In Case You Missed It: Need-to-Know News from around the World

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U.S.

The National Institutes of Health designated $41.5 million to study human placentas and the ways pollution, medications and diet influence how they develop.

ANTARCTICA

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Researchers found traces of siloxane compounds, which are used in cosmetics and deodorants, in soil and plants on islands 75 miles north of the Antarctic Peninsula. Snowfall may have pulled the compounds out of the atmosphere.

RUSSIA

The Russian Federal Space Agency says it will separate the nation's modules from the International Space Station when the mega satellite's mission ends in 2024 to construct a base of its own.

POLAND

An atomic clock the size of four rooms began ticking at the National Laboratory of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics in Toru. Once calibrated, the instrument will err by only one second after tens of billions of years.

AUSTRIA

Architects in Vienna revealed plans to build a 25-story wood skyscraper next year.

INDIA

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare announced that it will give free pills to 400 million people every year in a campaign to prevent elephantiasis, a disease caused by microscopic worms and characterized by grotesquely swollen body parts.

NEW ZEALAND

Personalized jet-pack maker Martin Aircraft Company debuted on Australia's stock exchange, its share rising by 272.5 percent over five weekdays. The jet packs cost around $200,000 each and are intended for tricky emergency rescues.

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