Innholdsfortegnelse for 1/2018 i ASIAN Geographic

WhatsApp The world’s #1 messenger App Features • Individual messages • Broadcast messages • Group chats • Emojis • “online” and “last seen” status • Voice message • Voice call • Video call • International call • Web version • End-to-end encryption • Sharing of photos, videos, contacts, location, documents WeChat The app for everything App Features • Individual messages • Broadcast messages • Group chats • Friendship circles • Find nearby users • Emojis and stickers • Voice call • Video call • International call • Live video streaming • Photo filters and captions • Likes and comments • Automatic translation • Web version • Advertisements • Hospital preregistration • Visa renewal • Trading and investment • Video games • Mobile banking • Online shopping • Status updates •…

One of Asia’s most recognisable and labour-intensive textile production techniques is currently undergoing a major technology upgrade. The faculties of Art and Design and Industrial Technology (Engineering Physics department) of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) are currently developing a photonic batik machine that will use ultraviolet light emitting diodes (UV LEDs) to colour the cloth. The machine’s UV-LED colour activator will expose the cloth to consistent lighting, resulting in brighter colours and creating an even dyeing effect through the entire piece. Unlike traditional methods, it allows artisans to produce batik even in poor weather or at night. The innovation will help increase batik production capacity, says Komarudin Kodiya, a faculty member at ITB and owner of batik production house Batik Komar. Traditionally, batik cloth is laid out in the…

1 Trans-Siberian Railway MOSCOW TO SIBERIA AND CHINA The world’s longest railway was built using simple tools like axes, saws, shovels and wheelbarrows by over 90,000 workers, and is now electric 2 Qinghai-Tibet Railway SHANGHAI TO LHASA Started by Chinese leader Mao Zedong in 1955, this railway is considered a major feat of engineering due to Tibet’s permafrost and oxygen-poor air 3 Indian Railways Vivek Express DIBRUGARH TO KANYAKUMARI This express train operates on the longest train route in India and is named after Swami Vivekananda, an Indian Hindu monk. It is part diesel, part electric 4 Eastern and Oriental Express BANGKOK TO SINGAPORE The route for this train was inspired by the 1932 drama Shanghai Express. It is considered Asia’s most luxurious train, with bars, lounges and a library…

1 A Dark Sky When deciding on a location for photographing the night sky, pick somewhere with little to no light pollution and far from brightly lit towns. Many astrophotography websites can search for nearby Dark-Sky sites or show the levels of light pollution of a certain area on a map. 2 A Unique Location The Internet is flooded with hundreds of similar photos of the night sky. To differentiate your shot, include an interesting foreground or defining characteristics that communicate where the photo was taken, such as fog around a volcano, smoke rising from a crater, sand dunes, or the horizon from up high. 3 A Good Plan Apart from the stars and planets, other aspects of the sky affect the shot, such as the phase of the moon,…

74.6% of online payments are on mobile 600 MILLION people involved in providing or using sharing services 100X how much mobile payment transaction volumes have risen in the past five years 6 major mobile payment apps: Alipay (55%), Tenpay (37%), 1qianbao (4.2%), UnionPay (1.4%), LianLian Pay (1.4%), JD Wallet (1.4%) 20% OF CHINA’S GDP will be from the sharing economy by 2025 73% of phones are smartphones, higher than the global average (66%) USD15 TRILLION worth of mobile payments made in 2017 MORE THAN 10 types of sharing services: cars, clothes, bicycles, apartments, umbrellas, Wi-Fi, phone chargers, basketballs, tissues and meals USD520 BILLION generated by shared services in 2016…

The weapon in question is an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), a super-fast, long-range missile designed to carry nuclear bombs and detonate them over a specific target. ICBMs, which are launched from land, are closely related to intercontinental-range submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM), which are also nuclear capable. These nuclear-tipped missiles are incredibly difficult to make, and only seven countries are known to have managed the feat: the United States, Russia, China, India, France, the United Kingdom, and Israel. Despite sanctions from international bodies, isolated North Korea also hopes to make a missile powerful enough to launch a nuclear attack. Last year, North Korea successfully tested two ICBMs, Hwasong-14 and Hwasong-15, the latter of which is believed to be capable of reaching the US mainland. However, the country has yet to prove…

