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September 19, 2025
 

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ASTRONOMY

Asteroid Ryugu (left) and samples brought back by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 11, 2025
Asteroid ice discovery may change ideas about origin of water on Earth
The parent body of near-Earth asteroid Ryugu appears to have harbored water in the form of ice for over a billion years, Japanese researchers have found.
An artist's rendition of events immediately preceding a powerful collision between two black holes. It depicts the view from one of the black holes as it spirals toward its cosmic partner.
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 11, 2025
Astronomers get best view yet of two merging black holes
The merger of the black holes unleashed a tremendous amount of energy that radiated outward as gravitational waves, which were detected on Jan. 14 at research sites in the U.S.
A blood moon is seen during a partial eclipse in the sky over Lake George near Canberra on March 14.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 5, 2025
Japan to experience blood moon lunar eclipse on Monday
The full lunar eclipse, which is set to occur in the early hours, will be Japan’s first since November 2022.
A computer-generated image of the new HTV-X space station supply vehicle immediately after rocket separation
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 23, 2025
Japan to launch new ISS resupply vehicle in October
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has said that it will launch the first HTV-X new resupply vehicle to the International Space Station on Oct. 21.
People visit the exhibition "Space: Could Life Exist Beyond Earth?" at the Natural History Museum in London on May 16.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 24, 2025
Doubt cast on claim of 'hints' of life on faraway planet
There is not enough evidence to support such lofty claims some studies say, with one scientist accusing the astronomers of "jumping the gun."
A handout artist's impression released on Thursday by N. Madhusudhan/University of Cambridge shows the K2-18b super-Earth, a hycean world, in which astronomers say they have found the strongest yet “hints” of life outside our solar system.
WORLD
Apr 17, 2025
Scientists find strongest evidence yet of life on an alien planet
The scientists stressed they are not announcing the discovery of actual living organisms and that the findings should be viewed cautiously.
A panoramic view of Earth taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS)
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 15, 2025
Was the emergence of intelligent life on Earth just a fluke? Some scientists think not.
Some scientists says that Homo sapiens may be the probable end result when a planet has a certain set of attributes that make it habitable.
Hindu pilgrims take a dip along the banks of Sangam, ahead of the <i>maha</i> Kumbh Mela festival in the city of Prayagraj on Sunday. Beside India's holy rivers, a makeshift city is being built for a Hindu religious festival expected to be so vast it will be seen from space.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Dec 26, 2024
India readies for 400 million pilgrims at mammoth festival
The Kumbh Mela, a millennia-old festival, is held once every 12 years at the site where the holy Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers meet.
A large screen shows news footage of China's Chang'e-6 lunar probe collecting a sample from the far side of the moon, in Beijing in June.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Nov 16, 2024
China tests building moon base with lunar soil bricks
A cargo rocket carrying brick samples blasted off late Friday for the Tiangong space station, part of Beijing's mission to put humans on the moon by 2030.
Tsuchinshan-Atlas comet is seen from Shibukawa, Gunma Prefecture, early Wednesday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 2, 2024
University of Tokyo captures images of Tsuchinshan-Atlas comet
The comet can be seen only this time as it does not approach periodically, unlike Halley's comet.
The Milky Way, known as "ama no gawa" in Japanese, is seen above Mount Fuji.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 18, 2024
Comets and constellations: The language of stargazing
Whether it's telling someone to look at a shooting star or describing the difference between stars and planets, the vocabulary of space is vast and interesting.
Cows graze in a field near the Green Bank Telescope, a 100-meter fully steerable radio telescope, at the Green Bank Observatory in the U.S. National Radio Quiet Zone in Green Bank, West Virginia, on May 20.
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 2, 2024
Inside the 'golden age' of alien hunting at the Green Bank Telescope
If intelligent life exists out there, there's a good chance the teams at the world's largest fully steerable radio astronomy facility will be the first to know.
A reddish rock nicknamed Cheyava Falls is seen in Mars' Jezero Crater on July 18 in an image captured by NASA's Perseverance rover.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 27, 2024
NASA did not say it found life on Mars. But it’s very excited about this rock.
The rock has been closely analyzed by scientists on Earth who say that nonmicrobial processes could also explain its features.
