Peer Reviewed

By STEPHEN DALE Can women who experienced the most brutal impacts of decades-long civil wars in Latin America come to terms with their own pasts while helping to reshape the societies around them?

As more women participate in the workplace, inequality may be increasing, rather than decreasing. Speaking at IDRC’s head office in celebration of the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, Dr Shahra Razavi argued that gender inequality is pervasive, and that the lines between the private and public spheres are blurred.

Summaries of newsworthy papers - Geoscience: Better earthquake risk maps needed; Chemical Biology: Commodity chemicals by design; Structural & Molecular Biology: Connecting genetics to diseases; Nanotechnology: A superconducting first near absolute zero; Genetics: Risk variant for prostate cancer in African-American men

The Singapore Business Federation (SBF) and Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech) today signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to assist local manufacturing and services companies develop R&D capabilities and foster stronger research collaboration with SIMTech.

Toyohashi Tech researcher receives coveted Japanese government award for the invention of unique color filter–glasses. Allowing those with normal color vision to experience colorblindness, the glasses enable understanding of problems arising for people with color vision deficiency.

An enzyme helps control the extension of cellular tendrils by regulating the delivery of supplies needed for growth

Identification a master regulator of the response of plants to injury sheds light on organ regeneration

A new gene expression technique adapted for single molecule sequencing has enabled researchers at the RIKEN Omics Science Center (OSC) to accurately and quantitatively measure gene expression levels using only 100 nanograms of total RNA.

Summaries of newsworthy papers - Astronomy: Lonely planets; Cancer: Overcoming treatment-resistant leukaemia; Ecology: Overestimating extinction rates; Climate science: Currents from the deep; Biology: The evolution of proteins; Geophysics: Melting of the Earth’s inner core; And finally… When is a snake not a snake?

A new comparative transcriptomic analysis of four vertebrate species conducted by Naoki Irie in RIKEN's Laboratory for Evolutionary Morphology strongly suggests that the 'hourglass model' is the more accurate description of how the vertebrate phylotype manifests.

Ikuko Toyonaga, Waseda University, writes on the events in Egypt that heralded the beginning of the 'Arab Spring'.

To survive the period of change for the media in the future, Asahi should alter their attitude and release materials they have. To prevent Japan from becoming militarist or imperialist in times to come, Asahi has the responsibility for explaining to their readers to what extent they were committed in Tairikushinposha during the Pacific War.

Prof. Kuniki Kino (Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Engineering) and Dr. Ryotaro Hara (Research Institute for Science and Engineering), Waseda University, have discovered a new enzyme which has been utilized to develop an innovative new industrial manufacturing method for cis-4-hydroxy-L-proline, an amino acid derivative.

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has set a record of reaping 10 prizes at the 39th International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva, with an array of innovations which range from myopia-retarding contact lenses to DNA Bio-sensor and solar energy device.

Summaries of newsworthy papers - Geoscience: Net loss of landscape during 2008 Wenchuan earthquake; Cell Biology: Directing the building of blood vessels; Genetics: Exome sequencing for autism; Geoscience: Oxygen oases for tiny animals; Methods: Renewable reagents for detecting human proteins; Physics: Single spins resolved in imaging experiment

Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) has announced the development of “ENDEAVOR-Mobile”, the world’s first fully Android-based mobile teleradiology collaboration platform.

Insights gained by the Biosphere Oriented Biology Research Unit into complex biological systems could revolutionize energy production and re-integrate society into the global ecological cycle

Assessing the chemical diversity of genetically modified organisms is an important first step for evaluating their safety

A single protein is sufficient to switch on the various genes that kick off the development of the embryonic nervous system

RIKEN (President Ryoji Noyori) and the Max Planck Society (MPG; President Peter Gruss) signed an agreement on April 27, 2011, to strengthen their collaboration by establishing a joint research center for systems chemical biology, a field that seeks to achieve a systematic understanding of biological systems from a chemistry perspective.

Researchers at the RIKEN Plant Science Center (PSC) have clarified a key epigenetic mechanism by which an enzyme in the model plant Arabidopsis protects cells from harmful DNA elements.

Summaries of newsworthy papers - Astronomy: Hot Jupiters in a spin; Stem cells: Generation of liver cells from fibroblasts; Comment: WHO needs change; Ageing: How dietary restriction extends nematode lifespan Microbiology: New group of ‘hidden’ fungi discovered; Physics: How to control complex network systems; And finally… Sulphur so good

The whole picture of the damage is not clear yet, but coastal disaster professionals including myself were not able to specifically predict such a devastating disaster in Japan. Although I think there are many hardships in restoring the coastal areas, I believe that we are responsible for supporting restoration of the devastated areas.

A severe earthquake and massive tsunami hit the Pacific coastline of eastern Japan on March 11, 2011. A total of six nuclear power plants automatically shut down because of the earthquake. Power from outside the plant was also lost. Emergency diesel generators started operating.

Summaries of newsworthy papers - Neuroscience: Generalizing fear; Geoscience: Unexpectedly high earthquake risk east of the Andes; Nature: Marsupial ménage in the Palaeocene; Geoscience: Impact-generated nitrogen on Titan?

The Faculty of Dentistry at CMU has Developed an Orthodontic Tool to Help Patients with Cleft Lip and Palate, Winning a TRF Research Award, 2010.

In Nature China this month - Microbiology: Duck amuck; Public health: Rural virus turns a ruckus; Invertebrate palaeontology: Spider queen; Medical genetics: Follow your heart; Superconductors: The right description

Novel tuberculosis treatments could result from success in artificially synthesizing sugar-based structures of the bacterium’s cell wall

Measurements of fundamental particles provide a sensitive method to probe the spin composition of protons

IHPC’s William Yim from Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) was part of a research team that has made an impactful discovery.