South Korea’s customs first to use cloned sniffer dogs

by Iva Skoch on

All the smugglers out there should be very, very scared. South Korea has managed to clone their best sniffer dog and got seven cloned puppies.

The puppies have been created using cells taken from a labrador sniffer dog considered by customs officials to be “their best,” BBC reports. The puppies were born last year after the country’s customs service paid a biotechnology company to reproduce a Canadian Labrador Retriever.

All puppies are apparently already showing the same high level of skill as the original dog. Only about 30% of naturally-born sniffer dogs make the grade, but South Korean scientists believe that could rise to 90% using the cloning method. The puppies were born to three surrogate mothers after scientists used the nuclei of somatic cells from a sniffer dog called Chase. Puppies should report for duty in June after completing a second round of training.

Glad to know that all the brain power that has gone into cloning will be used to make the life of customs officials easier (she said facetiously).

North Korea, South Korea and a closely watched train

by Iva Skoch on

Well, it hasn’t taken a long time before the “most closely watched train” in the world may need to cut back its service.

Last month, North and South Korea started a symbolic rail service connecting the heavily fortified joint North-South industrial complex in Kaesong, just north of the border. Although the train served only to ship goods, it seemed like a start of some sort of communication. After all, it was the first train connecting the two countries since the Korean War in 1950-53.

Now, North Korea has proposed cutting the service down, citing a lack of cargo to transport. South Korea says buses are, in fact, more convenient. And that is, probably, the end of the closely watched train fairytale.

The Price of Gas Around the World

by Justin Glow on

The next time you pull into the station for a fill-up, keep this in mind before you curse the prices: People elsewhere have it a lot worse than we do in America (and we tend to gripe about it the most, it seems!). Take Asia for instance — Hong Kong averages a whopping $6.30 per gallon, with Seoul, South Korea, not too far behind. Europe also pays well above what we do in America. London, Berlin, Oslo, and Paris are all well above $6 a gallon. On the low end of the spectrum, places in the Middle East like Kuwait City and Tehran, Iran, pay under 79 cents for their gas. Big surprise there!

The lowest, however, is reserved for Caracas, Venezuela. 17 cents per gallon! [via]

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Traveling in Korea with Children

by Adrienne Wilson on

Mum, mom, mother and momma are not nicknames I’ve been blessed to have at this time in my life and I’m in no rush to obtain one of the variations either, but for all the proud traveling parents out there searching for a good place to go with baby I present you with this guide from the Korean Tourism site. I’m sure an extensive amount of planning is needed to figure how you’ll be able to maneuver and keep your sanity for your return home and it looks like they’ve done a great deal of situation sorting for you. Transportation, shopping, restaurants, theme parks and special places to visit with children can all be found on their site. If you’re going to Korea or considering a vacation in Asia some place with your child or children this guide should hopefully answer some questions if not all. If Korea isn’t a destination of choice for you and your child at this time you may try scouring other tourism sites for similar info.