CHINA Over 200 Fossilised Pterosaur Eggs Discovered in China Palaeontologists say China is now the world’s leading source of pterosaur research, after hundreds of fossilised eggs, some with the embryos’ bones intact, were discovered in the far northwest of the country . The eggs of the Hamipterus tianshanensis species are well known for their fragile shells, making the discovery an absolute windfall. To date, only 10 other eggs have been uncovered, five of which are also from China. Dr Wang Xiaolin from Beijing’s Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Paleoanthropology, and Dr Alexander Kellner from Brazil’s Federal University of Rio de Janeiro discovered the fossils in Xinjiang’s Turpan-Hami Basin, the fourth-lowest exposed point on Earth. Why so many eggs were found there is still a mystery, though Dr Kellner suggests pterosaurs…

INSIDE A CORAL POLYP Hard coral polyps are usually a few millimetres in diameter and have six smooth, stinging tentacles used to capture food – although their stings generally do not affect humans. These tentacles can be withdrawn if the polyp is threatened Hermatypic Coral (Scleractinia) Class: Anthozoa Phylum: Cnidaria Behaviour: Lives in colonies Reproduction: Sexual and asexual Life Span: Two years (polyp); millennia (colony) OTHER CORAL TYPES The amazing biodiversity of coral reefs has earned them the nickname “the marine Amazon”. We look at eight other members of the coral family that inhabit the ocean’s warm shallows, supporting its multitude of inhabitants Sea Anemones (Actiniaria) These colourful corals were named after the anemone flower that lives on land Mushroom Corals (Fungiidae) They have soft bodies and come in many…

“The rocks on top of the sand actually predate the sand, so there is more to this story” Chelsea Rose, historical archaeologist In India, a tussle over the origins of an underwater sandbar has been going on for years, after a NASA satellite image of the Palk Strait in 2002 clearly showed the 30-kilometre chain of limestone shoals linking India’s Pamban Island and Sri Lanka’s Mannar Island. Historical records show it was a former land connection between the two countries that could be traversed on foot up till the early 15th century, until it was damaged by a cyclone. While the structure has been referred to as “Adam’s Bridge” by Western cartographers since the early 1800s, in India it is known as Rama’s Bridge, or Rama Setu in Sanskrit. Devout…

LANGUAGE TIP Russian names comprise a first name, a patronym (a reference to the father’s name), and a family name. Patronyms are created by combining the father’s name with the suffix -ovich for males and -ovna for females. It is considered respectful to call others by both their first name and their patronym. SIMPLE PHRASES Hello! Привeт! (Privet!) How are you? Как дела? (Kak dela?) Excuse me Извини (Izvini) Thanks! Спасибо! (Spasibo!) I love you Выздоравливай (Viz-dorav-livay) DATA SOURCES: LANGUAGE HELPERS, STUDY RUSSIAN, LEARN RUSSIAN IN THE EU Russkiy yazyk, or Russian, is one of the three Eastern Slavic languages, alongside Ukrainian and Belarusian. It is the mother tongue of the Russian people, an official language of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and is spoken as a second language in countries…

Arabian Desert The lonely dunes offer wide expanses and deep black skies. There’s also Israel’s Ramon Crater, the second park in Asia to get Dark-Sky status India The remote Nubra Valley in Leh Ladakh comes recommended by many astronomers and astrophotographers, as does Coorg in the Western Ghats Tibet China is preparing a Dark-Sky application for its high-altitude reserve, located in the Ngari prefecture Himalayas Across Nepal and Tibet, the high altitude and lack of ambient light on the mountain range guarantees stunning nights. Another good spot is Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal – home of Mt Everest Indonesia Mt Bromo in East Java is a popular astrophotography spot. Another favourite among stargazers is Mt Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia Mongolia The Gorkhi-Terelj National Park is a good bet among the…

China May Run the World’s Next Space Station In 2003, China became the first Asian country to send its astronauts into space, and in 2011 announced plans to build its own manned space station named Tiangong. Currently, its astronauts are not allowed on the International Space Station due to a ban by the US government. In 2016, China announced a partnership with the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs to allow UN member countries access to the Chinese station to conduct experiments. In 2011 and 2017, it sent two test stations into space as practice, and will launch the final station (in its primary stage) into space this year. Notably, the International Space Station is retiring in 2024 – and China, who expects Tiangong to be ready by 2022, predicts…

When life gives you bats, collect guano. Farmers in the backwaters of Cambodia have lived by this rule for as long as they can remember. Take Hoerm Oerun in the bucolic southeast, for example. Every day, the grandmother of four squats in her orchard in Kandal province between a pagoda and patchwork of paddies that gives capital Phnom Penh its daily rice. Oerun’s trees bear no fruit. They have been barren for more than three decades. Instead, she sweeps at bat droppings: pungent nut-brown pellets that collect in murky rings below her trees and act as a valuable natural fertiliser. “Most people here are farmers,” Oerun says, “and most of them use the guano.” With a wink, she pats the swollen sack at her feet. Oerun has forged a lucrative…

