Links
What the world can learn from Japan’s robots
Japan is changing: a rapidly ageing society, a record-breaking influx of visitors from overseas, and more robots than ever. That's where the country's young people come in.
link
How apps are transforming the way we travel
This article was written and published before the Covid-19 pandemic. While limited air travel is possible between certain destinations, travellers are advised to check the latest travel advice and follow all Covid-19 precautions.
link
Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop series on Netflix slammed by NHS chief
Gwyneth Paltrow's new Netflix series poses a "considerable health risk" to the public, NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens has said.
link
Why vegan junk food may be even worse for your health
No British train station or high street would be complete without a Greggs bakery. The merchants of mass-produced pastries are as quintessential as they come. And last year they won plaudits for turning vegan. On the back of their success, other fast food brands shortly followed suit.
link
Dissatisfaction with democracy 'at record high'
Dissatisfaction with democracy within developed countries is at its highest level in almost 25 years, according to University of Cambridge researchers. Academics have analysed what they say is the biggest global dataset on attitudes towards democracy, based on four million people in 3,500 surveys.
link
An atomic marker hidden in plain sight
In the courtyard of a gift shop decorated with colourful ceramic frogs and dragonflies, it’s easy to overlook the historic marker. Perhaps that’s fitting for a secret site.
link
Car or computer? How transport is becoming more connected
While few would blink any more at the sight of a Mini Cooper alongside their own vehicle, some may have noticed a few of their models out and about at the moment that are strangely quiet. And their silence masks some heavy-duty engineering under the bonnet.
link
Auschwitz: How death camp became centre of Nazi Holocaust
On 27 January 1945, Soviet troops cautiously entered Auschwitz. Primo Levi - one of the most famous survivors - was lying in a camp hospital with scarlet fever when the liberators arrived.
link
Earth's oldest asteroid impact 'may have ended ice age'
Scientists have identified the world's oldest asteroid crater in Australia, adding it may explain how the planet was lifted from an ice age. The asteroid hit Yarrabubba in Western Australia about 2.2 billion years ago - making the crater about half the age of Earth, researchers say.
link
Architect of CIA's 'enhanced interrogation' testifies at Guantánamo tribunal
image copyrightGetty ImagesA US psychologist who helped develop the CIA's "enhanced interrogation" techniques has given evidence before a military tribunal in Guantánamo Bay.James Mitchell said he had only agreed to testify there because families of the 9/11 victims were present.
link
Van Gogh self-portrait is genuine, experts decide
Art experts have identified Self Portrait (1889) as the only work painted by the Dutch master while he was suffering from psychosis. It was confirmed as authentic by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
link
New solar power source and storage developed
It couples thin, flexible, lighter solar sheets with energy storage to power buildings or charge vehicles off-grid. The company behind it, Solivus, plans to cover the roofs of large industrial buildings with the solar fabric.
link
Solving the Three Body Problem
PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: http://to.pbs.org/DonateSPACE ↓ More info below ↓ Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord! https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime Sign up for the mailing list to get episode notifications and
link
When sexual abuse was called seduction: France confronts its past
An 83-year-old French writer once feted by the Paris intellectual set now finds himself ostracised because of his writings about sex with teenage boys and girls. From the 1960s onwards, Gabriel Matzneff made no secret of his passion for seducing adolescents.
link
Meet Sophia, World's First AI Humanoid Robot | Tony Robbins
Technology affects every area of our lives and businesses. You can ignore it, resist it and let it become your downfall. Or you can learn how to use technology before it uses you. Learn more at https://www.tonyrobbins.com/podcasts/how-ai-can-boost-your-business and watch this video for a fascinating
link
Chinese birth rate falls to lowest in seven decades
China's birth rate has fallen to its lowest since the formation of the People's Republic of China 70 years ago - despite the easing of the much criticised one-child policy. The birth rate was 10.48 per 1,000 in 2019 - the lowest since 1949, the National Bureau of Statistics said.
link
Panama: Seven people found dead after suspected exorcism
The bodies of seven people have been found in a mass grave in an indigenous area of Panama where members of a religious sect were believed to be performing exorcisms, officials say. The victims included a pregnant woman, 32, and five of her children, aged one to 11. The sixth was a neighbour, 17.
link
Russia’s mysterious ‘City of the Dead’
Just outside the remote Russian village of Dargavs lies a medieval necropolis fittingly called the “City of the Dead”.
link
What the earliest life on Earth looked like
At the south-eastern tip of Newfoundland, rugged cliffs rise imposingly above the sea. The craggy rocks are known as Mistaken Point, an homage to the many ships that met their untimely end there after sailors ‘mistook’ them for a different place.
link
Cookies crumbling as Google phases them out
Google is to restrict the number of advertising cookies on websites accessed via its Chrome browser, in response to calls for greater privacy controls. Cookies are small text files that are used to track users across the web.
link
Why Japan is so successful at returning lost property
For most, losing a wallet or purse is more than an inconvenience. While smartphones now let us make contactless payments, hold our travel cards and help us to find our way home, there’s still something reassuringly secure about carrying physical ID and bank cards.
link
The 'sorcerer' keeping Mali's marionette tradition alive
The people behind Mali's marionette tradition, which has been used to pass on the folklore and culture of a community, are struggling to survive as the recent insecurity has stopped the vital income that came from visitors, as Clair MacDougall reports from Bamako.
link
Secrets of '1,000-year-old trees' unlocked
Scientists have discovered the secret of how the ginkgo tree can live for more than 1,000 years. And, unlike many other plants, its genes are not programmed to trigger inexorable decline when its youth is over.
link
The 106-year history of the dreaded economy airline seat
As millions of travellers take to the skies each year, economy seats continue to shrink. Trace the dreaded airplane seat from its wicker inception to its carbon fibre future.
link
Australia fires: Aboriginal planners say the bush 'needs to burn'
For thousands of years, the Indigenous people of Australia set fire to the land. Long before Australia was invaded and colonised by Europeans, fire management techniques - known as "cultural burns" - were being practised.
link