Peer Reviewed

Innovative use of existing film technology may lead to a new type of thin-film display photo

Hiroyuki Kamiguchi and team members aim to elucidate the mechanism of how the neuronal processes find their way, and to develop techniques to regenerate neuronal networks that have been injured owing to brain or spinal cord damage.

RIKEN has taken on the challenge of developing the world’s fastest and most efficient supercomputer.

Summaries of newsworthy papers include Climate change: Getting steamy, Genomics: Evolution in the lab, Planetary science: Tiger stripes, jets and Enceladus and Materials: Ferrotoroidic ordering found

The avian flu virus H5N1 infects the respiratory tract and spreads to other organs in the human body. Other highlights from Nature China include Endometrial cancer, Turn pollution into power, Colon cancer and heart disease, Climate change and dust storms and Helical nanofibres

The Bang Pa Canal in Thailand is a vital source of fresh water for many area farmers but due to dumping of untreated wastewater into the canal, it's water quality is severely deteriorated. This recently launched project by the Asian Institute of Technology will benefit 900 households in 7 villages.

Hanoi, Vietnam – In the face of growing pressure on one of Asia’s most important food production systems, experts are warning that farmers must get more help to make them more efficient.

Research by the Asian Institute of Technology has shown that companies which include corporate social responsibilities within their corporate strategies will be the successful companies of the future.

Summaries of other newsworthy papers include Materials: Domains of influence and Fighting off an immune attack

A new route to synthesize an antibiotic may also lead to new drugs

Squashed carbon balls show promising electronic properties

Physicists have long known that, when cooled to very low temperatures, electrons can be placed on the surface of liquefied helium. Now, researchers from RIKEN and Keio University have discovered they can effectively excite these electrons using microwave radiation.

New development to contribute to the application of quantum codes that will be essential for absolutely secure information management.

Of the world’s many bird species, the Pink-headed Duck has long been a mystery. It has not been seen since 1935, in northeast India (Bangladesh). It is so strangely coloured that, even after reading this book, some people question whether such a bird can really exist.

The issue of social reproduction is becoming central to the increasingly marginalized status of migrants both in Thailand and in Burma, particularly the issue of babies born to Burmese migrant workers in Thailand, which is creating a whole generation of stateless children.

When ASEAN took in Myanmar as a partner, Myanmar’s fate becomes ASEAN’s fate. This review outlines ASEAN's decisive role, Buddhism in Myanmar, a previous rebellion led by monks and why Than Shwe and his junta must not be overthrown.

In this week's Nature, Yasunobu Uchiyama and colleagues from the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan report the discovery of a brightening and decay in the X-ray emitting shells around a supernova.

Summaries of newsworthy papers include Anaesthesia without paralysis, Cancer: Stem cells and metastasis, High-temperature superconductivity: An organic perspective, Physics: A single artificial-atom laser and Supercurrents in a Bose-Einstein condensate

Nature reports on how the National Science Foundation (NSF) is looking into how researchers account for time spent on federally funded projects. Auditors have found that the records kept are often not accurate, undermining the ability of the NSF to ensure that its grants are spent appropriately.

Through many decades, the Golden Triangle, led by Myanmar, has been competing with the 'Golden Crescent' --the poppy-growing region in and around Afghanistan, and originally including also Turkey -- for the position of the main opium-producing area in the world.

This project from the Asian Institute of Technology, will enable policy makers in ASEAN countries to understand their country's poverty distribution and map them using GIS technology. They can then determine links between poverty and land use which will lead to the development of long term plans to alleviate poverty in the region.

Scientists in China identify its powerful antioxidant properties. Other research highlights include fish-oil supplements for healthy hearts, incubation of turtle eggs, a new class of bisimides for transistors, non-viral gene carrier for p53 and fabricated metal-organic microtubes.

Following the signing of space collaboration agreement between China and Russia earlier this year, scientists at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) got a new chance to design their state-of-the-art space tools for a mission to Mars onboard a Russian spacecraft.

Malaysia will be sending its first astronauts to the International Space Station on 10 October, 2007 where they will be conducting 10 different experiments. One of the experiments is designed by Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) to understand the structure of protein under microgravity.

Scientists from The Asian Institute of Technology analysed remote sensing images around the Mesopotamia Marsh and identified how much of the marsh has disappeared.

Ultrahigh-energy cosmic particles are extremely rare—only 11 have been observed in 13 years. No one knows where they come from, or how they could have that much energy left over after the long journey through intergalactic and interstellar space. RIKEN is planning to observe them on board the International Space Station.

UPM researchers have developed BiOX, a new type of bismuth oxide nanoparticle, which is cheap and ecologically friendly to produce. Bismuth oxide is important in everyday life its non-toxic properties. It can be used as a substitute for lead, eradicating peptic ulcer bacteria, in cosmetics and in solid oxide fuel cell

Neanderthals could have spread as far east as central Asia and Siberia. Summaries of newsworthy papers include NO end to protein modification, Micro-managing HIV replication, The long and the short of fatty liver, The gene-mapper’s best friend, Learning in stressful times, HIV stuns immune cells and Mitochondrial downfall in Parkinson’s disease

One jellyfish can throw a swimmer into a panic, but relentless swarms can disrupt entire economies. The isolation of a promising new protein by Japanese researchers could help reverse the economic damage being done by exploding jellyfish populations

Scientists have confirmed that a powerful particle accelerator has recreated the intense conditions that existed just microseconds after the beginning of the universe.