Architecture/ Landscape Photographer of the Year 2017  Winner: Ki Hwan Na | South Korea The Ancient Times, Myanmar Settings: f/5.6, 1/320s, ISO 100 Architecture/ Landscape Photographer of the Year 2017 Finalist: Ray Toh | Singapore Chinese Ingot Settings: f/8, 1/640s, ISO 640 Architecture/ Landscape Photographer of the Year 2017 Finalist: Lam Jia Wei | Malaysia Village That Never Lost, South Korea Settings: f/20, 1/60s, ISO 200 Portrait Photographer of the Year 2017 Finalist: Alamsyah Rauf | Indonesia The Soulmate, Indonesia Settings: f/5.6, 1/125s, ISO 2500 Portrait Photographer of the Year 2017  Winner: Donell Gumiran | Philippines The Master, India Settings: f/4, 1/900s, ISO 1600 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2017 Winner: Christian Loader | United Kingdom The Big Curiosity, Malaysia Settings: f/3.2, 1/125s, ISO 1250 Wildlife Photographer of the Year…

RE-ENTRY VEHICLE The part of the missile that re-enters Earth’s atmosphere on its way to the target BOOSTER SECTIONS Propels the missile throughout its flight. They eventually fall off when the fuel in them is used up SOLID FUEL Powers the missile. Zero fueling time compared to liquid fuel used in older rockets SHROUD Protects the warhead from melting in the 7000°C launch temperatures WARHEAD The tip of the missile containing a miniaturised nuclear bomb DECOYS Small aluminum shavings or electronic noise-making devices designed to thwart missile defence systems NAVIGATION AIDS Guides the missile’s flight path using GPS To evade enemy detection and protect the missile, silos are often located underground beneath a thick steel hatch that can open quickly for launch BOOSTER ENGINE The main engine used for missile…

In 2016, China’s Fuxing bullet trains overtook Japan’s SCMaglev and France’s TGV to clinch the title of fastest operating railway in the world. This new generation of Chinese trains, built in just 13 years, runs on hybrid-propulsion systems which operate at 350km/h. While the SCMaglev can go up to 603km/h and the TGV can go up to 575km/h, both trains are limited to 320km/h for normal operation, making them slower than Fuxing. China has already exported their technology to over 100 countries, including Russia. In the future, the country is looking to supercharge its trains using magnetic levitation (maglev) technology underwater. By reducing friction using maglev trains in floating vacuum tunnels, Chinese researchers hope to achieve speeds of 2,000km/h. This research puts China in direct competition with America’s Hyperloop One,…

In Asia, rice crops and livestock have been culturally significant agricultural assets for millennia, and across the region traditional farming methods, unchanged for centuries, are still being used. But all this is set to change as these age-old systems are displaced by the use of drones. One report put the global value of the agricultural services and labour being replaced by drone-powered solutions at over USD32 billion in 2016. As early as the 1980s, Japan integrated drones into rice farming in rural areas that had few farm workers due to the aging population. Today, tasks like spraying pesticides, which are detrimental to farmers’ health, can be handled by drones. At places like Ichikawa Farm in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, drones are already being used for organic crop dusting and recording factors such…

WE BY YEVGENY ZAMYATIN (Page 16 –18) “Respected Numbers, not so long ago our archaeologists dug up a book written in the twentieth century. In this book the ironical author tells about a Wild Man and a barometer. The Wild Man noticed that every time the barometer’s hand stopped on the word ‘rain,’ it actually rained. And as the Wild Man craved rain, he let out as much mercury as was necessary to put it at the level of the word ‘rain’ (on the screen a Wild Man with feathers, letting out the mercury. Laughter). “You are laughing at him, but don’t you think the ‘European’ of that age deserves more to be laughed at? He, like the Wild Man, wanted rain – rain with a little ‘r,’…

1869 Some accounts credit three Japanese men, Suzuki Tokujiro, Takayama Kosuke and Izumi Yosuke, with the invention of the jinrikisha, which literally means “man-powered carriage”. Others say Jonathan Goble, an American missionary in Japan, built the first rickshaw to ferry around his ailing wife 1872 Hand-pulled rickshaws become the most popular mode of transport in Japan 1900S Rickshaws spread to China, India and Southeast Asia 1957 The first auto rickshaw, the DKA Midget, is produced by Japanese company Daihatsu 2000S Pulled rickshaws are now a tourist attraction in Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong Electric rickshaws, produced by China, become popular across Asia. The latest models run on solar power 1929 Cycle rickshaws are widely used in Singapore 1949 By now, pulled rickshaws are banned in Pakistan, China and Singapore 1990S…