A mystery-solving event with clues embedded in constellations projected on a dome is held at a planetarium in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on June 7.
JAPAN
Jul 10, 2024
Japan's planetarium operators shoot for the stars with new events
The number of planetarium visitors in fiscal 2022 totaled 7.9 million, recovering to about 90% of the level before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Officials recover the landing module of the Chang'e-6 lunar probe after it landed in Inner Mongolia, in northern China, on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Jun 25, 2024
China probe first to return to Earth with samples from moon's far side
The Chang'e-6 lunar probe landed on Tuesday in the northern Chinese region of Inner Mongolia.
Astronaut Koichi Wakata poses for a photo after holding a news conference on March 29 to announce his retirement from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency at the end of March.
JAPAN / Science & Health / FOCUS
Jun 18, 2024
After three decades, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata moves to private sector
Wakata became chief technology officer for the Asia-Pacific region at U.S. startup space company Axiom Space in April.
The Aurora Australis, also known as the Southern Lights, glow on the horizon as seen from Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, on May 10.
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
May 18, 2024
'Danger behind the beauty': More solar storms could be heading our way
For those charged with protecting Earth from powerful solar storms such as the one that caused the recent auroras, a threat lurks beneath the stunning colors.
Penny Sackett, a former director of the Australian National University’s Mount Stromlo Observatory, in the remains of the observatory, which was destroyed by a wildfire in 2003, just outside Canberra on May 6.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
May 14, 2024
Alarmed by climate change, astronomers train their sights on Earth
Seeing how climate change has impacted the earth, many astronomers have left science to become full-time activists.
A meteor is seen in an aurora borealis above Lausanne and the Jura from the Tour de Gourze in Riex, Switzerland, on Saturday.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 11, 2024
First 'extreme' solar storm in 20 years brings spectacular auroras
The "extreme" geomagnetic storm is the first since the so-called Halloween Storms of October 2003.
Takuya Usami, the curator at Mantenboshi, a stargazing observatory in Noto, Ishikawa Prefecture, said that a survey by the Environment Ministry had ranked the Noto region as among the best places in Japan for stargazing.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 29, 2024
Stargazing observatory in quake-hit Noto looks forward to reopening
“I want to show everyone little by little the beauty of the starry sky, one of Noto’s attractions," a curator at the observatory said.
Wealthy foreign nationals picking up ultimate souvenir — a condo in Tokyo
A high-end property in the fashionable Daikanyama district in Tokyo
Japan dispatches five language education 'partners' to India
Five members of the Japan Foundation's Nihongo Partners program (front) gather at the Japanese Embassy in New Delhi on Monday.
End of U.S. de minimis exemption causes headaches for some businesses in Japan
Proxy-shopping services — companies that ship Japanese products ranging from cosmetics and snacks to limited-edition stationery on behalf of customers abroad — are already feeling the impact of the U.S. suspending de minimis exemptions.
Over 90% of low-income families in Japan struggling to feed children
Save the Children Japan domestic program chief Sonoko Kawakami speaks at a news conference in Tokyo in July. A survey conducted by the group in June has found that over 90% of low-income households with children face food insecurity.
Struggling train firm in Chiba Prefecture turns to self-deprecating humor
"Laughter is important when you're in a difficult situation," said Katsunori Takemoto, president of Choshi Electric Railway, on Aug. 5 in Choshi, Chiba Prefecture.
Japan’s front-line researchers see bright path ahead for dementia treatment
A scientist looks at scans of grains at the Memory Centre at the Department of Readaptation and Geriatrics of the University Hospital (HUG) in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 6, 2023.
Still plenty to fight for, says Japan’s team leader at worlds
Race walker Hayato Katsuki earned bronze for Japan on the opening day of the World Athletics Championships on Saturday.
Wealthy foreign nationals picking up ultimate souvenir — a condo in Tokyo
A high-end property in the fashionable Daikanyama district in Tokyo
Japanese athletes inspired by raucous home fans at World Athletics Championships
Fans cheer on the home favorites during the women's marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Sunday.
Japan's major art events converge this fall
Shinji Ohmaki’s “Tokinokage” exhibited at Fuji Textile Week 2021 shows the use of fabric as art.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
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