the neverending story~♥

'Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add colour to my sunset sky..' Rabindranath Tagore.

'Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared.' J. K. Rowling

This is my blog.
A relatively capsulated collection of sights, sounds, thoughts,
ideas and pieces of knowledge that interest and inspire me.

and with every revolution comes a song
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Curiouser and curiouser..

Posts tagged Japan
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mothernaturenetwork: Welcome to the jungle: Tokyo’s ‘Garden & House’Award-winning architect Ryue Nishizawa’s “Garden & House,” is a narrow, minimalist home in Tokyo that boasts more potted plants than interior walls.

mothernaturenetwork:

Welcome to the jungle: Tokyo’s ‘Garden & House’
Award-winning architect Ryue Nishizawa’s “Garden & House,” is a narrow, minimalist home in Tokyo that boasts more potted plants than interior walls.

mothernaturenetwork:

Japanese breakthrough will make wind power cheaper than nuclear
A surprising aerodynamic innovation in wind turbine design called the ‘wind lens’ could triple the output of a typical wind turbine, making it less costly than nuclear power.

Building new faces from stem cells in the ear

PEOPLE in need of surgery to repair or reconstruct damaged cartilage could soon find help in an unlikely place - their ears. Stem cells from human ears have successfully been grown into chunks of cartilage that could replace the synthetic materials currently used in surgery.

Takanori Takebe at Yokohama City University in Japan is the first to confirm that the ear contains a source of stem cells, hidden in tissue called the perichondrium.

Takebe’s team removed part of the perichondrium from human ears and injected it into mice. The transplanted cells successfully grew into cartilage, which was still healthy after 10 months (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1109767108).

“We are now preparing for the first clinical application [of the technique] in our university hospital,” says Takebe.

Photograph courtesy Takahiro Okano, MOE/UNESCO An aerial view captures the sweep of sea and sky surrounding Japan’s Ogasawara Islands, also known as the Bonin Islands—and now one of the newest World Heritage natural properties. The archipelago is home to nearly 200 endangered bird species and at least one critically endangered bat—the Bonin flying fox. More than 400 native plants grow here at an evolutionary crossroads, where species from both southeast and northwest Asia coexist alongside others found nowhere else in the world. Taken from National Geographic.

Photograph courtesy Takahiro Okano, MOE/UNESCO

An aerial view captures the sweep of sea and sky surrounding Japan’s Ogasawara Islands, also known as the Bonin Islands—and now one of the newest World Heritage natural properties. The archipelago is home to nearly 200 endangered bird species and at least one critically endangered bat—the Bonin flying fox.

More than 400 native plants grow here at an evolutionary crossroads, where species from both southeast and northwest Asia coexist alongside others found nowhere else in the world.

Taken from National Geographic.

The recent breakthrough by a team of Japanese researchers has produced one of the most complex and sophisticated pieces of tissue of recent years from only a three-dimensional cell culture of mouse embryonic stem cell aggregates - the retina precursor known as the optic cup. Retinal cell-inducing factors initated spontaneous differentation of the cultured cells into not only cells displaying retinal markers, but once an optic vesicle appeared (as one would in vivo) it showed correct patterning and further specific differentation into an optic cup. The optic cup constitutes 2 differing cell layers working and communicating with each other, akin to normal in vivo optic cups. This lead could potentially lead to future work on therapeautic strategies for the treatment of degenerative eye conditions such as retinitis pigmentosa but is less helpful in treating conditions where it is the signal transduction from the eyes to the brain that is most affected.Nature News: Stem cells make ‘retina in a dish’ | Article: Self-organizing optic-cup morphogenesis in three-dimensional culture. Image courtesy of M. Eiraku and Y.Sasai at RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology, Japan.

The recent breakthrough by a team of Japanese researchers has produced one of the most complex and sophisticated pieces of tissue of recent years from only a three-dimensional cell culture of mouse embryonic stem cell aggregates - the retina precursor known as the optic cup.
Retinal cell-inducing factors initated spontaneous differentation of the cultured cells into not only cells displaying retinal markers, but once an optic vesicle appeared (as one would in vivo) it showed correct patterning and further specific differentation into an optic cup. The optic cup constitutes 2 differing cell layers working and communicating with each other, akin to normal in vivo optic cups.
This lead could potentially lead to future work on therapeautic strategies for the treatment of degenerative eye conditions such as retinitis pigmentosa but is less helpful in treating conditions where it is the signal transduction from the eyes to the brain that is most affected.

