World

While it may not seem like it, the fashion world and technology have a lot in common. Just when we get used to the idea of a trend being latest and greatest, it’s quickly replaced by something else. In the wise words of Heidi Klum, supermodel and host of the hit fashion design series “Project Runway,” “One minute you’re in, and the next you’re out!” Though camouflage has long been a staple in the fashion world, it seems that a technological breakthrough is taking it to the next level in terms of functionality. According to researchers, as cool as invisibility cloaks are, they’re so last season and out of style thanks “illusion coatings,” which conceal objects by making them appear as something else. Illusion coatings could be used to help troops or spies protect antennas and sensors from...

In the United States, we assume that retirement homes and communities are inhabited exclusively by senior citizens. That's not the case in the Netherlands, where nursing homes are increasingly offering something called "intergenerational" living -- housing young people and seniors near each other for a truly unique environment. According to CTV News, the Dutch government's budget cuts for retirement living subsidies has left many retirement homes with more rooms than they can fill, leaving them to turn to younger generations. In many cases, this intergenerational living scheme is beneficial to both parties. At one nursing home in Deventer, six university students partake in a unique project that gives them a free place to live. In exchange, they must each spend 30 hours weekly with any ...

Japan has passed a strict new state-secret law, which Reporters Without Borders is calling "an unprecedented threat to freedom of information." Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says it's essential to convince allies to share intelligence with Japan, but critics charge that the law will help the Japanese government conceal its misdeeds, limit freedom of the press, and chill whistleblowers. "This law will restrict the peoples' right to know," said protester Tomoki Hiyama. "It's full of ambiguity and will take us back to the 'public peace and order' controls of World War Two." Though the law was passed over a year ago, it came into effect December 10. Protesters waved banners and beat drums in Tokyo's streets, hours before it came into force. Now, whistleblowing will come at a heavy cost. Public s...

The Educational Testing Service (ETS) has confirmed it: students in Asia have been cheating on the SAT for months. In October, "a small number of test-takers had an unfair advantage on the test," said ETS spokesperson Thomas Ewing, citing confidentiality concerns. ETS, which administers the SAT worldwide, decided to temporarily withhold the October 11 results because of suspicions of cheating "based on specific, reliable information," because of "organizations that seek to illegally obtain test materials for their own profit, to the ultimate detriment of all students." In November, another probe was opened after more allegations of cheating were made following the administration of the SAT in Asia. Since only a few private schools in China are allowed to administer the SAT, many students...

If you had a bunch of brains floating in jars, you probably wouldn't lose them too easily. However, that's precisely what the University of Texas in Austin did over 10 years ago. Luckily, the mystery of the missing brains has seemingly been solved. Apparently, about 100 of them were accidentally destroyed. From the 1950s through to the 1970s, a resident pathologist at the Austin State Hospital, which was formerly known as the Texas State Lunatic Asylum, began collecting the brains of deceased patients in jars of formaldehyde. This was during a time when surgical lobotomies and electroshock therapy were quite common. When Dr. Coleman de Chenar -- the pathologist collecting the specimens -- died in 1985, he'd amassed about 200 brains. Rumor had it that one of the brains in the collection w...

An eight year old British boy has finally lost his first baby tooth -- a year after his permanent teeth started growing in behind them. Zak Brown of Wakefield, West Yorkshire began noticing his permanent teeth coming in about a year ago, but there was a slight problem -- his baby teeth had yet to fall out, leaving him with two rows of teeth where there should only be one. The oddity has earned him the nickname "Jaws" among his fellow classmates, in reference to the multiple layers of teeth that sharks have. "It looked really odd, and they kept on coming. All the while he wasn't losing his baby teeth," noted his mother Claire, according to Mail Online. Although concerning at first, the extra teeth did not appear to be bothering her son or affecting his ability to chew or talk. It does, ho...

Vending machines are usually ideal for grabbing a snack or treat for a couple dollars. But two machines installed in Singapore at the end of September dispense a product slightly on the pricier side: pure gold. The Smart Gold ATMs dispense a range of 24 karat gold items such as gold bars (ranging from 1 to 10 grams in weight), ingots, and gold coins that can be customized using seven designs including the Singaporean icon of the Merlion and symbols from Chinese zodiac. The two ATMs are located at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Resorts World Sentosa, both luxury spots catering to wealthy residents and visitors from all over the world. The machines offer support in Chinese, German, Russian and Arabic and take both credit cards and cash as payment (though, as customers are advised, the mac...

Jennifer Williams, an American from Texas, logged into her Twitter account last Thursday to find that the 40 followers she had at the beginning of the week had exploded into more than 5,000. Williams, a researcher with the D.C.-based Brookings Institute, has spent her career researching religious extremism and the ongoing struggles against radical Islam in the Middle East. Three years ago, after realizing that she had never once read the Quran, despite her field of study, Williams read the religious text -- and shortly thereafter converted to Islam. Flash forward to Wednesday of last week: Williams took notice of the trending #MuslimApologies campaign, a social effort driven by Muslims who were tired of having to apologize for the actions of jihadi radicals. Sympathizing with the campaign...

China and India have long been the epicenters of cheap, rapid production for companies in the industrialized world looking to keep costs down. According to a new report from the digital newspaper The Establishment Post, however, both countries are quickly losing their grip over the globalized manufacturing sector, with Vietnam looking increasingly attractive to foreign investors and multinational corporations. The last five years have seen a growing number of companies move their manufacturing from the Middle Kingdom into Vietnam. The move has been so pronounced that manufacturing has boomed, and now accounts for 25% of Vietnam's economy. Cooling Chinese Economy, ASEAN Boom Play a Big Role The loss of manufacturing is particularly noticeable for China. Vietnam offers far more competitiv...

Mali is making changes to its artisanal mining practices, boosting funding for the independent miners, and policing the sector that produces about a third of the country's gold exports. At a mining reform meeting on Thursday, Abdoulaye Pona, president of Mali's chamber of mines, and mine minister, Boubou Cisse, said the government was negotiating with banks to give miners easier access to financing for equipment, and that newly formed cooperatives would be supervised and revenues distributed equitably. Artisanal miners are also known as subsistence miners, as they are not affiliated with a mining company, but rather work independently, mining or panning for gold. More than 100 million people, primarily in developing countries, rely on this sector for income. Unfortunately, monitoring an...