Science View

Are we alone in the vast universe? One Japanese researcher is tackling this profound mystery: Dr. Norio Narita, a planetary scientist and an astrobiologist at the University of Tokyo's Komaba Institute for Science. Narita has developed a state-of-the-art spectroscopic camera that enables analysis of the atmospheric components of exoplanets. By detecting trace gases such as water vapor, carbon dioxide and methane, he hopes to identify planets that have the potential to sustain life. In this episode, we'll follow one of Japan's leading planet hunters in his quest for habitable worlds.

What if you had to live underground with little oxygen and you could never change your job, but you would live to 90 years old without getting sick? Would you accept it? That's how the subject of this episode live. Naked mole rats, native to East Africa, have unique abilities that help them live underground and stave off diseases like cancer. What can these fellow mammals teach us?

New research on imperceptibly low-energy earthquakes known as "slow slips" has revealed some surprising longer-term patterns in the seismic activity leading up to devastating earthquakes. This episode explains how slow slips occur, the patterns they display, and recent technology that allows GPS measurements of them from underwater seismic monitoring stations directly on the tectonic plate involved.

Research is underway on using diamonds inside sensors for measuring magnetic fields at the nanoscale. In Japan, a team lead by Professor Mutsuko Hatano at the Tokyo Institute of Technology has succeeded in developing a sensor. The key was to remove a single carbon atom from the crystal structure of the diamond. Find out more about the research and the story behind its development. In the latter part of the program, we'll introduce an innovative pen-type electronic pipette used for PCR testing for COVID-19.

Planet Earth is home to humans and various life forms, but where did our ancestors come from? How did we evolve? While different theories on the origin of life include space and the deep sea, we will focus on deep underground. Numerous microorganisms, that are thought to be close to the common ancestor of all living organisms, have continued to live deep underground for tens of thousands of years. Find out more about the mysterious primitive organisms. Later in the program, we'll introduce a piece of research on sea urchins that could help restore the coastal ecosystem. Discover how clovers are being used to turn malnourished sea urchins into high-quality delicacies.

Professor Takanori Takebe of Tokyo Medical and Dental University (Director of Commercial Innovation at Center for Stem Cell and Organoid Research and Medicine [CuSTOM], Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center) is leading the world in research on creating mini-livers from iPS cells. Research on organoids, mini-organs grown in test tubes, has made great advances in the past 10 years and the technology is already being applied to treat incurable diseases. Takebe has successfully created not only liver organoid, but an entire set of 4 connected organoids - the liver, bile duct, pancreas and duodenum. He is continuing to break new grounds with bold new ideas. This episode features Takebe's wide range of iPS cell research and his fresh ideas that transcend disciplinary boundaries.

Japanese indigo is famous for producing a traditional dye known as "Japan blue." Now, more and more hidden powers of the indigo plant are being discovered for applications in medicine and agriculture. The plant's antibacterial properties are well known, but research has now revealed that a substance called "tryptanthrin" is the reason. Tryptanthrin may also inhibit the growth of viruses as well. Moreover, a strawberry farm in Aomori Prefecture discovered that strawberries grew bigger when strawberry plants were given a liquid extracted from indigo. Analysis showed that indigo extract helped plant roots grow faster than usual, and researchers suspect it may even increase the yield of other agricultural products too. In this episode, we will examine how indigo today is being used for more than just a pretty dye!

Guest:
Professor Kenro Sasaki of Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University

Crows are often thought of as pests, getting into garbage and even attacking people at times. Yet crows are some of the most intelligent birds, and researchers around the world have been trying to understand them better. Recent studies have revealed amazing abilities such as comprehending the concept of quantity and making tools. Why are crows so smart? In this episode, we'll be joined by Tohto University professor and Utsunomiya University emeritus professor Shoei Sugita. Nicknamed "Dr. Crow," Sugita has been studying these birds for more than 20 years, and will share some fascinating insight into their incredible intelligence.

