NATIONAL
Sept 26, 2017 Science
Gene editing meeting to open in Seoul
Genome editing experts from around the globe will get together in Seoul later this week to introduce and share their new genome engineering technologies, organizers said Tuesday. "The IBS-Nature Conference on Frontiers in Genome Engineering will open at Seoul National University on Wednesday for a three-day run, with 18 renowned scientists from home and abroad attending," the organizers said. The Institute for Basic Science is based in Daejeon, 164km south of Seoul.The meeting will handle three
[Graphic News] The colors of fall
Leaves use carbohydrates (sugars) to continually produce chlorophyll, which makes the leaves green; the chemical absorbs the blue and orange components of sunlight and converts them into energy for the tree.
Sept 24, 2017
KAERI promotes SMART reactors at IAEA meeting
The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute said Tuesday that it promoted its SMART reactor for export to third countries at the ongoing assembly of the international nuclear watchdog in Vienna.The promotion was made as a subsidiary event at the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency the previous day, with 22 Asian, African and Mideast countries attending, a KAERI official said. During the event, KAERI introduced Saudi Arabia's nuclear reactor project, in which it is taking part,
Sept 19, 2017
Korean-American scholars discover mechanism that may hold key to preventing autism
Two Korean-American scholars have identified a mechanism in mice that links autism in offspring to a mother’s gut infection during pregnancy, in a discovery that could one day help prevent the development of the condition. Two studies, led by Gloria Choi of MIT and husband Jun Huh of Harvard Medical School and published in Nature on Wednesday, illuminate that pregnant mice exposed to infection develop an autoimmune response which can result in neural developmental problems in their offspring. Th
Sept 15, 2017
30% of state-supported infertility treatment successful
About three out of 10 infertility treatments funded partly by the government have been successful, with the number of recipients getting support increasing every year, a report from the health ministry said Wednesday.The report from the Ministry of Health and Welfare to opposition party's Rep. Kim Seung-hee said the government provided fund assistance to 87,155 cases of infertility in 2016, an increase of 35.1 percent from five years ago. The success rate in 2016 was 29.5 percent, similar to 28.
Aug 30, 2017
Women scientists to meet in Seoul
The International Conference of Women Scientists and Engineers will open in Seoul this week with some 550 participants discussing the theme "shaping the future," organizers said Tuesday. (Yonhap)The BIEN 2017 conference will be held for three days starting Thursday. The name of the meeting takes its initials from bio, IT, environment/energy/earth and nano technologies, which are the areas dealt with by female scientists at the event, in addition to space and convergence technologies. The confere
Aug 29, 2017
World Veterinary Congress opens to discuss health of humans, animals, environment
Thousands of veterinarians gathered Monday in Incheon, west of Seoul, to discuss ways to enhance the health of humans, animals and the environment around the world.In a speech opening the 33rd World Veterinary Congress earlier in the day, South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon said, "The congress will become an opportunity for mankind to strengthen measures to cope with livestock diseases that are affecting human health."Also attending the opening ceremony of the four-day congress were Agricult
Aug 28, 2017
Over 80% of airborne bacteria identical in Seoul, Beijing: report
About 83 percent of airborne bacteria found in airborne pollutants like PM 2.5 in South Korea and China overlap, a study found Monday, suggesting that Korea’s fine dust particles may have originated from China. The findings were released by a team of researchers from Seoul National University‘s Graduate School of Public Health, and were from the analysis on bacterial DNA of fine dust concentrations in Seoul, Beijing and Nagasaki in Japan. South Korea is bordered by China to the west and Japan to
Govt. animal quarantine agency acquires know-how to make bird flu vaccine
South Korea's animal quarantine agency said Sunday that is has acquired know-how to make its own bird flu vaccines.The Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency said that it has developed candidate vaccine materials for its "antigen bank" that targets the H5N6 and H5N1 strains of avian influenza. It said actual tests have already be carried out on chickens and that the results showed the materials met standards set by the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health.The creation of candidate vaccin
Aug 27, 2017
Korea's animal quarantine agency develops diagnosis kit for FMD
South Korea's animal quarantine agency said Sunday that its has developed the world's first diagnosis kit that can simultaneously check three different types of foot-and-mouth disease strains.The kit is able to detect the O, A and Asia 1 serum types of the highly contagious disease that affects all cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle, pigs, deer, goats, Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency said. It said the latest kit can tell if an animal has been infected within 15 minutes. FMD is classified as
New science official refuses to step down
President Moon Jae-in's newly appointed senior science innovation official said Thursday that she will not step down from the post amid growing calls for her resignation due to her involvement in a stem cell research fraud scandal 11 years ago.Park Ky-young, a biology professor at Sunchon National University, served as a senior advisor to former President Roh Moo-hyun for some two years until 2006 when she resigned over a shocking revelation that Hwang Woo-suk, the country's leading stem cell sc
Aug 10, 2017
Opposition parties ramp up calls to cancel appointment of new science official
Opposition parties on Wednesday ratcheted up pressure on President Moon Jae-in to cancel his appointment of a senior science innovation official who was mired in a 2005 stem cell research fraud scandal.On Monday, Moon appointed Park Ky-young to lead the Science, Technology and Innovation Office at the Ministry of Science and ICT, triggering searing criticism from scientists, politicians and civic groups that called her unfit for the post billed as a science policy control tower.Park, a biology p
Aug 9, 2017
Korea's nuclear policy to focus on 'safety'
South Korea is seeking to focus on safety over economic development while pushing for its nuclear policy, the ICT ministry said Tuesday, amid its move to phase out commercial atomic energy generation.The long-term road map on research and development for the nuclear sector was announced by the Ministry of Science and ICT. Details of the plan will be finalized after receiving opinions from frontline experts."R&D; projects in the nuclear sector for the past 20 years have been pushed forward without
Aug 8, 2017
Korea's Jecheon to host intl. expo on Korean medicine, biotech industry in Sept.
?JECHEON? -- The city of Jecheon, central South Korea, will play host to an international exhibition focused on the Korean medicine and biotech industry in September in a bid to develop the Korean herbal medicine-based biotech industry into a future growth engine, organizers said Thursday. This image, released by the organizing committee of the 2017 World Korean Medicine-Bio Industry Expo on Aug. 3, 2017, shows a structure of the Sept. 22-Oct. 10 fair that the Jecheon municipality will play host
Aug 3, 2017
New ICT minister urge researchers to face various challenges
South Korea's new chief ICT policymaker made a visit to the state-run science laboratory on Tuesday, stressing that both the government and researchers should push forward reform to face various challenges under the fourth industrial revolution. You Young-min, who took office earlier this month, made his first official visit to the Korea Institute of Science and Technology located in northern Seoul. (Yonhap)"I will make visits as much as possible to communicate more with field researchers," Yoo
Jul 25, 2017