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July 16, 2024
 

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NATURAL SELECTIONS

JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 30, 2005
Changing values pose problems for terminal care in Japan
Several years ago, I read cancer surgeon Fumio Yamazaki's unforgettable book titled "Dying in a Japanese Hospital." Through case studies of his patients, he describes the final moments in the lives of terminal cancer sufferers. Invariably, just as a patient is slipping away, doctors battle to resuscitate...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 9, 2005
TM bolsters notion of a Japanese mind-set over mortality
As we heard in a government white paper on the elderly last week, the number of people aged 90 or over topped 1 million in Japan for the first time in 2004. Japan has long held the record for its citizens having the longest life expectancy in the world. And the government is only too aware of the graying...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 12, 2005
Fetuses found to inherit mother's trauma
Stress can motivate us, but it can also get us down. And though it might just make us feel blue, it can also kill us. It depresses levels of sex hormones and people stressed by deadlines are more likely to suffer heart attacks.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Apr 14, 2005
Could change be the only constant in the cosmos?
In David Mitchell's compelling novel "Cloud Atlas," two of the characters climb the dormant Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii, and find giant domes -- observatories -- at the peak of the great mountain. The novel -- published last year -- is comprised of six interweaved strands, starting in the 1800s and moving...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Mar 31, 2005
Boning up on a Man much maligned
Quarry workers in the Neander Valley in Germany dug up more than limestone when, in 1856, they came across parts of an old skull and skeleton. By 1864, other similar specimens had been found and studied, and the archaic human was recognized as a new species: Homo neanderthalensis. (Neander Tal means...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Mar 10, 2005
Glimpsing the 'big picture' at the heart of gray matter
It is a commonly held belief that we don't tap into the full power of our brains. Self-help gurus make millions by exploiting this belief, separating people from their money by making them think there is a secret to tapping mysterious, unused reserves of brain power.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Feb 10, 2005
DNA 'flip' highlights our ongoing evolution
Stung by the phenomenal success of the "Harry Potter" books, some people like to preach about the infantilization of culture, and some critics worry that adults are wallowing in childhood.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jan 13, 2005
Fossils reveal human drift to 'beauty'
The 18th-century British philosopher David Hume said "Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty."
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 30, 2004
Controversies cloud a breakthrough find on 'once-luxuriant bush'
This year has been a vintage one for biologists interested in human evolution. In a cave on an Indonesian island, the remains of a new species of human were found, a species that lived only 18,000 years ago and hence overlapped with modern Homo sapiens.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 9, 2004
Deception detectors set to rival Wonder Woman's rope
Women are nicer than men. I'm sure most people will agree. Of course there are the nasty, heartless, scheming ones -- but there are plenty of men who fit that description. On average, though, women are better at empathizing with others, and better at picking up on others' moods and caring about how they...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Nov 11, 2004
Promiscuous primates play a seminal role in sex
On average, men are bigger, stronger and more aggressive than women. The behavioral and physiological differences are the result of sexual competition: Males tend to fight among themselves for females, and so tend to be bigger and stronger. The pattern holds across most species.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Oct 14, 2004
Tracing the origins of that 'most intimate of structures'
Former Colorado congresswoman Pat Schroeder once quipped: "I have a brain and a uterus and I use both." The former is what separates humans from other mammals; the latter is what separates mammals from everything else.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Sep 30, 2004
Deaf school phenomenon points to innate language origins
So there's this deaf American visiting Russia, and he's thirsty. Using American Sign Language, he says to his deaf-guide, "I really want a soda." But in Russian Sign Language, the gestures he used correspond to, "I really want to have sex." Guessing at some linguistic problem, the Russian guide diplomatically...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Sep 9, 2004
Heartening news for some from an Ice Age gene mutation
In Terry Gilliam's 1985 film "Brazil," a tiny printing error in a bureaucratic document leads to the mistaken arrest and detention of an innocent man. A single letter is changed in a file and the set of instructions are automatically followed by the authorities.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 26, 2004
Thinking aloud
Does language determine thought? Are there concepts in some languages that can't be understood in others because that language doesn't have the word for it?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 12, 2004
Sensitive science in the race for glory in athletic pursuits
With the 28th Olympic Games about to start, who would put a bet on a white athlete winning the 100 meters? Certainly not the American writer Jon Entine. "The complete domination of the 100 meters by people of West African origin means no white man will ever again win the event. It simply won't happen,"...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jul 22, 2004
Science to aid of justice as 'cot death' gene is found
There can be few things more likely to provoke horrific fascination -- and guarantee massive media coverage -- than a mother who murders her babies.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jul 8, 2004
Voles suggest key to male monogamy
Everyone knows someone who is a compulsive womanizer; a man who simply can't remain faithful to one woman.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 24, 2004
Girls to the fore in planning 'eye-for-an-eye' revenge
If there is an extraterrestrial college student orbiting Earth or floating invisibly among us while writing a thesis on human behavior, then current events have provided some good examples of one basic human trait: retaliation.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 10, 2004
Hormone therapy for menopause?
The age of menopause doesn't seem to have changed much in the last few thousand years. Records from ancient Egypt and Greece indicate that menstruation ended when a woman was around 50 years old. Before that we don't really know, as a woman was unlikely to live much longer than 50.
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.
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.
How to tweak your diet when temperatures spike
Most people think of hydration as a strictly liquid-based concept, but eating foods with high water content is an essential part of making it through a Japanese summer unscathed.

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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