Ota won in a by-election to replace her LDP predecessor, "Knock" Yokoyama, a former comedian who wasn't so funny.

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This is where Ichiro Hirao, Shigeyuki Yokoyama and their colleagues at the Yokoyama Cytologic Project in Saitama, Japan, come in.

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Other unnatural base pairs have been made before, notably by a Japanese group led by Shigeyuki Yokoyama, now at the Genomic Sciences Centre in Saitama.

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"It's part of our research into a total ubiquitous technology society, and activity recognition is an important part of that, " said Hiroyuki Yokoyama, head of web data research at KKDI's research labs in Tokyo.

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Before that could happen in a useful way, however, cells would have to be given the machinery to make the ingredients themselves, rather than being spoon-fed them, as Dr Hirao and Dr Yokoyama have done.

ECONOMIST: Chemists are trying to synthesise new varieties of life

When they mixed their artificial biochemicals (including the unnatural amino acid) with a bacterial extract that contained ribosomes and all the appropriate enzymes, Dr Hirao and Dr Yokoyama found that the unnatural additions were treated just like their natural analogues.

ECONOMIST: Chemists are trying to synthesise new varieties of life

Kumi Yokoyama of Japan is the only woman shortlisted, with the nominees completed by Neymar (Santos), Hamit Altintop (Turkey) and Linus Hallenius of Sweden's Hammarby, who in one fluid movement took the ball on his chest, flicked it over his head with his right foot and volleyed in with his left from the edge of the box.

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