Joined: 31 Dec 2005 Posts: 1348 Location: Look Behind you...
Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 9:19 am Post subject:
This is a 2 year old article, so I dunno if everyone knows about this already. But it's interesting to know that natto, despite it's seemingly ill reputation when it comes to smell and taste, appears to have other uses that benefit the environment.
CAN NATTO SAVE THE EARTH?
Sticky Food Good for More than Just Eating (March 4, 2004)
Natto resin: This powder can absorb an incredible amount of water. (Kyudai News No.2)
Natto (fermented soybeans), a traditional Japanese food rich in protein and vitamin B, is becoming widely known as a health food. Though it is a bit difficult to eat because of its stickiness, it has been discovered that this stickiness may be able to play an important role in protecting the environment. Companies have begun producing and selling natto resin, thanks to a discovery by Hara Toshio, an associate professor at the Faculty of Agriculture of Kyushu University's Graduate School. Natto resin can absorb 5,000 times its weight in water, and this remarkable property is already being put to use in cosmetics and wrappings for food products. Ideas for the future include using natto resin in the reforestation of desert areas.
Excellent Absorbency and Flexibility
Natto is made by fermenting steamed soybeans with the addition of natto bacillus. The beans develop long, soft, sticky threads connecting them together. When the threads are exposed to radiation, they become hard, strong fibers much like glass. This is natto resin. The only drawback is that usually only 1 gram of resin can be produced from each kilogram of natto. Professor Hara, however, hit upon the idea of using a solution of the flavoring agent glutamic acid to cultivate natto bacillus, and with this new method he succeeded in creating between 30 and 40 grams of resin per liter of the solution.
Natto resin is 100% natural, and it boasts high absorbency and elasticity. It can hold roughly five times as much water as the material in paper diapers. Even after it exceeds its absorbent capacity, the resin turns into a jelly-like substance. Turning an eye to these impressive properties, Hara devised various ways to use this resin. The first was in trays for fish, meat, and other foods. When trays and other implements made with this resin are disposed of, they can be buried in the ground where they will break down naturally. When they are thrown away with household garbage, things made with natto resin will absorb the water and turn into jelly, protecting the surrounding area from pollution. And when natto resin is mixed with cattle dung, it will become gelatinous and will not freeze in the winter. This makes it much easier to produce fertilizer.
In addition, mud dredged from the bottom of a dammed lake can be dried in the sun and then mixed with natto resin and seeds and rolled into pellets, from which the seeds can grow. Because the natto resin can absorb rainwater so well, these pellets can be scattered and will produce plants even in such inhospitable places as mountainsides and deserts. This technology offers the potential of killing two birds with one stone by providing a way to both dispose of sludge and halt desertification at the same time. Natto resin breaks down over time, so it is environmentally friendly and leaves behind no harmful substances.
Halting Desertification While Growing Food
Based on the results of his research, Hara launched his own start-up company in March 2003, called Haratek. This company sells natto resin to cosmetic makers for use in making skin toner, and it is also considering producing a moisture regulator for use in fertilizer and an absorbent for disposable diapers.
Hara advocates the use of natto resin as part of what he calls a "green recycling system." Pellets containing soybean seeds can be planted and grown in the desert and then harvested and made into natto resin, which can be used to grow more soybeans. By making deserts green and growing food at the same time, this plan appears to have no downside. Professor Hara is currently considering ways to make this a reality in the area around the Yellow River in China.
It may seem like a piddling problem, but increasingly large numbers of Japanese children, especially little boys, don't know how to pee properly, according to Sunday Mainichi (7/30).
It's kids way of wee-weeing that's surprising some, with one elementary school first grade teacher saying that half the 18 boys in his class dropped their trousers around their ankles and exposed the lower halves of their bodies every time they spent a penny.
"Up until a few years ago, you'd get two or three kids a class like that every year, but I'm surprised just how quickly the number of kids who urinate that way has proliferated," the teacher tells Sunday Mainichi.
"And, you know what, there are so many kids who have no idea how to use a urinal and will only go about their business on a Western-style toilet. Some kids don't like urinals because they feel exposed, but I really do get the feeling that most of these boys simply have no idea how men are supposed to dispose of their bodily wastes."
Many young school children refuse to use bathrooms by themselves. Others don't know they're supposed to flush toilets after they use them because they're so used to having a parent, nurse or teacher do it for them.
"There are some girls who dislike using toilets because of fears about whoever may have sat on the seat before they did, which is kind of understandable. Some of the other reasons kids give for refusing to the toilet aren't, though, like those who hate the seat being cold," the teacher says.
"Our school only has Western-style toilets but, unlike a lot of homes, the seats aren't heated and because of that kids won't use them because they don't like the feel of cold hard steel on their butts."
