Korean oriental medicine doctors are embracing “Hakomi,” a body-centered, somatic psychotherapy developed in the United States, to treat mental illnesses.Professor Kang Hyung-won of Wonkang University Oriental Medical Center has been leading a group of doctors to develop Hakomi-based programs to treat mental and emotional disorders from depression to “hwabyeong,” a repressed anger syndrome.The word originates from the Hopi Indian language, meaning “How do you stand in relation to these many real

Nov. 1, 2012

SEOGWIPO, Jeju ― An hour’s drive south from the island’s main airport, there is an expanse of flat land with nothing but pebbles and sand.To its north stands Hallasan, Korea’s tallest mountain, while the ocean can be seen just a few feet to the south.The site seems perfect to build a town for tourists seeking medical treatment while on holiday, especially after one has seen the area’s sunsets.This is where Jeju Free International City Development Center, or JDC, plans to develop a 1.5 square-kil

Nov. 1, 2012

Several organs in our body affect the blood pressure. Among these organs, the kidneys are said to be the most important in blood pressure. People with poor kidney function can have hypertension, and conversely, untreated chronic hypertension can lead to poor kidney function. Therefore, the kidneys and blood pressure are like a needle and a thread. Those with poor kidney function must regulate their blood pressure carefully. This is because hypertension can lead to further decline in kidney funct

Nov. 1, 2012

Nine new species of tree-dwelling tarantulas have been identified in central and eastern Brazil, researchers say, bringing the total in the area to 16 species.Arboreal tarantulas -- known from a few tropical places in Asia, Africa, South and Central America, and the Caribbean -- generally have a lighter build, thinner bodies and longer legs than their ground-living cousins, which better suits them for their forest tree habitats, they said.The new species have been reported in the journal Zookeys

Nov. 1, 2012

As Microsoft globally launched its latest Windows 8 operating system in New York last Friday, a number of computer makers rushed to ride the wave of its publicity.Windows 8 was available nationwide on Oct. 26, the same day of its global premiere, and about 70 new PCs running on the new OS were displayed at over 3,000 online and offline stores, according to Microsoft officials. PC makers like Samsung Electronics, Lenovo, Sony and Toshiba took turns in unveiling new portable PCs featuring converti

Oct. 31, 2012

Considering the rapid shift in trends in information technology businesses, the demand for service robots will start to boom in 2020, according to a French service robotics industry expert.Bruno Bonnell, chairman of Europe’s largest service robotics company Robopolis, said the industrial trend changes every 10 years. We’re now living in the time of smartphones ― but that will change by 2020.“In 1981, computers were fun but they were machines for geeks. People said the devices were not so excitin

Oct. 31, 2012

Monkeys are just like the vast majority of human beings when it comes to sex -- when they go ape, they want privacy.Among long-tailed macaques, the urge for hanky-panky was dampened when they were watched by other monkeys, according to an unusual experiment reported in the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.Scientists from the Biomedical Primate Research Center in the Netherlands monitored 15 female and seven male macaques in a giant enclosure for four months.They installed everything f

Oct. 31, 2012

South Korea has protested to Apple Inc. over its new English-language mapping service for the iPhone, which shows both Korean and Japanese names for Dokdo, the South‘s easternmost islets, an official said Wednesday.Apple’s Korean unit recently notified the Korean government that its new English map service under the iOS6 mobile operating software simultaneously uses Korean, Japanese and a Franco-English name, the Liancourt Rocks, to describe Dokdo, which is also claimed by Japan.Apple‘s Korean-l

Oct. 31, 2012

NASA says initial experiments by its Mars rover Curiosity show the mineralogy of Martian soil is similar to basaltic soils of volcanic origin in Hawaii.Curiosity's Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument (CheMin) identified minerals in the first sample of Martian soil ingested recently by the rover, the space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., reported Tuesday."Much of Mars is covered with dust, and we had an incomplete understanding of its mineralogy," said David Bish, CheMin c

Oct. 31, 2012

Google says a new feature in its Gmail program will allow users to reference the content of other emails without having to close out a message they‘re writing.An email draft a user is writing would remain on top of the main Gmail window similar to a pop-up chat screen but not completely obscure it, allowing the user to access the main window to read and reference previously received messages, Mashable reported Tuesday.“How many times have you been writing an email and had to reference something

Oct. 31, 2012

The government is considering a ban on mobile applications that disable the shutter noise from smartphone cameras to prevent misuse by peeping toms.The Telecommunications Technology Association plans to create a group standard by the end of this year to address the misuse of the apps, cooperating with smartphone makers including Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and Pantech and mobile operators SK Telecom, KT and LG U+, according to the country’s telecommunications watchdog, Korea Communicatio

Oct. 30, 2012