Turkish leaders reacted with outrage this week after Pope Francis referred to the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War I as “the first genocide of the 20th century.” Turkey recalled its Vatican envoy, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned the pope “not to repeat his mistake,” saying, “It is not possible for the Turkish Republic to […]
Read more
Smarty pants, after Google developers announced that they were teaming up with Levi’s to make jeans with conductive fibers that could be used as touch screens, allowing users to answer the phone or send a text just by swiping their thighs.
Read more
A Chinese pedestrian narrowly escaped death after a knife fell from the sky and stuck in his head. XiaoYunzhi, 57, was walking below a high-rise apartment when the wind blew a kitchen knife from an eighth story balcony. The blade became embedded on the side of his scalp, standing straight up. Xiao realized what had happened only when a storekeeper […]
Read more
A Florida man with a “moral opposition” to trimming the plants, grass, and weeds in his yard has racked up over $130,000 in fines. Neighbors complain that Sean Law’s unkempt lawn is an eyesore that’s driving down property values, but Law says it’s his right to grow crops on his property in a natural manner, and calls it a “blunt […]
Read more
The European Space Agency’s incoming director general, Jan Worner, wants to build a village on the moon. Other nations have similarly out-of-this-world ambitions: Japan Launched a probe to mine an asteroid in 2018 China Plans to build a huge solar-power station in space Russia Hopes to send probes to Jupiter, Mars and Venus India Is exploring sending a rocket to […]
Read more
A Middle Eastern company has unveiled a fetching new line of Lycra leotards for racing camels to improve their performance on the track. Camel racing is popular across the Arab world, and Abu Dhabi based firm Al-Shibla says its compression suits can give an animal an edge by boosting blood flow to muscles. But the company is also pitching its […]
Read more
The rate of U.S. diagnoses for melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, has doubled in the past 30 years, from 11.2 cases per 100,000 people in 1982 to 22.7 cases per 100,000 in 2011, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released June 2. As a result, the agency expects the cost of melanoma care to […]
Read more
Percentage of countries worldwide in which girls outperform boys in academic achievement: 70
Read more
2,500 – Number of U.S. military dogs on duty worldwide $2,000,000 – Amount the U.S. spent on developing a robotic mule
Read more
Average cost of a hospital stay in the United States: $12,000 In Germany: $5,000
Read more