Peer Reviewed

Individuals who are treated for high blood pressure can have differing responses to treatments, and these responses could be predicted based on easily identifiable characteristics.

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) today (18 August) warmly congratulated two distinguished alumni, namely Mr Raman Hui and Ms Vivienne Tam, for being honoured by Forbes magazine as one of the “25 Top Chinese-Americans in Business”.

Summaries of newsworthy papers include: When does life belong to the living? Environment: How Much is Left?; Snake Oil in the Supermarket; Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish

Summaries of newsworthy papers include: 'Stealth' earthquake doublet; Massive stars make waves; Imaging quantum fluids; A new role for graphene; A ferroelectric ferromagnet created by strain; High-pressure competition in a high-temperature superconductor; Faithful females foster cooperative breeding

Tokyo, 18 August - Researchers at the RIKEN Plant Science Center have illuminated mechanisms underlying the genetic robustness of metabolic effects in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Their findings reveal a key balance between the roles played by duplicate genes and metabolic network connectivity in functional compensation.

Fossils discovered in South Australia could be the remains of early sea sponges, suggests a paper published online this week in Nature Geoscience.

LAST week was the 65th anniversary of the world's first nuclear bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After more than six decades, the terrors inflicted on people in the twin city bombings are still felt today.

OPINION: THE recent report on the crashing of the roof of the library at the 184-year-old Malacca High School is an eye-opener — not in a direct sense but in an oblique way, especially in light of the national debates on whether the Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) and Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) examinations should be abolished.

OPINION: A RECENT survey conducted by a company indicated that almost 90 per cent of Malaysian children who go online have had negative experiences.This ranged from harassment to being exposed to unwholesome images. However, many parents are unaware of them. Only 40 per cent supervised their children.

Tokyo, 15 August - A nuclear protein of previously unknown function has been shown to regulate the migration of tumor cells in the spread of melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer.

Summaries of newsworthy papers include: Evaluating recovery to nervous system injuries; Explaining human allergy to nickel; Exome sequencing of a rare disorder; How to best sequence all of your RNA; The secret is in the pocket

The RIKEN Science Lectures are a series of annual events bringing together pioneering researchers at RIKEN and leading scientists in related fields to share their findings with the public.

Building on pioneering work in metabalomics and omics analyses, researchers at the RIKEN Plant Science Center are gearing up for a new era of functional plant development with clinical applications.

A comparative study of two closely related organic insulators highlights the unusual properties of quantum spin liquids

Cancer may be kept in check by a method for generating patient-specific immune cells with antitumor activity

The findings deepen our understanding of protein synthesis and lay the groundwork for advances in protein design.

Summaries of newsworthy papers include: Biology: Knockout rats

Summaries of newsworthy papers include: Wired for anxiety?; Oscillating convection cells in marine cloud fields; Ancient mantle reservoir identified; A closer look at ferromagnets; A fractal surprise in a high-temperature superconductor

Neural processing in the brains of parents talking to their babies may reveal secrets about early stages of language acquisition in infants.

Professor Haiyan Song, Chair Professor of Tourism and Associate Director of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), has recently been honoured with the John Wiley & Sons Lifetime Research Achievement Award.

Boosting regeneration in the mouse spinal cord; Variants associated with tuberculosis; Metaling in Meiosis; Addicted to microRNA?; Biotin’s mystery solved; Making maps of oxygen in the brain

Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology have unraveled the mystery of why human embryonic stem (ES) cells and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells undergo programmed cell death (apoptosis) when cultured in isolation.

Many of Earth’s resources, from copper to more precious metals, are often taken for granted, but the only place to make more of these elements lies at the interior of stars.

Plant genome evolution requires reassessment with the discovery that parasitic plants can ‘steal’ nuclear genes from their hosts

Modifying a familiar class of dye molecules with optically active carbon rings creates new possibilities for light-based medical therapies

Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon delivered a special speech entitled "Peace and Disarmament" on Aug. 4 at International Conference Center in Waseda University.

Summaries of newsworthy papers include: When crocodiles ruled; Sharper images across a wider field; Sea sponge genome sheds light on animal evolution; New antibiotic caught in action; Negative refractive index without loss

THE FIFA World Cup 2010 final that saw Spain becoming the champion for the first time fires the imagination of the public as to what is possible when the playing field is level.

The issue of the possible abolishment of examinations will be the subject of round-table talks soon. This is indeed refreshing as the debate is long overdue. But we must first examine the context of the discussion.

In 2002, a highly publicized survey by the Latinobarómetro polling firm found that 40% of Latin Americans identified employment as the region’s biggest problem — ahead of corruption, poverty, and violence.