Fastidiousness about cleanliness, to the point of obsession, is driving kids almost potty and ensuring they don't use the, well, potty. Others with a keen sense of smell become standouts at the slightest whiff of an unpleasant odor. Still more feel the need to use an entire toilet roll to wipe their butts after each sitting in the hope they'll remove any last vestige of poop remaining.
Kindergartens, too, are bogged down by problems caused by bogs, and these troubles are compounded in one way by toilet doors deliberately made with large gaps at the top and bottom in case something untoward happens and teachers can peer in to check on their charges.
"Some kids start crying, saying their embarrassed that somebody might see them peeing, while others are scared because of the gaps in the doors. They make all kinds of excuses not to use the toilets," one kindergarten teacher tells Sunday Mainichi.
"Of course, we realize there it's only natural there'll be some troubles involved in toilet training children as the kids adjust to being in a different environment, but these should only be temporary matters. From the point of view of a childcare worker, we're dealing with problems that should be pretty easy to solve."
But the solution comes from the home, which many childcare workers blame for being the root of the problem. Parents, however, say they're doing everything possible to get their offspring in the right mood, but it's just not working out right when they try to bring things to a, well, head.
"When I see my (3-year-old) daughter squirming around, I know it's time for her to go, but when I suggest we head to the toilet, she stubbornly refuses, saying she doesn't need to go. If I forcibly take her into the toilet, she kicks and screams and rants and raves until I give up. By that time, she's already soiled herself," one beleaguered mother says.
"After that, she hides behind curtains or in cupboards and races around so I can't catch her."
Parents are hardly helping each other, either, with successful toilet trainers accorded an exclusive status that allows them to lord it over their still struggling peers.
"Women who've got their kids toilet trained quickly all boast about their success. That leaves me feeling like a failure because my kid still can't use the toilet properly," the mom says. "I realize everybody's different and some kids take more time than others, but I still feel under enormous pressure."
Another mother points out a different problem caused by living in a land where parenthood is still largely left in the hands of women.
"It's really hard to show a little boy how to pee," the 34-year-old mother of a 4-year-old kindergartner tells Sunday Mainichi. "It's not like moms know how to piss standing up. We don't know the right way for boys to get rid of their wastes. Guys don't wipe themselves after having a pee, right? It seems kinda dirty to me. I really, really hate it when I see undies with skidmarks in them."
Some experts say the little ones' laxity in the loo may be their way of sending a message to their parents that they need a little more tender, loving care.
"Some children deliberately urinate all over the place or defecate in their parents' shoes," a consultant on childcare for new moms tells Sunday Mainichi. "By doing this, they're trying to attract their parents' attention. I think it's a sign from the kids." (By Ryann Connell)
Joined: 07 Oct 2005 Posts: 9573 Location: �o�J�i�_ Country:
Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 11:00 am Post subject:
�� wrote:
... I really, really hate it when I see undies with skidmarks in them."
Me too.
�� wrote:
..."Some children deliberately urinate all over the place or defecate in their parents' shoes," a consultant on childcare for new moms tells Sunday Mainichi. "By doing this, they're trying to attract their parents' attention. I think it's a sign from the kids." (By Ryann Connell)
July 21, 2006
Kids really do that? There's a problem when half the first graders don't know how to use the toilet. Must be really great being a teacher.
I love Mainichi's WaiWai. A lot of interesting and crazy stories. _________________
Joined: 07 Oct 2005 Posts: 9573 Location: �o�J�i�_ Country:
Posted: Sun Aug 20, 2006 12:55 pm Post subject:
If you find a good deal on long grain rice beware. Japan ends U.S. long-grain rice imports
Quote:
TOKYO - Japan has suspended imports of U.S. long-grain rice following a positive test for trace amounts of a genetically modified strain not approved for human consumption, a news report said Sunday.
Japan's Health Ministry imposed the suspension on Saturday after being informed by U.S. federal officials that trace amounts of the unapproved strain had been discovered in commercially available long-grain rice, the Asahi newspaper said.
The genetically engineered rice was detected by Bayer CropScience AG. The German company then notified U.S. officials. The strain is not approved for sale in the United States, but two other strains of rice with the same genetically engineered protein are.
Health Ministry officials were unavailable for comment Sunday.
source
TOKYO (Reuters) - Tokyo's subway has refused permission for an advertising poster featuring a nude and heavily pregnant Britney Spears, branding it "too stimulating" for young people.
The picture of the pop singer -- nude but covering her breasts with her arms and crossing her legs at the knee -- appeared in the August issue of Harper's Bazaar and will be on the cover of the magazine's Japanese edition in October.
