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A Great Dane in Connecticut has been named the tallest living female dog by Guinness World Records.

Au Hui Her and Liu Yi Wen run The Weirdoughs, a bakery in Singapore.Aditi BharadeAu Hui Har and Liu Yi Wen opened a cozy neighborhood bakery in Singapore this year.Before becoming business owners, they worked in the fine dining and pharmaceutical industries.Running a bakery means rising well before the sun and baking hundreds of loaves daily.Ten minutes before The Weirdoughs opened its doors on a Friday morning, a queue of pastry-hungry customers had formed under its bright yellow awning.The small bakery, located in a quiet residential neighborhood of Serangoon in Singapore, had fewer than 10 tables. But it was quickly packed with regulars buying coffees, sourdough bread, croissants, and brownies.I sat in a corner and people-watched, savoring the smell of espresso and The Weirdoughs' caramelized onion and leek pastry. It was the brainchild of cofounder Liu Yi Wen, a Taiwanese fine dining chef trained in French cuisine.A queue had formed outside The Weirdough's storefront before opening time.Aditi BharadeLiu and her business partner, Au Hui Har, opened The Weirdoughs in July. The pair met while working at a local pastry business and decided to pool their savings to pursue a shared dream of starting something of their own.About five months on, business is booming, but baking close to a hundred loaves daily is not easy.Leaving behind jobs in pharmaceuticals and fine diningAu scored sourdough loaves before putting them in the oven.Aditi BharadeLiu studied materials science in college."Studying materials science, that was the trend then. So I followed the trend, but I realized after I joined the course that I was not interested in it at all," Liu said.After graduating, she cut her culinary teeth at several upscale restaurants in Singapore, Paris, and Taiwan, including the three-Michelin-starred restaurant Joël Robuchon.She described work in fine dining as akin to being in the army."The hours were very long, 14 to 16 hours daily. It was very normal for us to stay over," she said. "And there was a strict hierarchy."She returned to Singapore in 2022 to be with her partner, where she started working at Tarte by Cheryl Koh, a local pastry business.Au's pivot into baking, meanwhile, could not have been more drastic. She studied bioengineering in college and joined a management trainee program at the pharmaceutical company Novartis, completing rotations in Germany and Switzerland.Like Liu, Au also realized her day job wasn't what she wanted to do."Regulations in the industry take years to be implemented. I felt disconnected from the patients, and corporate life felt very tedious," Au said.When COVID-19 struck, Au returned to Singapore, seeking a job in the food and beverage industry. She joined Tarte, where she met Liu.Liu had a vision of opening a warm and homely café, similar to those she frequented in Taiwan and France.The duo pooled about 100,000 Singapore dollars, or about $77,300, from their savings to purchase kitchen equipment, including large ovens and industrial mixers.Their bakery, The Weirdoughs, opened its doors in July.A creative, fusion-heavy menuThe Weirdoughs' baked goods selection includes matcha croissants and cinnamon brown sugar knots.Aditi BharadeAu and Liu brought their A-game to menu development."We wanted to incorporate Yi Wen's Taiwanese influence and techniques into our menu," Au said.Their selection includes a tea egg sandwich, madeleines flavored with maqaw — a spice indigenous to Taiwan, and corn and miso sourdough.I was about to order a plain butter croissant when Au asked me if I was in the mood for something more adventurous. She recommended the caramelized onion and leek pastry. It was the perfect combination of sweet and savory — I still dream of it.I also tried their sourdough loaf with garam masala butter and a matcha cream-filled croissant.Patrons in the bakery told me it had quickly become their neighborhood go-to.I spoke to Foo Yong Howe, a public servant and a sourdough fan, who was sharing a…

