Science
News
16 Jan 2024
Researchers from Osaka University have simplified the operation of an important class of chemical transformation: synthesis of beta-lactams, the intricate scaffold of many antibiotics. Their experimental protocol minimizes the toxicity that is a common feature of similar Fischer-carbene synthetic methodologies, and was used to synthesize the scaffold of the thienamycin antibiotic in high yield. This work is an important advancement in sustainable chemistry that should benefit drug development and other chemical syntheses.
15 Jan 2024
Research by Assistant Professor Edison Ang Huixiang and his team from National Institute of Education/Nanyang Technological University Singapore
15 Jan 2024
Unleashing stem cells from dog urine, Electronic Tongue, Tapping into human motion energy, How neurons network, and A radical use for plastic bags. Plus Communicating science two decades on. Read all in the latest Editor's Choice.
15 Jan 2024
Researchers from Osaka University and collaborating partners have helped minimize the cost of an important class of chemical transformations: converting nitriles into primary amines. Their experimental protocol uses a cheap nickel catalyst instead of an expensive noble metal, is convenient to conduct, and works for a broad range of starting materials. This work is an important advance in sustainable chemistry that might help lower the cost of producing nylon and many other everyday products.
11 Jan 2024
Researchers at the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo create customizable polymer molds to produce cost-effective arrays of microneedles that can be used to uniquely identify pets with alphanumeric symbols instead of tags or collars.
11 Jan 2024
Researchers from Osaka University found that CD4+ T cells can be classified into 18 categories and 12 distinct gene programs, and that characteristic changes in CD4+ T cell profiles are associated with autoimmune disease, sex, and aging. Analysis of these distinctive immune cell profiles could be used to predict autoimmune disease in the future, paving the way for precision medicine.
11 Jan 2024
Researchers at Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI), Kanazawa University report in Nano Letters how the flexibility of a protein hinge plays a crucial role in the transfer of proteins in key cell processes.
11 Jan 2024
Researchers from SANKEN (The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research), at Osaka University, Shizuoka Institute of Science & Technology, and collaborating partners have resolved a problem that has limited the environmental sustainability of peracid synthesis. By judicious choice of the solvent and light input, approximately room-temperature autoxidation of aldehydes proceeds in a manner that results in industrially useful peracids or carboxylic acids. This work is an important advance in green chemistry that will help minimize the carbon footprint of the chemical industry.
09 Jan 2024
Transmitting an effect known as a domino reaction using redox chemistry has been achieved for the first time.
09 Jan 2024
A research team from Osaka University, The University of Tokyo, and Tokyo Institute of Technology revealed the microscopic origin of the large magnetoelectric effect in interfacial multiferroics composed of the ferromagnetic Co2FeSi Heusler alloy and the piezoelectric material. They observed element-specific changes in the orbital magnetic moments in the interfacial multiferroic material using an X-ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism (XMCD) measurement under the application of an electric field, and they showed the change contributes to the large magnetoelectric effect. The findings provide guidelines for designing materials with a large magnetoelectric effect, and it will be useful in developing new information writing technology that consumes less power in spintronic memory devices. The research results will be shown in an article, âStrain-induced specific orbital control in a Heusler alloy-based interfacial multiferroicsâ published in NPG Asia Materials.
09 Jan 2024
Researchers from Osaka University and collaborating partners have, via reductive amination, resolved a problem that has limited the applicability of carboxylic acids to alkylamine production. Their experimental protocol is environmentally sustainable, simple and convenient to conduct, and works for a broad range of starting materials. This work is an important advance in green chemistry that might help minimize the environmental footprint of synthesizing a class of molecule that's used to manufacture many everyday products.
05 Jan 2024
What actually happens is much weirder, and may help us understand more about quantum mechanics
01 Jan 2024
Researchers from Osaka University have shown that a protein called HKDC1 is a new target of another protein, TFEB, and plays key roles in maintaining the stability of both mitochondria and lysosomes. HKDC1 is essential for mitophagy to remove damaged mitochondria, and mediates mitochondriaâlysosome contact, which is critical for lysosomal repair. The role of HKDC1 in maintaining the stability of these organelles counteracts cellular senescence, revealing HKDC1 as a potential therapeutic target for age-related diseases.
29 Dec 2023
Asia Research News monitors the latest research news in Asia. Some highlights that caught our attention this week are a dragon-like robot that can fight fires, how having a pet can avoid cognitive decline, and how an illusion can help us learn motor skills.
