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Faye Flam
For Faye Flam's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 15, 2016
How to separate scientific fact from fiction
People must consider not just how to look for evidence that an idea is right, but how they might discover it's wrong.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 13, 2016
Predicting a crime you have not yet committed
Scientists have demonstrated that a computer can outperform human judges in predicting who will commit a violent crime. Whether to use this in real life raises many ethical issues.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 8, 2016
It's weird science against cancer
Tackling cancer requires unconventional ideals because cancer is an unconventional enemy.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 19, 2016
The physicist who said no to Albert Einstein
Thanks to the rejection of a scientific paper written by Albert Einstein, his prediction of the existence of gravitational waves — which now has been proving true — was not retracted.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2016
At last, scientists show Neanderthals some love
That modern humans ridiculed Neanderthals so maliciously for so long says more about our shortcomings than theirs.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 6, 2016
Scientists open up to compassionate rodents
Scientists are starting to question their long-standing belief that animals are incapable of feeling empathy.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 1, 2013
Mummies yield ancient clues to origins of disease
As a pathologist, Michael Zimmerman was familiar with dead bodies, but when he was asked to autopsy a mummy for the first time he wasn't sure what to expect. There were a dozen layers of wrapping that he peeled off one at a time "like Chinese boxes," he said. When he finished, he found the body was dark brown and hard, and "smelled like old books."

Longform

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.
Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree