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September 03, 2025
 

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GENETICS

WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 26, 2015
Scientists crack gene secret that lets poppies make morphine
Scientists have identified a key gene used by poppies to make morphine, paving the way for better methods of producing the medically important drug, potentially without the need for cultivating poppy fields.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 11, 2015
Former brain-eating tribe offers genetic clues to dementia and deadly diseases
Research involving a former brain-eating tribe from Papua New Guinea is helping scientists better understand mad cow disease and other so-called prion conditions and may also offer insights into Parkinson's and dementia.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Jun 10, 2015
China's big biotech bet starts to pay off
Years of pouring money into its laboratories, wooing scientists home from overseas and urging researchers to publish and patent is starting to give China a competitive edge in biotechnology, a strategic field it sees as ripe for "indigenous innovation."
WORLD / Science & Health
May 23, 2015
Ethics of gene-editing technology debated
The leading U.S. scientific organization, responding to concerns expressed by scientists and ethicists, has launched an ambitious initiative to recommend guidelines for new genetic technology that has the potential to create "designer babies."
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
May 22, 2015
Dog domestication much older than previously known
Genetic information from a 35,000-year-old wolf bone found below a frozen cliff in Siberia is shedding new light on humankind's long relationship with dogs, showing canine domestication may have occurred earlier than previously thought.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
May 14, 2015
How DNA sequencing is transforming the hunt for new drugs
Drug manufacturers have begun amassing enormous troves of human DNA in hopes of significantly shortening the time it takes to identify new drug candidates, a move some say is transforming the development of medicines.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 13, 2015
Scientists want DNA-changing tests on human embryos, eggs stopped
With rumors that scientists are about to announce they have modified the genes of human eggs, sperm, or embryos, five prominent researchers on Thursday called on biologists to halt such experiments due to fears about safety and eugenics.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 22, 2015
Modi bets on GM crops to feed India
On a fenced plot not far from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home, a field of mustard is in full yellow bloom, representing his government's reversal of an effective ban on field trials of genetically modified (GM) food crops.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 19, 2015
Map of 'epigenome,' a second genetic code, unveiled
Scientists for the first time have mapped out the molecular switches that can turn genes on or off in the DNA in more than 100 types of human cells, an accomplishment that reveals the complexity of genetic information and the challenges of interpreting it.
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 1, 2015
U.S. proposes effort to analyze DNA from 1 million people
The United States has proposed analyzing genetic information from more than 1 million American volunteers as part of a new initiative to understand human disease and develop medicines targeted to an individual's genetic make-up.
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.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 12, 2014
DNA shows kinship between birds of a feather
Scientists have unveiled the most comprehensive bird "family tree" ever devised, using genetic data from 48 species to trace how modern bird lineages arose and flourished after the mass extinction that killed off the dinosaurs.
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 27, 2014
First gene therapy drug sets million-euro price record
The Western world's first gene-therapy drug is set to go on sale in Germany with a price of €1.1 million ($1.4 million), a new record for a medicine to treat a rare disease.
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.
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 7, 2014
Drug-resistant superbug found in 1915 soldier killed by dysentery
Scientists who unlocked the genetic code of bacteria grown from a soldier who died of dysentery in World War I say it revealed a superbug already resistant to penicillin and other antibiotics decades before they were in common use.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 7, 2014
Ancient Russian's DNA sheds light on Neanderthal interbreeding
DNA extracted from the skeleton of a man who lived in Russia about 37,000 years ago is giving scientists new insights into the genetic history of Europeans including interbreeding that took place with Neanderthals more than 50,000 years ago.
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.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 21, 2014
Cell transplant allows paralyzed man to walk again
A Bulgarian man who was paralyzed from the chest down in a knife attack can now walk with the aid of a frame after receiving pioneering transplant treatment using cells from his nose.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 16, 2014
For huge ancient kangaroos, hopping was dicey
Kangaroos hop, right? Well, not all of them.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 9, 2014
Highways fragment Southern California mountain lion gene pool
Mountain lions in Southern California are under growing pressure from a shrinking gene pool, fragmented by highways and urban sprawl that has left the cats' territories increasingly isolated from each other, a study published on Wednesday showed.
More sweltering days forecast for September after hottest summer on record
By the end of August, 8,341 people had been transported by ambulance for heatstroke in Tokyo alone.
‘Mount Fuji Lawson’ becomes a symbol of Japan’s overtourism problem
A couple poses for a wedding photo in front of a Lawson in the town of Kawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, on Aug. 25.
Surrounded by Chinese bases, a tiny Philippine island stands firm
A Philippine Navy sailor looks at a China Coast Guard vessel just off the coast of Pag-asa Island in the disputed South China Sea last month.
Woman dies after possible knife attack in Setagaya
Police investigate the scene where a woman was found bleeding on a street in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward on Monday.
Suntory CEO Takeshi Niinami resigns over alleged possession of illegal drugs
Takeshi Niinami, then-chief executive officer of Suntory Holdings, in May 2024
Why Stalin didn’t invade Hokkaido still largely unknown, 80 years after WWII
During a survey to collect the remains of victims from the Taito Maru, one of the vessels involved in the Three Ships Incident, a metal helmet was found near the stern of the vessel on Aug. 5, 1984, at Rumoi Port. No human remains were discovered.
More sweltering days forecast for September after hottest summer on record
By the end of August, 8,341 people had been transported by ambulance for heatstroke in Tokyo alone.
Surrounded by Chinese bases, a tiny Philippine island stands firm
A Philippine Navy sailor looks at a China Coast Guard vessel just off the coast of Pag-asa Island in the disputed South China Sea last month.
‘Mount Fuji Lawson’ becomes a symbol of Japan’s overtourism problem
A couple poses for a wedding photo in front of a Lawson in the town of Kawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, on Aug. 25.
‘Cool’ Patagonia wants to take used items into the mainstream
"It's not just about sales. It's about system change," said Marty Pomphrey, general manager of Patagonia Japan, on Aug. 6.

Podcast

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

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
By Alex K.T. Martin

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