Nadia Lopez set out with an audacious vision in 2010 when she opened Mott Hall Bridges Academy: to shut down the school-to-prison pipeline. 

"I opened a school to close a prison," she proclaimed to a crowded hall during a live TED Talk in New York on Monday, followed by immediate applause.

Lopez opened Mott Hall in the Brownsville neighborhood in Brooklyn, one of the poorest areas of New York.

She first gained recognition when one of her students, Vidal Chastanet, was featured on the Humans of New York (HONY) blog.

The student was asked: "Who's influenced you the most in your life?" Chastanet replied:

"My principal, Ms. Lopez. When we get in trouble, she doesn't suspend us. She calls us to her office and explains to us how society was built down around us. And she tells us that each time somebody fails out of school, a new jail cell gets built. And one time she made every student stand up, one at a time, and she told each one of us that we matter."

Lopez says she relates to the conditions her students live in, noting that she went through the public school system at the height of the crack epidemic. But her experience struggling through a difficult learning environment didn't tarnish the way she views New York City schools, she said. 

"I am a proud product of the New York Public School system," she said.

At Mott Hall, Lopez and her students must work against what are seemingly insurmountable odds. She told the audience that 100% of her students live below the poverty line, 86% are below grade level in math and English, and 30% have special needs.

But she doesn't let those factors dictate the way she runs the school.

"We must empower out learners and we must build up their self-esteem before we hand out suspensions," Lopez explained.

After Chastanet's story went viral on HONY, the blog organized a fundraising campaign to send Mott Hall students on a trip to Harvard. Within 45 minutes of setting the fundraising page live, they had already hit their goal of $100,000.

They have since raised $1.4 million that will be used as a scholarship fund for graduates of Mott Hall Bridges Academy.

SEE ALSO: Take this test to see if you can answer math questions that stumped America's 8th graders

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Researchers at Hasso Plattner Institute have created an advanced tape gun that can build large 3D objects.

The sci-fi looking device is primarily geared toward home planning, allowing a user to build large-scale wireframes of sofas, cabinets and other kitchen appliances.

Produced by Lamar Salter

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A slice of Lebanon has come stateside, and it looks as though it's here to stay.

Semsom, a Lebanese fast-casual chain with over 40 locations in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Oman, has come to New York City this year with its first location in Greenwich Village. 

Lebanese entrepreneur Christine Sfeir — who in 1998 opened Lebanon's first Dunkin Donuts franchise at age 22 and has grown it to a 30-store operation — started Semsom in 2008.

By 2011, the first franchise opened in Saudi Arabia, and Semsom quickly became the fastest-growing company in Lebanon. 

And with two NYC locations planned to open soon, and an ambitious expansion goal by 2020, Semsom is poised to make waves in the fast-casual marketplace.

I decided to see for myself if Semsom has what it takes to tackle America's toughest restaurant market: NYC.

SEE ALSO: My favorite place to eat in Manhattan is a Cambodian sandwich shop that's taking over the city — here's what it's like to eat there

Semsom's first US location — and only location until the second store opens in the Financial District in January 2016 — is a colorful spot on the corner of Astor Place and Broadway. It opened in May 2015, and has been busy ever since.

I walked in around prime lunch time, and it was pretty packed — but the line seemed to be moving quickly.

The space is small, but well organized with plenty of seating. The decor is bright and clean, with lots of purple and blue touches.

After two years on the market and multiple price chops, the Miami penthouse belonging to singer Pharrell Williams is back up for sale. 

First put on the market for $16.8 million in 2012, the price was dropped to $14 million in 2013 and again to $10.8 million 5 months later, according to property records on Zillow.

The 9,000-square-foot penthouse sits at the top of the high-rise Bristol Tower in the Brickell neighborhood of Miami. Much of that space is full of his pop art collection.

Dora Puig Real Estate has the listing.

SEE ALSO: Michael Jordan is trying really hard to sell his outrageous Chicago mansion

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Pharrell Williams' penthouse definitely feels like his. The first thing you notice when you walk into the grand cathedral-like living room is the art on the walls by his favorite artists.

Throughout the apartment, you'll find art from KAWS, Takashi Murakami, Kidrobot, Keith Haring, and Andy Warhol.

Pop art lines the hallways.

Europe is full of amazing countries that don't cost an arm and a leg to explore.

