Plants & Animals

News

Editor's Choice
11 Nov 2024
Asia Research News
King of nanomaterials, Old but new, Probing stardust properties, Two-in-one, The good grain & Brain-inspired electronic skin. Read all in the latest Editor's Choice.
07 Nov 2024
Ateneo de Manila University
The two Pseudo-nitzschia species found in Luzon produce a dangerous neurotoxin that can cause severe sickness and permanent short-term memory loss.
 Traditional Chinese medicinal herb
06 Nov 2024
Osaka Metropolitan University
Model mice given extracts and powders show restoration of cognitive and motor functions
01 Nov 2024
Asia Research News
Asia Research News monitors the latest research news in Asia. Some highlights that caught our attention this week are healthy honey from a stingless bee, hybrid animal-plant cells, and an ancient arthropod found in fool’s gold.
Micrometeorological observation tower in Alaska
31 Oct 2024
Osaka Metropolitan University
Data could help rethink climate change models regarding sources of carbon and CO2 sinks
How boric acid channels make their way to the plasma membrane
30 Oct 2024
Osaka Metropolitan University
Arabidopsis thaliana mutant’s lack of KNS3 means boric acid channels don’t arrive properly at plasma membrane
The six cultivars of sorghum investigated in this study (Photo: Ali Khoddami)
29 Oct 2024
Hokkaido University
Sorghum possesses unique lipid profiles and bioactive compounds that support health and meet the demand for health-promoting food products.
3D model of reconstructed LHCII
28 Oct 2024
Osaka Metropolitan University
Scientists develop new approach to analyze 3D structure of lab-made photosynthetic antenna
25 Oct 2024
Asia Research News
Asia Research News monitors the latest research news in Asia. Some highlights that caught our attention this week are how combining a drone and a platform can make heavy groceries easier to manage, the smallest dinosaur eggs found to date, and how to assemble DNA to store large amounts of data.
Xochitl Édua Elías Ilosvay (researcher) and Kazuki Seike (translator) during a personal interview with a coastal fisher at a Fisheries Cooperative Association in the northern region of Shikoku Island. (Credit: Kameyuki Seike)
25 Oct 2024
Hokkaido University
A new scientific study reveals the complex relationship between the impacts of climate change and the adaptive responses of coastal fishers in the southern coasts of Japan.
Rotator cuff tear repair in a rabbit model
25 Oct 2024
Osaka Metropolitan University
Next-generation regenerative treatment shows promise in medicine-engineering collaboration
A new species of panda pattern amphipod, Melita panda
24 Oct 2024
Hiroshima University
Decades after it was first found in Japan, a crustacean species with unique black-and-white coloring resembling a panda has been confirmed to be new to science.
Graphical representation of Providencia rustigianii and select genes
17 Oct 2024
Osaka Metropolitan University
Pathogenic system found on plasmid can lead to severe food poisoning symptoms
14 Oct 2024
Lingnan University
An innovative project titled "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Navigation, Control, and Communication Integration Technology and Application" (the project) and led by Prof Yuan Weijie, Assistant Professor (Presidential Early Career Scholar) of the School of Interdisciplinary Studies of Lingnan University has recently received the prestigious Platinum Award for Satellite Navigation and Positioning Innovation Application in 2024 from the GNSS and LBS Association of China. This great accolade recognises Prof Yuan’s valuable contribution to advancing technological innovation in China's satellite navigation and positioning service industry. By integrating communication, navigation, and control systems, the project’s comprehensive solution augments the efficiency and precision of UAV technology in the agriculture sector, and addresses critical technical challenges faced by UAVs in smart agriculture.
Fluorescein-enhanced contrast imaging shows a rabbit’s normal sciatic nerve, left, and a damaged one
10 Oct 2024
Osaka Metropolitan University
Fluorescein angiography capable of assessing neural blood flow in chronic nerve compression neuropathy
09 Oct 2024
Tohoku University
Fungi don’t have eyes or a brain, but their intelligent behaviours may surprise you! Research at Tohoku University suggests that fungi may be able to recognize shapes.
