Society

The iconic "Sophie" pedestrian crossing signal (pictured above) first appeared outside City Hall in Amersfoot, the Netherlands, in December 2000. Since then, she has inspired female figures on crossing signals around the world. As Dutch Ambassador Wim Geerts said in 2013, "Sophie is much more than a traffic light, as she encourages us to think about women's rights." She also seems to improve pedestrian safety—more people stop for Sophie than for lights with common male figures.

Some people criticize "Sophie" and other female figures as promoting stereotypes of women. They always wear a skirt, and Sophie has ponytails which are commonly associated with little girls. Rather than add stereotypical images of women, these critics recommend creating a non-gendered stick figure.

The cashless economy has become increasingly prevalent in developed countries such as the U.S. and Japan. Consumers are incentivized to use debit or credit cards through discounts and freebies, and banks and credit card companies collect information on people’s spending habits.

Some stores in the U.S. have decided to stop accepting cash from customers altogether, which has resulted in a backlash. Millions of people, most of whom live below the poverty line, do not have a bank account and only deal in cash. Advocates have argued that the cashless economy discriminates against poor people and the homeless.

American cities and states have started banning cashless stores on the grounds that they are discriminatory. San Francisco, New York City, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New Jersey have recently passed legislation forcing stores to accept all types of legal tender.

The Japan Times published an opinion piece arguing that the issue of people hoarding surgical masks has served to show people’s true nature. It notes that the outbreak has resulted in the spread of fake news and racism, and some unscrupulous people have been reselling face masks and even toilet paper at highly inflated prices on sites such as Mercari.

The author says that social media has also become a tool for shaming those engaged in bad behavior in Japan. Sites such as Twitter have made it simpler to spread footage of morally dubious activity. For instance, users uncovered truly ridiculous posts, including one in which 35 packs of masks were being sold for ¥75,000 by someone who claimed to have risked their health getting them.

In 2014, there were just six gun deaths in Japan (≈0.00000004% of the population), compared to 33,599 (≈1.0% of the population) in the US.

Buying a gun in Japan takes patience and perseverance. First, you need to attend an all-day class, then sit a written exam and pass a shooting-range test with a mark of at least 95%. There are also mental health and drugs tests to pass.

Afterwards, your criminal record is checked and police look for links to extremist groups. They even check your relatives and co-workers. Police have the power to deny gun licences and sweeping powers to search and seize weapons. In addition, handguns are banned outright. Only shotguns and air rifles are allowed.

Mathematicians, computer engineers and scientists in related fields should take a Hippocratic oath to protect the public from powerful new technologies under development, says Hannah Fry, an associate professor of mathematics at University College, London. The ethical pledge would commit scientists to think deeply about the possible applications of their work and compel them to pursue only those that, at the least, do no harm to society.

“We need a Hippocratic oath in the same way it exists for medicine,” Fry said. “In medicine, you learn about ethics from day one. In mathematics, it’s a bolt-on at best. It has to be there from day one and at the forefront of your mind in every step you take.”

Japan has a reputation as being a society that demands conformity: All college graduates seeking jobs should wear dark suits to job interviews, women are expected to cover their mouths when laughing, and many schools require students to wear the same uniforms, shoes and have haircuts that meet school regulations.

In Osaka Prefecture, an 18-year-old girl is suing her public school for mental anguish and other damages. She alleges she was forced to repeatedly dye her naturally brown hair the standard Japanese black, suffering mental and physical damage as a result.

She was asked to dye her brown hair black every one or two weeks. From the second term she was ordered to dye her hair every four days. The effects of the repeated dying on her hair were damage to her scalp and hair, rashes and mental anguish.

India's tallest rubbish mountain is on course to rise higher than the Taj Mahal in the next year, becoming a fetid symbol for what the UN considers the world's most polluted capital.

About 2,000 tons of garbage are dumped at Ghazipur each day. Taking up the area of more than 40 football pitches, Ghazipur rises by nearly 33ft (10m) a year. At its current rate, it will be taller than the iconic Taj in Agra, some 239ft (73m) high, in 2020.

In 2018, a section of the hill collapsed in heavy rains, killing two people. Fires, sparked by methane gas coming from the dump, regularly break out and take days to extinguish. Leachate, a black toxic liquid, oozes from the dump into a local canal. Residents say the dump often makes breathing virtually impossible.

Sarah’s Instagram feed is pretty typical for a 21-year-old model-slash-influencer living in Florida. There’s one important difference: In all of her pictures, she’s wearing scrubs.

Being a "nursefluencer," a term that I have admittedly made up but that describes a growing population, is similar to being a regular influencer.

For Sarah, and many young health care professionals like her, a sizeable Instagram following is a salve for a litany of problems experienced by those in the field: burnout, odd hours, and a lack of a creative outlet, to start. So it’s not surprising that within the past few months, tons of accounts like hers have popped up, gaining huge followings — largely made up of fellow medical professionals — by posting an insider’s view of the industry.

It’s also raised questions about the ethics of being a health care influencer. After all, isn’t the only person who should be influencing anyone’s health their own doctor?

More and more people are feeling both tired and lonely at work. In analyzing the General Social Survey of 2016, close to 50% of people say they are often or always exhausted due to work.

What’s more, there is a significant correlation between feeling lonely and work exhaustion: the more exhausted people are, the lonelier they feel.

This loneliness is not a result of social isolation, but rather is due to the emotional exhaustion of workplace burnout. The problem seems to be pervasive across professions and up and down corporate hierarchies.

Loneliness, whether it results from social isolation or exhaustion, has serious consequences for individuals. Research by Sarah Pressman, of the University of California, Irvine, demonstrates that while obesity reduces longevity by 20%, drinking by 30%, and smoking by 50%, loneliness reduces it by a whopping 70%.