| Sep 01 | Govt maps response to triple quake (Yomiuri) |
| The government has decided to map out a response plan for the possible occurrence of three massive, simultaneous earthquakes in the nation. It plans to compile detailed estimates of possible damage from such an event and an outline of countermeasures from fiscal 2011. Of all the foreseeable earthquake scenarios that could take place in and around Japan, the most destructive would be the simultaneous occurrence of the so-called Tokai, Tonankai and Nankai earthquakes. |
| Aug 31 | Japan's medical authorities slam 'absurd' homeopathy (AFP) |
| The physician to Japanese Emperor Akihito and top scientists have slammed homeopathy as an "absurd" medicine, urging health workers to stay clear of the alternative treatment as it grows in popularity. The controversy has been fuelled by reports that a two-month-old baby girl died last year of a cerebral haemorrhage in Japan after she was given a homeopathic remedy instead of the normal treatment of vitamin K. Homeopathic medicines use materials derived from flora, fauna and minerals, and their preparation includes the heavy dilution of the raw materials, according to the World Health Organization. |
| Aug 31 | Sunshine aquarium to shut for yearlong revamp (Japan Times) |
Sunshine International Aquarium, located atop the Sunshine City building in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district, will close for a year beginning Wednesday for large-scale renovations to compete better with other aquariums in the Kanto region.
When it opened in 1978, the aquarium was touted as the first in Japan to be build on top of a high-rise. In recent years, the aquarium has suffered a decline in visitors as rival venues opened.
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| Aug 30 | Highly credible UFO video from Japan surfaces (allnewsweb.com) |
 Perhaps due to the fact that more people are carrying better quality camera phones or perhaps because visiting aliens are becoming more bold in terms of interacting with humanity as possible open alien contact draws nearer, the quality of new UFO footage over the last months has been better than ever.
UFOs are commonly seen in Japan and interest in alien / extraterrestrial subjects widespread. No official disclosure of UFO files has, however, occurred in Japan as of yet.
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| Aug 30 | Man in Nagano computes value of pi to 5 tril. digits (AP) |
| A company employee in Nagano Prefecture calculated the value of pi to five trillion digits this month using a self-made personal computer, beating the record set by a French engineer who calculated it to about 2.7 trillion digits late last year. To calculate the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, to an undetermined number of digits, Shigeru Kondo, a 55- year-old resident of Iida, assembled a computer with 32 terabytes of hard-drive capacity and used an application made by Alexander Yee, a 22-year-old student at a U.S. graduate school. |
| Aug 30 | Heat wave lingers in Japan, with temperatures over 35 C in 114 spots (AP) |
| A heat wave continued in Japan on Sunday, with the temperature rising to 35 C or higher at 114 observation points across the archipelago, particularly in western Japan, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. The mercury soared to 37.4 C in Osaka, setting a new record for the longest streak of temperatures rising to 35 C or above at 14 days. The weather agency forecast the heat would continue this week and called on people to take precautions against heat stroke. |
| Aug 29 | Japan's lone radar intelligence orbiter breaks down (Yomiuri) |
| Of four intelligence-gathering satellites currently in orbit to observe North Korea, the lone radar orbiter impervious to darkness and cloudy weather has broken down, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. The Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center said it detected a glitch in the satellite's radar system Monday and began remote operations to restart the system. However, an official of the center said the outlook for recovery was "extremely grim." The government plans to launch its next radar reconnaissance satellite in fiscal 2011. The failure of the orbiter is expected to badly affect intelligence-gathering activities for Japan at a time when North Korea has tested nuclear weapons and China has built up its military. |
| Aug 28 | Japan to stay in ISS project past 2016, launch Hayabusa 2 probe in 2014 (Mainichi) |
| The Strategic Headquarters for Space Policy, headed by Prime Minister Naoto Kan, has decided Japan will continue to participate in the International Space Station (ISS) project through 2016 and beyond. The government will officially communicate its decision, made Aug. 27, to other participating countries in the near future. Meanwhile, the headquarters also decided to move ahead with a fiscal 2014 launch timetable for the Hayabusa 2 -- the successor to the Hayabusa probe mission to a near Earth asteroid that concluded this year -- and moon research. |
| Aug 27 | DNA of leprosy-causing bacterium detected in old skeleton (AP) |
| A team of Japanese researchers has detected the DNA of a leprosy-causing bacterium from archaeological skeletal remains excavated from an 18th century tomb in Aomori Prefecture. The team led by Koichi Suzuki, a senior researcher at the Leprosy Research Center of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Tokyo, published its findings Thursday in the U.S. science magazine Plos One. |
| Aug 27 | Newly discovered 3.75 billion-year-old sand grains hold clues to creation of Japan (Mainichi) |
 Recently discovered grains of sand some 3.75 billion years old -- the oldest ever found in Japan -- may be a key to understanding the formation of the Japanese islands.
