Some exciting news for people who are fond of thinking in terms of hair thickness and ear wax texture.

The Japanese can be genetically classified into two categories–people native to the Ryukyu Islands in Okinawa Prefecture and people native to other parts of Japan–researchers from the Institute of Physical and Chemical Science (Riken), who analyzed the genes and genetic structure of about 7,000 people, have discovered.

Riken’s findings, which were meant to shed more light on the origins of Japanese, were published in the online edition of a U.S. science magazine on Friday.

The biggest genetic difference in these two groups were found to be hair thickness and ear wax texture. People who originated from areas outside of the Ryukyu Islands tend to have much harder hair and drier ear wax and were discovered to be genetically closer to Chinese people.

What does this do to the “homogeneous Japanese race” theory?!?

The New York Times has an interesting article on Japanese energy technology. What always leaves me scratching my head is how this environmentally-minded country has such lousy windows and insulation which leads to more heating in the winter and air conditioning in the summer (and thus more energy consumed and greater expense). I’d also love to see an accounting for all of the energy consumed by the millions of ubiquitous vending machines!

Now, with oil prices hitting dizzying levels and the world struggling with global warming, [Japan] is hoping to use its conservation record to take a rare leadership role on a pressing global issue. It will showcase its efforts to export its conservation ethic — and its expensive power-saving technology — at next week’s meeting in Japan of the Group of 8 industrial leaders.

“Superior technology and a national spirit of avoiding waste give Japan the world’s most energy-efficient structure,” Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said. Japan “wants to contribute to the world,” he said.

Japan is by many measures the world’s most energy-frugal developed nation. After the energy crises of the 1970s, the country forced itself to conserve with government-mandated energy-efficiency targets and steep taxes on petroleum. Energy experts also credit a national consensus on the need to consume less. It is also the only industrial country that sustained government investment in energy research even when energy became cheap again.

Japan consumed half as much energy per dollar worth of economic activity as the European Union or the United States, and one-eighth as much as China and India in 2005. While the country is known for green products like hybrid cars, most of its efficiency gains have been in less eye-catching areas, for example, in manufacturing.

Corporate Japan has managed to keep its overall annual energy consumption unchanged at the equivalent of a little more than a billion barrels of oil since the early 1970s, according to Economy Ministry data. It was able to maintain that level even as the economy doubled in size during the country’s boom years of the 1970s and ’80s.

The Japanese government announced recently that it is considering relaxing the country’s immigration laws in a bid to reach a alien resident population of 10% by the year 2050. At the time we thought they were talking about people from other countries, but Reuters is reporting:

[A] project, led by Japanese astronomers, will bring together a dozen or more observatories from all over the country to study one star that researchers see as a potential home to an extraterrestrial civilization.

“Everyone wonders at least once in their lifetime whether space is infinite and whether aliens really do exist,” said Shinya Narusawa, chief researcher at Nishi-Harima Astronomical Observatory in western Japan.

The search for aliens and UFOs is not new to Japan. Last year, unidentified flying objects grabbed the headlines after a lawmaker submitted a question to the cabinet on whether the country had confirmed any cases of their existence. The government’s answer: no.

In the scientific world, Japanese researchers have used antennas to catch radio signals from outer space and analyzed the prisms of celestial lights to see if any laser emissions from space can be found, Narusawa said.

Thanks to RTN.

Well, it looks like the science is in on you guys. Researchers in the U.S. have concluded that obsessive internet use is a public health problem, which is so serious it should be officially recognized as a clinical disorder

Sufferers spend unhealthy amounts of time playing online games, viewing pornography or emailing.

They suffer four symptoms: They forget to eat and sleep; they need more advanced technology or more hours online as they develop ‘resistance’ to the pleasure given by their current system; if they are deprived of their computer, they experience genuine withdrawal symptoms; And in common with other addictions, the victims also begin to have more arguments, to suffer fatigue, to get lower marks in tests and to feel isolated from society.

Early research into the subject found highly educated, socially awkward men were the most likely sufferers but more recent work suggests it is now more of a problem for middle-aged women who are spending hours at home on their computers.

