Hokkaido University
Environment
Possibly 1000 km long river running deep below Greenland’s ice sheet
Updating ice sheet models with this open valley could provide additional insight for future climate change predictions.
Science
Study offers new insight into the elusive origin of water on the earth
Organic matter could be the source of terrestrial water.
Invention
Bio-inspired hydrogel can rapidly switch to rigid plastic
A new material that stiffens 1,800-fold when exposed to heat could protect motorcyclists and racecar drivers during accidents.
Space
Building blocks of life may have originated in interstellar clouds
An experiment shows that one of the basic units of life — nucleobases — could have originated within giant gas clouds interspersed between the stars.
Science
Electron sandwich doubles thermoelectric performance
Scientists from Hokkaido University and their partners in Japan and Taiwan have enhanced the capacity to transfer squandered heat into usable energy by altogether...
Science
The molecules that energize babies’ hearts
Before birth, cardiac muscle cells use energy generated by breaking down glucose. Immediately after birth, they rapidly switch to breaking down fatty acids. This...
Environment
The widespread effects of ocean floors on the sea surface
In the 2000s, pathways transporting warm water beginning in the Kuroshio Current, a northward-streaming ebb and flow on the western side of the North...
Health
Obesity inhibits key cancer defense mechanism, study
In recent years, several researchers have focused on obesity as a potent cancer risk factor. Scientific shreds of evidence have suggested that obesity was associated...
Science
Why noise can enhance sensitivity to weak signals
Japanese scientists have discovered a new mechanism to clarify stochastic reverberation, in which sensitivity to weak signals is upgraded by the noise. The finding is...
Health
Revealing the immunopathogenesis of Johne’s disease
An exploration group has disentangled the immunopathogenesis of Johne's disease, a ceaseless ox-like infection that has caused endemics in Japan and numerous different nations,...