Plants & Animals
News
07 Jun 2023
Newcastle University in Singapore
Scientists from Thailand, France and Singapore have conducted groundbreaking research using both tiny cellulose nanofibers (CNF) and long pineapple leaf fibers (PALF) to create stronger materials. They added varying amounts of CNF to epoxy and found that 1% CNF greatly increased impact strength. PALF-epoxy composites showed significant flexibility and strength improvements. Combining CNF and PALF resulted in a remarkable increase in impact strength. The findings could revolutionize stronger material development.
02 Jun 2023
Asia Research News
Asia Research News monitors the latest research news in Asia. Some highlights that caught our attention this week are a species of eel that is slowly losing its eyes, a new space mission to give astronauts aboard the Tiangong space station a break, and how having more muscular legs can help avoid heart failure.
26 May 2023
Asia Research News
Asia Research News monitors the latest research news in Asia. Some highlights that caught our attention this week are a new sense added to VR, huge solar flares that may have helped spark life, and a volcanic eruption so big that it disrupted satellites.
26 May 2023
Osaka Metropolitan University
Eating fermented foods might be the secret to a healthy and long-lived society
25 May 2023
Mahidol University
A group of researchers from universities in Thailand and Malaysia have collaborated to develop a unique kind of film that is good for the environment and can decompose naturally. They made this film using leftover pineapple stems, which helps reduce the use of harmful plastic films. This new film has the potential to be used as packaging material, contributing to a more sustainable way of doing business and promoting a circular economy.
19 May 2023
Asia Research News
Asia Research News monitors the latest research news in Asia. Some highlights that caught our attention this week are a surprising antidote candidate for one of the deadliest mushrooms, why a certain species of spider walks like an ant, and the oldest primate embryos grown outside of the womb.
19 May 2023
Asia Research News
Mushrooms 🍄get chattier after rainfall 🌧️, Two-organ chip answers fatty liver questions, History maps 🗺️vs future simulations, Restoring vision in blindness. Plus in our blog: Myanmar: Through eyes of leadership. Read all in the latest Editor's Choice.
16 May 2023
Hiroshima University
Researchers have created a genetically edited allergen-free chicken egg that may be safe for those with egg white allergies.
11 May 2023
Duke-NUS Medical School
A protein that helps bats survive viral diseases might offer lessons for developing new anti-inflammatory treatments.
11 May 2023
Hokkaido University
A new group of mitochondrial viruses confined to the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi Glomeromycotina may represent an ancestral lineage of mitoviruses.
28 Apr 2023
Asia Research News
Asia Research News monitors the latest research news in Asia. Some highlights that caught our attention this week are a flu that could potentially jump from dogs to humans, a surgically-implanted chip that can help with serious addiction cravings, and a powerful jet emitted from a supermassive black hole.
28 Apr 2023
Tohoku University
Certain types of fungi can communicate with each other via electrical signals. But much remains unknown about how and when they do so. A group of researchers recently headed to the forest to measure the electrical signals of Laccaria bicolor mushrooms, finding that their electrical signals increased following rainfall.
20 Apr 2023
Hokkaido University
Conclusive evidence of chicken breeding in the Yayoi period of Japan has been discovered from the Karako-Kagi site.
18 Apr 2023
Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU)
A Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU)-led team has discovered a new species of box jellyfish in the Mai Po Nature Reserve in Hong Kong. The new jellyfish species, which belongs to the family Tripedaliidae, was named Tripedalia maipoensis by the research team. It is the first discovery of a new box jellyfish species from the waters of China. The discovery also adds a fourth species to the Tripedaliidae family.
14 Apr 2023
Asia Research News
Asia Research News monitors the latest research news in Asia. Some highlights that caught our attention this week are a foldable buggy that can be used on the moon, synthetic nano-nets to help combat antibiotic resistance, and how that new car smell may not be a good thing.
11 Apr 2023
Tohoku University
To survive, all organisms must regulate their appetite. Hormones and small proteins called neuropeptides perform this process, stimulating feelings of hunger and fullness. When researchers noted the similarities between GAWamide, a neuropeptide that regulates feeding in the Cladonema jellyfish, and myoinhibitory peptide, a neuropeptide that regulates feeding in fruit flies, they decided to test whether they could exchange the two. Their success in doing so highlights the deep evolutionary origins of feeding regulation.