The discovery, announced by National Museum of Nature and Science on Aug. 25, was made by a team led by Kenji Horie, special researcher at the National Institute of Polar Research, which has been analyzing granite samples collected from the Kurobe Gorge in Kurobe, Toyama Prefecture, since 2006.
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| Aug 25 | Hayabusa analysis going slowly (Japan Times) |
| The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has decided to postpone publication of a detailed analysis of particles collected from the sample container carried by the Hayabusa asteroid probe. The report had been scheduled to come out in September, but now JAXA is looking at December or later. It will take more time than originally expected to collect the particles because they are smaller than earlier assumed, JAXA said. |
| Aug 24 | Marine life frozen in time at Japan's Ice Aquarium (CNET) |
 Turn on the TV in Japan and you're bound to see someone slicing up a tuna on a cooking show while commentators ooh and aah. It's no wonder, then, that during the current heat wave frying Tokyo, people are heading north for chills and eye candy in the form of giant fish popsicles.
The Kori no Suizokukan (Ice Aquarium) in Kesennuma, northeastern Japan, packs about 450 specimens of marine life frozen in large columns of ice bathed in blue light. Some 80 species, including saury, octopuses, crabs, and skipjack, are preserved in lifelike poses. They seem to be swimming in ice.
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| Aug 24 | Heat defies tradition, rewrites record books (Yomiuri) |
| According to traditional belief, Aug. 23 is "shosho," the day when summer's heat begins to wane, but conditions across the nation were still scorching on Monday. At about 2 p.m., the temperature was 36.7 C in Nerima Ward and 35.1 C in Otemachi, both in Tokyo. At the same time, it was 35.4 C in Nagoya and 36.8 C in Osaka. According to the Meteorological Agency, more "extremely hot" days--those that see temperatures of 35 C or more--are expected this week, especially in western Japan. |
| Aug 23 | Glow of Jupiter impact captured in Kumamoto (Japan Times) |
 An amateur astronomer in Kumamoto Prefecture said Sunday that he had recorded video of a flash of light that was apparently produced when an astral body collided with Jupiter. Junichi Watanabe, a professor at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, said the observatory reported the incident to the International Astronomical Union after receiving a report about the video recording taken by Masayuki Tachikawa early Saturday morning. The astral body that hit Jupiter was probably less than 1 km wide because no trace of it was left at the spot where the flash was observed, Watanabe said.
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| Aug 23 | Fukushima reactor receives MOX (Japan Times) |
| Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Saturday loaded a nuclear reactor in Fukushima Prefecture with MOX, a controversial fuel made with reprocessed plutonium and uranium oxides, as it prepares to become the leading power utility's first facility to go pluthermal. The No. 3 reactor at Tepco's Fukushima No. 1 plant will be the nation's third pluthermal facility, but only the first to be refurbished since the plant was built 34 years ago. |
| Aug 21 | Beefing up bites: Soft chow weakens modern jaws (Yomiuri) |
| Hectic modern lives have led to a boom in soft, easily prepared food that can be wolfed down in an instant. These meals may be convenient, but they also may weaken our power to chew. Taeko Kanemoto, a children's dentist in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, pays attention to the mothers who bring their children to her clinic. Mostly in their 20s and 30s, the women often let their mouths hang open while they listen to Kanemoto, and the corners of their mouths become loose when they talk about their children. Kanemoto also said these women do not speak smoothly. When they try to say "ta, chi, tsu, te, to," it sounds like "taa, tei, tou, teh, toh." |
| Aug 20 | Banned nicotine found in half of electronic cigs (Japan Times) |
 Eleven out of 25 electronic cigarettes sold in Japan have been found to contain small amounts of nicotine, which is banned in such devices, according to the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan. Test results show there is not enough evidence to confirm the safety of the 11 varieties of the devices and consumers are advised to exercise caution, the center said Wednesday. Such devices are generally shaped like a cigarette and allows the user to inhale steam generated with electricity.
