“Think I would die, if you were to ignore me,” Serena Williams sings, while staring straight into the camera and covering her breasts with both hands. But the tennis star isn’t singing about romance—she’s emphasizing the importance of early detection when it comes to breast cancer.
There are approximately 6,000 spoken languages on Earth, according to UNESCO, and 43% of them are endangered. In other words, almost half the means of communication for specific cultural or social groups are at risk of extinction. In several instances, there are fewer than 10 speakers of some languages remaining. Many governments are using legislation to combat this, but laws alone may not be the most effective tool. Ironically, laws are also what drove many indigenous languages to the imperiled state they are in today.
As of today (Sept. 28), Juul Labs and four other e-cigarette companies have 44 days left to prove to the US Food and Drug Administration that they can keep their products away from minors; otherwise, they risk them being pulled from the market. FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb emphasized in the initial press announcement: “We cannot allow a whole new generation to become addicted to nicotine.”
Spotify says it is done asking family-plan users to confirm their location.
Spotify recently sent an email to some of its “Premium for Family” account users in the US that asked them to confirm their home address through GPS data. The email stated: “If you don’t confirm, you may lose access to the plan.”
Since June 2015, people in Japan could dress up as Mario and Princess Peach and race around cities in a real-life version of Nintendo’s popular Mario Kart game series—but that’s about to change. On Thursday (Sept. 27), Nintendo won a court battle against MariCar, a company that offers go-kart tours in three different cities (Tokyo, Osaka, and Okinawa). A Tokyo district court ordered MariCar to stop renting Mario Kart costumes, and to pay $89,000 in damages to Nintendo. The company is still allowed to rent out go-karts.
As with the best film scores, the best video-game soundtracks can be easy to overlook until you hear them again. But whether it’s a melody from the Final Fantasy series or the theme to Super Mario Bros., it only takes a few bars to transport you back to the console or arcade where it all began.
Happy birthday, Google! While Google Inc. was officially incorporated on Sept. 4 1998 (and Google search is actually one year older), the company has recently been celebrating its anniversary on Sept. 27. On this day, the tech giant marks the occasion with a special birthday Google doodle on its home page.
At the fifth Oculus Connect developer conference in San Jose, California, today (Sept. 26), Facebook announced a new virtual reality headset for next year: Oculus Quest. Priced at $399 and set to ship in spring 2019, it’s Oculus’ first “all-in-one VR system with six degrees of freedom.”
Almost 400 feet deep into the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Brazil, researchers discovered a new fish species so beautiful that they named it after the Greek goddess of love. In a new study, a team from the California Academy of Sciences wrote, “The beauty of the Aphrodite anthias enchanted us during its discovery much like Aphrodite’s beauty enchanted ancient Greek gods.”
In 1950, Sweden became the first Western country to establish official diplomatic relations with China, and the first Swedish ambassador was received by then-Communist Party chairman Mao Zedong himself. This year, however, will be better remembered for a series of diplomatic incidents that have soured relations between the two nations.
With words he could have been singing to the fans who’ve made his K-pop group a worldwide sensation, Kim Nam-joon spoke on a very different kind of stage, to a different kind of audience.
Here’s a new way to score high during your turn in Scrabble: “Yowza!”
“What is the sound of you?”
The Oxford English Dictionary has been documenting the language for more than a century and is the largest of its kind. Yet slang in a social media world always seems one step ahead.
“People can like you exactly as you are,” Mister Rogers says at the end of the animated short served up today as the heartwarming Google Doodle celebrating the 51st anniversary of the day Fred Rogers began filming Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. The landmark public-TV show went on to run for 895 episodes that endeared itself to generations of children and adults across America with a message of acceptance and kindness that is still worth obsessing over.
In Russia, Domino’s recently offered a lifetime’s supply of pizza in return for another lifelong commitment: A tattoo of the Domino’s logo, with proof uploaded to Instagram, hash-tagged #dominosforever.
Ready your pumpkin spice lattes, mooncakes, and passport—the Fall Equinox is upon us. Otherwise known as the Autumnal Equinox, the Sept. 22 event marks the beginning of fall in the Northern hemisphere, and the beginning of spring in the South.
The influence of Fortnite is obvious: Celebrities are fans, a Fortnite legend became the first gamer to grace the cover of ESPN the Magazine, and the game reportedly contributed to 5% of UK divorces so far this year. Fornite Battle Royale, the version of the original where up to 100 players fight it out to be the last ones standing, is a huge driver of its popularity—and that of the battle royale genre as a whole. These charts from SuperData, a gaming research firm, show just how dramatic the impact on the industry has been.
The retro design of the new PlayStation Classic, unveiled this week, is enough to send longtime fans down memory lane. That’s good for Sony, judging by how well nostalgia sells in the video-game industry.
Judy Cochran is having an eventful year: She was elected mayor of Livingston, Texas, became a great-grandmother, and killed a 12-foot-gator to avenge the death of her miniature horse.
Elon Musk has called Vernon Unsworth, a British diver who advised on the Thailand cave rescue, a “pedo,” a “child rapist,” and a participant in sex tourism. Musk’s accusations remain unsubstantiated. This week, Unsworth filed a defamation lawsuit against Musk in federal court in Los Angeles, and his lawyers say he plans to file another legal action in London. That would be a strategic move.
Tyler “Ninja” Blevins is a Fortnite legend, has a record-breaking 10 million followers on the livestreaming platform Twitch, and excellent blue hair. Now, he is also the first gamer to grace the cover of ESPN the Magazine. That cements his status as “gaming’s first crossover star” and also scores a point in the debate over gamers being considered professional athletes.
The 70th Primetime Emmy Awards show airs tonight (Monday, Sept. 17) at 8pm US Eastern Time on NBC—a celebration of the creativity that goes into television, in the golden age of TV.
