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Guest article by Rohan Samarajiva

A new design for nanoparticles that absorb low-energy light and emit high-energy light may find use in biological imaging

A low-temperature method could be used to ‘grow’ transparent zinc oxide films for use in displays and solar cells

The dissipation of energy from a vibrating gold nanoparticle is strongly influenced by the surrounding environment

A pioneering error correction technique developed at the A*STAR Data Storage Institute holds promise for the development of next-generation computers

OPINION - The big issue currently faced by contemporary society is how it can redevelop a modern “principle of freedom” in a more real way.

OPINION - Politics used to be a risky business, but politicians these days seem to regard politics as an arena that is tranquil and uneventful, where they can make a fortune if they declare that their efforts are for the sake of the nation and the people or that they think from the standpoint of the people.

This new method is capable of reducing the price of carbon nanotubes from USD100 - USD700 to just USD 15 to USD 35 for each gram, much lower than world market prices

SAITAMA, JAPAN, 6 APRIL 2012: Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) today signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with RIKEN Institute Japan to further strengthen the research initiatives and sharing of technology between the two institutions.

Summaries of newsworthy papers include Converting human skin cells into neurons more efficiently; Evolution in the oceans; Telling the good from the bad in the gut and Efficient genome-scale genetic engineering in bacteria

Evidence that the most deadly species of malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, is becoming resistant to the front line treatment for malaria on the border of Thailand and Myanmar is reported in The Lancet today. This increases concern that resistance could now spread to India and then Africa. Eliminating malaria might then prove impossible.

Latest news from Nature 04 April 2012

Nishioka and Ichikawa, researchers from Japan’s largest steel production company, describe recent developments in TMCP Technology in the latest issue of Science and Technology of Advanced Materials Vol. 13 (2012).

Panels always seem to damage during the installation of kitchen cabinets in Malaysian kitchens. The damages are in the form of split holes, loose holes and delamination. Hence Falah Abu and Mansur Ahmad of UiTM, Shah Alam, Malaysia studied the quality of particleboard panels in 28 Malaysian kitchens.

An elderly resources centre unveils high-technology home care...

The University of Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan) and the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) announced on 6th March 2012 that an international research team led by Professor Takao Someya has succeeded in manufacturing the world’s first flexible organic transistor on a polymeric film.

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) announced that they have developed a current-injection photonic-crystal laser with ultralow power consumption, which can be applicable to both off-chip and on-chip optical data transmission for microprocessors.

Latest news from Nature and the Nature journals 02 April 2012

Young talents from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU)'s School of Design (SD) have shown their creativity and prowess in social innovations.

In the Osaka mayoral election held on November 27 last year, the former Governor of Osaka Toru Hashimoto won an overwhelming victory over incumbent Kunio Hiramatsu.

A voice is directed at those nearby and reaches them. That is probably what poems were in the first place. Or else words written on paper. And to reach people, they had to be transcribed again and again. And so printing machines came into being to replace the human hand. And so more time became necessary to get the words to the people.

Japan was stricken by a triple crisis of mega earthquakes, monster tsunami, and nuclear meltdown at Fukushima.

The Great East Japan Earthquake has dramatically altered the way the Japanese economy is seen. For example, the way that housing and real estate values are seen in Japan has changed since 3.11. Location value is what determines the values of homes and real estate.

Conserving electricity is an absolute necessity due to the power shortage associated with the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster.

This earthquake and the tsunami claimed the lives of a large number of persons with disabilities.

About 30 years ago, I drove northward from Sotobo in Chiba along the coastline in Fukushima and Miyagi as far as accessible by road, passing through inland areas in Iwate to Miyako again, and went up north to the Shimokita Peninsula.

The accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant caused by the East Japan Great Earthquake Disaster has made it necessary to fundamentally revise the existing nuclear-centric energy policy.

It will be hot this summer. This is not a prediction that this summer will be as hot as last summer, but it does mean that the temperature will be higher in offices and homes to conserve energy.

Buildings have service lives. This seems obvious to Japanese, but might be seen as strange by Westerners.