A Ukrainian unit used a drone to bring a ground robot closer to Russia's forces.Florent VERGNES / AFPA Ukrainian arms maker said soldiers surprise it with how they use its robots.This includes using an aerial drone to carry and drop it closer to Russian positions.The CEO said Ukrainian soldiers have some "really crazy ideas I would never imagine."A Ukrainian ground robot maker said soldiers surprised it with the ways they used its robots, including using flying drones to drop them closer to Russian positions.Ukraine has a growing army of ground robots that can evacuate the injured, blow up inside or fire on Russian positions, lay or remove mines, carry cargo, and gather intelligence. It's a battlefield technology sector where Ukraine is rapidly experimenting and Western militaries are paying close attention.Ark Robotics is one of the companies supplying these systems, making a suite of autonomous robots used by more than 20 Ukrainian brigades.Its CEO, Achi, told Business Insider that Ukrainian soldiers have demonstrated "some really crazy ideas I would never imagine in my life that you would do." He spoke using a pseudonym as a security precaution.One example involved pairing a small Ark ground robot with a larger aerial drone, which carried the robot forward before "dropping it out of the sky."He said that when he first saw it, his immediate reaction was: "What the fuck? Why?" Then it quickly made sense.Ark Robotics makes ground robots, including its small A1 model.Ark Robotics"The goal is simple: get a tool on the ground fast without putting a person in harm's way."Ultimately, he found, "it works."He said this use "wasn't the robot's original design, but give smart, motivated people a tool, and they'll find new ways to use it — and squeeze more out of it."The "soldiers keep surprising us," Achi said. "They are very creative."Getting creativeAerial drones are available in significant numbers and are able to cover great distances quickly. Using them to transport ground robots helps overcome some of the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of the robots, which have notable advantages once deployed.Small ground robots can do things that are sometimes more challenging for aerial drones. They can drive into Russian dugouts or other positions to gather intelligence or deliver explosives. They can also be more precise when firing mounted weapons, and they are easier to conceal near Russian positions than aerial drones, which are noisy and have to hover overhead.Ukraine and Russia are both rapidly innovating new types of drones, and new ways to stop them.Yevhen Titov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty ImagesAchi described the tactic as one example of how quickly battlefield technology and tactics are evolving in Ukraine."There is so much innovation happening right now that it's hard to comprehend," he said.Other arms makers have also been surprised at how Ukraine's forces have used their weaponry. Kuldar Väärsi, the founder and CEO of Estonia's Milrem Robotics, which makes ground robots used by Ukraine's forces, previously told BI that Ukrainian soldiers have used them in ways he hadn't expected."The creativity of Ukrainian troops is really admirable," he said, adding that the way the company's robots are used in Ukraine has led it to make changes in their design.Milrem Robotics has its ground drones in Ukraine, with soldiers' use surprising the company.Mykhaylo Palinchak/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesCompanies with products deployed in Ukraine are seeking constant feedback from soldiers, often through group chats, video calls, and direct visits to front-line units.Robotic warfareAchi said the challenge for Ark Robotics is keeping pace with new ideas without changing products so rapidly that large-scale production becomes impossible.Ark needs to experiment constantly and stay aware of what's happening on the battlefield, but focusing on the wrong trends would mean sacrificing both mass and quality."This iteration cycle is insane.…

Adek Berry/Getty ImagesChina's population declined for the fourth year in a row, reaching 1.405 billion.Falling birth rates and an aging population threaten China's economy and the global economy.Government incentives have failed to reverse the trend, mirroring global demographic challenges.China's population is shrinking — and the decline is accelerating.The country's population fell for the fourth year in a row, falling by 3.39 million to 1.405 billion people in 2025, according to new data from China's National Bureau of Statistics.Its birth rate hit its lowest level on record — 5.63 per 1,000 people — since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, while the death rate climbed to 8.04 per 1,000 people. The number of babies born in the country dropped to 7.92 million, down from 9.54 million in 2024.The United Nations predicted in 2024 that China's population could fall as low as 663 million — less than half its current population — by 2100, if birth rates continue to decline and immigration stays low.If things don't change, China's shrinking and aging population poses serious long-term risks for the country's economy. It could mean a much smaller workforce, weaker demand for goods and services such as housing, and mounting pressure on pension and healthcare systems. A smaller working-age population in China could also hurt the global economy, which has relied on China's booming productivity and economic growth.China reported that its economy grew by 5% last year, meeting its official growth target. The country also logged a record trade surplus in 2025, despite President Donald Trump's tariffs. However, it's struggling with soaring unemployment among young people and an ongoing oversupply of housing, which has tanked property values, hurting consumer spending and slowing investments in infrastructure, manufacturing, and real estate.The population of mainland China began shrinking in 2022, when it declined by 850,000 people after years of falling birth rates. That year marked the first time the country's population had declined since a major famine killed an estimated 30 million people during Mao Zedong's failed Great Leap Forward in the early 1960s.China's demographic challenges have unfolded faster than the government once anticipated. The government has loosened previous restrictions to counter the effect, dropping the one-child policy a decade ago to allow families to have two children. Five years ago, it began allowing three children.In recent years, the government has raced to lift the fertility rate by offering financial incentives to parents, tightening access to abortions, and, more recently, imposing new taxes on contraceptives, including birth control and condoms. There is little evidence these efforts have been successful at lifting birth rates.Though its situation is serious, China is far from alone in declining fertility. Birth rates are falling in countries around the world, particularly in higher-income nations, including the US. Fertility rates below the "replacement rate" of 2.1 births per woman are "becoming the global norm," according to a report by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. This has sparked similar economic concerns about a shrinking workforce and a growing elderly population.The US has a slightly rosier population forecast than other major economies, as it's set to grow slightly due to immigration.Read the original article on Business Insider