Japan has one of the highest installed renewable energy capacities in the world. The country is also one of the world’s largest consumers of energy. Lacking its own fossil fuel resources, it relies on imports for nearly all of its supply. This dependence on imports makes the country vulnerable to …
a method has been developed by a group of Japanese research scientists that uses blue-green algae to remove carbon dioxide from the air and produce large amounts of a type of biodegradable plastic. The findings can go a long way in cutting down the emission of carbon dioxide, the main …
researchers at Tokyo's Juntendo University have released pictures of an artificial womb which has been used to bring a 17-week-old goat foetus to 'birth', three weeks later. The team, led by Yoshinore Kuwabara, professor of obstetrics at Juntendo University, removed a goat embryo from its 17-week-pregnant mother and then placed …
The vulnerability of Tokyo's bay front has been revealed when on July 2, the Japanese-operated super-tanker Diamond Grace , struck an undersea reef in the bay and spilt about 1,300 tonnes of crude oil. The crude-oil spill, the fifth worst in Japan's history, left the residents and industries around the …
In chips and piecesEverything needed to browse the Web and send e-mail will soon be put into a single microprocessor. The Japanese firm Toshiba, in association with iReady, a chip designer from San Jose, California, are close to developing the Internet Tuner chip that will allow manufacturers to give features, …
Mice could be used to make a range of human proteins that are useful in fighting cancer and auto-immune diseases and infections (caused by the body's abnormal reaction to some of its own tissues leading to production of antibodies against them). Geneticists at the Kirin Brewery Technology Laboratory, Yokohama, have …
in the worst ever oil spill disaster in Japan, a huge oil tanker ran aground near the port of Yokohama on July 2, creating a 66.5-sq km oil slick in Tokyo Bay. The tanker Diamond Grace was carrying 300,000 kilolitres (kl) of crude oil when it hit a well-marked shoal …
An ultraviolet, chip-based laser has been developed by Japanese scientists recently. Reports say that it is the shortest wavelength laser to be devised ever. This finding means that compact discs could be loaded with far more information than is thought to be possible at present. The device, developed by M …
AS THE host of the next meeting of the ON Convention on Climate Change, which is scheduled to be held in December in Kyoto, Japan is making last-ditch attempts to finish its homework on global warming. In the previous con- vention meetings, rich nations had agreed to start a series …
ENVIRONMENTALISTS from Japan and other Countries are protesting against a government -funded dike, which has dried out the Isahaya wetlands in the Nagasaki Prefecture. The once-thriving wet-lands have turned into a muddy cesspool containing dead sea organisms. Government officials say that the dike is necessary to reclaim land, control view …
IF PASSED, a new bill in Japan that defines brain death as legal death, will enable doctors to remove organs from people who are brainclead but are still on life support machines. In Japan, a person is pronounced officially dead only if his heart stops beating. It is impossible to …
Sound from acoustic guitars may soon become more melodious for environmentalists. Hiroyuki Yano, Yuuzoh Furuta and Hiroyuki Nakagawa of the Kyoto Prefectural University in Japan have discovered a replacement for Brazilian rosewood, an endangered tree that has been used to make the backs and sides of the best guitars. The …
residents of Tokorozawa near Tokyo are alarmed at a recent finding which says that the death rate for infants in towns located near incinerators is 40 per cent to 70 per cent higher than the average for the prefecture. The report has set off a fear of dioxin, a chemical …
earthquakes round the world are dragging the North Pole towards Japan. It has been discovered by Giorgio Spada of the University of Bologna, Italy, that the largest of the quakes, most of which occur along the Pacific rim, tend to tilt the pole towards their epicentres. This finding is a …
JAPANESE followers of fashion can now buy the latest thing in sartorial elegance: fabrics printed with the same technology used by millions of computer printers worldwide. Canon, the electronics company and Kanebo, the clothing company, have developed the bubble jet textile printing system, which the companies say can be faster …
THE Japanese cabinet recently approved an energy-conservation programme which aims at making drastic reductions in carbondioxide (CO2) emissions. The energy package includes 66 plans including one which would restrict the number of cars allowed into heavy traffic zones. The plan seeks to achieve zero growth in energy consumption by the …
safe disposal: Chichibu Onoda Cement Corp of Japan is all set to go green by deciding to phase out five types of ozone-damaging chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) for the government, at its cement plant in Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture. The production of these chemicals has already been banned and the company will incinerate …
the accident-prone nuclear industry of Japan received yet another jolt when a fire and explosion hit a nuclear-waste reprocessing plant resulting in a low-level radiation leak. Inadequate action by the government to contain the fire, which was not extinguished properly, led to an explosion 10 hours later at the Tokaimura …
Flat screen televisions (TV) and computer screens that are larger than conventional models but weigh less could be on sale within two years at affordable prices, say scientists at Canon's Japanese research laboratories. Canon has developed a new type of flat-screen and aims to launch a 40-inch TV that is …
a novel method of managing food waste from school meals has not only generated economic and environmental dividends, but also established a kinship between urban and rural people. The food waste is recycled into compost for use in agricultural fertilisers. The compost is used by farmers in rural areas to …
RESIDENTS of Okinawa prefecture are facing the worst ever consequences of us military presence in the region. After holding back the truth for months, US and Japanese officials have revealed that a US plane had 'mistakenly' fired 1,520 bullets, each containing 147.7 gm of uranium, from December 1995 through January …
