Recently, Reckitt Benckiser Korea, also known as Oxy, caused controversy because of their highly toxic humidifier disinfectant. Over 1800 victims, including 266 deaths, have been reported, but Oxy maintained an irresponsible attitude. Not only the victims, but the whole Korean society was enraged by Oxy’s attitude. Civic groups started to boycott Oxy’s products and it spreads rapidly to public and retailers.Like the case of Oxy, customers sometimes deliberately refuse to purchase particular products in order to achieve a certain purpose. This is called boycott. The term is originated from Engl

“Habitat for Humanity,” also known as “Habitat” in short to a number of Korean people, is a Christian volunteering organization that builds residences for poor people. It was founded by Millard Fuller and his wife Linda Fuller in 1976. They built residences for people in Zaire, Africa. The organization aims to improve the quality of education and living by providing residential surroundings, ultimately contributing to the development of the state. Currently, Habitat for Humanity is at work in more than 70 different nations. In Korea, the organization began campaigning in the late 1980s and mad

According to research conducted by the Korea Information Society Development Institute (KISDI), people spend an hour everyday on Social Network Services (SNS). Whereas the purpose of SNS is usually to communicate, upload pictures, kill time and so on, some use it as a way to earn money. The new trend has changed the nature of SNS. First of all, there are advertisements that the social media companies sponsor. Facebook, for example, has some posts with “Sponsored” written on them. This means that a user, being it a company or person, has paid the social media company to make the advertisement g

Recently, freshmen college orientation in South Korea has become a national issue. There have been many issues in a number of colleges. One incident involves K University College of Physical Education collecting 380,000 KRW per person for a freshmen orientation fee, which seems much more than necessary. The college’s student union has announced the expenses: 94,000 KRW for room and board, 20,000 KRW for event costs, 6,000 KRW for snacks, 150,000 KRW for group uniform, and 110,000 KRW for student council fee. The amount itself sounds nonsense, but there is more to the story. Even non-participan

It was on Mar. 31 of 2015 when Daum Kakao launched its first ever taxi-hailing service Kakao Taxi. This particular app has been a real phenomenon and a huge crusher in the taxi-hailing service pool in Korea. The app itself was seemed brilliant for its simple and familiar user interface that intrinsically resembled the traditional call-taxi service. Now it has become a nation-wide app that almost every taxi you are on has running always. The taxi-hailing business in Korea has been long in the hands of "call-taxi" services alone . Now, the thing about transition from the traditional call-taxi to

The definition of “geek” has changed considerably over time, and there is no longer a definitive meaning. The term refers to bright individuals who are enthusiastically into mathematics, sciences, and recently being remarked, social sciences. As geeks unintentionally lack social abilities to get along with those who are ‘not’ geeks, they often hang out exclusively in groups. However, as the society has become more heavily correlated with advanced technologies, geeks have become influential intellectuals to be reckoned with, such as Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of the worlds’ most powerful soci

Go is an abstract strategy board game that originated in ancient China. The aim of the players is to secure more territory than the opponent. Go is one of the oldest board games in the world; it is estimated to be about 2,500 years old and still it is played by many people all around the world. The history of Korean Go traces back to the age of Three Kingdoms of Korea. Modern Korean Go was settled into shape in 1945 with the establishment of the Korea Baduk Association. The rules of Korean Go and way to grade players were fixed with the association’s effort. Go is played by two players. The pl

From Mar. 9 to Mar. 15, Google DeepMind Challenge Math was held at Four Seasons Hotel, Seoul. A match between the top ranking 9-dan Korean Go player and the artificial intelligence with tree searching algorithm that assembles humans’ way of thinking may well be considered as a match of the century. 1st MatchDuring the early phase of the game, AlphaGo dexterously encounters most of Sedol Lee’s offensive moves. Especially, AlphaGo’s 32nd move to cut Lee’s black alignments in the upper side was critical to Lee, letting him give up making any further moves in the upper side. During the middle phas

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has long been a subject of people’s interest. In Mar. 2016, there was a massive surge of the world’s attention toward AI as Google’s AlphaGo, a computer program developed by Google Deepmind to play the game of go challenged Lee Sedol, undoubtedly one of the best players in go, having won the world championship 18 times. Go was considered to be an unconquerable genre in classic games for AI as the number of possible positions on the board exceeds that of the atoms in the universe. Nonetheless AlphaGo managed to set a milestone in the history of AI by defeating Lee S

The Presidential election of the United States is by reputation one of the most complicated and entertaining election systems. As it elects the most influential man or woman in the world, the election unwillingly became arduous to make sure that the right person is elected.The President and Vice-President are elected every four years. They must be over 35 years of age, born-native citizens of the United States, and they must have been the residents of the United States for at least 14 years. Also, a person cannot be elected to a third term as President. Once the requirements are met, a candida