Online travel company Simply Holiday Deals has put together a list of the continent's cheapest cities for travelers based on the Europe Backpacker Index for 2015, which calculates the average price of hostels, transportation, attractions, food, and entertainment in cities across Europe.

The average cost includes one night in the cheapest bunk of a well-reviewed hostel, a visit to one famous attraction per day, three budget meals per day, and three cheap local beers/wine (listed under entertainment). 

Keep in mind that the price of food and drinks can vary depending on each restaurant, but the estimates should help to plan out which European countries you can explore without spending the big bucks.

SEE ALSO: The most affordable places to travel to next year, according to Lonely Planet

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NOW WATCH: This animated map shows how European languages evolved

Though she may call it one, Dinah Fried's amusing new book, "Fictitious Dishes: An Album of Literature's Most Memorable Meals," is like no other photo album we've seen. 

From "Alice in Wonderland" to "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," the designer and photographer chose a variety of famous literary meals, whipped them up in her kitchen, and photographed them. 

In an interview with Bon Appétit magazine, Fried said she scavenged thrift stores and friends' kitchens to find "the perfect fork, water glass, doily, pepper grinder, or what have you” for each meal. 

Keep scrolling to see some of the meals she recreated, along with the excerpts that inspired them. 

SEE ALSO: 20 photos of artwork painted entirely with coffee

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The book emerged from a series of five photographs taken by Fried in her college years. She interpreted meals from both contemporary and classic literature and created table spreads for each.

In "Fictitious Dishes," Fried combines photographs of 50 place settings with the literary passages that inspired them. She has shared five of those photographs with Business Insider, beginning with...

"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," by Hunter S. Thompson

Hardly a meal, the above setup was inspired by this excerpt:

"By this time he’d opened a new bottle of tequila and was quaffing it down…He sliced the grapefruit into quarters...then into eighths...then sixteenths...then he began slashing aimlessly at the residue." 

The biggest problem with starting a killer watch collection — with some vintage pieces, of course — is making sure everything you buy is 100% authentic.

TrueFacet is one solution to that problem.

It's an online retailer that buys and sells jewelry. More important, it appraises that jewelry and makes sure every part of it — even the machinery inside a watch — is completely legit.

The company was founded in 2014 by Tirath Kamdar and Chris Chan, two childhood friends from Chicago.

Chan is a former derivatives trader who spent time at Capstone and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Kamdar cut his teeth working a JP Morgan, and at his family business Gemeralds, one of the largest jewelry retailers in the world. He also led marketing at Fab.com.

"When I spent eight years in the jewelry industry, I noticed firsthand that when people were shopping or selling jewelry, they can go to 10 different shops and will get 10 different prices for the same item," Kamdar told Business Insider.

"Shoppers still did not know if the item they were looking at either online or offline, was actually authentic. It was very tough for anyone to purchase an expensive item not ‘trusting’ the source. Over 35% of items were counterfeit, 84% of people did not know what their luxury items are worth. It’s a very opaque market."

Here's how the whole thing works:

TrueFacet buys and sells jewelry from luxury brands — from Cartier to Bulgari, from Tiffany & Co. to Rolex. Prices range from $100 and $100,000 (including a Patek Philippe watch that sold for over $90,000). Appraisers on staff inspect every one of the 30,000 items that go through TrueFacet, down to the last detail.

Usually shoppers save about 40% on the cost of their purchase. For example, you can get a Cartier love bracelet for $4,200 as opposed to $6,750 retail.

Now, if you want TrueFacet to hunt something down for you, they've got a concierge service as well. All you have to do is text them and tell them what you're looking for, even if you just have a general idea of what it is.

"People, especially guys, really need help when trying to buy gifts and are lost in this industry," Kamdar said. "Our concierge team has spent countless hours talking to guys during gifting season, guiding them through sizing and what to buy."

TrueFacet's supply has grown by 15% to 20% in the month since it was founded. But what its founders are really proud of is their ability to track down rare items that their customers request.

"Recently, we had a request for the new Patek Philippe Calatrava Pilot watch, that is very hard to get and has barely hit the market," said Kamdar. "Many customers are on a waiting list for this at different stores. Leveraging our global contacts, we have this coming in next month."

Over the past month, Kamdar and Chan say their sales have grown 40%. They have a new seller service planned for next year and plans to expand to key markets in Asia, the EU, and the Middle East in a year or two.

So start thinking about what you want and go ahead and ask.