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| Aug 19 | 'Benizuwaigani' crabs cluster near sea floor methane vents, researchers find (Mainichi) |
 Benizuwaigani crabs, a type of snow crab, cluster around sea floor methane vents, researchers at the University of Tokyo said.
The research was conducted in an area 30 to 40 kilometers off the coast of Naoetsu, Niigata Prefecture, at a depth of 900 to 1,000 meters from sea level. The area is known as a fishing ground for the crab, as well as an area containing deposits of methane hydrate, a possible next-generation fuel that has a sherbet-like consistency.
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| Aug 17 | Only 10% of suspicious deaths undergo autopsies (Yomiuri) |
| Only 10 percent of suspicious deaths in Japan underwent forensic autopsies in 2009, mainly because the government has failed to convince people of their importance, according to experts. Japan's autopsy rate is the lowest among advanced nations, compared with 100 percent in Finland and Sweden and 50 to 60 percent in Britain, the United States and Australia. Chiba University Prof. Hirotaro Iwase, director of the Japanese Society of Legal Medicine, said people in other developed countries are aware of the public service role that forensic autopsies play in protecting bereaved families' rights. |
| Aug 17 | New seismograph can take the pressure (Yomiuri) |
| Japanese researchers have developed a seismograph container able to withstand extremely high pressure, allowing it to be used in the deepest parts of the ocean. The group from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) and others produced the container to withstand environments where atmospheric pressure exceeds 1,000 atm. Such environments include the Mariana Trench, the world's deepest, which reaches 10,920 meters. |
| Aug 16 | Thousands flock to see asteroid pod in Japan (AFP) |
 Thousands of people flocked to an exhibition in Japan on Sunday to see a capsule from the Hayabusa space probe which was hoped to have brought asteroid dust to Earth.
Some 1,800 people were queuing in Tokyo to see the heat-proof pod, which had travelled in space with the unmanned craft for seven years, even before the exhibition opened in the morning, a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) spokesman said.
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| Aug 16 | Cherry seeds to power 'healing pillows' (Yomiuri) |
| A local tourism association in Yamagata Prefecture is trying to produce "healing pillows," that can be used for both warming and cooling, by recycling discarded cherry seeds. The project is being carried out by the municipal tourism association in Higashine, which boasts the nation's largest cherry production. Cherry seeds, which have a hollow in the center, are suitable for retaining warmth and coolness. An official of the association said: "As our cherry production is No. 1 in Japan, the amount of discarded cherry seeds is also tops in the nation. We'd like to popularize the pillows as Higashine's new specialty products." |
| Aug 15 | Relics of Ice Age Japan (Japan Times) |
 Scrambling across hillsides may not be everyone's cup of tea, but we naturalists are determined folk and take such activities in our stride when exploring our environment. Take the average hillside or mountainside in Japan; what does it consist of? Usually, forested slopes on dark soils, with bare rock exposed here and there. Yet occasionally, an observant and well-traveled hiker may notice loose rocks - not ones recently shattered by winter's freeze-thaw processes, or formed by crashing rock falls - but rounded rocks, weathered and worn, though not as smooth as if they have spent millennia in running water.
