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May 03, 2024
 

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NATURAL SELECTIONS

JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Oct 25, 2001
Tales from the well-made crypt
Fifty years ago, archaeologists used an oil-rig drill to bore 53 meters below the surface of a mound in Gordion, Turkey, the ancient capital of Phrygia. Underneath the limestone-rich earth was the oldest intact wooden structure in the world, a 5 x 6 meter chamber dating from the eighth century B.C. The archaeologists tunneled through a double wall of logs and timber to reach the inner chamber, where, along with a stash of bronze feasting implements and wooden furniture, they found the body of a man.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Oct 18, 2001
Tomb raiders for racial equality
Today, Oct. 18, is the feast day of Luke the Evangelist: physician, saint, author of the book of Acts and companion of Paul. It is thanks to Luke, the most literary of the four gospel writers, that we learn about the human aspects of Christ's life -- such as the enduring Nativity scene.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Oct 11, 2001
When the heart rules the head
Are we at the mercy of emotional centers in the brain when we make moral decisions, or can we override them? Is there a "hard-wired," physiological component to emotions, or are they cultural products, gradually emerging as a result of our upbringing and experience?
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Oct 4, 2001
Putting fear and hope on the genome map
Future historians might well classify this week as typical of the early 21st century, in that there is a flurry of reports linking specific genes to human diseases, and at the same time there is a voice warning against seeing genetics as a "magic bullet," the solution to all our problems.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Sep 27, 2001
Can God damage your health?
On Sept. 15, the Oxford evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins published a piece in The Guardian called "Religion's misguided missiles." With customary antireligious zeal, the Charles Simonyi professor for the Public Understanding of Science gave his explanation for the attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. -- one that placed the blame squarely on religion.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Sep 20, 2001
Almost like a hippo
In "The Origin of Species," Darwin describes how black bears in North America often swim "for hours with widely open mouth, thus catching, almost like a whale, insects in the water." Darwin was making a hypothetical point about how evolution might work -- the swimming bear, he suggested, might be the first step in the evolution of whales.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Sep 13, 2001
Making war, not love
"Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind." So laments lovesick Helena in "A Midsummer-Night's Dream." Sorry to add to your woes, Helena, but not only is Cupid blind, he is more likely to glide on a trail of slime than fly on cherub wings. Cupid, it turns out, is rather like a snail.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Sep 6, 2001
Evolution: Who's responsible?
The human impact on earth has been well-documented: There's climate change, environmental destruction and pollution. Today an American scientist says that humans are driving another, more subtle change that may have consequences that are just as damaging: Evolution in other species is speeding up, and we're to blame.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 30, 2001
We can't stay young forever, but why not age gracefully?
Following recent reports of a mammal able to regenerate after injury, science continues to imitate fiction, with a discovery in Boston that recalls the search for the philosopher's stone. The stone, the subject of the first Harry Potter book, was long sought after by medieval alchemists, who believed it would provide the elixir of life, but scientists from Boston have succeeded where the alchemists failed. The secret to aging has been found, not in a stone, but in chromosome 4.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 9, 2001
Wolverine mouse regenerates heart tissue
In the movie "X-Men," humans with genetic mutations displayed supernatural powers: telepathy, weather control, telekinesis, the ability to create magnetic fields, etc. All clearly sci-fi, comic-book stuff, above nature . . . or was it?
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 2, 2001
You say Frankenfruit, we say miracle tomato
Prince Charles played into the hands of the sensation-seeking media -- and drew the groans of scientists -- with his comments last year on genetically modified crops. They are, he said, "Frankenstein foods." Rather than genetic manipulation, he urged investment in "traditional systems of agriculture."
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jul 26, 2001
The king is a beast, but the queen is a democrat
Imagine a place where all the females give birth at the same time, where grandmothers nurse their daughters' children and baby-sit for them, and where all children are raised in a protective nursery. Where females join together in defending the community against dangerous strangers and those of the same age eat together without squabbling. Sounds rather progressive, almost idyllic, doesn't it?
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jul 19, 2001
Fight club: eavesdropping and animal conflict
As any schoolkid in the playground can tell you, fights don't just involve those trading blows, but those watching too. Like spies, these bystanders observe, obtaining useful information about the individuals in the fight that they may be able to use to their advantage in future aggressive situations.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jul 12, 2001
Jaws was born a rambling shark
A dark dorsal fin breaks the surface of a gleaming seascape. A ghost-faced killer glides silently through the water . . . the theme tune to "Jaws" automatically plays in the brain.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jul 5, 2001
Humans, evolve you must
Us lot, contemporary humans in a postindustrial society, we've got a welfare system, social security and even, in some countries, free health care. Premature babies survive, the wounded get better, the hungry get fed. We're shielded from the blind hand of natural selection, aren't we?
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 28, 2001
Unraveling the nature of the beast
Nurture got a poke in the eye from nature last week, with the publication of a wide-ranging study of identical and fraternal twins that showed differences in certain attitudes are partly due to genetic factors.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 21, 2001
Living and dying by the sword
Alfred, Lord Tennyson famously drew attention to the rigors of the natural world when he wrote of "Nature red in tooth and claw." His poem, "In Memoriam," was published in 1859 (the same year as "The Origin of the Species"). But had Tennyson known of the sexual habits of the common bedbug, and if he could have swallowed his Victorian sensibilities, he might have written, "Nature red in tooth, claw . . . and penis."
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 14, 2001
New hope for dementia
In 1906, a German doctor called Alois Alzheimer discovered strange clumps in the brain of a woman who had died of a then-mysterious mental illness.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 7, 2001
Good intentions jinx the 'living dead'
Doom and gloom this week for those who believe in the essential goodness of the human race, with two papers in the journal Science that implicate humans in mass extinctions of mammals in North America and Australia.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 31, 2001
White lines, blowin' through my brain
Until 1903, a bottle of Coca-Cola contained around 60 mg of cocaine -- enough, it has now been shown, to trigger long-lasting changes in brain activity. According to a report in today's issue of Nature, giving a single dose of cocaine to mice changes the way that nerve connections transmit signals in a part of the brain thought to be crucial to the development of addiction. Such changes may predispose the brain to subsequent addiction, say the researchers.
Weak yen fattens tourist wallets in Japan
People visit the Ameya Yokocho market in Tokyo's Ueno district during the Golden Week holiday on Tuesday.
Biden calls ally Japan ‘xenophobic’ along with rivals China and Russia
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks in Syracuse, New York, on April 25.
Number of vacant homes in Japan hits record high of 9 million
A vacant house in Tokyo is seen demolished in January 2020.
Harajuku strives to reclaim its former glory — and surpass it
Laforet Harajuku, which celebrated its 45th anniversary last year, has been a witness to the district's evolution over the years.
Saudi Arabia steps up Gaza-related arrests as Israel ties edge closer
The arrests for Gaza-related posts indicate Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s regime will take a hard line against citizens not toeing the line when it comes to normalizing ties with Israel.
Kishida sets sights on energy and climate in South America trip
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will use a policy speech in Sao Paulo to set out his vision for ties between Japan and South America, almost 10 years after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advocated for stronger ties between the two in the same city.
Yellow sand allergy: A health issue made worse by climate change
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's satellite image of clouds and yellow sand (in pink) on Sunday.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.

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