SCI-TECH NEWS

The Japanese government has postponed a decision on what to do with contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. (CGTN)

The race is on. Japan's pledge to become a zero-emissions society by 2050 will send automakers, steel producers and other big industrial players scrambling to develop green technologies that will help slash their carbon footprints. (Nikkei)

Japanese health officials are urging people in all age groups to get influenza shots amid concerns about simultaneous outbreaks of flu and coronavirus infections. (NHK)

One Japanese airline is taking on additional costs to reduce its carbon footprint, despite the coronavirus crisis. All Nippon Airways is planning to begin flights soon using bio jet fuel derived from animal fat. (NHK)

Japan plans to seek next-generation astronauts to join an international program to explore the moon. (NHK)

A Japanese research team says some survivors of COVID-19 have suffered from shortness of breath, smell disturbance and loss of hair months after leaving hospital. (NHK)

Researchers in Japan say they have confirmed that face masks are effective in both retarding the spread of viruses and reducing the intake of them. (NHK)

The Japanese government will soon pledge to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions to net zero by 2050, Nikkei has learned. (Nikkei)

Under normal circumstances at this time of year, hundreds of companies would bring to life the Makuhari Messe venue in the city of Chiba with cutting-edge products from robots to cars and AI to internet-connected devices, for the annual event known as CEATEC (Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies). (Japan Times)

Wild deer at Nara Park in western Japan, a major tourist attraction, have often suffered from eating plastic bags discarded by visitors, but local companies have now succeeded in developing paper bags that the animals can digest. (Japan Today)

Central Japan Railway Company unveiled the interior of the latest version of its magnetic-levitation train on Monday. (NHK)

Some Japanese research institutions developing coronavirus vaccines have been hit by cyberattacks, apparently from China, in what are believed to be the first cases of their kind in the country, a U.S. information security firm said Monday. ()

The coronavirus remains active on human skin for nine hours, Japanese researchers have found, in a discovery they said showed the need for frequent hand washing to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. (Japan Times)

It's been nearly ten years since the Fukushima nuclear disaster and Japan is still struggling to manage its consequences. (aljazeera.com)

Japan's industry ministry says there are technical difficulties with three proposed options for disposing of treated radioactive wastewater stored at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. (NHK)

A Japanese hospital said Thursday it has performed the world's first clinical trial of a transplant of visual cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, to treat a patient with pigmentary retinal degeneration. (Japan Today)

The Japanese government plans to release into the sea treated radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant crippled by a powerful earthquake and tsunami in 2011 amid concerns over the environmental impact, sources close to the matter said Thursday. (Kyodo)

A Japanese supercomputer showed that humidity can have a large effect on the dispersion of virus particles, pointing to heightened coronavirus contagion risks in dry, indoor conditions during the winter months. (Japan Today)

Japan, the United States and six other countries have signed an agreement laying out what they say are the guiding principles for space exploration. (NHK)

Covid-related ridership drops and long-term population trends are raising hard questions about the future of the Shinkansen network of high-speed trains in Japan. (Bloomberg)