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Asia Research News monitors the latest research news in Asia. Some highlights that caught our attention this week are a massive comet that will swing by our sun, a chip that can store sunshine, and the influence climate had on human evolution.

Lingnan University (LU) is delighted to announce the admission of Hong Kong’s top boccia athlete Ng Chi-hang through Lingnan’s new Direct Entry Stream for Top Athletes (DESTA) under the University Grants Committee’s Student-Athlete Learning Support and Admission Scheme (SALSA). Ng represented Hong Kong in boccia at China’s 10th National Games for Persons with Disabilities and 7th National Special Olympic Games in 2019 and The Asian Para Games at Incheon in 2014. He will be joining LU’s Bachelor of Business Administration (Honours) programme in the coming academic year.

Malaysian and UK medical device and composite materials experts have partnered up to research into using natural fibres for prosthetic limb technology to lower the cost of the prosthesis

Distinguished Professor Hiroki Shirato of Hokkaido University is one of the nine recipients of the Japan Academy Prize in 2022, for his groundbreaking work on “Biomedical and Engineering Research about Real-time Tumor Tracking Radiotherapy/Particle Beam Therapy against Cancer.”

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (16 March 2022) — The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic pushed 4.7 million people in Southeast Asia into extreme poverty in 2021, as 9.3 million jobs disappeared, compared with a baseline no-COVID scenario, according to a new Asian Development Bank (ADB) report presented at the Southeast Asia Development Symposium (SEADS).

Mathematician Yukari Ito was excited at first to work from home. There was no need to commute to her office at the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe, where she is professor, and she could attend seminars by mathematicians around the world from her living room. But there are also challenges, so she hopes some things will go back to the way they used to be.

Myanmar’s military coup has created new challenges for the country’s researchers.

Policy-makers should engage more closely with social scientists to understand the socio-economic, cultural and political contexts behind the behaviours we need to change in response to global crises.

Induction into the Hall of Master Academic Clinicians is the highest accolade for clinical faculty at the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre. Exemplary clinical faculty members are selected by a special committee for their subject matter mastery, academic excellence and exceptional mentoring for Duke-NUS students.

The tourism industry’s performance was hampered first by the Easter Sunday bomb explosions in 2019 and then the COVID-19 pandemic. Sri Lanka saw a decline in tourist arrivals from 1,913,702 in 2019 to 194,495 in 2021. It is estimated that revenue declined from USD 3600 million to USD 261 million during 2019-2021, reflecting a staggering 92.75% reduction due to a fall in arrivals.

A great deal of discussion is underway on what appears to be the latest wave of migration from Sri Lanka. While the exact scale and nature of youth migration remain unclear, the costs of brain drain dominate these discussions. The brain drain concern is valid, yet focusing on it alone can limit our understanding of the complex implications of migration. This blog argues that apart from its challenges, youth migration can also present some surprising opportunities for socio-economic development if strategically managed.

• Your chances of getting resuscitated by a bystander in Asia if your heart suddenly stops while in a public place depends on whether you’re a man or a woman. • Across nine Asian communities, in public locations, the bystander CPR rates were 31.2 per cent for females and 36.4 per cent for males. • For women, the chances of receiving bystander CPR when suffering a cardiac arrest in a public out-of-hospital setting is lower than for men; in homes or private places, the likelihood is reversed.

New research finds the extent of arterial occlusive disease in the popliteal artery correlates with the prognosis of peripheral arterial disease in lower limbs. The study of 31 patients who underwent percutaneous angioplasty of femoropopliteal artery (FPA) proved for the first time that ulcerated plaque observed in the FPA during angioscopy is the source of the thromboembolic mechanism in the popliteal artery.

Giants in History: U Hla Myint (1920 – 2017) was a celebrated economist from Myanmar. Considered a prodigy, he was admitted to Rangoon University to study economics when he was just 14 years old.

Following the theme "Agham at Teknolohiya: Tugon sa Hamon ng Panahon," the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) once again celebrated its annual National Science and Technology Week (NSTW) celebration virtually last 22-26 November 2021.

The Akira Suzuki Award and the ICReDD Award, both sponsored by the Tosoh Corporation, were established in 2021 by the Akira Suzuki Award Organizing Committee, led by professors at the Institute for Chemical Reaction Design and Discovery (ICReDD), in commemoration of Professor Akira Suzuki’s winning of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and in celebration of his 90th birthday.

Micro-plastics cross blood brain barrier, Stomach cancer atlas, Omicron variant isolated, 120-year-old reaction turned on its head and Reporting through the coup, all in the December Editor's Choice. Plus our latest podcast: Decentralization and Democracy in Myanmar.

Lingnan University (LU) in Hong Kong will confer honorary doctoral degrees upon four distinguished individuals in recognition of their outstanding achievements in their respective professions and valuable contributions to the well-being of society.

Researchers from the Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine have shown in patients with early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma who received cancer treatment that eliminating the hepatitis C virus with a direct-acting antiviral treatment reduces the risk of the liver cancer progression and increases overall patient survival.

Scientists are turning to genomics to better understand the epidemiology of malaria and to inform control and elimination interventions and strategies. In the Lake Victoria region of Kenya, malaria burden remains very high despite more than a decade of intense control activities. A team of researchers from Osaka City University, Nagasaki University, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Mount Kenya University generated whole Plasmodium falciparum genome sequences from the lake region. Their analyses revealed that malaria parasites from this region appear distinct from other parasites from East Africa, while frequencies of known drug resistance markers were similar to those in other East African parasite populations. Their findings will help to develop improved surveillance tools to determine parasite transmission routes and aid clinical disease management.

Lingnan University (LU) has recently established an off-campus learning hub at the Jao Tsung-I Academy (JTIA) in Lai Chi Kok to enhance academic staff and students’ teaching and learning experience. An opening ceremony was held on Tuesday (9 November) and officiated by Dr Rex Auyeung Pak-kuen, Chairman of MTR Corporation Limited and former Council Chairman of LU, President of LU Prof Leonard K Cheng and Mr Mike Y W Lai, Chief Executive Officer, JTIA.

Japanese customers have higher expectations of restaurants selling traditional foods more when they display an older year of establishment.

Quick seawater test may reveal health of corals, Infectious disease caused by a new nairovirus, Converting CO2 into useful compounds and Automated COVID-19 diagnosis from chest scans all in the November Editor's Choice. Plus our latest podcast: Gender and Conflict in Myanmar.

Ghana’s high youth population suggests that evidence-based programs specifically targeting young people’s development and mental health are key to the country’s socio-economic growth. As a result, social scientists are focusing on rigorous testing of the links between these two sides of personal thriving.

The Centre for Film and Creative Industry, the University Library and the Department of Visual Studies of Lingnan University (LU) jointly launched “A History of Film Exhibition and Reception in Colonial Hong Kong (1897 to 1925)” database. The open-access database, developed under the Research Grants Committee-funded project “Screen Practices in Colonial Hong Kong: A History of Film Exhibition and Reception from 1897 to 1925”, serves as an essential resource for research on Hong Kong film history from the initial screenings of motion pictures in the late 1890s to the mid-1920s when the local film industry took shape. It provides online access to over 29,000 items of news materials, covering movie theatres, distribution companies and circuits, advertisements, and film reviews.

Set the stage for a path to recovery through innovations

Dozens of researchers tell Nature they have received death threats, or threats of physical or sexual violence.

Miniature brains mimic critical features of Parkinson's disease, better weather forecasting with satellite data, light does the twist for quantum computing, new insights into embryonic development & elevating women leaders in Myanmar in the October Editor's Choice. Plus don't forget submissions for Asia Research News 2022!