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Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 30, 2023

World's usable nuclear arsenal rose in 2022, study says

The nine official and unofficial nuclear powers held 9,576 ready-to-use warheads in 2023 — up from 9,440 the previous year.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 1, 2023

Planting trees could cut urban heat wave deaths by a third, study says

Of the 6,700 premature deaths attributed to higher temperatures in 93 European cities during 2015, one third could have been prevented, researchers found.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 23, 2023

Over 1.3 billion globally will have diabetes by 2050, study finds

The vast majority of patients will have Type 2 diabetes, the form of the disease that’s often linked to being overweight.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 19, 2023

COVID immunity lasts at least a year after infection plus shots, study says

The combination prevented more than 97% of severe disease or hospitalization for up to 12 months after infection or initial immunization.
A street in Suttsu, Hokkaido, with a sign put up by an anti-nuclear organization. The small community is considering hosting a facility that would hold nuclear waste.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Jul 6, 2025

Ainu land rights in crosshairs as Hokkaido communities debate nuclear waste

Some scholars and activists are raising concerns that Indigenous voices are not being heard amid the debate over whether to host nuclear waste storage facilities.
The U.S. and the world will become unhealthier and vast numbers of children may die now that Donald Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has pulled funding from the global vaccine program GAVI. 
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 7, 2025

RFK Jr. is playing with babies’ lives

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s cut to U.S. funding for GAVI risks lives globally and damages America’s international standing.
The Seagram Building in New York on April 24. Three years into a mass workplace experiment, we are beginning to understand more about how work from home is reshaping workers’ lives and the economy.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 11, 2023

Here’s what we do and don’t know about the effects of remote work

Over three years since the pandemic forced many to telework, studies of productivity in work-from-home arrangements are all over the map.
An employee holds a chocolate bar at Chocovi, in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, on May 10.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 9, 2024

Could dark chocolate reduce your risk of diabetes?

While a new study links the food to a possible reduced risk, one researcher cautions that it is not a "magic bullet."
A new study analyzing organs from deceased individuals found plastic particles accumulating primarily in the brain, with the highest concentrations in recent autopsies, raising concerns about long-term exposure despite unclear health effects.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 3, 2025

You might have plastic in your brain. Don’t panic — yet.

It’s unsettling, but the amount of plastic in your brain is probably less than the plastic spoon’s worth grabbing the headlines.
A man holding a baby wades through a flooded road following heavy rainfall in Zhengzhou, China, in July 2021.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jun 13, 2025

Natural disasters may be shaping babies’ brains

The findings signal how new generations of children may be marked by climate crises that occur before they were born.
A pharmacist holds a box of Novo Nordisk A/S Wegovy brand semaglutide medication.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 7, 2023

Can Wegovy fight alcoholism? For Big Pharma, this isn’t a priority

Reluctance underscores reasons why no new treatment has been approved for alcoholism in nearly 20 years.
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.
Takakia lepidozioides, a type of moss found mainly in the U.S., Japan and Tibet, has survived for at least 165 million years. Now it’s disappearing in the wild due to climate change.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Aug 25, 2023

This moss survived millions of years. Warming is killing it

Takakia lepidozioides, found mainly in the U.S., Japan and Tibet, has survived for 165 million years. Now it’s disappearing due to climate change.
A nurse pushes a bed at the COVID-19 ward at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem.
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 23, 2023

Long COVID linked to multiple organ changes, research suggests

A third of people hospitalized with COVID-19 have "abnormalities" in multiple organs months after getting infected, the study said.
Columbia University researchers have found that on average, bottled water contain 110,000 to 370,000 tiny plastic particles in each liter, 90% of them nanoplastics.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jan 9, 2024

Bottled water has more plastic particles than previously thought

The discovery of nanoplastics, which could not be detected until recently, suggests that health concerns linked to plastic pollution may be dramatically underestimated.
A COVID-19 test swab is placed into a tube in Hilversum, the Netherlands, in November 2020.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 22, 2023

