Science
The dragon ants of New Guinea, and what X-rays found inside
Two ant species from Papua New Guinea got Game of Thrones names. The reason the paper matters is what microtomography revealed under the spines.
West region
Jurong: local weather, transport and housing
The industrial west: heavy industry, the island refineries and a second city centre under construction.
00
The place
How Jurong came to be the way it is.
Jurong was swamp. The decision to industrialise it, taken in the early 1960s, was contentious precisely because the ground was poor and the location remote. The estate was known for a while as the project that would either work or bankrupt the exercise. It worked, and the reclamation kept going: Jurong Island was assembled by joining several offshore islands into one landmass, and now carries the petrochemical industry.
The result is a district with two unrelated characters. The industrial west is heavy plant, refineries and port, largely closed to the public. The residential west is housing estates with their own town centres, and it is the part the housing figures on this site measure.
A third character is under construction. Jurong Lake District is planned as a second centre of gravity, with offices and civic functions at scale away from the existing business district, and the transport build is the tell, with an additional rail line going in to serve it.
Air temperature, Jurong West —°C Reading…
— Reading…
Humidity —% Reading…
Wind —km/h Reading…
Feels like —°C Reading…
Areas with rain — Reading…
Meteorological Service Singapore, via the national open-data service read at page load
- East-West Line Opened with the North-South in 1987, and the line that reaches the airport by a branch at Tanah Merah.
- North-South Line The first line to open, in 1987. The original spine, running north from the city out to Jurong East.
- Jurong Region Line Under construction, planned to serve the west and the second city centre at Jurong Lake.
3 lines serve Jurong, of six on the network How reliability is measured
-10.3%
Median resale flat S$565,000 Against the islandwide median of S$630k
Record
Sales counted 1,405 Last twelve months, Jurong West town
Rank
Among 26 towns 22of 26 Dearest first, by median
Islandwide median, for context
Housing & Development Board, resale flat transactions Jan 2017 to Aug 2026
04
Local news
Nothing matches Jurong yet, so here is the newest across the desks instead.
The Singapore desk →
Tech
The premium says little without the quota
Every report of a bidding exercise quotes the price. The number that produced it — how many certificates were on offer — is published in the same file and almost never appears beside it.
World
What a contagion model found in US mass-shooting data
Researchers borrowed the mathematics of epidemics and applied it to mass killings. The estimated window of raised risk is thirteen days.
05
What is there
Named places, with what each one is.
- Jurong Lake Gardens The national gardens in the west, built around a freshwater lake at the centre of the planned second city.
- Chinese and Japanese Gardens Two islands in Jurong Lake, laid out in the 1970s as part of the original industrial-town amenity plan.
- Jurong Island Seven offshore islands joined by reclamation into one petrochemical complex. Access is restricted.
- Science Centre Singapore The national science centre, sited in Jurong since 1977.
Places of record rather than recommendations.
06
Read on
Topics that shape the district.
Tech
The biggest dam in the world, explained: tallest vs largest
Four different structures can each claim the title, depending on whether you measure height, bulk, reservoir or output. None of them is wrong.
Science
Ocean currents explained: the map, the types and the climate
An ocean currents map is really two maps printed on top of each other. Wind drives the top few hundred metres; density drives everything below.
Features
Did LA bike share take off? Ten years of answer
The question was reasonable in 2016. The system launched, grew to three areas, cancelled one of them, and is still running on a month-to-month contract.