Taiwan

The 2025 World Happiness Report is out and it's not good news for the US. While the top four happiest countries are no shock – Scandinavia and Iceland – the US is becoming unhappier by the year, slipping to its lowest spot on the table ever.

Many of us have had a tooth pulled in the dentist's chair, and even with anesthetic, it's not pleasant. So spare a thought for the people who, for millennia, chose to have good teeth yanked out with no painkillers – all in the name of beauty (mainly).

The first of 35 driverless trains set for Taiwan's 100% autonomous Light Green Line has been delivered. When complete, the 22.8-km (14-mile) line will shave 30 minutes off the current commute time end to end, from New Taipei City to Taipei.

While the island has 0.37% the land size of the US, Taiwan has become a hub for startups, sustainable design and tech innovation. This week, 600 inventions will vie for the 'gold medal' – the Platinum Award – at the massive Taiwan Innotech Expo.

Back in 2015, Gogoro proposed setting up a network of battery-swapping stations for riders of its electric smartscooter. Now the company operates thousands of them, and has partnered with Enel X to have the network serve as virtual power plants.

Tainan Market is an imaginative take on the humble wholesale market by MVRDV, which is defined by a sculpted undulating form envisioned as a series of rolling hills and allows visitors to walk up onto its green roof to socialize and enjoy the view.

Following 10 years of construction, OMA's ambitious Taipei Performing Arts Center has now finally been completed. The eye-catching building takes the form of a large cube, with three bulging theaters protruding out from it.

Nobody can accuse MVRDV of taking a half-hearted approach to ensuring its upcoming Sun Rock is sustainable. Most of the building will be covered with solar panels, meaning it's expected to generate around 1 million kWh of green energy annually.

Most memory devices us electric signals, but an emerging technology uses light, so data can be read back just by checking if an LED is on or off. Now, researchers have developed a new device based entirely on perovskite that can do both at once.

Over a decade after first being commissioned, Vincent Callebaut's twisting Tao Zhu Yin Yuan is finally nearing completion – and it's looking like the wait has been worth it. It has an ambitious DNA-inspired form and a focus on energy efficiency.

In the age of internet shopping, a lot of malls have closed, but MVRDV offers an idea for what to do with them with its recently-completed Tainan Spring. The project transforms a dilapidated old mall into a lagoon and park in Tainan, Taiwan.

Sky Green, designed by WOHA and located in Taichung, Taiwan, features a large amount of trees and plants, and offers occupants the use of terrace areas that are envisioned as a pleasant escape from the bustle of city life.