Humans are now exploring Mars at a furious pace. Particularly in the last decade, our knowledge of Mars has increased tremendously, revealing a warm and humid climate and the existence of liquid water on Mars in the past. Furthermore, it is believed that methane gas is still being produced in some areas, and the possibility of life on Mars is even being discussed. This presentation will review the latest Martian science and introduce the Mars exploration plan currently under consideration in Japan.

Sex is closely related to reproduction and fertility, and if we can control sexual differentiation, we can also control reproduction and fertility. Therefore, detailed research on the mechanism of sex determination in insects will provide important clues for the development of new pest control methods. On the other hand, insects do not possess sex hormones and have a unique sex-determination mechanism that differs greatly from that of mammals and other vertebrates, so it is academically significant to understand the mechanism. In this lecture, we will introduce the latest findings on the sex-determination mechanism of insects and its possible application to pest control.

The Japan Sea, which is a semi-enclosed sea, underwent large-scale environmental changes during the last glacial period, and it has been believed that deep-sea organisms died out due to anoxia at the height of the glacial period. However, a comparison of the genetic characteristics of deep-sea benthic populations in the Sea of Japan with those in the Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacific Ocean revealed that some species survived in the Sea of Japan during the last glacial period. Analysis of otoliths of deep-sea demersal fishes revealed that the presence or absence of ontogenetic vertical migration, in which fishes emerge near the ocean surface during the early stages of development, was the difference between "life and death" of species.