Peer Reviewed

The global biofuels market is worth US$240B by 2020 according to Pike Research Cleantech Market Intelligence (2009). The conference is a platform to discuss the next generation of biofuels, algal biofuels and cover opportunities and challenges of building a biofuels industry.

In the wake of China overtaking Japan to become the second largest economy ion the world, Satoshi Amako evaluates the likely course of China's foreign policy.

UiTM food researchers Noriham Abdullah, Marina Zulkifli, Mohd Hilmi Hassan, Wan Nur Zahidah Wan Zainon and Nur Ilmiah Alimin have developed a new process for the formulation of fruit peel based snacks to bridge the gap between fast, on-the-go snacking and meeting consumer health concerns.

In an attempt to identify the worldview of the Batek tribe, a team of researchers from the Academy of Language Studies, Universiti Teknologi MARA embarked on a comprehensive study to document the characteristics and elements found in Batek folklore.

Summaries of newsworthy papers - Chemical Biology: Biofuels by bugs; Geoscience: Weakness in the San Andreas Fault

New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), Nagoya University in Japan and Aalto University in Finland jointly announced on February 7, 2011 that researchers of the two universities succeeded to make high-performance carbon nanotube (CNT) integrated circuits on flexible plastic substrate.

National Institute for Material Science, Japan Science and Technology Agency and University of Tsukuba announced on February 4, 2011 that they succeeded in detecting nondestructively dynamic behaviors of doped impurities in Si nanowires (Si NWs) coated by SiO2 to make surrounding gate field-effect transistors.

A specific way of visualizing specimen surfaces at high sensitivity is to use a cathode lens (CL) mode in the SEM. The CL is a zero working distance electrostatic lens with the negatively biased specimen serving as the cathode and the earthed scintillator of the detector as the anode of the CL.

Kyoto University and University of Illinois announced on 14th January 2011 that they have succeeded in observing half-height magnetization steps in strontium ruthenium oxide (Sr2RuO4).

Entanglement is the basis of quantum computing. Although spin ensembles, such as those used in liquid-state nuclear magnetic resonance have been examined, the results contain no entanglement and ultimately constitute classical simulations of quantum algorithms.

Western Digital® (NYSE: WDC) announced today that it has established a research and development center in Singapore, where the company will leverage the local talent pool and expertise of research organizations, such as Singapore’s A*STAR Data Storage Institute (DSI), and universities in the development of advanced hard drive technologies.

Insights into a specific secretion mechanism in the brain could lead to a better understanding of anxiety in unfamiliar or stressful environments

Exotic entities that arrange into a crystalline structure at near room-temperature could lead to a new approach to electronic memory

Particular types of neuronal loss and brain damage are caused by a molecular mechanism associated with calcium signaling

A professor from the Department of Computer and Communication Systems, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Prof. Dr. Mohd. Adzir Mahdi had been awarded COMSTECH Young Scientist Award.

A group of academic specialists in competition law and economics today (24 February) jointly responded to criticisms of the Competition Bill currently before Hong Kong's Legislative Council (LegCo).

Five students from the Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication (FBMK), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) had the opportunity of a lifetime when they were flown to Université de Franche-Comte to hone their French language skills.

Summaries of newsworthy papers - Climate science: Not a drop to drink; News Features and Comment: The animal-testing conflict; Neuroscience: Helpless neurons; Earth science: Volcanic tremor explained; Physics: Coupled quantum pendulums; And finally… A leg-up for arthropod evolution

The Institute of Microelectronics (IME), a research institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), today announced that it has developed and successfully demonstrated an Ultra-Wideband (UWB) radio for use in Pirelli’s Cyber™ Tyre.

Current R&D success with A*STAR’s IMRE prompts Nitto Denko to invest more in Singapore by building a prototyping centre, which will be incubated at local research institute.

A tiny silicon–oxygen-based polyhedron enters cellular nuclei to light them up selectively

A new architecture for optical fiber networks promises more cost-efficient fiber-optic networks for the consumer market

Nonvolatile memory based on ferroelectric–graphene field-effect transistors is now a step closer to reality

“Reefs at Risk Revisited” report presents comprehensive analysis threats to coral reefs.

An exhibition titled “Saneatsu and Red Porcelain” will be held in March and April at the Shigenori Tomioka Collection Gallery which opened in May 2009. This is an exhibition which takes the shape of word-association game-like concept linking Saneatsu Mushakoji to Naoya Shiga to Wanli red porcelain to five-colored Ming Dynasty porcelain.

By NASER FARUQUI The political dramas unfolding in Tunisia, Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries present pivotal opportunities: They improve the prospects for harnessing science and its values to advance sustainable and equitable development, openness and democracy in the Islamic world.

India’s labour force is fast approaching half a billion people, with about 8 million people added every year between the early 1990s and 2004-2005, but there remains a wide wage gap between different sectors of the Indian workforce.

By Hatsuko Kawana, Associate Professor, School of Human Sciences, Waseda University It started with the news that on Christmas Day in 2010, ten school bags were delivered to a child guidance center in Maebashi City, Gunma Prefecture, along with a card signed by Mr. Naoto Date, the hero of the cartoon “Tiger Mask.”

Summaries of newsworthy papers - Neuroscience: Understanding relapse; Immunology: Maintaining calm in the gut; Cell Biology: p53 mutations affect cancer cell metabolism; Cell Biology: Fine-tuning the DNA damage response for survival; And finally…Geoscience: Early Cretaceous warmth

Molecular simulations explain how enzymatic pumps transport calcium ions within muscle cells