Image of the seafloor. Under the sea 24 May 2013 Dean Wilson recently returned from a research cruise off Japan, carrying out deep-sea drilling to gather rock samples and sensor data on the geology beneath the seabed. The results will give us a better understanding of the risk of earthquakes and tsunamis. He describes life … Read more
Defenders of the electric grid status quo have long argued that always-on baseload power generators like coal and nuclear plants are essential, and that variable renewables like wind and solar will remain bit players in power generation. They argue this for several reasons: The grid isn’t designed to accommodate them. They’re too expensive. Or they … Read more
Photographer Tomoki Imai has been a blur of activity since we reached the lookout point halfway up 601-meter Mount Higakure in the Futaba district of Fukushima Prefecture. Despite it being late April, with cherry blossoms in the forests and hamlets lower down, snow flurries and freezing conditions in the mountains the day before made long-range … Read more
A porpoise-noised Shinkansen bullet train lies dormant on the platform at Tokyo station, resting after its lightning journey from Sendai in Japan’s Tohoku region. From within, a cleaning crew in pristine red uniforms appears, arranges itself in a line before the sombre grey and black of the commuter throng, and proudly takes a bow. Content … Read more
At least one nuclear power plant in Japan is said to be on the verge of being shutdown by the country’s new atomic regulator. The new regulator was set up in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster and it is reviewing whether any nuclear plants sit on active earthquake fault lines, which is prohibited … Read more
Post Breakfast Briefing, Analytics in action: making sense of the big data explosion 12 Jun 2013 , London
NAGASAKI/HIROSHIMA – “I wonder if I can ever have children in the future?” These words were written in a note from a Fukushima high school girl to 83-year-old Masahito Hirose in the fall of 2011, outlining her worries about the health effects from radiation. The girl and her classmates had visited Nagasaki on a school … Read more
Two robots that warn users of bad body odour have been unveiled in Japan. One has the appearance of a woman’s head and ranks the operator’s breath, declaring an “emergency” if it fell into the worst category, while the other looks like a dog and growls when it comes across stinking feet. The machines use … Read more
A new type of school for office workers, Nagoya Morning University, was established in mid-April in the city’s business district. The first course on offer is geared toward town revitalization, and all 35 places were quickly filled by employees looking for opportunities to further their abilities and knowledge outside of the workplace. The classes, held … Read more
TOKYO — A strong earthquake shook Japan on Saturday near the southwestern city of Kobe, leaving 22 people injured, seven of them seriously – mostly elderly tripping while trying to flee, police said. No one was killed. The magnitude 6.3 quake left some homes with rooftop tiles broken and cracked walls, while goods fell off … Read more