With the widespread use of touch panels, haptic user interfaces that interact with information through the sense of touch are attracting attention. For example, touch panels allow users to interact with information more intuitively than with a mouse or a keyboard, because the place to operate the touch panel coincides with the place where the information is presented. Research on interfaces aimed at such intuitive operation has been increasing in number in recent years, and the trend is changing rapidly. In this lecture, we will give an overview of haptic user interfaces and discuss the current status, issues, and possible new trends in the future.

The symbol of the "culture of wood" is wooden buildings made of renewable biological resources. In the background of the wooden culture, there are abundant forests, traditional craft techniques that have skillfully utilized the blessings of these forests, and magnificent wooden buildings as an expression of these techniques. For many Japanese, it is difficult to associate such cultural buildings with the forests that have supported them. In Japan, two-thirds of the land is covered with forests, maintaining one of the highest rates of forest cover in the world. As civilization has developed, forests have been diminishing all over the world, but why has Japan been the only country that has been able to preserve its rich forests while maintaining its high culture? Why has Japan been able to preserve its rich forests while maintaining a high level of culture, and why has it been able to build an advanced wood culture?

In addition to mere genetic recombination, we have begun to design gene clusters and their control regions to produce useful substances in microorganisms. DNA sequence design for this purpose will be introduced.