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July 16, 2024
 

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NATURAL SELECTIONS

JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Sep 19, 2002
Reproduction is no laughing matter for hyenas
In some ancient African cultures, the skulking hyena was considered to have special powers. Some of those powers, it was thought, could be attained by consuming a specific part of the hyena's body. The nose, for example, was believed to be a source of wisdom and intelligence. While attributing "special...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Sep 5, 2002
Soon we could all be Spiderman
Picture the scene: Athens, 350 B.C., and Aristotle is reclining in his chair in Plato's Academy. Leaning back to scratch his unruly beard, Aristotle notices a large pink-spotted gecko on the marble ceiling above him. The gecko scampers away faster than 1 meter per second, leaving Aristotle wondering...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 29, 2002
Fruit bats boiled in milk may be tasty, but . . .
After World War II, the Pacific island of Guam was taken over by the United States military. In the years that followed, a mysterious, debilitating and incurable brain disease struck increasing numbers of the indigenous Chamorro people, hitting the men especially hard.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 15, 2002
Short women, listen up: size does matter
"Some girls are bigger than others," Morrissey sang. "Some girls' mothers are bigger than other girls' mothers."
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 8, 2002
DNA testing for all?
The 1986 rape and murder of a 15-year-old schoolgirl in an otherwise quiet village in central England did more than shock residents: It led to the worldwide acceptance of what Australian scientists Robert Williamson and Rony Duncan call in this week's Nature "the most important advance in forensics in...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 1, 2002
The extinction of bad memories
"In spite of severe headache, vomiting and disorder of micturition, he remained on duty for more than two months. He then collapsed altogether after a very trying experience, in which he had gone out to seek a fellow officer and had found his body blown to pieces, with head and limbs lying separated...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jul 25, 2002
You never know what you might catch
The physician's report might have gone something like this: "The patient, H., was perhaps the most powerful man in the world and, as such, enjoyed the best medical care available. Despite this, in his late 30s he became irrational and insecure and developed tyrannical tendencies. H.'s illness may have...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jul 11, 2002
Sperm commit hara-kiri
Aldous Huxley is most famous for "Brave New World" (1932), but among scientists working on sperm competition and reproductive biology his "Fifth Philosopher's Song" (1920) is also well-known:
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jul 4, 2002
GM crops' gene flow is a trickle not a flood
In Italy and France, genetically modified foods are the subject of intense public debate -- and the feelings of most of the public are negative. Speaking last month in Tokyo, Italian sociologist of science Massimiano Bucchi attributed public resistance to GM foods in these countries to the central role...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 27, 2002
A mammalian conflict
What do a pie invented almost 2,000 years ago by the Roman statesman Cato the Elder and the organ most intimately connecting a mother and her unborn child have in common? They are both called placenta (and in some places, both are still eaten). "Placenta" comes from the Greek word plakous, meaning flat...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 20, 2002
How life began: redux
What was the force driving the evolution of life on earth? This question, the answer to which has profound implications for our world view, was neglected for most of the 20th century, not because it was outside science, but because scientists didn't have the technical means to address it. Since the advent...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 13, 2002
Get yourself an attitude
"Human history," said H.G. Wells, "becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe." That was in 1920, but his words are more relevant than ever.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 30, 2002
Finding the neurons that say: 'let's just do it'
Ever wondered why some people are full of "get up and go" and why others drag their heels? Why some kids at school charge enthusiastically around the running track, while others prefer to go for a smoke behind the bike sheds? If work published in Science this week fulfills its promise, there might soon...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 24, 2002
We dig chimp culture
Most of what we know about ancient cultures comes from what they've left behind. Archaeology tells us, for example, about daily life in England before the Romans came and put an end to bad sanitation, and about intellectual life in Europe before the Dark Ages put an end to learning. We even know that...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 17, 2002
We're all narrow-minded
It's a commonly held belief that we lose brain cells as we age. But, in fact, although our brains may not work as well when we get older -- learning becomes harder, memories fuzzier -- the number of cells they contain remains the same, about 28 billion. Scientists think the real problem is that the myelin...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 9, 2002
Sons light up mum's life, but also take years off it
All sons know that we get more flak than daughters. Does "You've taken years off my life" or "Why can't you be more like your sister?" sound familiar?
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 2, 2002
Robo-rats galvanized into action
When the Italian physician Luigi Galvani published his theory of "animal electricity" in the 1790s, it roused biologists and physicists all over Europe, went on to influence the construction of the first electric battery and inspired an 18-year-old English girl to write "Frankenstein."
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Apr 18, 2002
The invasion and colonization of Europe
Cooperation is the key to the evolution of life, even though natural selection favors genetic selfishness. Since all complex life, whether it's a tree or a whale, reproduces through sex, genes have only a 50 percent chance of getting into an egg or a sperm. This means that even genes have to cooperate,...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Apr 11, 2002
Queen of the underworld
One of the most unusual, bizarre-looking and fascinating animals known to science is found in the arid earth of sub-Saharan Africa. It lives in subterranean colonies, with a single breeding queen. It has a worker caste that takes care of the young animals and soldiers that defend the colony: It is "eusocial"...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Apr 4, 2002
Sea lampreys excited by eau de liver bile
The sea lamprey is a parasitic, eel-like fish with a fearsome, tooth-covered "oral disk" instead of a regular mouth. When attacking, the lamprey rears its head, and clamps its oral disk onto the skin of other fish. With its grasping tongue, it feeds on blood and body fluids for an average of 76 hours,...
Who needs AI when you have Hatsune Miku?
Over the first six months of 2024, a handful of songs using Vocaloid singer Hatsune Miku’s voice have enjoyed widespread attention, underlining a global interest in the character and the technology she represents.
Bloodied Trump survives assassination attempt at political rally
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is surrounded and evacuated by Secret Service agents at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. Trump was rushed off stage at the rally after shots rang out.
Shooter came within inches of killing Trump, but left few clues as to why
An aerial view shows the stage where Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump had been standing during an assassination attempt the day before, and the roof of a nearby building where a gunman was shot dead by law enforcement, in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.
Yen’s woes seem too big for even a BOJ hike this month to solve
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
After Trump shooting, U.S. presidential race might take a violent turn
United States Secret Service Counter Snipers stand guard on a rooftop during a campaign rally for U.S. President Donald Trump in Avoca, Pennsylvania, in 2020.
No AC this summer? No problem (for me).
Think air conditioning is a requirement for a Tokyo summer? Think again.
She’s paying ¥1 million to help behind the scenes at the Paris Olympics
Mai Tarumi, who previously volunteered at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has a travel budget of ¥1 million for her trip to volunteer at the Paris Games.

Podcast

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

Longform

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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