25 Dec 2023
Researchers employ common plastics to kickstart radical chain reactions, creating a way to reuse plastic waste while improving process safety and efficiency.
21 Dec 2023
A team of researchers has developed an innovative method to design complicated all-α proteins, characterized by their non-uniformly arranged α-helices as seen in hemoglobin. Employing their novel approach, the team successfully created five unique all-α protein structures, each distinguished by their complicated arrangements of α-helices. This capability holds immense potential in designing functional proteins.
21 Dec 2023
In a phase 2 trial, researchers from Osaka University have found that erythromycin, a commonly used antibiotic, has acceptable safety and tolerability profiles in patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1. This common form of muscular dystrophy currently has no cure, and the research team is hopeful that phase 2b and 3 trials will further reveal the efficacy of erythromycin as a treatmentâat least in some patients.
21 Dec 2023
Researchers from Osaka University have shown that the rare D-form of the amino acid alanine shows a clear circadian rhythm, and is able to affect the circadian clock and regulate gluconeogenesis, a method of glucose release, in the kidney. D-alanine upregulates genes linked to both gluconeogenesis and the circadian rhythm through the circadian transcriptional network. D-alanine is linked to many metabolic and immunological diseases, and this mechanistic insight could potentially lead to novel therapeutic approaches.
20 Dec 2023
Researchers at Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI), Kanazawa University report in Nature Communications a high-speed atomic force microscopy study of the structural dynamics of sodium ion channels in cell membranes. The findings provide insights into the mechanism behind the generation of cell-membrane action potentials.
19 Dec 2023
A research team at Osaka Metropolitan University has fabricated a gallium nitride (GaN) transistor using diamond, which of all natural materials has the highest thermal conductivity on earth, as a substrate, and they succeeded in increasing heat dissipation by more than two times compared with conventional transistors. The transistor is expected to be useful not only in the fields of 5G communication base stations, weather radar, and satellite communications, but also in microwave heating and plasma processing.
18 Dec 2023
Researchers identify RBFox1 as a key intrinsic regulator of heart muscle cell maturation, overcoming a major limitation in cardiac regenerative therapy and disease modelling and demonstrating for the first time that RNA splicing control can significantly impact this process.
15 Dec 2023
A new study have compared the reinforcing efficiency of pineapple leaf fiber (PALF) and cultivated flax fiber in poly(butylene succinate) composites. PALF, a less explored but potentially sustainable alternative, outperformed flax at 20 wt.%, showcasing its potential in high-performance bio-composites and aligning with environmental goals.
13 Dec 2023
Researchers at Tohoku University and the University of California, Santa Barbara have shown a proof-of-concept of an energy-efficient computer compatible with current AI.
13 Dec 2023
"Amaterasu" particle: a new cosmic mystery, Geckos inspire robotic device, Targeting cancer while protecting healthy cells, Honey, I shrunk the bear, Two species lost to science spotted again. Plus New Science Communication Resources. Read all in the latest Editor's Choice.
13 Dec 2023
Scientists at Osaka Metropolitan University have developed an efficient, non-invasive, and pain-free method to generate canine-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). They identified six reprogramming genes that can boost canine iPSC generation by 120 times compared to conventional methods using fibroblasts. The iPSCs were created from urine-derived cells without the need for feeder cells, an impossible feat until now. Their findings are expected to advance regenerative medicine and genetic disease research in veterinary medicine.
08 Dec 2023
Researchers at Kanazawa University report in Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences a computational method to predict the placement of proteins on AFM substrates based on electrostatic interactions.
04 Dec 2023
TAIPEI, TAIWANââFor the first time, it is possible to follow, step-by-step and with atomic resolution, what happens when the enzyme DNA photolyase repairs ultraviolet light-induced DNA damage. An international team of researchers led by Academia Sinica, Taiwan, has taken snapshots of the repair process with extremely high time resolution and combined them into a film sequence. The research was published in the scientific journal Science on December 1, 2023.
30 Nov 2023
A new bacterial species discovered at the deep-sea hydrothermal vent site âCrab Spaâ provides a deeper understanding of bacterial evolution.
29 Nov 2023
Researchers at Kanazawa University report in Science Advances how they can accelerate and decelerate chirality inversion in large cage molecules using alkali metal ion binding.