Guest: Dr. Shoei Sugita, professor at Tohto University, emeritus professor at Utsunomiya University

After the Hayabusa-2 mission successfully brought samples from the surface of an asteroid back to Earth, Japan next plans to apply this know-how to the moons of Mars. The Martian Moons eXploration mission will land on the moon Phobos, collect samples, and then return them to Earth. Team member Kiyoshi Kuramoto joins us to discuss the origins of these moons, the challenges of landing in ultra-low gravity, the possible connections to water and life on Earth, and more. We'll also look at a redesigned dental instrument for root canal procedures.

Did you hear that? No? Well, it might have been one of a growing number of applications for sounds outside the range of human hearing. In this episode, sound expert Shohei Yano joins us to discuss the many ways that inaudible sound is being used for everything from kabuki to farming to tornadoes. And he'll tell us how his own company is working on devices that use people's ear canal shapes for security that sometimes works even better than face recognition. We'll also see how a metalsmith overcame the challenges of titanium to produce light, durable and good-looking drinking tumblers.

Most of space is a vacuum. But since 1940, radio telescopes have detected "interstellar molecular clouds" containing carbon monoxide, ammonia and water molecules. Over tens of millions of years, gravity causes these clouds to accumulate gas and dust, and then collapse, forming stars. In this episode, we'll meet RIKEN Institute astronomer Nami Sakai, who discovered unexpected carbon chain molecules near the hot and dense center of one of these clouds, a baby star known as "L1527," still forming in the Taurus constellation. Sakai's discovery showed the world that the molecules present in newly-forming stars vary from one to the next. And her ongoing research on "interstellar chemistry" raises questions about the origins of our own solar system.

In April 2016, a massive magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck Kumamoto Prefecture in the Kyushu region, causing extensive damage to over 200,000 houses. The earthquake was the result of large displacement of an underground active fault and ongoing surveys of these active faults have revealed many new facts about the possibility of another major earthquake and the extent of the damage it may cause. In the second half of the program, we'll look at fungal endophytes that live in symbiosis with plants, and learn how use of these endophytes may yield new benefits for agriculture.

Research is being conducted on microscopic nanorobots that attack only cancer cells while leaving normal cells unharmed. This science fiction-like concept has been made possible by cutting-edge nanotechnology called DNA origami, which uses DNA as a "material" to create various shapes and devices, including tiny therapeutic robots as small as one-hundredth the size of a hair! Dr. Akinori Kuzuya, a Kansai University professor and researcher on DNA origami, joins us to discuss how this incredible technology works as well as the possibilities it holds for the world of medicine and other fields.

Would you eat a steak that was grown in a laboratory? As global population continues to grow, conventional cattle farming is being stretched to its limits. University of Tokyo professor Shoji Takeuchi, a specialist in biohybrid engineering, cites this as well as climate change, food safety and animal welfare as the reasons for his interest in growing steak meat in a controlled laboratory environment. His breakthrough technique takes a small sample of living cow cells without harming the animal, and produces a thick steak-type meat unlike lab-grown minced meat. In this episode, we look at his past work on mosquito-inspired sensors to detect cancer, his current work on cultivating steak meat, and the forthcoming challenge of public perception.

Most of the colors we see around us are produced by the reflection of light from pigments. Yet there is another type of color called "structural color," produced when light is reflected off the special microstructure of a surface. Structural color is what makes the surface of soap bubbles iridescent and the body of a jewel beetle appear to glitter. While pigmented colors have the disadvantage of fading due to ultraviolet rays, structural colors retain their appearance as long as the microstructure remains intact. Associate Professor Michinari Kohri of Chiba University is working to artificially reproduce these structural colors. Taking a hint from the structural colors of peacock and turkey feathers, he has succeeded in reproducing the microstructure that gives rise to the colors and is now working on the development of special ink that will not fade. Practical applications of this groundbreaking technology could not only include posters and paintings but also cultural assets as well. In this program, we'll take a closer look at Associate Professor Kohri's research, which aims to commercialize next-generation ink that produces structural color.

