Science

Singaporean entomologists Foo Maosheng and Ipis Lord have discovered a new genus of cockroach, Nocticola pheromosa. If that name sounds familiar, it might be because Pheromosa is also the name of a Pokémon! An Ultra Beast also known as UB-02 Beauty, the Lissome Pokémon was first seen in Pokémon Sun and Moon.

Popular commercial video games see millions of people around the world immersed in wondrous landscapes, many filled with real geological features including volcanoes, mineral deposits, and dinosaurs. Even though these features can be overlooked by many players as simple video game tropes, if utilized in educational environments or scientific outreach events, video games have the potential to encourage and stimulate teaching of geoscientific concepts, both in the classroom or in their own time. Pokémon Legends: Arceus is set in a fictional landscape, Hisui, that is directly based on the real-world island of Hokkaido, northern Japan. This paper demonstrates that a single commercial video game can be used to explore a variety of geological and geomorphological concepts including volcanology, economic geology, and hazard mitigation, with direct real-world examples to support the geoscientific understanding.

The latest featured article in our ongoing project to bring more of the academic work around the Pokémon franchise and/or fandom to the attention of the broader Pokémon community, focuses on the use of sophisticated specialized language in player-written guides for Pokémon GO, and discusses several interesting implications for literacy and classroom learning.

Pokémon characters have been used as mascots for a variety of campaigns in Japan for many years, perhaps most frequently in relation to regional tourism. This time, it's Vaporeon's turn to join the cast of Pokémon mascots, after they were named the official ambassador for Water Day by the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

Every year, a substantial amount of academic research is published about, or with some connection to, the Pokémon franchise and/or fandom. While occasionally some of this research breaks through to the fandom and/or to mainstream news, much of this research sadly goes underreported, and unread by the wider community of Pokémon fans. We here at Bulbagarden think it's about time that changed. Our first featured article comes from a multinational team of researchers, whose study takes an extensive look at how climate change will impact the existence of suitable habitat for Kangaskhan. Dr. Dan L. Warren, the lead author of the study, noted the primary reason for choosing to use a Pokémon character in their research was to engage a broader audience with the issues conservation scientists regularly need to think about. We think that's a wonderful idea, and it's why we've chosen this article specifically to be our first featured article with this project.

A team of researchers working under Professor Michael Bonkowski at the University of Colone's Institute of Zoology have discovered a previously undescribed bacteria in amoebae which they have dubbed "Pokemonas". The name references the intracellular livestyle of the bacteria within ball-shaped Thecofilosea amoebae, likening it to Pokémon being caught and living within their Poké Balls.