22 Nov 2023
Osaka Metropolitan University researchers and their colleagues have successfully detected an ultra-high-energy cosmic ray with an energy level comparable to the most energetic cosmic ray ever observed. The cosmic ray is set to be named after the Japanese sun goddess, Amaterasu. No promising astronomical object has been identified in the direction from which this cosmic ray originated, implying the potential existence of unknown astronomical phenomena and novel physical origins beyond the Standard Model.
Events
13 Mar 2013
The first Annual Fuels & Lubes Asia Conference was held at the Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa Resort in Singapore in 1995. Since that time, the event has been held in other key Asian cities, including Bangkok, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul and Hanoi.
30 Oct 2012
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is proposing "The First International Space Exploration Symposium in Japan - Space Exploration for Humanity and the Future- " in Tokyo on Tuesday, October 30 and Wednesday, October 31.
18 Mar 2013
Sharjah - Dubai, United Arab Emirates, March 18 - 22, 2013 CALL FOR PAPERS
25 Nov 2012
2 Day Moringa State of Art International Workshop on Genetics Agronomics and Horticulture Practices inmoringa farming
06 Sep 2012
The Congress is the worldâs largest and most important conservation eventâbringing together top professionals from all regions and expertise to share knowledge on how our natural environment should be managed for the continued well-being of humanity and all life on Earth.
30 Jan 2013
The International Conference for Young Chemists (ICYC) is a biennial conference organised by the postgraduate students of the School of Chemical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia with the aim to gather local and international postgraduate researchers to create interaction and networking in the field of Chemistry.
15 Nov 2012
The Irago Conference 2012 (Asia-Pacific Interdisciplinary Research Conference 2012) will be held November 15-16, 2012 in Irago, Aichi prefecture, Japan.
02 Dec 2012
The Joint International Semantic Technology Conference (JIST) is a regional federation of Semantic Technology related conferences. JIST aims to bring together researchers in the Semantic Technology research community and related technologies to present their innovative research results or novel applications of semantic technologies.
08 Dec 2012
2012 International Conference on Information Technology and Software Engineering (ITSE2012) will be hosted by Beijing Jiaotong University in Beijing during December 8-10, 2012.
22 May 2012
The lecture entitled "Dry Area Agriculture: A Challenge that can be Overcome" is given by Mahmoud Solh, Director General of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas. If you canât join in person, there is a live webcast too (link below)
16 Dec 2012
CJP is set to hold Global Algae Biodiesel World programme 2012 from December 16-17, 2012. CJPâs Global Algae Biodiesel World 12 focuses on the entire algae production from lab to scale. Topics are carefully selected to cover the Biology, Engineering, Marketing and Financial aspects of algae commercialization.
14 Oct 2012
The aim of the conference is mainly to report and discuss the most recent topics in computational physics and its applications to research and industry. It treats with particular care also issues related to education in developing countries without enough infrastructure for computation.
11 Jul 2012
IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics
06 May 2012
An IEEE Region-4 sponsored conference, the 2012 IEEE-EIT, is hosted by Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) and the Central Indiana Section of IEEE (CIS-IEEE).
13 May 2012
The Centre for Science & Technology of the Non-Aligned and Other Developing Countries (NAM S&T Centre) announces the organisation of a 4-day International Workshop on âScience and Technology Diplomacy For Developing Countriesâ with the Center for Innovation and Technology Cooperation (CITC).
04 Jun 2012
National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) is pleased to announce âNIMS Conference 2012â to be held from June 4 to 6 2012. The theme is âStructural Materials Science and Strategy for Sustainability - Back to the Basicsâ
10 Jul 2012
Engineering Conference (ENCON) is the flagship conference for Faculty of Engineering Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. Currently, the issues of green technologies and sustainable development have been the key focus in the engineering field. Therefore, the theme for ENCON 2012 is Engineering Towards Change - Empowering Green Solutions.
19 Mar 2012
Come 19 - 22 March 2012, the annual BioPharma Asia Convention 2012 will take centre stage, providing a platform for the biopharma industry to find the right partners for their business needs at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.
13 Mar 2012
Ottawa, Canada - Carlos PĂ©rez del Castillo, chair of the CGIAR consortium board, will be at Canadaâs IDRC March 13 to discuss the importance of renewing Canada's commitment to agricultural research.