15 years have passed since the discovery of iPS cells - versatile cells that can turn into any type of cell. Professor Hideyuki OKANO of Keio University was one of the first to use iPS cell technology. He has been investigating on recovering motor functions of spinal cord injury patients by transplanting precursor cells of neurons created by iPS cell technology. Professor OKANO is also working to tackle ALS, a disease with no known cure that causes muscles to get weaker over time. Using iPS cells from ALS patients, he reproduced diseased neurons and tested various drugs on them to verify the effectivity. Clinical trials have confirmed that a newly discovered drug delayed the progression of ALS by 7 months. How close are we to curing ALS and spinal cord injury using iPS cell technology? This episode takes a close look at Professor OKANO's groundbreaking research.

In winter the area along the Sea of Japan experiences some of the heaviest snowfall in the world, as northerly winds from Eurasia blow with a large amount of water vapor from the Sea of Japan. Clouds that bring heavy snowfall spread out over a wide area, and are sometimes more than 100 kilometers wide. Ice particles inside the clouds rubbing against each other generate a large amount of static electricity, which in turn leads to extraordinary lightning called Superbolts with more than 1,000 times the energy of ordinary lightning. Dr. Teruaki ENOTO of RIKEN discovered that a phenomenon called "annihilation" occurs in these Superbolts, emitting enormous amounts of energy, and this has attracted worldwide attention. Annihilation is a phenomenon that is thought to have occurred in the formation of the universe, causing matter and antimatter to disappear in a burst of light. The study of annihilation in Superbolts is now providing clues about the beginning of our universe.

The Cretaceous period is regarded as the last part of the age of dinosaurs, when these fascinating creatures lived at their peak. While the flora and fauna of Japan's land mass during the Late Cretaceous period has long been a mystery, clues have emerged through the fossil record. Tyrannosaurid fossils and pieces of amber containing plants and insects have been discovered in Kuji City, Iwate Prefecture in a well-preserved layer of earth from the Cretaceous period called the Tamagawa Formation. Research on these specimens has revealed that Japan probably had a much warmer climate, with mangroves along the ocean and other organisms typical of tropical zones. In this program, we'll take a closer look at findings about Japan during the Cretaceous period.

Typhoons are some of the most powerful storms on Earth. And climate change is expected to make them even stronger in coming years. In this episode, we'll see how sea level differences, on-the-spot measurements of atmospheric conditions, and new computer simulations can help us better understand and predict these massive storms. We even follow a research team into the eye of a typhoon! And we'll also see an ultra-detailed weather simulator for urban areas.

Computer modeling is a powerful tool being used for a rapidly growing range of tasks. But as artificial brains boom, they raise questions about how our human brains work. Scientists are now using optical illusions to study how vision is processed in brains, both real and artificial. This episode explores these ideas. We'll get some surprising results from neural networks designed to make predictions, including one that composes music tailored to the individual listener's brain.

Hydrogen is the simplest and lightest of the elements. When combined with oxygen in a fuel cell, hydrogen produces heat and electricity with only water as a by-product. It's now used in fuel cell vehicles. In this episode, we'll look at other ways that hydrogen can help reduce the carbon dioxide emissions that drive climate change. It could replace conventional batteries for storage and retrieval of energy. And new ultra-cold magnetic compounds are being used to create magnetic refrigerators that can convert hydrogen from a gas to a liquid. We'll also see how a new home robot can help the elderly manage their medications.

Dr. Syukuro MANABE, winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics, was one of the first to sound the alarm about the growing seriousness of global warming. He created a model that could simulate the complex global climate thanks to bold simplification, and was also the first to demonstrate that an increase in carbon dioxide leads to global warming. MANABE's research laid the foundation for today's global warming research, which is being carried out using the latest climate models and supercomputer simulations. In this episode, we will look back at MANABE's achievements and examine the latest research on global warming.

Have you ever looked at something up close? Really, really close? Micro-anatomist Daisuke Koga has looked even closer! He uses cutting-edge microscopes to visualize the insides of cells. As a leading expert in electron microscope images, his stunning high-tech photos have set new standards for both art and science. In this episode, he'll share his secrets for getting just the right picture. And we'll join him in trying out new equipment that creates full 3D images of the complex organelles that float inside cells. We'll also see how optical fiber lights can be used to ensure that nasal feeding tubes safely arrive in the stomach.