According to psychiatrist Dr Jerald Block, “The relationship is with the computer. It becomes a significant other to them. They exhaust emotions that they could experience in the real world on the computer through any number of mechanisms: emailing, gaming, porn.” He added: “It’s much more acceptable for kids to talk about game use, whereas adults keep it a secret. Rather than having sex, or arguing with their wife or husband, or feeding their children, these adults are playing games.”

It’s beer for astronauts, and Sapporo is going to brew it with barely grown in space (or at least from the lineage of space barley).

So Sapporo is going to brew about 100 bottles of the stuff which will only be available to astronauts on the space station.

The question is will NASA allow them to drink it?

And what does a hangover feel like at 0 gravity?

The New York Times has an interesting article about the shortage of engineers in Japan. It’s really an astounding fact given how Japan is such a leader in science and technology. A big theme of the article is the Japanese attitude towards foreigners since allowing engineers to immigrate - as U.S. high-tech companies do to a large extent - would help ameliorate the shortage. 

By one ministry of internal affairs estimate, the digital technology industry here is already short almost half a million engineers. Some companies are moving research jobs to India and Vietnam because they say it is easier than bringing non-Japanese employees here.  

Since 1999, the number of undergraduates majoring in sciences and engineering has fallen 10 percent to 503,026, according to the education ministry. (Just 1.1 percent of those students were foreign students.) The number of students majoring in creative arts and health-related fields rose during that time, the ministry said.

Mr. Hikita and other engineering students say their dwindling numbers offer one benefit: they are a hot commodity among corporate recruiters. A labor ministry survey last year showed there were 4.5 job openings for every graduate specializing in fields like electronic machinery.

Japan’s oldest “modern” robot — the 10-foot, 6-inch GakuTenSoku — has been awakened in Japan. Gone are the inflatable rubber tubes of the original 1928 android build by biologist Makoto Nishimura. The bot now tilts its head, moves his eyes, smiles, and puffs out his cheeks thanks to a $200,000, computer-controlled, pneumatic-servo makeover. While nothing compared to his modern offspring, GakuTenSoku still manages to creep us the hell out. On display at the renovated Osaka Science Museum starting July 18th.

japanese robot nostalgia from engadget.

in january of this year, what is being called a “missing link” from the cretaceous period was discovered in iwate prefecture by one kazuhisa sasaki.

this specimen is the oldest praying mantis specimen to have legs with hair and spines.

interesting…

in an apparent chemistry experiment gone awesome, a 14 year old girl managed to not only to give herself considerable trouble breathing, but forced an evacuation of her apartment complex. according to police this is only an isolated incident in a series of similar experimentation through out the nation. driven to recreating this inspiring chemical reaction by educational websites around the world, many japanese both young and old are racing to combine household cleaning products in order to artificially create the chemical responsible for odiferous flattus.

when reached for comment about how and why so many people around japan would be performing their own trails with household cleaning chemicals when the results, in addition to being well known, are also so stinky; the head of a tokyo based group specializing in this field gave this observation…

“It’s easy, and everyone can do it,”

finally a family friendly way to introduce the children to the wonders of science through empirical observation of molecule creation. think of how little taro’s eyes will light up when you tell him you’re going to show him how to create a smell like a bad fart in an enclosed space. that rebellious and angsty girl airi will finally find something she could do when she is alone. your spouse could learn a good prank to pull next time you forget your anniversary. why not just surprise everybody and do it yourself? it just takes one’s breath away when considering all the people that could benefit from testing this home school biochemical reaction.

just remember for the sake of your neighbors, please put up a notice like the one listed in the article. it is always good to let the people living around you know that might not want to partake in your pursuit of knowledge that they may need to keep a wide berth. sort of like a mythbuster’s “science content” warning.

Steve Levenstein has an interesting post over at Inventorspot about an unusual domestic fire alarm.

Concerned as to whether those with hearing disabilities would be able to escape a domestic emergency, assistant professor Makoto Imai of Japan’s Shiga University of Medical Science has been testing the idea of a silent alarm that wakes you with the whiff of… wasabi.

Wasabi’s pungent perfume is said to be so strong it can wake the dead… but in this case, it’s being used to wake the deaf. Prototypes of a new silent smoke alarm that sprayed canned wasabi extract into a room succeeded in waking 13 out of 14 test subjects within 2 minutes. One subject who is actually deaf awoke a mere 10 seconds after the wasabi essence was sprayed.