26 Mar 2012
Public and private partnerships in agriculture are gaining importance. Yet little is known about how they work or how to improve them. To understand this emerging trend, Canada's International Development Research Center (IDRC) is hosting a conference in partnership with the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Development.
13 Mar 2012
The International Development Research Center (IDRC) is hosting a public lecture by Carlos PĂ©rez del Castillo, who will speak about the role of research in achieving food security.
29 Feb 2012
The MANA International Symposium, jointly held with International Center for Young Scientist (ICYS) is organized once a year to disseminate the research results of MANA and ICYS to a wide audience.
16 Feb 2012
The Annual Meeting is one of the most widely recognized pan-science events, with hundreds of networking opportunities and broad global media coverage. An exceptional array of speakers will gather at the 2012 AAAS Annual Meeting from 16-20 February in Vancouver, B.C.
18 Feb 2012
Three researchers supported through the Atlas of Islamic-World Science and Innovation project will present their findings at the 2012 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), to be held February 16-20 in Vancouver, Canada.
22 Aug 2012
In the Year 2012, Prince of Songkla University is given the honor to host this 10th International Conference on Membrane Science and Technology after Nanyang Technological University, Singapore in 2011. The theme for this year's conference is "Membrane for Sustainable Energy & Environment".
14 Feb 2012
Seminar which aims to production of niche furniture products using alternative resources.
17 Feb 2012
In this symposium, advancement of R & D especially on renewable electrical energy sources and structural materials for seismic safety using nanotechnology will be reviewed.
15 Feb 2012
International Food and Agricultural Congress which will be held from February 15 to 19, 2012 in Antalya, Turkey. The organizers of the congress are Turkish Agriculture Federation and Middle East Technical University Food Engineering Department
Giants in history
Turkish astrophysicist Dilhan Eryurt (29 November 1926 â 13 September 2012) conducted research on how the sun affects environmental conditions on the moon.
Chinese biochemist Chi Che Wang (1894 - 1979), one of the first Chinese women to study abroad, advanced to prominent research positions at American institutions including the University of Chicago and the Northwestern University Medical School.
Ruby Sakae Hirose (1904 â 1960) was a Japanese-American scientist whose research contributed significantly to our understanding of blood clotting, allergies and cancer.
Chinese electron microscopy specialist Li Fanghua (6 January 1932 â 24 January 2020) facilitated the high-resolution imaging of crystal structures by eliminating interference.
SĂĄlim Moizuddin Abdul Ali (12 November 1896 â 20 June 1987), commonly referred to as the Birdman of India, was the first person to conduct systematic surveys of birds from across India.
Haisako Koyama (1916 â 1997) was a Japanese solar observer whose dedication to recording sunspots â cooler parts of the sunâs surface that appear dark â produced a sunspot record of historic importance.
Michiaki Takahashi (17 February 1928 â 16 December 2013) was a Japanese virologist who developed the first chickenpox vaccine.
Toshiko Yuasa (11 December 1909 â 1 February 1980) was the first Japanese female physicist whose research on radioactivity shed light on beta decay â the process in which an atom emits a beta particle (electron) and turns into a different element.
Angelita Castro Kelly (1942-2015) was the first female Mission Operations Manager (MOM) of NASA. She spearheaded and supervised the Earth Observing System missions during its developmental stage.
Malaysiaâs first astrophysicist, Mazlan binti Othman (born 11 December 1951) was instrumental in launching the countryâs first microsatellite, and in sending Malaysiaâs first astronaut, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, into space.
Known as Mr. Natural Rubber, chemist and researcher B. C. Shekhar (17 November 1929 â 6 September 2006) introduced a number of technical innovations that helped put Malaysiaâs natural rubber industry on the world map.
Shinichiro Tomonaga (31 March 1906 â 8 July 1979), together with Richard Feynman and Julian Schwinger, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965, for their contributions to advance the field of quantum electrodynamics. Tomonaga was also a strong proponent of peace, who actively campaigned against the proliferation of nuclear weapons and promoted the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
South Korean theoretical physicist Daniel Chonghan Hong (3 March 1956 â 6 July 2002) achieved fame in the public sphere through his research into the physics of popcorn.
Japanese chemist Kenichi Fukui (4 October 1918 â 9 January 1998) was the first Asian scientist to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Together with Roald Hoffman, he received this honour in 1981 for his independent research into the mechanisms of chemical reactions.
