Press releases

This center is the cooperative research hub between RIKEN and Olympus Corporation, one of the leading Japanese manufacturers of consumer digital cameras and medical and lifescience research instrument.

The goal of this Symposium was to allow senior and junior investigators from both countries to present data in areas of common interest in order to initiate and foster long-term collaborations.

Plant growth can be badly stunted by excess ions in the soil. This effect, called acid soil syndrome, can cause severe agricultural yield losses, especially in areas prone to drought. For this reason, a team of researchers from RIKEN and two Japanese universities are working to identify genes that regulate a plant’s tolerance of ions

Researchers from RIKEN’s Frontier Research System, Wako, the Japan Science and Technology Institute, NEC Corporation and the US Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed an architecture that allows tunable control over the qubits of a superconducting quantum computer.

Human society puts heavy demands on the brain. Neurons must adapt rapidly to contextual changes in the social environment. Researchers at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Wako are gaining insight into this ‘social brain function’ by observing Japanese macaque monkeys

Summaries of newsworthy papers include Ageing and cancer: Henrietta's legacy, Geology: The creeping San Andreas, Materials: Testing one’s metal and Social mammals: Drive him away or let him stay

The common garden onion is an indicator of arsenic contamination in the environment, The wealth in China follows the same probability distribution as in many other developed economies and more from Nature China

Researchers have built a system which can identify a person using their eyes and mouth as independent components of the identification process. Furthermore, its ability to track within ±45 degrees to right and left, and within ±15 degrees from frontal pose will foil any attempt to use a photo for identification purposes.

This book offers an informed analysis of events and situations as they affected Afghanistan between September 2001 and September 2005.

Palm oil is rich in carotene. However current commercial production of edible oil results in the loss of carotenes. Now, researchers have found a way to recover carotenes from crude palm oil.

Summaries of newsworthy papers include Natural products in a flask, Prevention and treatment of craniosynostosis, Positive selection during human evolution, Signalling flies to sleep and a sponge to soak up regulatory RNAs

Researchers discover a key molecule involved in regulating our immune response

New revelations about how muscle tissue forms could help scientists develop more effective strategies for therapeutic tissue replacement

Today’s high-tech devices would not exist without a good theory to predict how electrons move through semiconductor crystals. But gaps remain in the theory. Resolving these problems could lead to a more robust theory that enables new breakthroughs in electronics.

jEnterprise is a real-time continuous network monitoring tool to prevent potential performance degradation or downtime. It provides intelligent troubleshooting and support for new protocols such as IPv6 to ensure coverage at all times and is the world's only cross platform enterprise level distributed network analysis and troubleshooting tool

Summaries of newsworthy papers include Ultrafast X-rays: ‘Dusty mirror’ gets a makeover, Neurology: Ubiquitin is ubiquitous in Huntington’s disease, Biodiversity: Insects get tropical, Physics: Ultracold matters, Recycling in the Earth's mantle, Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, Understanding antidepressants

Two groups of scientists at A*STAR were awarded the Prestigious Engineering Achievement Award by the Institution of Engineers Singapore for their research in cognitive radio technologies to exploit the under-utilised television bands for wireless broadband services and a breakthrough system for measuring electromagnetic radiation in the environment

The Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) will host the Society for Biological Engineering (SBE)’s 3rd International Conference on Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (ICBN) at Biopolis on August 13 to 15, 2007 where international experts will present new discoveries at the interface of science, engineering and medicine.

The highlights include how white blood cells adhere to the blood-vessel wall to protect us from bacterial infection, a fast, automated biosensor for measuring the oxygen uptake by microbes in saltwater, how the Beijing Spectrometer allows scientists to search for new exotic particles and much more.

Drug delivery systems need to maximize the therapeutic activity while minimizing negative side effects. Layered double hydroxide has great potential for a controlled release formulation. The second research is on Betulinic acid a natural product isolated from plants, which has potential as an anti-cancer agent.

Almost 95 percent of enterprises in the Asia-Pacific region are SMEs. While ICT can benefit them, they have been slow to adopt ICT due to many reasons. This e-Primer, with a foreword by Kim Hak-Su discusses benefits ICT brings to SMEs, explores uses, surveys past policies and programmes and recommends policy options for interested governments.

Penang, 4 Aug - Universiti Science Malaysia (USM) is planning to set up a campus abroad which focuses on offering post-graduate courses.

A grant has just been awarded to University Malaysia Sarawak for the development of a microarray which will allow simultaneous detection of all enterovirus serotypes in a single test, allowing rapid public health decisions on EV71 outbreaks. Current technologies are slow and tedious in that each virus serotype must be ruled out one by one.

On June 27th, 2007, Tokyo University of Science signed an Academic Exchange Agreement with the University of Applied Sciences Jena in Germany.

The researchers have found that despite the differences of disasters involved and their technologies, they exhibited common characteristics and that socio-technical disasters are not sudden cataclysmic events but evolved in phases with long developmental period.

Very few sustained efforts to develop scenarios for the future of higher education have been undertaken. Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) is a bit of a trend-setter in this respect, and this book is to be welcomed by those interested in exploring the future of universities.

Summaries of newsworthy papers include Behaviour: Of mice and man-eaters, Cancer: Gene reduces severity of lung cancer, An unfolding antibiotics story, How inflammatory lymphocytes develop, Seeing transcription in living colour and Virus-based screen for ion channel modulators.

An important stage in the early development of an embryo is the formation of the dorsal–ventral axis, which distinguishes the front (ventral) side of the animal from the back (dorsal). RIKEN researchers are identifying the genes and proteins that contribute to this process in Xenopus laevis, the African clawed frog.

Repairing damaged retinas is now a possibility. Japanese researchers from RIKEN and Kyoto University have demonstrated retinal regeneration in a mammalian model. It is a discovery that may ultimately lead to new therapies for retinal diseases including the degenerative disease called retinitis pigmentosa.

Japanese researchers identify genes controlling health-giving compounds in common food crops. Vegetables like cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower are anti-carcinogenic with antioxidant properties and offer a natural defense against crop pests, potentially reducing the need for synthetic pesticides.