Check out Steve’s post and the video down the page.

From Slashdot, reported by RemyBR:

“Controversial scientific research happens all the time, but a review conducted by scientists in Japan uncovered a list of ‘bizarre’ trials - including one program designed to crossbreed cows with whales. ‘Scientists have analyzed 43 research papers produced by Japan over 18 years, finding most were useless or esoteric. The scientific research included injecting minke whale sperm into cows eggs, and attempts to produce test-tube whale babies.’”

Whale, I’m just speechless. Cow you really do that?! (Intentional bad pun for their intentional bad idea.)

I challenge anyone to use Photoshop and come up with a picture of a whale-cow crossbreed.

Quick, what’s the expression of the guy in this picture?

Your response–and whether or not you took into account the feelings of the people behind him–may be a reflection of your culture. I wrote earlier about the neurological test that has recently been conducted, testing East Asian and American patients and their ability to make relative and absolute judgments. Here’s another test, utilizing the picture above.

When asked how the foregrounded person — their face manipulated to look happy, angry or sad — appeared to feel, nearly three-quarters of 36 Japanese test subjects said their perception was influenced by the emotions of the background figures.
By contrast, nearly three-quarters of 39 North American participants said the people in the background didn’t affect them at all.
When the researchers tracked the viewers’ eye movements, they found that Japanese gazes flitted quickly to the background, while North Americans fixated on the central subject.

My first reaction was that the guy looked determined, and appeared to have a group of friendly followers. Only later did I think of the picture in terms of happy or sad.

What about you?

ever thought about cruising on your own boat around the pacific ocean? you know, just for the hell of it? well then, are you an environmentalist perhaps? someone who is worried about the increasing acidity of our oceans and the giant pile of trash polluting the pacific. hmmm? then you’ll love this man.

his name is kenichi horie. already a record holder in solar powered sailing and a world class recycler of used beer kegs.

his vessel is the suntory mermaid 2. a wave powered ship; it is slow as a snail, but environmentally friendly and a possible harbinger of a future propulsion system for large slow moving ships like the cargo ships from china

below the buzzing metropolis of tokyo in the depths of a high rise building is a microcosm of an agricultural revolution. in a facility staffed by former freeters looking for a source of lasting employment, there are six rooms dedicated the the seeding, germination, and successful growth of various vegetables. why is this anything exciting, you might ask?

while for the last century large scale indoor cultivation has been commonly practiced around the world and indoor greenhouses and grow rooms are used by people as varied as researchers to marijuana growers, what is interesting about this experiment is the intent and unintended consquences. pasona o2, unlike its counterparts has among it goals the employment of that portion of disaffected japanese youth. in addition it is a live testing of the marginal transformation of land to capital in an urban environment.

while at first this may seem unexciting, to me it is intriguing for two reasons. first of all it is an introduction to a field of steady work for moderately educated youth to introduce themselves to both industrial and agricultural technology. while these are seemingly dying arts they are also heavily subsidized industries and thus a safe bet. secondly, while the proprietors may not see this as the future of farming, it was an object of debate in an environmental economics class in which i once enrolled. in an area where land prices are high and the soil quality is poor enough that it must be continually augmented by expensive fertilizers, there could conceivably be a situation, provided a cheap source of electricity, where hydroponic gardens in skyscapers could be the source of food to a nation and the nations to which it exports.

hat tip to pruned

in an interesting new york times article the paper discusses the iriomote “mountain cat” and it’s uncertain future. being somewhat of an anomaly, the cat faced a delicate situation on the islands in the absence of humans. however since the discovery of the rare and elusive creature in 1967 it’s population has been estimated to be below 100 and declining.

in the face of a seeming certainty of continuous decline and extinction the seeming hope of the animal lies in eco-tourism generated by its dwindling presence.

so ladies, gentleman, symbiont fish, and spambots, the question is what is the best way to ensure the continuation of the iriomote cat? can the creature be saved with such a small gene pool. should strict environmental regulations enacted create a save haven for the cat? should the future be left to for profit ventures that seek to both benefit themselves and give a tourist the chance for a once in a lifetime photo op? should science step in and clone the animals? should apple name its next version of os x 10.6 iriomote (or ocelot)? should german environmentalists be locked their mothers’ closets? and is hello kitty to blame?

the answers i leave to you…

Here is some news that is sure to please some JAPUNDIT fans, a team from Obihiro University of Agriculture in Japan believes they have come up with a way to neutralize the gasses being produced by the world’s 1.5 billion flatulent bovines.