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NOW WATCH: These are the best watches you can buy for under $1,000

Dubrovnik, Croatia, looks like it’s frozen in time.

The city, which dates back to the 1200s, is full of Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque architecture that has been standing for centuries. It is also still surrounded by walls that were built in the 16th century.

UNESCO recently named the city a World Heritage Site, and the agency is a large part of the reason why Dubrovnik is so well preserved.

The Croatian hotspot is a popular destination for tourists, and especially cruise ships thanks to its location on the shores of the Adriatic Sea.

Thanks to Christin Necker for sharing this video with us.

Story by Sarah Schmalbruch and editing by Jeremy Dreyfuss

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An animated short film by Walt Disney has just been found by the British Film Institute (BFI) after being lost for nearly 90 years.

The footage stars Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, one of Ub Iwerks and Disney’s first cartoon animals in 1927, one year before the duo created Mickey Mouse in 1928.

The resurfaced footage is six minutes long and called “Sleigh Bells” with lots of cartoon animals playing winter sports like hockey, skiing, and sledding.

It was developed in 1928, a year after Oswald’s creation.

The animated short was found by a researcher at the BFI National Archive, and will now be preserved by Walt Disney Animation Studios.

“What a joyful treat to discover a long-lost Walt Disney film in the BFI National Archive and to be able to show Sleigh Bells to a whole new audience 87 years after it was made,” Robin Baker, the head curator for the BFI National Archive, said in a press statement about the find. “The restoration of this film will introduce many audiences to Disney’s work in the silent period — it clearly demonstrates the vitality and imagination of his animation at a key point in his early career.

The film entered the BFI archives over three decades ago and the footage was labeled with the incorrect date and no mention of Oswald, according to The Guardian. The BFI researcher recognized the title “Sleigh Bells” and guessed correctly it could be the lost short film footage by the same name

Oswald has a special place in the Disney franchise. Disney and Iwerks created him as a part of Universal Studio’s first cartoon series and eventually abandoned the Universal project as well as the character they created to form their own studio.

Oswald stayed under Universal control for nearly 80 years until current Disney CEO Bob Iger became interested in getting the beloved rabbit character back. The deal eventually went down with NBC Universal when the two companies struck an agreement to trade sport announcer Al Michaels from the Disney-owned ABC and ESPN to NBC Sports and sign the rights of Oswald back to Disney.

“Oswald is definitely worth more than a fourth-round draft choice,” Michaels told ESPN at the time about being literally traded for a cartoon character. “I’m going to be a trivia answer someday.”

The new restoration of “Sleigh Bells” will be debuted by Walt Disney Animation Studios at BFI Southbank in mid-December as a part of the “Disney Christmas: Seasonal Shorts” program in London. 

Video script by Ian Phillips. Editing by Chelsea Pineda.

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NOW WATCH: The 19-year-old Instagram model who quit social media says haters are just proving her point

Besides likening themselves to cattle shoved into an airborne metal tube, there's nothing airline passengers like to complain about more than how terrible airplane food is. But how and where those disappointing in-flight meals get made is rarely thought of.

United Airlines recently let our cameras into its catering facility, Chelsea Food Services, near Newark International Airport in New Jersey. Surprisingly, the food we saw was super fresh, made entirely by hand, and meticulously planned in advance.

But there's a downside to the freshness.

Meals can't sit for more than six to eight hours before boarding a plane. So if a flight is delayed for more than a couple of hours, all of its meals will get thrown out and replaced. Not only is the food wasted, but employees also have to work overtime to get the new food ready.

Story by Sophie-Claire Hoeller and editing by Adam Banicki

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Move over 15 Central Park West — there's a new most expensive building in town.

One57, the 90-floor supertall skyscraper in midtown Manhattan, has been crowned the new most expensive building in Manhattan as of 2015, according to a report by CityRealty.

The building's average price per square foot for the year was $6,010, while last year's most expensive, 15 Central Park West, came in at only $5,726.

It's no surprise the skinny skyscraper is breaking records. It's located on a stretch of 57th Street known as "Billionaire's Row," and for most of its existence, it's been a magnet for foreign millionaires and billionaires trying to get in on the New York real estate boom.

Though the identities of most of the buyers of units in the buildings are shielded by limited-liability corporations, the New York Times was able to sniff out two billionaire buyers: Canadian Lawrence S. Stroll and Silas K. F. Chou of Hong Kong.

