Here is the report of The Economist Intelligence Unit about the 9 most expensive cities to live in the world. Such factors as food costs, fuel costs, and salaries were taken into account. 
 

They've come a long way...
 

QS has published its annual ranking of universities. The universities around the world has been ranked since 2013 evaluating their academic reputation, employer reputation, student-to-faculty ratio, and international reputation. QS used a points system with 100  being the highest score. Overall, 400 universities were ranked throughout the world. Here are the top 30.
 

Let’s commemorate these men and women who built this country with their own hands.

There are tunnels all along the 2,000-mile frontier between the US and Mexico that were dug by drug traffickers. They are also used for illegal immigration. Journalist Ioan Grillo said “The Mexico-US border is like a block of cheese with holes in it, with tunnels across it.”
 

Prora is a beach resort on the island of Rügen, Germany, known especially for its colossal Nazi-planned tourist structures. The enormous building complex was built between 1936 and 1939 as a Strength Through Joy project. The eight buildings were identical, and although they were planned as a holiday resort, they were never used for this purpose. The complex has a formal heritage listing as a particularly striking example of Third Reich architecture.
 

In a recent speech about wealth Jack Ma expressed his ideas based on his experience concerning the sum of money necessary for people to be happy. It may be surprising but he wasn't talking about millions.

The European Commission has released its annual Flash Eurobarometer of quality of life in European cities. It is a huge survey that asks people to rank their satisfaction for example, with the cleanliness of their city, the amount of green space, and how safe it is. The ranking below consists of the cities where the highest percentage of people said they were "very satisfied with their life." Let's take a look.
 

Justin Schmidt, a budding entomologist was writing a dissertation about the venom of different insects with the help of his zoologist wife Debbie. They collected large numbers of the "nasty stinging insects" for analysis and comparison of their venom. To asses venom, they had to evaluate toxicity and pain. As for toxicity, well, it was easy, all they had to do is to use existing measures. But there was no measures for pain. This is how the "Schmidt Pain Scale for Stinging Insects" appeared. It was a four-point system, based on the well-known sting of a honey bee that they rated as a two. Plus, a lot of people are actually familiar with this type of sting. So, from this point, people could imagine what a sting of various types of insects could feel like. When collecting the insects, Schmidt didn't try to be deliberately stung, it just happened. Overall, he got stung over 1,000 times from at least 83 different species. Here are the list of some of the insects that were evaluated by Schmidt and illustrate the full scope of the pain scale.