2009/10/08

Improving the brain machine interface so that robots understand human intentions is essential in expanding practical applications of robots. The main trend in BMI has been to transmit information from the human brain to the robot’s computer, but the research group of Dr. Mitsuo Kawato, director of the Computational Neuroscience Laboratories at the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR), has developed a robot that can learn by imitating humans....[more]

2009/10/07

Tokushu Paper Manufacturing, which makes and markets high value-added specialized paper, has succeeded in developing the world’s first paper using carbon nanotubes. The company aims to commercialize this product by 2010....[more]

2009/09/14

The Danish documentary film Mechanical Love tells about a baby seal robot called Paro that was developed in Japan. The film is being shown at film festivals around the world and has generated broad interest....[more]

2009/09/10

Professor Kentaro Kogure of Kyoto Pharmaceutical University and a group from Hokkaido University have succeeded in combining antigenic proteins with electrically charged ribosomes to transfer substances into the skin by using electricity. The method has already been used to administer insulin to diabetic rats, after which declines in blood sugar were confirmed....[more]

2009/09/08

There is much attention today on solar cells as a source of energy that does not emit carbon dioxide and can thereby help combat global warming. There has recently been progress in the development of next-generation organic thin-film solar cells that are thin, lightweight, and pliable. ...[more]

2009/08/21

The research group led by Professor Yutaka Tomita of Keio University has developed a technology that allows a person to operate electrical equipment by simply gazing at a blinking light source, without using hands. This technology is promising for application to make appliances easier to use by people with physical disabilities. ...[more]

2009/08/20

Groups led by Yoshiaki Sugimoto of Osaka University and Oscar Custance at the National Institute for Materials Science have developed an atom-embedding technology that enabled them to write the world’s smallest letters. They succeeded in experimentally embedding single atoms in a minute metal surface. This work is promising for the possibilities it holds in new semiconductor development. ...[more]

2009/08/12

The development of molecules that selectively light up only in live cancer cells was announced in the December 7, 2008, online version of British science journal Nature Medicine. The development of the compound was achieved by a joint research team involving Professor Yasuteru Urano of the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Tokyo; chief researcher Hisataka Kobayashi of the National Cancer Institute in the United States; and medical equipment manufacturer Olympus. ...[more]

2009/7/14

Research on induced pluripotent stem cells has continued to progress since November 2007, when the research group of Professor Shin’ya Yamanaka of Kyoto University and a team at the University of Wisconsin in the United States simultaneously announced success in creating human iPS cells. ...[more]

2009/6/5

The research group of Yukiyasu Kamitani, head of the Department of Neuroinformatics at the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, has become the first to create an image of an object a person is looking at based on that person’s brain activity. The results were published in the December 11, 2008, edition of the US science journal, Neuron, and an illustration of the study was used for the journal’s cover....[more]