A buyer named Doijang Li, who is likely a Chinese national, picked up a $30 million condo this year, according to the Real Deal, and a Chinese airline exec Guoqing Chen paid $47.4 million for another space in the supertall. Another Chinese national, Tao Liu, paid $3.56 million for an apartment in 2012, but tried to flip it in 2014 for a profit.

Hedge fund star Bill Ackman was also identified as the buyer of a $90 million slice by The Wall Street Journal — one of the most expensive apartment sales in New York ever. New York's most expensive sale in history was also in One57, where a mystery buyer dropped $100.47 million on a top-floor duplex earlier this year.

SEE ALSO: Priced at $40 million, Michigan's most expensive home for sale is like a giant cabinet of curiosities

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NOW WATCH: This insane new high-rise is going to be one of the most gorgeous buildings in New York City

An extremely rare blue diamond is headed to auction at Sotheby's Geneva location this weekend. The 12-carat, fancy vivid blue, cushion-cut diamond is estimated to sell for between $35 million and $55 million.

Called "Blue Moon," the diamond was unearthed at Cullinan Mine in South Africa in 2014. 

Editing by Carl Mueller.

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Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid are only 20 years old, but the beautiful besties just got the news of a lifetime.

They will both be walking in this year's Victoria's Secret fashion show.

The show is a huge platform for young models, with more than nine million people tuning into the much-hyped broadcast each year.

And with their combined 48.2 million Instagram followers, the two friends are likely to get the show even more viewers.

Jenner and Hadid are just two of 10 new models who will be getting their angel wings this year.

Story by Aly Weisman, editing by Stephen Parkhurst

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When it comes to having better sex, getting pregnant, or avoiding pregnancy, women have a new best friend: their smartphones.

Fertility-tracking apps like Glow are quickly becoming the newest addition to a woman's fertility management.

Glow was founded in 2013 by PayPal cofounder and investor Max Levchin.

In the two years since it launched, Glow has helped with 150,000 pregnancies, according to new data it shared this week. All told, Glow has logged the data for 47 million female fertility cycles. It also tracks things like mood, frequency, and quality of sex.

So it analyzed the data and came up with these interesting insights about women's sex lives.

SEE ALSO: The most popular times to have sex, and other fun facts about making whoopee

Want more sex? Move to Canada. Canadians have sex 45% more often than the average Glow user.

But beware: Canada is also a great place to get pregnant. Canadian women get pregnant 21% more easily than the average Glow user.

Australians are also having a lot of sex — 37% more than the average user.

Photographer William Karl Valentine grew up visiting the Pasadena Police Department, where his father was a reserve police officer.

When Valentine enrolled at Arizona State University to study photography, he decided that his first project would be a documentation of the police department.

Over the course of four years at ASU, Valentine logged over 1,000 hours shadowing officers in the department, photographing every major operation and event that he was there to witness.

What has resulted is a fantastic time capsule of what it was like to be police officer in an LA suburb when the Drug War was in full swing.

Valentine shared a number of photos with us here, but you can check out the rest at his website.

At the time Valentine began his photo project in 1984, Pasadena was dangerous. Valentine was given the chance to document officers like Officer Bill Walton because he was well-known around the department due to his father.

Growing up, Valentine would visit the station while his father did paperwork. This is a view of the "report writing room," where much of that paperwork was done.

Valentine continued the project anytime he went home for holiday breaks. During the summers, he worked as a reserve officer in the department’s photo lab. This helped him gain trust with the officers, who gave him "almost unlimited access" to the department, he says.

Social media’s effect on our psyches is far from clear.

Some argue that it’s eroding our sense of self and leading us into a spiral of trying to make our lives look perfect on the outside, while inwardly feeling like frauds.

This view was recently articulated by a 18-year-old Instagram star who decided to quit social media altogether. Essena O'Neill was paid thousands of dollars by brands to hawk products to her 500,000 followers. But it didn’t make O’Neill happy.

“I felt the same as a young girl, I would just spend hours looking at everyone else's perfect lives and I strived to make mine look just as good,” she wrote. “Guess I succeeded. It's totally stupid. Everyone's doing it. And I know you didn't come into this world just wanting to fit in and get by.”

But you know who’s not worried about that?

