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The University of Tokyo just covered a robot finger with real skin. The jokes write themselves…
Skin is also just the first step in combining organic matter with machines, and opens the door for incorporating nerves and sensory organs such as olfactory receptors which can detect scents. https://soranews24.com/2022/06/16/robot-finger-covered-in-living-skin-developed-by-university-of-tokyo/ The original report was published online by the U of Tokyo before it was covered last week by several online sources, including WebMD, […]
Amino acids found in material brought back by Hayabusa-2
More than 20 types of amino acids have been detected in samples Japan’s Hayabusa2 space probe brought to Earth from an asteroid in late 2020, a government official said Monday, showing for the first time the organic compounds exist on asteroids in space. https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2022/06/9a7dbced6c3a-amino-acids-found-in-asteroid-samples-collected-by-hayabusa2-probe.html This lends support to the hypothesis that life on Earth was […]
Madam, I’m ADAM
<It has become more and more difficult to share images and quotes from websites that apparently refuse to allow WordPress to share content, so I am borderline “ef it” at this point.”> This used to be a gif, but apparently I’m not allowed to download it as such, and even as a “webp” (whatever the […]
Top Posts & Pages
- “Japan should rethink gender roles”? Yeah, no kidding
- Ten Years of Taking Leave
- First Year Wall (Part 2) - The (not-so voluntary) parent-teacher conference
- The First Year Wall (Part 1) - Gakudo and the Kid
- End of an Era: Goodbye, Nursery School
- Death of a Cherry Tree
- How Do You Talk to Your Kids About Dying?
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© Matthew Apple and Taking Leave, 2009-2020. Duplication of this material without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. If you would like to post or copy brief excerpts from the blog, please provide a link to the original URL along with an author’s credit.
Category Archives: family outings
The Ugly Duckling in Japan
Tomorrow is “Coming of Age Day” in Japan, when 20 year olds celebrate officially becoming “adults” in Japanese society. Today, my family went to a performance by a local civic group of The Ugly Duckling, billed as “a moving story … Continue reading
Posted in entertainment, family outings, Japan, Japanese, Japanese culture, kids shows, parenting
Tagged child-raising, cultural differences, folk tales, half-Japanese, Japan, Japanese, racism
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O-shougatsu
New Year’s lasts one night of drinks and one day of college football in the US, but in Japan the holidays lasts for three days. Actually, for many the New Year’s holidays start on December 29th, giving the typical worker a … Continue reading
Posted in eating, entertainment, family outings, festivals, food, hobbies, Japan, Japanese, Japanese culture, parenting
Tagged child-raising, hatsumode, Japan, Japanese, Japanese holidays, kohaku, shogatsu
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Home for the holidays (Part 1)
After a series of fairly serious blog posts related to an ongoing complaint against Amazon (which was somewhat, but not entirely, resolved), I thought it was about time to post about a slightly more innocuous topic: Making pottery at the … Continue reading
Posted in family outings, holidays, Japan, trips
Tagged bullet train, child-raising, Japan, Japanese, Kyushu, New Year's, shinkansen
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Taking Leave 