But it was a hard struggle. Few of the books she needed were written in the Braille language that the blind could read by touching pages.

VOA: special.2011.08.07

And despite all this, a yen touching postwar highs, making it hard for even the most efficient manufacturers to earn a profit on export goods.

FORBES: Japan's Economy May Stink, But Its World-Class Firms Are A Bargain

It turns out that those selenium "doughnuts" can be packed tightly onto a metal surface without touching, thanks to their soft shells, which could allow more bits to be packed onto a hard drive, or be used in quantum computers and next-gen displays.

ENGADGET: Researchers stumble onto 'lava' generated quantum dots, could power future peripherals