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| Aug 15 | Ethanol generated from seaweed (Japan Times) |
| Scientists from Tohoku University and Tohoku Electric Power Co. have developed a technology to efficiently generate ethanol from seaweed such as sea tangle and sea grape, group members said Saturday. The technology uses natural yeast discovered by the group as well as a new fermentation method, according to the group led by Minoru Sato, professor of marine biochemistry at Tohoku University. |
| Aug 15 | Largest giant salamander, 100, dies (Japan Times) |
| Japan's largest-known giant salamander has died at the hot spring resort of Yubara in Maniwa, Okayama Prefecture, where it was reputed to be over 100 years old, local officials have said. The enormous amphibian, which had been on public display since 1971 at a giant salamander center in the town, probably died of old age, the officials said Friday. |
| Aug 15 | Genetic tests offered on Net 'dubious' (Yomiuri) |
| Businesses touting "genetic testing services" via the Internet have been mushrooming recently, but many of the tests are scientifically dubious, experts warn. Online genetic screening firms claim they can do everything from evaluate risks of getting such diseases as cancer and Alzheimer's disease to assess intellectual, athletic and other "talents" of children. |
| Aug 14 | Number of AIDS patients hits record high for 3-month period (AP) |
| The number of people found to have contracted AIDS in Japan in April-June came to 129, a record high for a three-month period, a Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare panel said Friday. The figure included 125 men, according to the AIDS Trend Committee, which also reported 263 people newly infected with the HIV virus in the same quarter, including the first case of mother-to-child transmission in four years. HIV antibody tests conducted by local municipalities across Japan in April-June totaled 31,691, up by 2,000 from the January-March period. |
| Aug 13 | Japanese rescue-bot can sniff out disaster survivors (Brisbane Times) |
| Japanese emergency services are to trial a small tank-like rescue robot that can search rubble for survivors and deliver water, food or cellphones in disaster zones. The fire department of Chiba City, east of Tokyo, will test the QUINCE prototype from next month, said Eiji Koyanagi, robotic engineering expert at Chiba Institute of Technology. "People die because they despair. If the robot delivers a cellphone, they won't feel alone. If the robot delivers water and food, they can hold out," said Koyanagi. "We want to make this the world standard." |
| Aug 13 | Giant panda has second set of twins in Japan (AFP) |
 A giant panda born and raised in Japan has given birth to two cubs, her second set of twins, a zoo official said Thursday.
Nine-year-old Rauhin gave birth to a female and a male cub Wednesday at Adventure World zoo in western Wakayama prefecture -- where she has spent her whole life -- after mating naturally with a panda brought from China.
Rauhin was the first Japanese-born panda to breed when she gave birth to twin cubs in 2008.
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| Aug 12 | Gator-like animals seen in Nagasaki reservoir most likely turtles (AP) |
| Three "alligator-like" creatures spotted swimming last month near Nagasaki Prefecture's Isahaya Bay reservoir are most likely soft- shelled turtles, a native aquatic species, prefectural officials announced Wednesday. The officials said photos of the creatures swimming in the bay, with just their eyes and nostrils protruding from the water's surface, were shown to multiple experts for identification. The experts detected an absence of scales, which are possessed by alligators and other crocodilians, and they found the distance between the creature's eyes and nostrils to be only about 3 centimeters -- too short for them to be crocodilians. |
| Aug 10 | Organs taken from brain-dead man with family consent alone (AP) |
| Organs were taken Tuesday from a brain-dead man for the first time solely with the consent of his family and in the absence of any written declaration by him of his wishes under Japan's revised organ transplant law, and transported to patients waiting at a number of hospitals. An operation to provide the man's heart to a recipient began upon its arrival shortly past 6:30 a.m. at a national institute in Osaka, after doctors began at 3:14 a.m. to harvest the man's organs at a hospital in the Kanto region surrounding Tokyo where he was declared brain dead. |
| Aug 08 | High levels of flameproof agents found in endangered birds (AP) |
| High levels of bromine-containing agents used to make consumer appliances and other items flameproof have been found in the bodies of goshawks and other endangered raptor species in Japan, suggesting that the birds took the agents from the environment through the food chain, according to a research group's findings that became available Saturday. Researchers of Ehime University and Tochigi Prefectural Museum warned that having a large concentration of the bromic agents that are said to be a cause of environmental pollution could have adverse effects on the animals' health, such as a fall in their incubation rate. |
| Aug 08 | Hokkaido has rare 'tropical night' (Japan Times) |
| Sapporo had its first "tropical night" in 25 years as weather data showed the lowest temperature in the Hokkaido capital early Saturday morning was 26.2. Tropical night is an expression used when the overnight low is 25 or higher. Logged at 5:23 a.m., the 26.2 degree level was 7.0 degrees higher than in a typical year. |
| Aug 06 | 110-million-year-old frog skeleton found in Hyogo (Mainichi) |
 A nearly complete skeleton of a prehistoric frog has been found at a site in Tanba, Hyogo Prefecture, a local museum announced on Aug. 5.