The publishers had hoped to display the cover photo for a week at a subway station in a trendy part of central Tokyo, but ran into resistance.
"We thought some of our customers would find it to be overly stimulating," said a Tokyo Metro official.
Harper's Bazaar could not be reached for comment.
Not all was lost. The Metro and the publishers agreed to display the poster after all but masked the picture below the former teen idol's elbow with a statement reading: "We apologize for hiding part of a beautiful image of a mother-to-be."
Joined: 07 Oct 2005 Posts: 9573 Location: �o�J�i�_ Country:
Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2006 11:24 am Post subject:
No, I didn't. I always thought the 1st one was an accident. 2 accidents in a row...
Also, they both look pretty dumb. I'm surprised they know how to make babies. _________________
Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 46182 Location: Los Skandolous, California Country:
Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 2:09 am Post subject:
Japanese Scientists Successfully Power Microscopic Motors With Bacteria
Tuesday , August 29, 2006
By Charles Q. Choi
Scientists have yoked bacteria to power rotary motors, the first microscopic mechanical devices to successfully incorporate living microbes together with inorganic parts.
"In far future plans, we would like to make micro-robots driven by biological motors," researcher Yuichi Hiratsuka, a nanobiotechnologist now at the University of Tokyo, told LiveScience.
Hiratsuka, while at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology near Tokyo, and his colleagues experimented with one of the most rapid crawling bacteria, Mycoplasma mobile.
Like 20 mph
This pear-shaped microbe, a millionth of a meter long, can glide over surfaces at up to seven-tenths of an inch an hour. Translated to a six-foot-tall runner, this roughly equates to 20 mph.
The researchers built circular pathways coated with sugary proteins, which the microbe needs to stick to in order to glide over surfaces. They then docked a rotor onto the track and coated the bacteria with vitamin B7, which acted like glue to yoke the germs to the cog. They also genetically modified the microbes so they stuck to their tracks more stably.
The scientists created roughly 20,000 rotors on a silicon chip. Each cog is etched from silica, which sand is made of, and is 20 microns wide, or roughly a fifth the diameter of a human hair.
The rotors spun at roughly 1.5 to 2.6 revolutions per minute. Each individual cell in these motors generates roughly 10,000 times less torque than conventional microscopic electronic motors can.
Improvements possible
However, Hiratsuka noted they could improve the torque their systems generate by increasing the number of bacteria circling the tracks, which can hold up to 100 microbes. Moreover, he added their systems could repair themselves, require only the sugar glucose as fuel, do not need wires and can work in wet environments, unlike the electronic motors.
In the future, instead of live bacteria, the researchers suggest using dead ones to avoid the potential biohazards living microbes pose. These dead "ghosts," as the scientists dub them, can still glide if their motors are given the right organic compounds.
In addition to helping drive micro-robots, Hiratsuka suggested bacteria-powered motors could help propel micropumps in lab-on-a-chip devices. "Alternatively, we may be able to construct electronic generator systems, which generate electric energy from an abundant chemical source — glucose in the body," he said.
Hiratsuka and his colleagues reported their findings online Aug. 28 via the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Japanese Scientists Successfully Power Microscopic Motors With Bacteria
Tuesday , August 29, 2006
By Charles Q. Choi
Scientists have yoked bacteria to power rotary motors, the first microscopic mechanical devices to successfully incorporate living microbes together with inorganic parts.
"In far future plans, we would like to make micro-robots driven by biological motors," researcher Yuichi Hiratsuka, a nanobiotechnologist now at the University of Tokyo, told LiveScience.
Hiratsuka, while at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology near Tokyo, and his colleagues experimented with one of the most rapid crawling bacteria, Mycoplasma mobile.
Like 20 mph
This pear-shaped microbe, a millionth of a meter long, can glide over surfaces at up to seven-tenths of an inch an hour. Translated to a six-foot-tall runner, this roughly equates to 20 mph.
The researchers built circular pathways coated with sugary proteins, which the microbe needs to stick to in order to glide over surfaces. They then docked a rotor onto the track and coated the bacteria with vitamin B7, which acted like glue to yoke the germs to the cog. They also genetically modified the microbes so they stuck to their tracks more stably.
The scientists created roughly 20,000 rotors on a silicon chip. Each cog is etched from silica, which sand is made of, and is 20 microns wide, or roughly a fifth the diameter of a human hair.
The rotors spun at roughly 1.5 to 2.6 revolutions per minute. Each individual cell in these motors generates roughly 10,000 times less torque than conventional microscopic electronic motors can.
Improvements possible
However, Hiratsuka noted they could improve the torque their systems generate by increasing the number of bacteria circling the tracks, which can hold up to 100 microbes. Moreover, he added their systems could repair themselves, require only the sugar glucose as fuel, do not need wires and can work in wet environments, unlike the electronic motors.
