In a world first, Chinese scientists have reported editing the genomes of human embryos. The results are published in the online journal Protein & Cell and confirm widespread rumours that such experiments had been conducted — rumours that sparked a high-profile debate last month about the ethical implications of such work.
One of the biggest purges of the scientific literature in history is finally getting under way. After more than a decade of suspicion about the work of anaesthesiologist Yoshitaka Fujii, formerly of Toho University in Tokyo, investigations by journals and universities have concluded that he fabricated data on an epic scale.
It’s official: nuclear power will have a much smaller role in Japan’s energy future than was once thought. Since the meltdowns and gas explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station in March 2011, all of Japan’s remaining reactors have been shut down for inspections and maintenance.
After the Fukushima nuclear disaster spewed radiation across northern Japan in March, some feared that farming there would be shut down for years. But early studies of how the radiation has accumulated in plants and the soil now suggest that farmers in much of the region can go back to work.
In the first hours of March's accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, workers rushed to flood three damaged reactors with sea water to prevent a catastrophic meltdown. Three months later, water is still being pumped into the cores and has become the biggest obstacle to cleaning up the site.
In the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, power shortages have forced one of the world's most energy-efficient countries to make do with even less. That may become the norm after Prime Minister Naoto Kan last week shelved a 2010 goal to build 14 nuclear reactors over the next 20 years.
In the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, power shortages have forced one of the world's most energy-efficient countries to make do with even less. That may become the norm after Prime Minister Naoto Kan last week shelved a 2010 goal to build 14 nuclear reactors over the next 20 years.
Japan has the world's densest seismometer network, the biggest tsunami barriers and the most extensive earthquake early-warning system. Its population is drilled more rigorously than any other on what to do in case of earthquakes and tsunamis.