Chinese palaeontologist, archaeologist and anthropologist Pei Wenzhong (January 19, 1904 â September 18, 1982) is regarded as a founder of Chinese anthropology.
Physicist Narinder Singh Kapany (31 October 1926 â 4 December 2020) pioneered the use of optical fibres to transmit images, and founded several optical technology companies. Born in Punjab, India, he worked at a local optical instruments factory before moving to London for PhD studies at Imperial College. There, he devised a flexible fibrescope to convey images along bundles of glass fibres.
Japanese physicist Ukichiro Nakaya (1900-1962) made the worldâs first artificial snowflakes. He started his research on snow crystals in the early 1930s at Hokkaido University, where there is an unlimited supply of natural snow in winter. By taking over 3,000 photographs, he established a classification of natural snow crystals and described their relationship with weather conditions.
The field of solid-state ionics originated in Europe, but Takehiko Takahashi of Nagoya University in Japan was the first to coin the term âsolid ionicsâ in 1967. âSolid-state ionicsâ first appeared in 1971 in another of his papers, and was likely a play on âsolid-state electronicsâ, another rapidly growing field at the time.
Charles Kuen Kao (Nov. 4, 1933 to Sept. 23, 2018) was an engineer who is regarded as the father of fibre optics. His work in the 1960s on long distance signal transmission using very pure glass fibres revolutionized telecommunications, enabling innovations such as the Internet.
Chika Kuroda (24 March 1884 â 8 November 1968) was a Japanese chemist whose research focussed on the structures of natural pigments.
Motoo Kimura (13 November 1924 â 13 November 1994) was a Japanese theoretical population geneticist who is best remembered for developing the neutral theory of molecular evolution.
Meghnad Saha (6 October 1893 â 16 February 1956) was an Indian astrophysicist best known for formulating the Saha ionization equation which describes the chemical and physical properties of stars.
Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose (30 November 1858 â 23 November 1937) was a scientist and inventor who contributed to a wide range of scientific fields such as physics, botany and biology.
Osamu Shimomura (27 August 1928 â 19 October 2018) was a Japanese organic chemist and marine biologist who dedicated his career to understanding how organisms emitted light.
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (19 October 1910 â 21 August 1995) was an Indian astrophysicist who studied the structure and evolution of stars.
Joo-myung Seok (November 13, 1908 â October 6, 1950) was a Korean butterfly entomologist who made important contributions to the taxonomy of the native butterfly species in Korea.
Mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani (12 May 1977 â 14 July 2017) was the first and only woman and Iranian to date to win the Fields Medal in 2014 for her work on curved surfaces.
Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (7 November 1888 â 21 November 1970) was an Indian physicist who performed ground-breaking research in the field of light-scattering.
Mohammad Abdus Salam (29 January 1926 â 21 November 1996) was a theoretical physicist and the first Pakistani to receive a Nobel Prize in science.
Srinivasa Ramanujan (22 December 1887 â 26 April 1920) was a math prodigy and widely considered one of Indiaâs greatest mathematicians. Despite having almost no formal training in mathematics, he made substantial contributions to mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series and continued fractions.
Gopalasamudram Narayanan Ramachandran (8 October 1922 â 7 April 2001) is best known for developing the Ramachandran plot to understand the structure of short chains of amino acids, known as peptides.
Hitoshi Kihara (1893 â 1986) was one of the most famous Japanese geneticists of the 20th century. One of his most significant contributions was identifying sex chromosomes (X and Y) in flowering plants.
Chien-Shiung Wu (31 May 1912 â 16 February 1997) was an experimental physicist who made several important contributions to nuclear physics. Wu worked on the Manhattan Project â a top-secret program for the production of nuclear weapons during World War II and helped to develop a process for separating uranium into U235 and U238.
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.
Bibha Chowdhuri (1913 â 2 June 1991) was an Indian physicist who researched on particle physics and cosmic rays. In 1936, she was the only female to complete a M.Sc. degree at the University of Calcutta.
Lin Lanying (7 February 1918 â 4 March 2003) was a Chinese material engineer remembered for her contributions to the field of semiconductor and aerospace materials. Lanying was born into a family who did not believe in educating girls and she was not allowed to go to school.
Japanese geochemist Katsuko Saruhashi developed the first method and tools for measuring carbon dioxide in seawater