Editor's Choice
07 Oct 2024
Asia Research News
Mirror, mirror, in my tank, who’s the biggest fish of all? Sigma bond spotted, Balancing cell membrane, Exploring quantum squeezing and Outbreak preparedness. Read all in the latest Editor's Choice.
04 Oct 2024
Asia Research News
Asia Research News monitors the latest research news in Asia. Some highlights that caught our attention this week are how hungry ants push birds out of their habitat, how eroding a mountain makes it taller, and how our cells carry insights into origin of life.
04 Oct 2024
Ehime University
Successful selection of compounds inhibiting the function of a transcription factor
A hibernating Syrian hamster (Photo: Hibernation metabolism, physiology, and development group, Hokkaido University)
01 Oct 2024
Hokkaido University
A gene that limits cellular damage could be the key to surviving prolonged cold exposure.
Campylobacter jejuni
25 Sep 2024
Osaka Metropolitan University
By targeting multiprotein molecule, antibody inhibits bacteria’s growth, pathogenicity
Stromatoporoids: Alternating layers of stromatoporoids (black to dark gray) and Chaetetes (light gray) in an upwardly convex structure
25 Sep 2024
Osaka Metropolitan University
Study shows that ancient reef-building stromatoporoids survived the Late Devonian extinction and continued to thrive during the Carboniferous Period
24 Sep 2024
Tohoku University
Analyzing fossils can be difficult – especially when they're so small that they can only be seen with a microscope. Researchers at Tohoku University have come up with a solution.
20 Sep 2024
Asia Research News
Asia Research News monitors the latest research news in Asia. Some highlights that caught our attention this week are how video call backgrounds can tire you out, mathematical secrets in Starry Night, and what we can see at the edge of the galaxy.
13 Sep 2024
Asia Research News
Asia Research News monitors the latest research news in Asia. Some highlights that caught our attention this week are a computer chip inspired by our brains, the potential link between asthma and diabetes, and how Japanese eels flee their predators after being swallowed.
Fish in the mirror
11 Sep 2024
Osaka Metropolitan University
Cleaner wrasse check their body size before fights due to having their own mental representation
10 Sep 2024
Asia Research News
Seaweed helps brain health, Whales in long-distance relationships, Jumpstarting male fertility, Demystifying black hole turbulence, Shrimp to steel & Mpox Resources. Read all in the latest Editor's Choice.
A medaka fish from the study. (Photo: Saori Yokoi)
05 Sep 2024
Hokkaido University
Medaka fish that lacked functional Hmgn2 genes were unable to distinguish between simple shapes, revealing a new function for the regulatory gene.
Sterilization of cats and other companion animals, such as by removing the uterus, is a common procedure, with the donated uterus of cats providing the cells to generate feline induced pluripotent stem cells.
04 Sep 2024
Osaka Metropolitan University
Feeder-free induced pluripotent stem cells hold hope in therapies for cats’ chronic kidney disease
30 Aug 2024
Asia Research News monitors the latest research news in Asia. Some highlights that caught our attention this week are how choosing the right drink can reduce your chance of developing gout, how warmer waters mean tougher conditions for some fish, and combining crystals with dye to reinforce anti-counterfeit labels.

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Giants in history

Pakistani botanist Azra Quraishi (22 September 1945 – 22 November 2002) is recognised for developing virus-free seed potatoes that increased potato production in Pakistan by an estimated five per cent.
Sálim Moizuddin Abdul Ali (12 November 1896 – 20 June 1987), commonly referred to as the Birdman of India, was the first person to conduct systematic surveys of birds from across India.
Indian botanist Shipra Guha-Mukherjee (13 July 1938 – 15 September 2007) made a breakthrough discovery that enabled the genetic study of plants and, by extension, the development of improved varieties of rice, wheat, potatoes, and other crops.
During her short life, Fahire Battalgil (1902 - 1948) achieved renown as the first zoologist from Turkey to make strides in the field of freshwater fish biodiversity.
Edgardo Dizon Gomez (7 November 1938 – 1 December 2019) was a Filipino marine biologist who recognized the need to protect marine resources, especially coral reefs, in the Philippines.
