Tag - nature

 
 

NATURE

Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
May 2, 2018
Stressed out? Bathing in the woods is just what the doctor ordered
If you go down to the woods today — and you should — leave your smartphone behind. Find a spot by a bamboo grove or take shade under a camphor tree and immerse yourself in the total effect of shinrin-yoku, or "forest bathing."
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 29, 2018
Fossils of 'badass' Argentine meat-eating dinosaur unearthed
On a semiarid Patagonian landscape 85 million years ago, a formidable meat-eater called Tratayenia rosalesi reigned as the apex predator, part of an enigmatic dinosaur group that menaced South America and Australia for tens of millions of years.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 15, 2018
Cold-blooded? Study finds female pythons care for their young
Shedding their cold-blooded image, snakes emerge from a recent study as more caring creatures that protect their nests and remain with their young for a brief period after hatching.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 13, 2018
Estimated number of foreign visitors to Japan's national parks hit record 6 million in 2017
The estimated number of foreign visitors to the nation's national parks increased to a new record of 6 million last year, with a park in Kumamoto Prefecture, which was hit by natural disasters in 2016, having enjoyed a boost, the Environment Ministry has announced.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Mar 8, 2018
China to create massive panda nature reserve: China Daily
China's Sichuan provincial government has secured 10 billion yuan ($1.58 billion) in funding over the next five years for a planned Giant Panda National Park, three times the size of the U.S. Yellowstone National Park, China Daily reported Thursday.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 8, 2018
Bat's surprising genetic trait holds secrets to longevity
Bats are the longest-living mammals relative to body size, and a species called the greater mouse-eared bat lives especially long. Researchers now have unlocked some of this bat's longevity secrets, with hints for fighting the effects of aging in people.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 2, 2018
Judge orders U.S. officials to reconsider denial of protections for Yellowstone bison
A judge has ruled that U.S. wildlife managers erred in denying Endangered Species Act protection to bison at Yellowstone National Park and must reconsider extending such safeguards to America's largest pure-bred herd of wild buffalo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 28, 2018
Minakata: Japan's pioneer of ecology
In an old black-and-white photograph on show at the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo, Minakata Kumagusu — with a shaved head and dressed only in a waistcloth — stands by a huge tree, arms crossed in seeming defiance. He could easily be a lumberjack or a rural monk whose life of seclusion has been momentarily disturbed by the photographer. It's hard to imagine that the sharp-eyed, almost wild-looking man was, in fact, an acclaimed academic of natural science and humanities.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 26, 2018
One in 20 of South Africa's rhinos slaughtered in 2017
South Africa's efforts to stem the poaching of endangered rhinos for their horns failed to prevent another 5 percent of the population being slaughtered last year.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 1, 2018
Fiery Costa Rica plane crash claims 12, including 10 Americans
A plane crash in Costa Rica on Sunday killed 10 U.S. citizens and two local pilots, the Costa Rican government said.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 28, 2017
Science stories you might have missed in 2017
Birds barter shrewdly, brainless jellyfish sleep and researchers raise their statistical standards.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2017
Nurture as important as nature for success
The world would be a better, richer, more equal place with less emphasis on natural talent and more on humans' potential to improve.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 26, 2017
Experts call prickly pear cactus a 'miracle' crop for dry regions
Experts say the prickly pear cactus — which decorates homes around the world — could help alleviate hunger in arid regions due to its multiple uses.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 5, 2017
Fireflies kindle a nostalgic glow in Taiwan's cities
Fireflies don't have a lot going for them. For starters, they're bugs —not the pretty kind like butterflies, but beetles, the kind people swat away from lunch boxes or squash on the sidewalk.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 12, 2017
Discovery of new clione sea slug species in Toyama Bay might offer insights on rising ocean temperatures
A new species of clione sea slug has been found in Toyama Bay, a local university said Thursday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 8, 2017
Drawing on Japan's flowers of the flock
Masumi Yamanaka, curator of 'Flora Japonica,' an exhibition of 80 taxonomically correct illustrations of Japanese plants, talks about the dedication that drives botanical art.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Oct 6, 2017
Emblematic Australian island stick insect not extinct after all
When black rats invaded Lord Howe Island after the 1918 wreck of the steamship Makambo, they wiped out numerous native species on the small Australian isle in the Tasman Sea, including a big, flightless insect that resembled a stick.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Sep 23, 2017
Cephalopods show signs of intelligence
Is it morally acceptable to eat intelligent animals? Everyone can make their own mind up about this. Some people think that there's nothing wrong with eating any kind of animal. For me, I drew a somewhat arbitrary zoological line in the sand and decided that any animal "above" a fish was off-limits. In other words, birds and mammals are off the menu, whereas fish and invertebrates are OK to eat.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Sep 20, 2017
With every new construction in Japan, fewer trees
When houses are demolished, there is a very bad habit here of cutting down all the trees on the plot, leaving the ground cleared and empty for new construction.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 15, 2017
Plan to fell symbolic trees near Meiji University ahead of 2020 Games draws local flak
Making the streets in the nation's capital more accessible ahead of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2020 — particularly for those with disabilities — will come at a cost.

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores