YeinJee's Asian Journal

A group of researchers at Osaka Bioscience Institute (OBI) has identified a protein that is necessary to efficiently transmit visual information and named it the protein Pikachurin after Pikachu, a popular anime character in Pokémon. [via Yomiuri]

As bizarre as it sounds, this is not the first time that a scientific term is named after an anime character…

There is a protein called Sonic Hedgehog Homolog (SHH) which plays a key role in the growth of digits on limbs and organisation of the brain.

There is another gene named as Pokemon (which happens to be an acronym for POK erythroid myeloid ontogenic factor), a gene that may act as a master switch for cancer. The name was later changed to Zbtb7 after some strong protest from the Pokémon company because they don’t want to share their name with a cancer-causing gene.

According to Mainichi, a huge numbers of migratory locusts have invaded the island of the No 2 runway at Kansai International Airport that is due to open on August 2, prompting an extermination effort.

Kansai International Airport is located on an artificial island in the middle of Osaka Bay, off the shore of Sennan district of Osaka, Japan.

I never knew that there are locusts in Japan. The locusts were first noticed in large numbers on June 9, and now it’s estimated that a million locusts are around the new runway on the reclaimed island.

On Wednesday the airport workers sprayed chemicals as part of an extermination effort and mowed the grass where the locusts live.

Some wonder if the large number of insects is a sign that the airport will be buzzing with business once the second runway opens lol.