Nature News: Stem cells make ‘retina in a dish’ | Article: Self-organizing optic-cup morphogenesis in three-dimensional culture.

Image courtesy of M. Eiraku and Y.Sasai at RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology, Japan.

westmaiden:toliveanddieinlondon: This is Hideaki Akaiwa. When the Tsunami hit his home town of Ishinomaki, Hideaki was at work. Realising his wife was trapped in their home, he ignored the advice of professionals, who told him to wait for the army to arrive to provide search and rescue. Instead he found some scuba gear, jumped in the raging torrent - dodging cars, houses and other debris being dragged around by the powerful current, any of which could have killed him instantly - and navigated the now submerged streets in pitch dark, freezing water until he found his house. Swimming inside, he discovered his wife alive on the upper level with only a small amount of breathing room, and sharing his resperator, pulled her out to safety. If he had waited for the army, his wife of 20 years would be dead. Oh, and if that’s not enough badassery for one lifetime, Hideaki realised his mother was also unaccounted for, so jumped back in the water and managed to save her life also. Since then Hideaki enters the water everyday on a one man search and rescue mission, saving countless lives and proving that two natural disasters in a single day, and insurmountable odds can’t stand in the way of love. This man is my hero.

westmaiden:toliveanddieinlondon:

This is Hideaki Akaiwa. When the Tsunami hit his home town of Ishinomaki, Hideaki was at work. Realising his wife was trapped in their home, he ignored the advice of professionals, who told him to wait for the army to arrive to provide search and rescue.

Instead he found some scuba gear, jumped in the raging torrent - dodging cars, houses and other debris being dragged around by the powerful current, any of which could have killed him instantly - and navigated the now submerged streets in pitch dark, freezing water until he found his house. Swimming inside, he discovered his wife alive on the upper level with only a small amount of breathing room, and sharing his resperator, pulled her out to safety.

If he had waited for the army, his wife of 20 years would be dead.

Oh, and if that’s not enough badassery for one lifetime, Hideaki realised his mother was also unaccounted for, so jumped back in the water and managed to save her life also. Since then Hideaki enters the water everyday on a one man search and rescue mission, saving countless lives and proving that two natural disasters in a single day, and insurmountable odds can’t stand in the way of love. This man is my hero.

A beautiful frozen birch tree offset by Mars and Orion in the night sky. Shimosuwa-machi, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Image taken by Masahiro Miyasaka.

A beautiful frozen birch tree offset by Mars and Orion in the night sky.
Shimosuwa-machi, Nagano Prefecture, Japan.
Image taken by Masahiro Miyasaka.

theworldwelivein: couple / vintage / culture / kimono / traditonal : geiko (geisha) kotoha, kyoto japan　芸妓 琴葉さん　日本・京都 (by Michael Chandler)

theworldwelivein:

couple / vintage / culture / kimono / traditonal : geiko (geisha) kotoha, kyoto japan　芸妓 琴葉さん　日本・京都 (by Michael Chandler)

Fascinating photo of the eruption of Sarychev Volcano in the Kuril Islands, northeast of Japan. A pileus cloud has formed on the ash plume as a smooth white cap as it breaks the clouds.Weird, Rare Clouds and the Physics Behind Them.

Fascinating photo of the eruption of Sarychev Volcano in the Kuril Islands, northeast of Japan. A pileus cloud has formed on the ash plume as a smooth white cap as it breaks the clouds.
Weird, Rare Clouds and the Physics Behind Them.

Gwenael Nicolas of Curiosity (Design Studio), Japan with ‘Sparks’, an installation for Swarovski Crystal Palace. Details and more pictures at designboom.

Gwenael Nicolas of Curiosity (Design Studio), Japan with ‘Sparks’, an installation for Swarovski Crystal Palace. Details and more pictures at designboom.

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