Peer Reviewed

This research found 63 %, 60 %, and 33 % of the highly human capital—intensive exports from Taiwan, Korea, and Japan, respectively, have been replaced by China. Most of these replacements happened in high-end products after 2000. Therefore, more products from advanced countries will be replaced by China in the near future.

The selected programs are Education and Research Center for Stem Cell Medicine, Center for Education and Research of Symbiotic, Safe and Secure System Design, Raising Market Quality - Integrated Design of "Market Infrastructure" and Designing Governance for Civil Societies

Technological innovation is crucial in today's challenging market circumstances. Key players in the ICT world recognize this and are coming together to launch a new grants program for the Asia Pacific Information and Communication Technology (ICT) community.

Summaries of papers: Saturn's second aurora, Magnetic resonance images in colour, Insight into each end of the chordate lineage, 'Identical twins', years apart, Solution for global puzzle of nitrogen-loving trees, Ticking of the segmentation clock, Warming and rising of oceans, Taking the strain in electronic devices and In pursuit of happiness

USM, Penang, Malaysia - USM forged an international collaborative venture with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of The South Pacific (USP), Suva, Fiji.

Malaysia produce 70 million tons of organic wastes annually. Most of these are either incinerated or dumped in landfill and both of which have serious impact on the environment. A research is conducted at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak to reutilise the wastes and explore their potential as energy sources.

Typically, palm oil quality is determined in a destructive manner using wet chemical analysis, which can be costly, time consuming and error prone. Here, researchers developed an automated technique of estimating quality based on fruit colour captured in JPEG format.

Summaries of papers include Resolving photon numbers, Microstructures stay on track, Muscle degeneration, Measuring glacial deep-water flow, The unexpected metal, Seafloor’s influence on biodiversity and Expressing fear enhances perception

The Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC) has initiated an 18-month research consortium valued at SGD1.5 million to leverage upon a centralised source of expertise in the area of wireless communication, high speed electronic design, and analysis of electromagnetic compatibility and interference.

Summaries of newsworthy papers include Locating the comfort zone, We take more risks when potential pay-offs are well defined, Sequence of response, The carbene catchers, Anderson localization of matter waves and Leaf the temperature alone

In a press release issued today, Keio University scientists have shown that pigeons are able to discriminate video images of themselves, paintings of certain painters (Van Gogh vs Chagall) and more. The video image discrimination ability is higher than 3-year-old children. (Pictures available)

Keio University applied the technology “to operate the computer using brain images released last year and succeeds in enabling a disabled person suffering muscle disorder to stroll through “Second Life®, to walk towards the avatar of a student and to have a conversation with the student using the “voice chat” function.

Penang, Malaysia - In a press conference held today, University Science Malaysia scientists unveil their research into the healing properties of turmeric on skin tumours and wounds.

Summaries of newsworthy papers include Neuroscience: Helping seizures with acidity, Medicine: A drug against blood cancer may also fight lupus and Immunology: Zipping to sites of infection

Potato varieties capable of withstanding early planting conditions (high temperature/heat stress) can allow taking rice-potato-wheat as sequential crops in the region.

The present study was conducted to assess the genetic divergence in 29 potato genotypes (parental lines) based on 20 characters and to find out relationship between genetic diversity and tuber yield.

Researchers have found a cheaper and more feasible technique for parent selection in tetraploid potatoes.

The need for efficient crops is essential to feed a growing population. This paper shows different plant species and potato cultivars differed in nutrient use efficiency with the lowest potassium efficiency for potato followed by wheat and sugar beet.

This paper presents the findings of a study involving some common Ayurvedic medicines, which revealed the presence of heavy metals and synthetic steroids that were in some cases responsible for significant morbidity among those who consumed them.

Selection based on plant vigour, foliage maturity, desirable tuber traits, high family mean tuber yield supplemented with late blight resistance is recommended for developing potato varieties for north-central plains

Borneo's Dolphins are finally getting the attention they needed. On 15 May 2008, a collaborative effort for the conservation of these animals was forged between Sarawak Shell Berhad, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak and Sarawak Forestry Corporation.

Sarawak, which is free from the incidence of foot and mouth diseases, is embarking in livestock-oil palm integration as a strategy to increase local livestock production, and as a holistic approach to maximise land use and increase farm income. A research in UNIMAS was conducted to look at the potential.

As our global poverty rate continues to rise, so with it will our global hunger...... Read Kristin Schaaf's winning essay on "Feeding the poor today and everyone on the planet tomorrow: What are the issues, and what can be done to avert a global food crisis?"

Summaries of newsworthy papers include Cell discovery helps understanding of heart growth, Extreme UV and finally… When moons collide and collide and collide

"ASIATIC is a corporation with experiences in palm oil industry. It is easy for us to co-operate with UPM, which is a University with experiences in doing research of agriculture."

In September 2008, research work on sustainable development will commence sponsored by a consortium of industry, government, and academia In April 2009, a double degree program called "Environment & Sustainable Development" will become available at both the Waseda and Peking University campuses.

The belief that we can find a way to fully avoid all the serious threats of climate change pervades the political arenas of the G8 summit and UN climate meetings. This is false optimism, and it is obscuring reality, says a Commentary in Nature Reports Climate Change this week.

Newsworthy papers include Rare 'de novo' mutations contribute to schizophrenia risk, New prognostic marker for breast cancer, Cellular senescence and ageing, Fighting infection from an unlikely source, Vitamins on the move, Synthesis shuts down power, Warm and salty Cretaceous oceans, Multi-part bacterial sensor, Preventing amyloid formation

It seems that neither the chicken nor the egg came first. Scientists in Nature this week unveil a 380-million-year-old specimen of an embryo connected by the umbilical cord to its mother long before the chicken came on the scene. The discovery, reveals advanced reproductive biology comparable to that of some modern sharks and rays.

Newsworthy papers include A cold snap explained, I think therefore I touch, The 'good', the 'bad' and the gut, Forced out and fighting it, An infrared ring round a neutron star, Diagnostics in the balance, The big thaw, Engineering surface features of titania crystals, Quantum phase transition in a quantum dot, Visual invisibles, Packing wrapped up