The skeleton was found in the depths of the "Sasayama group," a collection of fossil layers in Tanba, Hyogo Prefecture, that date back around 110 million years. It is the first complete or nearly complete frog skeleton from the early Cretaceous period (from around 140 million until 100 million years ago) discovered in the country, and only the 13th found in the world.
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| Aug 06 | Japanese-led team finds signal that predicts flu spread in humans (AP) |
| An international team of researchers led by University of Tokyo professor Yoshihiro Kawaoka has discovered a biochemical signal in flu virus that indicates whether it would infect humans and spread, the U.S. science journal PLoS Pathogens said Friday. The scientists found out that if either of two particular amino acids, lysine or arginine, is observed in position 591 in PB2 protein of flu viruses, it will lead to efficient replication of highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus or the pandemic new-type H1N1 virus in humans. |
| Aug 06 | World's 2nd oldest hippo in captivity dies at zoo in Japan (AP) |
| A hippo thought to be the world's second oldest in captivity died Thursday at the estimated age of 58, a zoo in Japan's Ishikawa Prefecture said. The female hippo, Deka, was found dead at an outdoor pool inside the hippo house shortly past 4 p.m., said officials of Ishikawa Zoo in the city of Nomi. They said she was believed to have been born in Africa in 1952 and brought to Japan the following year by Kabaya Foods Corp. |
| Aug 04 | Japan's oceans very rich, holding 14.6 percent of known sea species (Mainichi) |
The number of species identified in the waters off Japan has been measured at 33,629, 14.6 percent of the 230,000 ocean-dwelling species identified around the world, joint research by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTC) and others has found.
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| Aug 04 | Heat wave claims clams, crabs in Tokyo Bay (Yomiuri) |
| The recent heat wave has killed huge quantities of baby-neck clams and helmet crabs in Tokyo Bay's Yatsu tidal flat, according to researchers. They are believed to have died from lack of oxygen after the extended period of high temperatures accelerated the decomposition of marine alga, an ecology research group of Toho University said. |
| Aug 03 | Wine, sake superconductive link (Japan Times) |
| Researchers at the National Institute for Materials Science have found that an iron compound becomes superconductive - where electrical resistance disappears in a substance - if it is dipped in wine, sake or beer. The researchers said they first produced an iron telluride compound, which has a similar structure to a superconductive substance. It didn't immediately show signs of superconductivity but then did so after being left on a desk for about a week. |
| Aug 03 | Record high temperatures, rainfall observed across Japan in July (AP) |
| Many cities across Japan saw record rainfall and temperatures in July as a result of torrential rains followed by heat waves, the Japan Meteorological Agency said Monday in summing up the weather for the past month. The average temperatures in the Kanto-Koshin, Hokuriku and Tokai regions in the third 10-day period of July was the highest since 1961, when comparable data became available, the agency said. The average temperatures in July logged the highest levels in Sendai at 25.3 C and in Chiba at 27.7 C, and also hit a record-tying 23.8 C in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture. |
| Aug 02 | Gene variants in Japanese prostate cancer patients (MSNBC) |
| A large study in Japan into possible genetic causes for prostate cancer has uncovered five new gene variants which have never been seen in previous studies in Caucasians, researchers said on Monday. Hidewaki Nakagawa, lead author of the study, said these variants appear to be specific to Japanese men and may be used to screen for susceptibility to the disease in the future. The researchers screened the DNA of 4,584 Japanese prostate cancer patients and compared these with 8,801 other Japanese without the disease and these five variants showed up consistently in the group with the disease. |
| Aug 01 | Links between people, sea lost (Yomiuri) |
| The concept of satoumi began attracting public attention partly because sea areas near human communities have been ravaged. The acreage of tidal wetlands and seaweed beds has decreased and fish catches have declined as there are fewer links between people and the sea. The Nature Conservation Society of Japan conducted a four-year survey, beginning in 2004, on about 1,300 seashore areas nationwide. It showed that only 7 percent of beaches were free of embankments, bank protection devices or other artificial structures. Many have voiced concerns that people have become disinterested in the sea as they have fewer opportunities to come into contact with it. |
| Jul 30 | Japan pursues moon station by 2020 (Herald Sun) |
 Japan is looking at sending a wheeled robot to the moon in five years and building a lunar base by 2020.