In the future, instead of live bacteria, the researchers suggest using dead ones to avoid the potential biohazards living microbes pose. These dead "ghosts," as the scientists dub them, can still glide if their motors are given the right organic compounds.
In addition to helping drive micro-robots, Hiratsuka suggested bacteria-powered motors could help propel micropumps in lab-on-a-chip devices. "Alternatively, we may be able to construct electronic generator systems, which generate electric energy from an abundant chemical source �\ glucose in the body," he said.
Hiratsuka and his colleagues reported their findings online Aug. 28 via the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Cool.
I'm sure someone will decry that we're enslaving bacteria to do our bidding, though.
Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 46182 Location: Los Skandolous, California Country:
Posted: Sat Sep 02, 2006 7:50 am Post subject:
Saito_Hajime wrote:
That's the effect of inhaling a sarin gas.
A teacher from Hiroshima Prefecture was arrested for filming up the kimono of female university students on a train and dancers at summertime festivals in Shikoku using a camera attached to his shoe.
Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 46182 Location: Los Skandolous, California Country:
Posted: Sun Sep 03, 2006 5:25 am Post subject:
New robot can identify wines, cheeses By ERIC TALMADGE
Associated Press Writer
The ability to discern good wine from bad, name the specific brand from a tiny sip and recommend a complementary cheese would seem to be about as human a skill as there is. In Japan, robots are doing it.
Researchers at NEC System Technologies and Mie University have designed a robot that can taste — an electromechanical sommelier able to identify dozens of different wines, cheeses and hors d'oeuvres.
"There are all kinds of robots out there doing many different things," said Hideo Shimazu, director of the NEC System Technology Research Laboratory and a joint-leader of the robot project. "But we decided to focus on wine because that seemed like a real challenge."
Last month, they unveiled the fruits of their two-year effort — a green-and-white prototype with eyes, a head that swivels and a mouth that lights up whenever the robot talks.
The "tasting" is done elsewhere, however.
At the end of the robot's left arm is an infrared spectrometer. When objects are placed up against the sensor, the robot fires off a beam of infrared light. The reflected light is then analyzed in real time to determine the object's chemical composition.
"All foods have a unique fingerprint," Shimazu said. "The robot uses that data to identify what it is inspecting right there on the spot."
When it has identified a wine, the robot speaks up in a childlike voice. It names the brand and adds a comment or two on the taste, such as whether it is a buttery chardonnay or a full-bodied shiraz, and what kind of foods might go well on the side.
Shimazu said the robots could be "personalized," or programmed to recognize the kinds of wines its owner prefers and recommend new varieties to fit its owner's taste. Because it is analyzing the chemical composition of the wine or food placed before it, it can also alert its owner to possible health issues, gently warning against fatty or salty products.
That capability has other useful applications. Given three ripe, identical-looking apples to analyze, the robot was able without taking a bite to correctly single out one as sweet and the other two as a bit sour.
But sommeliers need not fear for their jobs just yet.
Of the thousands of wines on the market, the robot can be programmed to accurately identify only a few dozen at most. It also has more trouble with the task after the bottle has been opened and the wine begins to breathe and thus transform chemically.
"Wines are notoriously similar in their spectral fingerprints," Shimazu said. "The variation this robot detects is very subtle."
Some of the mistakes it makes would get a human sommelier fired — or worse.
When a reporter's hand was placed against the robot's taste sensor, it was identified as prosciutto. A cameraman was mistaken for bacon.
The 2-foot-tall robot also is expensive.
"Buying one of these would cost about as much as a new car," Shimazu said. "We'd like to bring that down to 100,000 yen ($1,000) or less for the tasting sensor if we were to put it on the market."
He said there is no plan yet to actually market the robot, though the sensor could be available as early as next year.
"We are getting a lot of business offers and a lot of interest," he said. "But we see this more as a symbol of our technological ability than as a profitable product right now."
Mie University engineering professor Atsushi Hashimoto, the project's other co-leader, acknowledged there is much room for improvement.
But he said the robot could be used in the near future at wineries to test the taste of each bottle without actually unscrewing any corks.
"It's still like a child," he said. "But not a completely ignorant one."
Industry experts note the shortcomings but agree on the robot's possibilities.
"I see the potential to analyze expensive and old wine to say whether it is authentic or not," said Philippe Bramaz of the Italian winemaker Calzaluga. "Auction houses such as Sotheby's and Christie's could use this technology to test wine without opening it."
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Me too. 
There's a problem when half the first graders don't know how to use the toilet. Must be really great being a teacher. 