10 Apr 2023
Tohoku University
Nitrogen is such a crucial nutrient for plants that vast quantities of nitrogen-containing fertilizers are spread on farmlands worldwide. However, excess nitrogen in the soil and in drainage run-off into lakes and rivers causes serious ecological imbalances. A recent study has uncovered the regulatory mechanisms at work when plants utilize nitrogenous fertilizers in their roots, a positive step in the quest to generate crops that require less fertilizer while still producing the yields needed to feed the world.
07 Apr 2023
Asia Research News
Asia Research News monitors the latest research news in Asia. Some highlights that caught our attention this week are snakes that do gymnastics to get out of danger, 3 species of ancient spiders discovered in China, and how monkeys can fall for magic tricks.
04 Apr 2023
Hokkaido University
Marine predators have expanded their ranges into the Arctic waters over the last twenty years, driven by climate change and associated increases in productivity.
31 Mar 2023
Asia Research News
Asia Research News monitors the latest research news in Asia. Some highlights that caught our attention this week are glowing worms named after ghosts, bacteria that can create plastic from thin air, and a water source on the moon.
31 Mar 2023
Tohoku University
Asexual, or vegetative, reproduction in plants is controlled by environmental conditions, but the molecular signaling pathways that control this process are poorly understood. Recent research suggests that the KAI2-ligand (KL) hormone is responsible for initiating and terminating the production of gemmae, or genetically identical plantlets, on liverwort plants based on the presence or absence of specific environmental factors.
29 Mar 2023
Osaka Metropolitan University
A group including Osaka Metropolitan University researchers discovered that the rhodopsin—a protein in the eye that detects light—of whale sharks has changed to efficiently detect blue light, which penetrates deep-sea water easily. The amino acid substitutions–one of which is counterintuitively associated with congenital stationary night blindness in humans—aid in detecting the low levels of light in the deep-sea. Although these changes make the whale shark rhodopsin less thermally stable the deep-sea temperature, allows their rhodopsin to keep working. This suggests that the unique adaptation evolved to function in the low-light low-temperature environment where whale sharks live.
24 Mar 2023
Asia Research News
Asia Research News monitors the latest research news in Asia. Some highlights that caught our attention this week are how we are losing tribal languages, how living next to a road raises your blood pressure, and a flower hiding in plain sight.
20 Mar 2023
Hokkaido University
Parasitic infections in salmonid fish can increase or decrease their vulnerability to angling, depending on their body condition.
18 Mar 2023
Asia Research News
Scientists restore impaired kidney for the first time, How fibre composite fails when wet, Cleaner fish recognize themselves in pictures 🖼️🐟& The source of black carbon in the sea. Read all in the latest Editor's Choice. Plus our magazine Asia Research News 2023 is out now 🎉!
17 Mar 2023
Asia Research News
Asia Research News monitors the latest research news in Asia. Some highlights that caught our attention this week are a fish that is both transparent and multicolored, making mice grow antlers, and surgery on a very small heart.
17 Mar 2023
Hiroshima University
Bioengineers formulated a mathematical model that clarified the importance of bat ear motions in direction detection, making way for lean, mean sonar navigation machines.
13 Mar 2023
Osaka Metropolitan University
Osaka Metropolitan University scientists successfully quantified the total reactive polysulfide content of 22 different types of vegetables, including onions and garlic. They also revealed that reactive polysulfides are not only found in the leek genus (Allium), such as onions and garlic but also in the cruciferous family of vegetables (Brassicaceae), such as broccoli and cabbage.
10 Mar 2023
Asia Research News
Asia Research News monitors the latest research news in Asia. Some highlights that caught our attention this week are how hanging out with friends can keep you healthy, eggs made from male mice, and taking one step closer to a machine that can read our minds.
10 Mar 2023
Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
Naturally formed iron oxides on the surface of plastic tubes offer an inexpensive and sustainable method to reduce arsenic contamination in crops.
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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.
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.