Traditional Medicine

1. What if Macau is ‘gifted’ Chinese island of Hengqin, where some of the big casino names already own land, as reports suggest?

   Spare a thought for Macau. While the media has made much ado about the absence of arrivals at other tourism-dependent Asian destinations, Hong Kong’s neighbouring special administrative region has escaped attention.Travel and tourism are Macau’s bread and butter – the industry accounted for 72 per cent of the city’s GDP (gross domestic product) in 2019, according to data platform Knoema – but although it has for some time been open to mainland Chinese tourists, its lifeline, visitor numbers…

2. US$200 French fries at a New York restaurant are the most expensive in the world, made with champagne, truffles and edible gold

   On Manhattan’s Upper East Side, a US$200 plate of French fries stretches the definition of haute cuisine.The New York restaurant Serendipity 3 already claims world records for the most expensive burger (US$295) and ice cream sundae (US$1,000), so if the question is, “You want fries with that?” its answer is a resounding yes.Guinness World Records certified the feat. As of July 13, the fries are officially the most expensive on Earth.“Serendipity is really a happy place,” said creative director…

3. Family-friendly Hong Kong duplex a home for the coronavirus era with its creative approach to living and work spaces

   Video conferencing from the kitchen, clashing schedules, incessant background noise, jostling for comfortable desk space – these were just some of the problems the Batten family were having to contend with last summer.By October, they knew they had to move. “We tried to make our existing flat work, even converting the kids’ playroom into a home office, but by the time we were four or five months into the pandemic we realised the situation wasn’t getting any better – it was getting worse,” says…

4. Can design make the world better? Yes – think sculptures that double as safety features and DIY tools the elderly can operate

   If you’re looking for an example of inclusive design, the very text of Jeremy Myerson’s new book is a good place to start. Designing a World for Everyone: 30 Years of Inclusive Design is packed with richly illustrated examples of architecture, products and systems that were conceived to work for as many people as possible, regardless of age or ability.It’s written in a lively and familiar way, no doubt informed by Myerson’s previous career as a journalist.“People won’t read an academic text,…

5. The Air Jordans he’d bought were fake, so he launched Goat, a reseller platform sneaker fans could trust, with his start-up pal

   Freshly unboxed, the Air Jordan Retro 5 Grapes were marvellously throwback – and totally fake.The reissued classics just didn’t look, smell or feel like the real thing. Entrepreneur Daishin Sugano, in Los Angeles in the United States, couldn’t believe how badly he’d been ripped off by an eBay sneaker reseller.The discovery was particularly irksome for Sugano. When he was 10, he had earned as a reward for a great school report card a pair of Air Jordan 5 Grapes, the shoe worn by basketball…

6. Jungle Cruise movie review: Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt in enjoyable adventure based on Disney’s popular theme park ride

   3.5/5 starsDwayne Johnson headlines an old-fashioned romp through the Amazon in Jungle Cruise, the latest film spun off from a popular Disney theme park ride.Like Pirates of the Caribbean, the studio will doubtless hope this action adventure spawns a multimillion-dollar movie franchise, even if it doesn’t boast a character as memorable as Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow.What it does have is some genteel chemistry between Emily Blunt’s headstrong adventurer Dr Lily Houghton and Johnson’s…

7. Greece opens first underwater museum, a shipwreck 2,500 years old with 4,000 wine jars that’s open to experienced scuba divers

   Emerging from the crystal-clear turquoise waters of the Aegean Sea, Hans-Juergen Fercher has just returned from his fourth dive to where mounds of 2,500-year-old wine jars mark the site of an ancient shipwreck – and Greece’s first underwater museum.“This is a combination of diving and archaeological diving. It’s diving into history,” says the 48-year-old psychiatrist after pulling himself onto the deck of the Triton dive boat. “It makes it special and unique.”The museum beneath the waves at…

8. How earworms, those annoying musical fragments that repeat in our heads, may trigger memories and calming emotions

   In the dark corners of the internet hides a playlist of some of the most torturous, addictive music known to man. That’s right, Spotify, SoundCloud and Apple Music all have playlists of Baby Shark remixes. Do do, do do, do do, do.Would you walk 500 miles to get away from that tune? Will your poker face crack the 1,000th time it plays in your head? Does it remind you of somebody that you used to know? Do you value the sound of silence?You aren’t alone. These so-called earworms – gross – are…

9. K-pop singer D.O. from Exo debuts first EP ‘Empathy’, the latest in the group’s stellar line-up of solo releases

   On Monday, K-pop singer D.O. released his debut solo EP, Empathy.Known as one of K-pop group Exo’s primary vocalists and as a popular actor, D.O.’s eight-track Empathy is an easy-listening album, based firmly in acoustic pop and R&B.Fronted by the ukulele-infused single Rose, the album features songs not only in Korean but also English and Spanish. They create a musical environment that is both romantic and poignant.Along with an English version of Rose and Si Fueras Mia, a Spanish version of…

10. Christie’s Asia to hold year-round sales at new headquarters in Hong Kong from 2024

    Auctioneer Christie’s has signed a 10-year lease on a new Asia Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong that will allow it to hold year-round auctions and private sales from 2024.The building, called The Henderson, is being developed in the city’s Central district on Hong Kong Island by Henderson Land in the space where the Murray Road multistorey car park used to stand. It is designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, the British firm named after and founded by the late British-Iraqi star architect.Francis…