Japanese chemicals company Teijin has developed a plastic that emits a blue light when exposed to radioactivity (pictured). Named SCINTIREX, the company expects the polyester-based resin to be used as a scintillator, a core part in radiation meters (radiation quantity can be calculated based on the level of luminescence).
Teijin developed the plastic in cooperation with Kyoto University and … → Read More
In April this year, a group of graduate school students at Kyoto University announced the launch of a venture called Green Lord Motors [JP]. As the name suggests, it’s a car company, and yesterday, it took the wraps off its first offering [JP, PDF]: a replica of the popular Tommykaira ZZ as an electric vehicle. → Read More
Japanese business daily The Nikkei is reporting that at team of researchers at Kyoto University developed a palm-size X-ray generation device with a special power source: two D-type batteries. According to the paper, the current prototype is just 5cm long and 3cm wide. → Read More
We don’t cover medical technology here on CrunchGear usually, but one of the things Canon is currently working on in that area sounds pretty interesting. According to Japanese daily The Nikkei, the company has developed a machine that helps detecting breast cancer without using X-rays (it’s estimated [PDF] that in the US alone, some 250,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer yearly). → Read More
There can be no doubt “green” energy is becoming more and more important in Japan. And just like the many other inventions in this area, I am sure this newest invention that’s potentially beneficial for the environment can one day make its way outside Japan, too: A floating wind turbine that’s currently in prototype mode and is 12.5m tall (5.5m are above the surface). → Read More
Hard disks and recording media to store data are great and all, but especially for sensitive information (such as corporate data) longevity and reliability are major problems. The usual recording media existing on the market last for a few decades max, but now Japan tries to develop a device that stores data for a thousand years. → Read More
http://blip.tv/play/ih_E6EGJ5FQ Japanese people are proud of the fact that many scientists credit “The Tale of Genji” as the first novel ever written. Now famous Kyoto University spinoff Robo-Garage has revived Murasaki Shikibu, the tale’s author and a noblewoman, in robotic form. MURASAKI stands 31cm and weighs 1.5kg. The robot wears a kimono in the style of the early eleventh… → Read More
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