The presidential election in the United States is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov 8 2016. There are two political parties in the United States: the republicans and the democrats. Bernie Sanders, Hilary Clinton, and Donald Trump have indisputably been the hottest figures in politics for the past few months. Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are leading the president primaries in the Republican party while Hilary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are competing against each other in the Democratic party. Currently, Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton are dominant in each of the parties. As speculations regarding reversa

Internet of Things (IOT) refers to things exchanging information with other things or servers without people’s direct intervention. Recently, Internet of Everything (IOE) appears, it is exchange between humans, things and data without distinction of things and humans.IOT is already used in people’s lives. It is mostly used in 3 parts, personal, industrial and public sectors. In personal sectors, cars can help drivers to drive safely and conveniently. Also, using IOT, people can receive some health information like pulse and improve their health. In Korea, companies like SAMSUNG or LG launched

The Postech Times keeps on watching other domestic university presses to reflect upon ourselves. Overseas reportage conducted last Jan. 17 to 20 was a good opportunity to extend this to a university press abroad. The Postech Times had the opportunity to interview Kyoto University Press reporters and share our experiences. The Postech Times would like express our appreciation to the Kyoto University Press for admitting the interview.The interview with Kyoto University Press was the first interview we took during the overseas reportage. We met them in the cafeteria, and started the interview. Re

In 2013, more than 300 international students were in Osaka University, and the number of international students have been increasing. The Postech Times visited Suita Campus in Osaka University and interviewed 2 international staff to ask about their lives in Osaka University. Those interviewed are Dr. Kim Soo Yeon, an assistant professor of applied chemistry and Park Ji Hoon, Ph.D. candidate of mechanical engineering.LanguageFor attending university and taking class in Japan, international students should learn Japanese before entering university. According to both students, Japanese students

Kyoto University is one of the most prestigious universities in Japan. Established in 1897, Kyoto University is a world leading research-oriented institution that has produced 10 Nobel Prize laureates, 2 Fields medalists, and one Gauss Prize recipient. To investigate Kyoto University and their public relations, The Postech Times interviewed David Hajime Kornhauser, the director of public relations office of Kyoto University.Until recently, he was in charge of publishing of a university newsletter named “Raku-yu”. Raku-yu’s contents are mainly focused on the university itself. It contains greet

In a stark contrast to the oil shock in which the price of crude oil skyrocketed, the price of crude oil has plummeted recently. Based on WTI (West Texas Intermediate), the price of crude oil from June, 2014 to Jan, 2016 declined from 105.2 dollars per barrel to 32.6 dollars per barrel, a 69% decline. This phenomenon is believed to have been caused by OPEC’s deliberate overproduction. It seems illogical for countries in the Middle East to produce oil beyond the market’s demands since it is clear as day that the price of oil will drop, making them suffer from deficits. However, the development

Gun control refers to domestic regulation of the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms in order to reduce the harmful effects of gun violence. It varies greatly around the world. The United Kingdom has a very strict limit on gun possession, while others like the United States have fairly few restrictions. Proponents of gun control generally argue that widespread gun ownership increases the risks of gun-related crimes, suicide, and accidental injuries. Opponents argue that gun ownership is the extension of human rights and gun control violates individual libe

Human beings have tried to realize things in devices or in reality. As a result, they have drawn things in paper, taken pictures, made videos, and finally printed things in 3D. In addition to these attempts, human beings have tried to move reality itself or more than reality to devices. Developments in devices and technology related to computer science are bringing reality into devices. The main technologies of the realization of the reality are Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR).VR is defined as technology that realizes imagined space and things through computer space and provide

Research of Japan UniversitiesSome articles criticize Korean research environment saying that national institutes and corporations support only profitable researches. The Postech Times questioned how Japanese research funding is different than Korea’s. Professor Kimura mentioned two agencies that demand Research & Development (R&D) in Japan. One is Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), and another one is Japanese Science Promotion Society (JSPS). JST tends to support the research about the application of science. On the other hand, JSPS usually supports the pure science research. Japan ha

Osaka and Kyoto are cities located in the Kansai region, the center of the Honshu Island. Osaka and Kyoto are adjacent to each other, and Osaka is the second largest metropolitan city in Japan. Osaka and Kyoto are famous for their numerous cultural heritages.The first heritage to introduce is the Osaka Castle. The Osaka Castle has become the landmark of Osaka. Originally built in 1583 by the famous Toyotomi Hideyoshi, it was burnt and reconstructed two times. It was first burnt during the Battle of Sekigahara, where Tokugawa Ieyasu established a new bakufu in Edo. In 1620, Tokugawa Hidetada, t