Junichi Takahashi’s discovery could, he says, dramatically reduce the environmental damage caused by the world’s cattle herds, whose collective flatulence is thought to account for 5pc of all greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the team from Obihiro University of Agriculture, a few simple food additives, costing about 75c each day per cow, could remove virtually all the methane from a herd’s daily belches.

While surrogacy is not illegal in Japan, the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology has banned its members from assisting in surrogate births.

Back in October last year, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare called on the Science Council of Japan to debate “the propriety of surrogacy”, and the council submitted a report last week.

The Ministry of Health’s position, as of 2003 was that “surrogate births should be completely banned with penalties“, while the Science Council’s draft report “suggests that only those who are involved in such practice for profit-making should be punished.”

Penalties should be applied to these cases, it says, “on grounds that surrogate births cannot necessarily be seen as crimes that cause harm to people.” It goes on to say -

Surrogate mothers face physical and psychological burdens and surrogate births impose serious mental effects on children, and that it is “questionable” that surrogate mothers accept the role through self-determination even if they are aware of the risks of surrogate births.

This claim to be looking out for the mental wellbeing of children and mothers angers me. Other Japundits may feel differently. To me, it smacks of deeply chauvinist patronising of ‘the little woman’ who hasn’t the capacity to know what’s best for her. There’s no mention of fathers that I noticed.

A Nagano doctor, Yahiro Netsu, who has famously flouted the ban since 2001, commented on the report -

Netsu said he felt “indignant” that the Science Council is trying to deny the spirit of self-sacrifice of surrogate mothers who help others in difficulties despite their own physical risk.

While Netsu said he supports punishing doctors who assist surrogate births for profit, the doctor charged that the council has failed to listen to people who have difficulty conceiving. The report “gives the impression that the council is trying to impose the opinions of scholars on patients,” he said.

One would have imagined that any boost to Japan’s declining birth rate would be welcomed. But the view from certain ivory towers appears to be completely different.

Researchers in Japan and the U.S. have successfully transmitted the brain waves of a monkey half way around the world over the Internet to a robot that performed the correct movement.

The U.S. researchers at Duke University in North Carolina pinned down correlated patterns between a monkey’s brain nerve signals and leg movements. The monkey was trained to walk upright on a treadmill, its brain studded with electrodes to read the signals.

The signals were fed into a humanoid robot that walked in response to the signals.

“There may come an era when you could move a remotely located robot as if it is yourself and play tennis with it,” said Mitsuo Kawato, research director of a Japan Science and Technology Agency research institute in Seika, Kyoto Prefecture.

Wouldn’t playing tennis with yourself result in endless rallies?

Still another indication that Japan is seeking carbon emission reductions in all the wrong places comes in a news report on the debate over whether the nation’s trend towards a night owl lifestyle should be curbed by government fiat in order protect the environment.

The sense among the government’s Central Environment and Industrial Structure councils is that the night-oriented lifestyles of the Japanese must change, and that the government should enact restrictions on nighttime lighting and late night TV broadcasts.

Not everyone is in agreement, however. According to a report by the Japan Franchise Association, cutting convenience store operation down to 16 hours a day from the current 24 would reduce carbon dioxide emissions only 3 to 4 percent.

They also point out that cutting operating hours also would necessitate deliveries during the daylight hours, which would increase traffic congestion in major metropolitan areas.

This whole debate has come about as the government grapples with ways to whip and drive the country into meeting Kyoto Protocol targets for so-called “greenhouse gasses.” As is usually the case in Japan, Taro and Hanako Q. Public are the first to get it in the shorts when it becomes time to start dishing out pain, simply because they do not have the organized political clout that major industries do.

Check out this page of photos from The 49th International Conference on Electron, Ion and Photon Beam Technology and Nanofabrication Bizarre/Beautiful Micrograph Contest, which includes the following from Takahashi Kaito of SII Nanotechnology Inc., titled Chisai Benjo (small toilet).

Via The Raw Feed