A boy who committed suicide last year in Otsu, Japan may have been forced to do so by school bullies, Japan’s The Mainichi reported Wednesday. A school survey conducted after the 13-year-old boy killed himself last October found that he had been coerced into "practicing suicide" every day. "(The deceased boy) had sent an e-mail to the bullies, saying ‘I will die’ or ‘I will give my life to a fr...

Scientists have uncovered a potential link between a common cat parasite infection and female suicide attempts, according to news reports. Researchers from University of Maryland School of medicine found that women infected with toxoplasma gondii have a higher tendency to kill themselves than those who are not. Toxoplasma gondii is a common parasite that is transmitted via cat feces, eating und...

A DNA test on a Scottish man revealed that he is directly related to the world’s first woman, British media reported Saturday. A 72-year-old retired lecturer, Ian Kinnaird, carries a genetic marker L1B1 that links him directly to “Eve,” the first-ever woman who is assumed to have lived in Africa about 190,000 years ago. Scientists believe that Kinnaird has maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA...

Archeologists have found a new reference about so-called "doomsday date" of December 21, 2012, that suggests Mayans may have never predicted the apocalyptic end of world, according to news reports. Scientists from Tulane University and Universidad del Valle de Guatemala announced Thursday findings of Mayan hieroglyphs carved on a stone steps in the Mayan ruins of La Corona. It was the second kno...

Scientists have found potentially fatal flaws in an iconic decades-old study that claimed males are genetically programmed to look for multiple partners, Science Daily reported Tuesday. The famous 1940s study, conducted by British geneticist Angus John Bateman, says that male fruit flies that mate with a variety of partners have more offspring, while female flies have same number of offspring no...

Shanghai’s Metro has posted a comment warning women that wearing revealing clothes can lead to sexual harassment, prompting strings of negative responses and protests, according to news reports. The Chinese subway authority recently posted a picture of a woman wearing a see-through dress that revealed her underwear on the Chinese microblogging website Sina Weibo. Under the photo it wrote, “It’s...

Colorful patterned pantyhose and stockings are gaining huge popularity among young Japanese women, thanks to leading K-pop stars like Girls’ Generation, Japan’s Mainichi newspaper reported Monday. According to the paper, Japan’s young generation are gladly embracing the trend of wearing stockings, which was kickstarted by South Korean girl groups. “I used to wear thick dark tights until last ye...

More than three decades after receiving the famous Wow! signal, humanity is finally sending its answer to what may be an alien civilization, according to news reports. The National Geographic channel recently revealed a plan to collect messages from the general public via Twitter and beam it to outer space. All tweets tagged with the hashtag #ChasingUFOs from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m. on June 30 GMT will...

A man who appeared on the cover of rock band Placebo’s debut album as a child is planning a lawsuit against the band for allegedly “ruining his life”, according to British news reports. The 28-year-old unemployed chef David Fox claims that he was severely bullied at school after the band used picture of him as a 12-year-old on the hit album “Placebo.” Fox said he never consented to the photo be...

Dongbu Robot said Monday it plans to launch robots that impersonate K-pop stars such as Girls’ Generation and Super Junior, by yearend. The South Korean robot maker will form consortium with other robot makers Intelligent & Recreational Robot and Ocean Bridge E&T to develop the high-tech entertainment robots. According to Dongbu, the robot “will be able to fully reenact movements and dances of ...

New media, including social networking services such as Facebook and Twitter, is forging a “digital diplomacy” far different from that of traditional media, said a U.S. government official.

Recent study suggested that Mars’ mantle -- the layer beneath the crust -- may hold an amount of water similar to that of the Earth, Science Daily reported Thursday. The data not only explains why there is evidence of water on the surface of the "Red Planet," but also raises the possibility that it could sustain life, according to Francis McCubbin from the University of New Mexico who led the re...

A prominent Pakistani female singer, Ghazala Javed, was shot to death Monday by two unidentified gunmen, according to local news reports. Initial police investigation indicated that the 24-year-old singer’s ex-husband Jehangir Khan may be behind the attack. Last year, Javed asked him for a divorce, which is considered a dishonor in the highly conservative male-dominated society. However some ar...

A British woman who stole from her boss to pay for her expensive wedding has been sentenced to 20 months in prison, according to news reports. Kirsty Lane, a 30-year-old newly-wed, swindled over 200,000 pounds (360 million won) from her company which she used on her wedding last year. The wedding spared absolutely no expense, providing matching designer boots for the bridal party and a harpist a...