Three decades ago, in January 1995, the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake leveled much of Kobe and killed more than 6,000 people. Has Japan been successful in building on the lessons of that and later disasters to prepare for the next one that will strike these islands?
Japan’s fledgling space defense sector is taking its cues from the US Space Development Agency, which is pursuing a novel concept based on constellations of small satellites and maximum use of existing commercial technologies. Space policy researcher Umeda Kota discusses the challenges facing Japan as it embraces the SDA’s “proliferated architecture” for military communications, missile detection and tracking, and other purposes.
NASA’s Artemis project aims to put humans on the moon for the first time in more than half a century. Japan is slated to take part in this program, providing both astronauts and a rover to aid in exploration on the lunar surface. A look at the possibility of a made-in-Japan vehicle on the moon in the next decade.
Youm et al. demonstrate that elevating locally derived FGF21 delays thymic aging and extends organismal healthspan, dependent in part on expression of the FGF21 co-receptor β-klotho on thymic epithelial cells.
Google’s Taara Lightbridge has become a standalone company setting stage for competition with SpaceX-owned Starlink
Researchers discovered uniquely human neuroanatomical features in a study comparing human brains to macaque and chimpanzee brains.
A groundbreaking study reveals that what makes humans unique isn’t just intelligence but also emotional and social cognition. Comparing brain scans of humans, chimpanzees, and macaques, researchers found that key brain connections related to emotions and social interactions are distinctly human, highlighting the deep-rooted role of relationships in human evolution.
What makes the human brain unique?
Cadmium-based nanostructures are opening new possibilities in near-infrared (NIR) technology, from medical imaging to fiber optics and solar energy.
A major challenge in their development is controlling their atomic structure with precision, which researchers at HZDR and TU Dresden tackled using cation exchange. This technique allows for precise manipulation of nanostructure composition, unlocking new optical and electronic properties. The research highlights the crucial role of active corners and defects, which influence charge transport and light absorption. By linking these nanostructures into organized systems, scientists are paving the way for self-assembling materials with advanced functions, from improved sensors to next-generation electronics.
Harnessing Near-Infrared Light with Cadmium-Based Nanostructures.
In a Japanese survey, 83.7% of teens aged 15 to 18 recognized child suicide as a social problem, while only 62.0% of older people did so.
The impact of the collapse extended far beyond the immediate disruption to traffic and businesses in the area, affecting wastewater services for 1.2 million residents in the prefecture. Authorities called on inhabitants of surrounding cities to reduce their water usage, pressing them to curtail activities like bathing and washing clothing. In addition, wastewater was collected to reduce the flow to the damaged pipe, with the effluent then chlorinated and released into a nearby river, potentially damaging the environment.
The wide scale of service disruption is linked to Japan’s approach to wastewater management. Wastewater operations are overseen by public sewage systems operated by a single municipality or regional sewage systems operated jointly by multiple municipalities. The pipeline in Yashio was in the latter category and carried wastewater collected from 12 municipalities. While such regional management systems provide significant advantages to cities in terms of efficiency and cost savings, the failed pipe and resulting sinkhole illustrates the risk of widespread disruption of services when anything goes wrong.
Moreover, the incident laid bare the fragile state of Japan’s sewage infrastructure. Morita Hiroaki, who heads the prefectural panel studying the gargantuan task of repairing the damaged pipe, highlighted the direness of the situation when he warned that reconstruction could take at least two or three years to complete.
The use of smartphones in Japan is extending to younger and younger children, raising serious concerns about the dangers of social media. An online safety expert provides a snapshot of Japanese teens’ use of current platforms and considers the options for protecting children from cyberbullying, exploitation, and toxic content.