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WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
Jan 30, 2015

Safety concerns cloud promise of powerful new cancer drugs

A new wave of experimental cancer drugs that directly recruit the immune system's powerful T cells are proving to be immensely effective weapons against tumors, potentially transforming the $100 billion global market for drugs that fight the disease.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jan 17, 2015

Longevity, genetics and the whale

The oldest person in the world — and the oldest ever Japanese person — is Misao Okawa. She lives in Osaka and is 116. She'll be 117 in March.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 2, 2015

Biological bad luck blamed in two-thirds of cancer cases

Plain old bad luck plays a major role in determining who gets cancer and who does not, according to researchers who found that two-thirds of cancer incidence of various types can be blamed on random mutations and not heredity or risky habits like smoking.
LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Dec 29, 2014

Most heavy drinkers are not alcoholics

Contrary to popular opinion, only 10 percent of U.S. adults who drink too much are alcoholics, according to a study released on Nov. 20.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 23, 2014

In Jakarta, that sinking feeling is all too real

The Ciliwung River flows from a volcano south of the Indonesian capital, through the heart of one of the world's most densely populated cities and almost into Jakarta Bay. Almost, because for the final mile or so of its course, the river would have to flow uphill to reach the bay.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Dec 19, 2014

South Africa struggles to tackle obesity

At lunchtime outside South Africa's biggest shopping mall, hungry workmen in hard hats pour out of a building site to buy cheap loaves of bread and jumbo bottles of fizzy drinks.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 5, 2014

Shocking news: Electric eels exert remote control over prey

Electric eels, those perilous predators of South America, can unleash a potent electrical jolt to wallop their hapless prey. But this zap is not used merely to stun other fish.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 28, 2014

South China Sea competition takes a toll on reefs

Competing territorial claims and rogue fishermen are taking a toll on the South China Sea's coral reefs.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 22, 2014

Climate change versus solution aversion

No doubt you are relieved to hear that climate change is no longer a concern. At least that's the consensus of powerful Republicans who will lead the newly elected majority soon to take control of both houses of the U.S. Congress.
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Nov 21, 2014

Face masks

Dear Alice,
EDITORIALS
Nov 8, 2014

Universities get yen for ranking

The central government has announced additional funding for 37 leading public and private universities as a way to increase their global ranking and competitiveness. No mention was made of the other 67 schools that applied.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 7, 2014

Scientists devise family tree of the world's insects, the first animals to colonize land

They pollinate our flowers, vegetables and fruit. They spread deadly diseases. They flash in the summer night. They bore into the wood in our homes. And they serve as supper for birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals — including people.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Oct 31, 2014

Teen cancer patient asks Aichi governor to arrange schooling in hospital

A 17-year-old boy being treated for kidney cancer has appealed to the governor of Aichi Prefecture to set up a high school education program in his hospital.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 24, 2014

Easter Island's ancient inhabitants weren't so lonely after all

They lived on a remote dot of land in the middle of the Pacific, 3,700 km west of South America and 1,770 km from the closest island, erecting huge stone figures that still stare enigmatically from the hillsides.
EDITORIALS
Oct 11, 2014

Who's benefited over 200 years?

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reports how the world's population is better off than it was 200 years ago but adds that human progress is still undermined by disparities.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Oct 3, 2014

U.S. heroin deaths double in link to prescription painkillers: CDC

The over-prescribing of painkillers is fueling nearly 17,000 annual deaths from overdoses in the United States as well as a rise in heroin use, according to a study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 3, 2014

Scientists check the engine of cheetahs, animal world's 'Ferrari'

Cheetahs can aptly be called the race cars of the animal kingdom: sleek, graceful and supremely speedy.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 2, 2014

Scientists find potential way to treat cold-triggered asthma

British scientists have identified a sequence of biological events that could trigger life-threatening asthma attacks in people suffering from colds — a finding that holds the potential for developing more effective medicines.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2014

London's young techs find anti-immigrant mood a drag on hiring talent

When Efe Cakarel picked London as a new base for his video streaming company, he was counting on its location, capital markets and infrastructure, but also on the city's reputation as a hub for talented people from Europe and beyond.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 12, 2014

Biggest dinosaur predator also the weirdest

The biggest dinosaur predator that ever stalked the Earth was also the weirdest.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Sep 6, 2014

Yoshio Taniguchi: thriving in the shadow of greatness

Architect Yoshio Taniguchi generally doesn't like having his photograph taken for use in the media. In a way, it's a logical extension of his approach to his work, which could be described as architecture by subtraction. Having painstakingly removed everything extraneous from a design, and having overseen...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Sep 6, 2014

A tale of two parks, and their preservation

As I sit in my study here in Kurohime in the hills of northern Nagano Prefecture, through the window I can see 2,053-meter Mount Kurohime, a dormant volcano that's forested to the top.
EDITORIALS
Sep 6, 2014

Social media damps debate

A new American study finds that regular users of social media sites are among the least likely to share opinions or start a political debate, either online or in person.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 4, 2014

Forebears of mammals were nocturnal party animals

A nocturnal existence is a way of life for numerous mammals, from bats that swoop through dark skies to skunks that emit their noxious spray under moonlight and majestic lions, tigers and leopards that prowl the night.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 28, 2014

Glaxo's Ebola vaccine may begin safety tests in humans next week

U.S. scientists will begin enrolling patients as soon as next week in clinical safety trials of GlaxoSmithKline PLC's experimental Ebola vaccine as the death toll from the disease rises in West Africa.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2014

Watch women win more mathematics prizes

Stereotyped notions of what men and women should study at university may be about to change. A U.S. education report shows that — between 2003 and 2009 — men had a higher rate of dropping or changing their majors than women in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 16, 2014

Weather systems stalling more often

Summer heat waves and downpours have become more frequent in the northern hemisphere this century, apparently because extreme weather can get trapped for weeks in the same place in a warming world, a study showed Aug. 11.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 15, 2014

Rise of the machines? Tiny robot horde swarms to form shapes

They look vaguely like miniature hockey pucks skittering along on three pinlike metal legs, but a swarm of small robots called Kilobots at a laboratory at Harvard University is making a little bit of history for automatons everywhere.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami