Making Sour into Sweet
Have you ever heard of miracle fruit, a berry from Ghana? For about an hour after you eat it, everything sour tastes sweet.
Because miracle fruit is so delicate, scientists for years have tried to genetically engineer other organisms to produce miraculin. This led to a series of failures. In the 1990s, researchers tried unsuccessfully to alter tobacco plants, yeasts and even E. coli bacteria to produce the same protein, which is one of seven known to have a sweetening effect, but the only one that turns sour to sweet.
Last year, a team of scientists led by Hiroshi Ezura, a professor at Tsukuba University near Tokyo, said they finally succeeded -- with lettuce. In a scientific report published in Federation of European Biochemical Societies Letters, the researchers wrote that two grams produce roughly the same effect as one miracle fruit.
Mr. Ezura, who is collaborating with Inplanta Innovations Inc., a Japanese biotech company, says his team next hopes to develop a genetically modified tomato, possibly for commercial use as a low-calorie sweetener or as an additive for foods targeting diabetics, since it removes the need for sugar.
Read the full article: To Make Lemons Into Lemonade, Try 'Miracle Fruit'
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Meguro Parasitological Museum
Since there are many researchers in Tsukuba (some even in the field of Medical Science, perhaps?), I thought this museum will get the attention of many TsukuBlog readers.
Meguro Parasitological Museum (目黒寄生虫館 or Meguro Kisei-chuu kan) is the only museum in the world that is dedicated to parasites.
The Meguro Parasitological Museum is a research facility that was established in 1953 by the private funds of Satoru Kamegai (1909-2002), a Doctor of Medical Science. Since its establishment, the Museum has achieved substantial success owing to the help of volunteers in the private sector as well as the assistance of the government, in addition to the support of the academic establishment. The parasite-related materials and specimens held by the museum along with the museum's research and publication activities allow the museum to pride itself as one of the most distinguished museums in the world.
I've never been there (yet!), but I first learned about this place when my friend e-mailed me an image of T-shirt with a picture of a tapeworm on it many years ago. Apparently, the popularity of that T-shirt and other T-shirts and products with tapeworm and other parasite designs is catching on.
It's a bit early, but if you are already looking for souvenirs to take home during the summer break, the things you can buy in this museum will definitely leave lasting impressions..., good or bad.
T-shirts 1900 Yen - 3300Yen
You can get UNIQUE T-shirts at the shop.
Over 10 types T-shirts are sold and available sizes are depends on designs.
Above all, the best number is a black shirt with a “raised” tapeworm across the front. You can feel it!
Others…
Bag, Cellular phone strap, Key chain, Pen, Postcard, Ruler, Sticker etc… Can you believe that a real parasite (Anisakis) is sealed in the key chain? It is the best seller of all. Also the ruler which is printed cute cartoon parasites is quite popular souvenir at the shop.
This museum is only a 15-minute walk from the JR Yamanote Meguro Station, and the admission is free (they accept donations).
>> Welcome to the World's Only Parasitological Museum!
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Meson Changes into its Anti-Particle
Particle physics is like studying fine wristwatches by slamming them together to see which parts fall out.
I think that's a great image. This article is about two international groups of physicists (including some at Tsukuba's High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, KEK) and an interesting discovery that they have made.
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Mitsubishi Foundation Grants
The Mitsubishi Foundation offers grants to non-Japanese residents of Japan for research and activities related to three themes.
1. Research Grants in the Natural Sciences Forty-nine grants were awarded in 2006 for a total of 300,000,000 yen.
2. Grants for Social Welfare Activities
Thirty-nine grants were awarded in 2006, for a total of 90,000,000 yen.
3. Research Grants in the Humanities
Forty-six grants were awarded in 2006, for a total of 60,000,000 yen.
Please see the Mitsubishi Foundation website for more information.
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Research in Tsukuba
The Case of the Disappearing Mass
According to theory, some particles have a different mass in empty space than they do in an atomic nucleus. In the 19 January Physical Review Letters, researchers describe evidence for such an effect in a new particle--one made of "strange" quarks, rather than the ordinary quarks found in protons and neutrons. The findings may help guide theorists trying to understand how the masses of larger particles arise from their internal quarks and force fields
(snip)
So far the effect has shown up in particles containing up and down quarks, including protons, neutrons, and two exotic mesons called the rho and the omega. But the results have been controversial because they conflict with some other experiments that suggested no mass reduction at all. Now researchers at KEK, the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization in Tsukuba, Japan, led by Hideto En'yo of RIKEN, a Japanese research institute, hope they have swayed some critics by observing the effect in the phi meson, which is made of a strange and an anti-strange quark. The mass reduction is less dramatic for these heavier quarks, but by collecting data from more collisions, and making more precise measurements of the products flying out of these collisions, the team found the 3.4 percent reduction in mass predicted by theory.
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