Back in 1989, a team of physicists, Fleischmann and Pons, claimed to have discovered cold fusion, the holy grail of energy research. In a short amount of time, the research was discredited and cold fusion became a bad word, something akin to UFOs and alien abduction. In the nearly 20 years that have followed, not much has been heard of cold fusion.
All that changed on May 22, when Japan's leading and esteemed physicist, Yoshiakiu Arata, presented a demonstration to 60 invited guests from around the world, including representatives from six major newspapers. According to those in attendance, the demonstration was a success with the common belief that Arata's work will be easy to duplicate and verify.
In their experiment, the physicists forced deuterium gas into a cell containing a mixture of palladium and zirconium oxide, which absorbed the deuterium to produce a dense "pynco" deuterium. In this dense state, the deuterium nuclei from different atoms were so close together that they fused to produce helium nuclei.
Evidence for the occurrence of this fusion came from measuring the temperature inside the cell. When Arata first injected the deuterium gas, the temperature rose to about 70° C (158° F), which Arata explained was due to nuclear and chemical reactions. When he turned the gas off, the temperature inside the cell remained warmer than the cell wall for 50 hours, which Arata said was an effect of nuclear fusion.
While Arata´s demonstration looked promising to his audience, the real test is still to come: duplication. Many scientists and others are now recalling the infamous 1989 demonstration by Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons, who claimed to produce controlled nuclear fusion in a glass jar at room temperature. However, no one - including Fleischmann and Pons - could duplicate the experiment, leading many people to consider cold fusion a pseudoscience to this day.
Japan has a new fad on its hands, though one that hopefully won't be exported any time soon. In the last month alone, 60 people have committed suicide using a mixture of detergent and other chemicals, a recipe that is currently making the Internet rounds. Add this recent trend to Japan's current #1 status as a country with the most suicides and you have something bordering on epidemic.
I guess I've been out of it, as I had no idea pen spinning was a talent, let alone a sport that merits an association. Nor did I know that a Pen Spinning champ is crowned every year, with the latest king being Ryuki Omura, a 16-year-old Japanese high school student.
From Reuters:
According to the Pen Spinning Association's Web site, spinning tricks range from "normal" -- resting the pen on the side of the middle finger, then flicking it to writing mode -- to "sonic" -- holding the pen between the middle and ring fingers, and twirling it so it rests between the middle and index fingers.
There's a video of Ryuki in action at the official site, though I can't seem to figure out where it is, as my Japanese isn't up to snuff this morning. However, I did find an amazing video that spotlights what this craze is all about.
You know how you're constantly worrying about getting into a knife fight? Well, Japan will be releasing a shirt for sale that's just for you. A Japanese manufacturer has developed a shirt that uses fiber that is similar to that found in body armor yet is still machine washable.
This stylish, yet protective, shirt will successfully protect you from slashing attacks, but will not protect you from the "prison shank" attacks. So if you're one to always be getting slashed by knives, look into importing one of these from Japan in June. The rest of us can read about becoming knights and protect ourselves against all sorts of knife attacks.
Protection doesn't come cheap, the short sleeve version ranged from $200 to $500.
Japan is up to more crazy shenanigans. In an attempt to promote Japanese anime, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura appointed a popular cartoon robot cat named Doramon as "anime ambassador." Doraemon is a Japanese cultural icon and is supposedly popular around the world. The robotic cat travels back in time from the 22nd century and uses crazy futuristic gadgets. Because the real Doraman was too busy being a cartoon, the official certificate was handed to a human-sized doll with an unknown person inside.
"Doraemon, I hope you will travel around the world as an anime ambassador to deepen people's understanding of Japan so they will become friends with Japan," Komura told the blue-and-white cat.
On March 15, Japan held their annual fertility festival, known as Honen Matsuri, wherein they celebrate abundant harvests by lugging a 96-inch wooden dong through city streets. Vendors at the event sell all manner of phallic-shaped foods and souvenirs, making this something like Dickneyland.
I'd gladly trade this event for the boring-as-hell Rose Parade, where the only penises on display are the play-by-play announcers. Yeah, I'm talking about you, Bob Eubanks.
You want to see a video of this festival, don't you? Admit it. No one here will think the worse of you. Your curiosity will be satisfied on page 2.
According to research documented in the March issue of the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, a new species of bacteria has been discovered and it resides in hairspray.
"Contamination of cosmetic products is rare but some products may be unable to suppress the growth of certain bacteria," says Dr Bakir from the Japan Collection of Microorganisms, Saitama, Japan. "We discovered a new species of bacteria called Microbacterium hatanonis, which we found contaminates hairspray."