Gloria Lim (1930-2022) was a mycologist from Singapore who studied tropical fungi. One of the first students to attend University of Malaya when it was founded in 1949, she went on to become the first female Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Singapore.
Michiyo Tsujimura (17 September 1888 – 1 June 1969) was a Japanese agricultural scientist and biochemist recognized for her research of green tea components.
Meemann Chang (born 17 April 1936) is a Chinese palaeontologist who studied the fossils of ancient fish to understand the evolution of life. By examining fossils, she uncovered new insights on how vertebrates, animals with a backbone, migrated from the sea and became adapted to live on land.
Rampa Rattanarithikul is a Thai entomologist who is a leading expert on mosquitoes. Rattanarithikul began her scientific career as a technician collecting mosquito specimens for the United States Operations Mission (USOM) malaria control program. Throughout her career, she discovered 23 species and officially described 13 others.
Julian Arca Banzon (13 March 1908 – 13 September 1988) was a biochemist from the Philippines who was a pioneer in alternative fuel research. Banzon investigated the use of indigenous crops as sources of renewable fuels and chemicals.
Kono Yasui (16 February 1880 – 24 March 1971) was a Japanese botanist who researched the genetics of poppies, corn and spiderworts and surveyed the plants that had been affected by the nuclear fallout after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Susan Lim (14 February 1952 – 2 August 2014) was a Malaysian parasitologist who specialized in studying a class of flatworms, the Monogeans, which are parasites of fishes.
Rapee Sagarik (4 December 1922 – 17 February 2018) was Thailand’s renowned expert on orchids.
Salimuzzaman Siddiqui (19 October 1897 – 14 April 1994) was an artist and chemist from Pakistan whose research focused on natural products from plants.
Maqsudul Alam (14 December 1954 – 20 December 2014) was a biologist from Bangladesh who is renowned for his research on genome sequencing
Janaki Ammal Edavalath Kakkat (4 November 1897 – 7 February 1984) was an Indian botanist who studied plant chromosomes and genetics.
Joo-myung Seok (November 13, 1908 – October 6, 1950) was a Korean butterfly entomologist who made important contributions to the taxonomy of the native butterfly species in Korea.
Woo Jang-choon (8 April 1898 – 10 August 1959) was a Korean-Japanese agricultural scientist and botanist.
Osamu Shimomura (27 August 1928 – 19 October 2018) was a Japanese organic chemist and marine biologist who dedicated his career to understanding how organisms emitted light.
Rinchen Barsbold (born 21 December 1935) is a Mongolian palaeontologist and geologist who was instrumental in discovering and recovering one of the largest dinosaur collections in the world from the Gobi Desert in Mongolia and China.
Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose (30 November 1858 – 23 November 1937) was a scientist and inventor who contributed to a wide range of scientific fields such as physics, botany and biology.
Motoo Kimura (13 November 1924 – 13 November 1994) was a Japanese theoretical population geneticist who is best remembered for developing the neutral theory of molecular evolution.
Indian organic chemist Asima Chatterjee (1917 to 2006) studied the medicinal properties of plant products, especially compounds known as vinca alkaloids.
The techniques that make industrial pearl culturing possible were developed over a century ago at the Misaki Marine Biological Station in Japan. The station’s first director, Professor Kakichi Mitsukuri, emphasized to Kokichi Mikimoto in 1890 that stimulating pearl sac formation was important for pearl growth, and they went on to successfully develop methods for culturing pearls.
Ali
Little is known about Ali, a teenager from Sarawak, Malaysia, who was chief assistant to the famous naturalist Alfred Wallace. Most of what is known comes from Wallace’s writings. Ali accompanied Wallace on expeditions throughout the Malay Archipelago from December 1855 to February 1862.
Chinese agronomist Yuan Longping (7 September 1930 – 22 May 2021) developed the first varieties of the high-yield, hybrid rice that brought food security to multiple countries including China, which had been ravaged by food shortages as recently as the mid-20th century.