Two years after catching COVID, patients still risk getting sick

People who were not hospitalized for acute COVID-19 still had a higher risk than uninfected people of developing long COVID-related disorders.
Students engage in group work during a class at Ogawara Elementary School in Ogawara, Miyagi Prefecture, in September.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Nov 20, 2023

Small Miyagi town excels in national test amid education reforms

This year the average percentage of correct answers by Ogawara's sixth graders in the National Achievement Test was one of the highest.
Despite Japan's still-nascent domestic winemaking scene, wine drinkers in the country have long enjoyed an obsession with obtaining certifications around the beverage.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 17, 2024

What’s driving Japan’s love affair with wine certifications?

Studying wine is an extremely popular pastime in Japan — despite the number of students without a professional need to do so.
A monarch butterfly is seen at an enclosure at Boone Hall Plantation and Gardens in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, in August 2019.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Mar 7, 2025

Butterfly populations plummet by 22% in U.S. since turn of century

Studies in some other countries have documented declines at roughly the same rate as in the U.S. data.
Surging populations of plant-eating insects are disrupting farms and the food supply chain, causing problems far more serious than sticky windshields from bug excrement.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2023

The insect apocalypse is coming to your neighborhood

Polar bears and sea turtles get most of the attention as victims of climate change, but when the bugs invade we're all going to feel it personally.
An employee installs solar panels in a satellite dish at the Leuk Teleport and Data Center in Leuk, Switzerland
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Oct 20, 2023

The world has already crossed a ‘tipping point’ on solar power

As wind power costs rise, solar power is vital for meeting emissions reduction goals.
Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla, discusses artificial intelligence in London on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 7, 2023

Elon Musk's X curtails disinformation research, spurring legal fears

Restrictions on critical methods of gathering data on the platform have suppressed the ability to untangle the origin and spread of false information.
Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida take part in a news conference in September 2021 in the lead-up to the Liberal Democratic Party presidential race.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 15, 2023

Takaichi makes another play to become the next PM

With the creation of a new study group, Cabinet minister Sanae Takaichi aims to build support for her bid for the top political job.
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 paper published in The Lancet in December found that plastics likely enter most of our major organs and even affect the good bacteria that makes up our microbiome.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 14, 2024

We don't know how worried we should be about nanoplastics

Nanoparticles can slip into the bloodstream, get into organs, and sneak into cells where they may cause harm.
Elon Musk said that the first human patient has received a brain implant from his startup Neuralink, but experts says his statements raised more questions than they answered about the trial.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 5, 2024

Want details on Musk's brain implant trial? You'll have to ask him

Neuralink does not have to divulge even basic details about its trial, including the facility where patients are being implanted.
Children hold cork sheets to cover them from the sun while walking along a street during a countrywide heat wave in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Sunday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
May 1, 2024

Extreme heat is closing schools, widening learning gaps worldwide

Many countries experiencing heat waves are torn between closing schools or leaving them open, both of which negatively affect children's learning.
Toshihiro Kinjo (center), a research support technician at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, inspects an audio recording device in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on April 3 as Masako Ogasawara, a research support specialist at OIST, looks on.
PODCAST / deep dive
May 23, 2024

What does climate change sound like in Okinawa?

This week, Japan Times climate editor Chris Russell joins us to discuss what researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology are listening to.
Two recent studies have added to the growing body of evidence that a meat-heavy diet may increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 21, 2024

Eating meat is linked with diabetes risk, new studies suggest

Two recent studies have added to the growing body of evidence that a meat-heavy diet may increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes.
Students sit under a misting system during recess at Hikarigaoka Haru no Kaze Elementary School in Nerima Ward, Tokyo, on Sept. 6.
JAPAN / Society / Boiling Point
Sep 16, 2024

Japan’s schools battle to keep kids cool, with or without AC

With extreme heat affecting both health and study, schools are racing to plug AC gaps while experimenting with creative, cheaper solutions.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji