Features
What can reverse late-night TV's decline?
In late April, after James Corden announced he would step down from “The Late Late Show” next spring, there was immediate speculation about his replacement. Others, however, have had a different response to recent changes to the late-night TV lineup: Who cares? Ratings are down, they point out. The shows… Read
Buddhist chaplains on the rise in U.S., offering broad appeal
Wedged into a recliner in the corner of her assisted living apartment in Portland, Skylar Freimann, who has a terminal heart condition and pulmonary illness, anxiously eyed her newly arrived hospital bed on a recent day and worried over how she would maintain independence as she further loses mobility. There… Read
Study finds cleaner air leads to more Atlantic hurricanes
Cleaner air in United States and Europe is brewing more Atlantic hurricanes, a new U.S. government study found. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration study links changes in regionalized air pollution across the globe to storm activity going both up and down. A 50% decrease in pollution particles and droplets… Read
Tatami mat platform with built-in vibration speakers promises ultimate sound experience
Tatami mats are a unique aspect of Japanese culture. Made of woven straw, filled with a soft material (traditionally rice straw, but nowadays foam), and bordered with beautifully-patterned cloth, these mats are what make up the floor of a traditional Japanese-style room, which is called a washitsu in Japanese. Sadly, for one reason… Read
All Nippon Airways joins airasia SuperApp's OTA platform
The airasia SuperApp has expanded its portfolio of airline partners with the addition of All Nippon Airways (ANA). As a Star Alliance member, ANA has partnerships with more than 35 airlines, flying to 50 destinations within Japan and 32 international destinations across Asia, Europe and America. “With this collaboration with… Read
In a haze of disinfectant, China struggles with invisible enemy
Leaving a fine mist of disinfectant in their wake, China's hazmat-clad health workers are cleaning homes, roads, parcels and even people -- but more than two years into the pandemic, experts say it is a futile measure against COVID-19. China is tied to a zero-COVID strategy, wielding snap lockdowns, mass… Read
Summer heatwave bleaches 91% of Great Barrier Reef: report
A prolonged summer heatwave in Australia left 91 percent of the Great Barrier Reef's coral damaged by bleaching, according to a new government monitoring report. It was the first time on record the reef had suffered bleaching during a La Nina weather cycle, when cooler temperatures would normally be expected.… Read
Social media yanking shooting videos faster - if not by much
Social platforms have learned to remove violent videos of extremist shootings more quickly over the past few years. It's just not clear they're moving quickly enough. Police say that when a white gunman killed 10 people and wounded three others — most of them Black — in a “racially motivated… Read
Countries with lower-than-expected vaccination rates show unusually negative attitudes to vaccines
In countries with lower-than-expected COVID-19 vaccination rates, mentions of side effects and negative emotions dominated overall social media discourses on COVID-19 vaccines, according to our new research published in the journal Vaccines. Our team wanted to understand whether the tone of social media conversations around the world matched differing country-level… Read
Takashi Murakami takes his art into the metaverse
Takashi Murakami is known for blending pop art and Asian fine arts, but for his latest exhibition in New York, he is moving into the metaverse. At the show "An Arrow Through History" that opened last week at Manhattan's Gagosian Gallery, Murakami builds bridges from traditional fine arts to Japanese… Read
