflix blockbuster, changing material can be a controversial subject. How much modification is acceptable?
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida addresses a joint session of Congress in Washington on Thursday. Kishida’s recent summit with U.S. President Joe Biden is being lauded as a success.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 16, 2024

Give credit where credit’s due after prime minister's outstanding U.S. summit

The Japan-U.S. summit has been rightly called historic and a big deal for Tokyo and the alliance — if its long list of deliverables is realized.
This photo of Yuval Tapuhi was taken at the Tribe of Nova festival before it was attacked on Oct. 7 by Hamas-led terrorists.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 20, 2024

What a terror attack in Israel might reveal about psychedelics and trauma

Scientists are studying the ravers who were attacked to determine the effects of such drugs at a moment of extreme trauma.
Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
CULTURE / Books / Longform
Apr 22, 2024

The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores

Shops without staff, shelves for rent, cafes and meetups are some of the ways the country's dwindling bookstores are trying to survive.

Longform

Visitors to Kyoto walk along a street near Kiyomizu Temple in April. A popular tourist spot, Kyoto has seen what locals feel to be an overwhelming amount of tourists in 2024.
Is Japan ready for 60 million tourists?