TheSTATWorld

  B ill Gates seem obsessed with world's population control and family planning. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation wants to improve contraceptives. They financially support MicroCHIPS, a Massachusetts biotechnology company, that has an aim to develop the next generation of implantable devices. The tiny chip with an antenna and battery is designed to be implanted under the skin, which stores hormone and releases a precise dose at scheduled intervals. Unlike other contraceptive devices, it does not have to be removed when the woman wants to have children. It can be turned on and off with a remote control.

U nlike the others, he has no friends, no family; he does not belong to any group. No partner, he has never had. The case of this solitary whale caught the attention of the US Navy in 1989. In 1992, following the end of the Cold War, the U.S. Navy partially declassified the recordings and technical specifications of its SOSUS anti-submarine hydrophone arrays  and made SOSUS   available for oceanographic research.

T he answer to this question may surprise you. In fact, according to a recent British Medical Journal article discussing this issue, few health professionals, including doctors, dieticians, and personal trainers know the correct answer.

E arly on the morning of December 1, 1948, police were called to Somerton Beach in Adelaide, Australia. There, they found a sharply dressed middle-aged man, his head resting against the short sea wall, a half-smoked cigarette resting on his collar. He had been dead for several hours.

G rüner See (Green Lake) is a lake in Styria, Austria, near the town of Tragoss, known for its shimmering, emerald green hue and its fluctuating depth throughout the year; at times leaving a park completely submerged in it. During winter, the lake is only 1-2 meter deep and the surrounding area is used as a county park. It is a particular favorite site for hikers. But as the temperature starts rising in the spring, the ice and snow on the mountaintops begins to melt and runs down into the basin of the land below. The lake swells up to engulf the entire area, including the park. During summer, the lake reaches its maximum depth of around 12 meters and is claimed to look the most beautiful at this time. Every spring this park shifts from trekkers and gives its way to underwater explorers by turning into a literal swimming pool.

T o understand the nature of Pringles and other stackable chips, forget the notion that they come from actual potatoes in any recognizable way. The Pringles Company (in an effort to avoid taxes levied against "luxury foods" like chips in the UK) once even argued that the potato content of their chips was so low that they are technically not even potato chips.

C heryl's Birthday is the unofficial name given to a mathematics brain teaser which was posted online on 10 April 2015, going viral in a matter of days. The quiz asked readers to guess the birthday of a girl named Cheryl using a handful of clues given to her friends Albert and Bernard.

T he diagnosis and early detection of the first symptoms of Parkinson's disease become much more within reach than it looks: just typing on a keyboard, either our computer, smart phone or tablet, could tell if we have this degenerative disease.

W ithout being prepared for the coming wave of change, physicians, patients and all stakeholders will only come across threats, ethical issues and serious problems when they try to implement technology into everyday care. We can still prepare for the amazing yet uncertain future of medicine. Here is a list of 10 potential ethical issues we will all have to deal with soon.

T he young child perceives odors before they can distinguish colors and textures. It turns out that the olfactory sensations are the only ones capable of waking deeply buried memories that go back several years. The reason is that odors and the memories associated with them are stored in long term. Odors can make arise emotions or create a sense of calm. They are capable of provoking memories or relieve tension.

Y ou would think that Western technology and Eastern Zen meditation practice are as incompatible as they can get. In some ways this is correct, but modern scientific research is finding points of convergence, most interested in using applied technology to hack into brain performance and optimal brain states that would otherwise be only achievable through years of dedicated practice.