The robots would set up solar panels to generate energy and have an observation device to gather geological samples. The materials would then be sent back to Earth by rocket.
The robots would work from the lunar base at the moon's south pole from 2020.
The plans are part of a year-long study backed by a panel of experts yesterday that will be recommended to Japan's Government.
But it has been estimated the unmanned mission would cost $2.57 billion over the next 10 years, which could be a problem given government efforts to cut expenditure.
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| Jul 29 | Endangered three-toed woodpeckers found in Hokkaido national park (Mainichi) |
 An endangered species of woodpecker has been spotted in Daisetsuzan National Park in Hokkaido, researchers have announced.
Not since they were last spotted in 1988, have three-toed woodpeckers been seen in the area and they are considered a threatened species. However, a joint research team from a private bird research group -- headed by Tatsuya Mochizuki-- and a biology laboratory at Iwate University's Faculty of Agriculture recently found that the birds have several habitats in the largest national park in Japan. The research team will soon submit an article on the discovery to a U.S. journal.
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| Jul 29 | States agree new funding, schedule for nuclear fusion plan (AFP) |
 The European Union and six states backing a multi-billion-dollar nuclear fusion project said Wednesday they had reached a deal on the financing and timetable for the experimental reactor.
An explosion in costs had cast a cloud over the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), which aims to make the nuclear fusion process that fuels the sun a practical energy source on Earth.
ITER, based at Cadarache in southern France, was set up by the EU, which has a 45 percent share, China, India, South Korea, Japan, Russia and the US to research a clean and limitless alternative to dwindling fossil fuel reserves.
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| Jul 29 | Safer method to develop iPS cells found (Yomiuri) |
| A Kyoto University team has developed a method to efficiently generate induced pluripotent stem cells that is less likely to lead to tumor development than the conventional method. iPS cells are able to transform into the cells of any organ. The new research, representing a step forward in putting iPS cells into practical use in regenerative medicine, was reported in the online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of the United States of America on Tuesday. |
| Jul 28 | Researchers find wine, sake turns iron compound superconductive (AP) |
| Researchers at the National Institute for Materials Science have found that an iron compound become superconductive, where electrical resistance disappears in a substance, if they are dipped in wine, sake or beer, the institute said Tuesday. "It is still not known what it is in sake that is the cause (of the phenomenon) but it will provide a clue to the development of new superconductive materials," said Yoshihiko Takano, leader of the Nano Frontier Materials Group at the institute. |
| Jul 27 | Japan lifts foot-and-mouth state of emergency (AFP) |
 Japan lifted a state of emergency Tuesday in a southern region known for its prized and pampered cattle, after a three-month foot-and-mouth outbreak forced the slaughter of almost 300,000 farm animals.
The highly contagious virus, which rarely affects humans but sickens cloven-hoofed animals, had forced the suspension of meat sales from Miyazaki prefecture.
"Wagyu" cattle -- from both Miyazaki on Kyushu island and Kobe on Honshu island -- are famed for being pampered, fed beer and massaged daily, sometimes with sake, and some are even played classical music for relaxation.
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| Jul 27 | Traditional treats get high-tech tweak (Yomiuri) |
| Of the countless variations on traditional foods and beverages available nationwide, more and more are being created in a decidedly nontraditional manner with technologies adapted from other industries. Universities are at the forefront of such innovation, bringing novel twists to everything from sweets to sake while also making use of local produce and boosting regional economies. At a weeklong event at Takashimaya department store in Shinjuku, Tokyo, last month, 31 universities introduced new products made with the help of technologies adapted from other industries. |
| Jul 27 | Power from the sea a step closer (Yomiuri) |
| Technology developed in Japan is now able to generate electricity and produce fresh water from seawater more efficiently and at a lower cost than before, edging the technology closer to practical use. Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC)--although currently cost-ineffective--is expected to be not only a source of renewable energy, but a way to collect lithium from the sea. Former Saga University President Haruo Uehara, a pioneer in the OTEC field, has created the Uehara cycle, a technological discovery that may have opened the door to practical use of OTEC. |