Chinese palaeontologist, archaeologist and anthropologist Pei Wenzhong (January 19, 1904 – September 18, 1982) is regarded as a founder of Chinese anthropology.
Research by Filipino plant scientist Benito Vergara (23 June 1934 – 24 October 2015) on the physiology of rice led to the development of deep-water and cold-tolerant rice varieties. Vergara also made several contributions to expanding public awareness of rice science.
Eminent Filipina scientist and educator Clara Lim-Sylianco (18 August 1925 – 23 July 2013) is remembered for her extensive research on mutagens – often-carcinogenic agents that permanently alter genetic materials such as DNA – antimutagens and bioorganic mechanisms.
Filipina chemist María Orosa (29 November 1892–13 February 1945) fought malnutrition and food insecurity in the Philippines by devising over 700 culinary creations including Soyalac, a nutrient rich drink made from soybeans, and Darak, rice cookies packed with Vitamin B1, which could prevent beriberi disease caused by Vitamin B1 deficiency. She was also a partisan of the guerrilla movement resisting Japanese occupation during World War II, and died after being struck by shrapnel while working in her laboratory during the Battle of Manila.
Lü Junchang (1965–9 October 2018) was a Chinese palaeontologist who is remembered as one of the most important dinosaur researchers of the last 50 years. Lü was an expert on reptiles that lived during the Mesozoic period about 252 million years ago. Cumulatively, Lü and his colleague/competitor Xiaolin Wang described and named more than 50 new species of flying dinosaurs known as pterosaurs.
Thai physician and conservationist Boonsong Lekagul (1907 – 1992) made major contributions to the preservation of his country’s wildlife.
The research of Filipino pharmaceutical chemist Luz Oliveros-Belardo (3 November 1906 – 12 December 1999) focussed on essential oils and other chemicals derived from native Philippine plants.
Birbal Sahni (14 November 1891 – 10 April 1949), a pioneer of Indian palaeobotanical research, and founder of what is now the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences in Lucknow, made multiple contributions to the study of prehistoric plants. These include the discovery of a new group of fossil gymnosperms (named Pentoxylae), reconstruction of the extinct Williamsonia sewardiana plant, and description of a new type of petrified wood from the Jurassic age.
Ground-breaking cancer researcher Kamal Jayasing Ranadive (8 November 1917 – 11 April 2001) advanced the understanding of the causes of leukaemia, breast cancer and oesophageal cancer through the use of animal models. She was also among the first to recognise how susceptibility to cancer is linked to tumour-causing interactions between hormones and viruses.
Known as Mr. Natural Rubber, chemist and researcher B. C. Shekhar (17 November 1929 – 6 September 2006) introduced a number of technical innovations that helped put Malaysia’s natural rubber industry on the world map.
In his over 30 year career in rice research, Munshi Siddique Ahmad (1924 – 19 October 2011) developed more than 30 varieties of high-yielding rice, including the BRRI Shail strain, which was responsible for increasing the rice production of Bangladesh from 8 million tonnes in 1965 to 20 million tonnes in 1975.
Lim Boo Liat (21 August 1926 – 11 July 2020), a leading authority in the conservation of Malaysia’s biological diversity, had his initial interest in the outdoors piqued by nature lessons in school. Lim, who helped found the National Zoo of Malaysia and re-establish the Malaysian Nature Society, had a particular interest in researching zoonotic diseases associated with small animals.
Roseli Ocampo-Friedmann (23 November 1937 – 4 September 2005) was a Filipino-American scientist whose research focused on cyanobacteria and microorganisms that inhabit extreme environments.
A Japanese surgeon, Tetsuzo Akutsu (20 August 1922 – 9 August 2007) built the first artificial heart capable of keeping an animal alive.
Min Chueh Chang (10 October 1908 – 5 June 1991) was a Chinese-American biologist who studied fertilization in mammalian reproduction.
Võ Quý (1929 – 2017) was a Vietnamese ornithologist who studied the destruction of tropical forests and agricultural lands in Vietnam by Agent Orange, a herbicide used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. In addition to planning forest restoration projects, Quý rediscovered the rare eastern sarus crane, an endangered species that had vanished during the war.