Parents, according to a new study by survey platform Qualtrics. In a survey of around 1,000 parents with children between 8 and 17, respondents were a whopping four times as likely to say social media has had a positive impact on their children’s self-esteem than a negative one. 46.4% of parents said social media exerted a positive effect, while just 10.7% said it was negative (42.9% said neither).

So the question is, are parents simply out of touch with their children's feelings, or are those who speak out against social media’s anxiety-inducing tendencies actually a vocal minority?

Science seems to still be undecided. Some studies say Facebook can make us happy, while others say it makes us sad and lonely.

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NOW WATCH: Clever ways to reuse your old iPod

A new startup called Momentary Ink wants you to be able to “try on” a tattoo before you commit to a lifetime of having it on your body.

Founder Jordan Denny has been working for the past 9 months to make a temporary tattoo realistic enough to pass for the real thing, and finally started selling the customizable tattoos a few days ago.

Denny says his tattoos last 3-10 days, and use a special matting solution that stops them from looking shiny, or wet like dollar-store temporaries.

But “realistic” has different definitions, especially to startup founders, so I decided to test it out myself. The process was easy.

All I had to do was upload a design and send it to Momentary Ink. Since Halloween was coming up, I decided on the “Dark Mark” tattoo that evil wizards (“Death Eaters”) have in Harry Potter.

When I got my Momentary Ink tattoo and tried it out, the results surprised me. I hadn’t expected it to look quite so real, and many people I ran into over the next few days assumed it was the genuine article. More than that, Momentary Ink had actually fulfilled its promise. For almost a week, I've walked around and “felt” what it would be like to have this tattoo. Long story short, I'm definitely not getting a dark mark tattoo anytime soon.

At $15 for a “small” (0-4 inches) and $19 for a larger one (4-8 inches), Momentary Ink isn’t cheap. And if you are just getting it to have a temporary tattoo for a few days, I don’t think I could justify the cost. But if you are using it as designed, to make sure you actually want to get inked up forever, it seems perfectly reasonable.

Here’s what getting a Momentary Ink tattoo is like:

Each Momentary Ink package comes with a set of directions. You should definitely follow them, unlike my colleague Steven Tweedie, who ended up mangling his a bit.

First you take out the tattoo, which already comes pre-cut.

You remove a layer of plastic...

When done right, doughnuts can be an incredibly delicious snack.

The most satisfying doughnuts have the perfect dough consistency, just enough icing, and ideal flavor combinations.

We've scoured suggestions from Zagat, Thrillist, and locals' recommendations to find the very best doughnut shop in every state.  

Whether you're a fan of quirky flavors, overflowing filling, or an old-fashioned glazed doughnut done right, we've got you covered.

SEE ALSO: The best thing to eat in every state

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ALABAMA: The Heavenly Donut Company, located in Birmingham, Alabama, hand-makes a variety of cake and yeast doughnuts on a daily basis. Fun flavors include M&M doughnuts, Reese's Cup doughnuts, and a variety of flavors available seasonally, including Pumpkin Spice.

Click here to check out The Heavenly Donut Company »

ALASKA: Dino's Donuts in Anchorage, Alaska, has everything from blueberry and cherry frosted doughnuts to Maple Bacon varieties. Try one of their signature Dino Bones, which are bone-shaped doughnuts filled with everything from peanut butter and jelly to Bavarian cream.

Click here to check out Dino's Donuts »

ARIZONA: At Le Cave's Bakery in Tucson, Arizona, delectable doughnuts are stuffed with real fruit filling and made specially for vegans. The doughnuts are bigger than your average treats, and they definitely don't skimp on the raspberry, lemon curd, and vanilla custard fillings.

Click here to check out Le Cave's Bakery »

This week Guinness announced that it's tweaking its 256-year-old recipe so that so that it's safe for vegans to drink.

Guinness currently uses isinglass, a gelatin derived from fish swim bladders, as part of its filtration process. By late 2016, the stout-maker will stop using the food additive, which currently prevents the company from labelling their product as suitable for vegetarians or vegans.

Vegans don't eat anything that comes from an animal. That includes meat, fish, eggs, milk, and other dairy products, and, for some, even honey (which is made by bees). They also join vegetarians in avoiding animal-derived products like gelatin, which can come from the hides, tissues, or bones of cows and pigs.

Though a vegan diet appears limiting, there are many surprising brand-name foods that are OK to eat. A list of "accidentally vegan" foods, compiled by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, includes cookies, chips, and salad dressings that meet vegan dietary requirements.

These products may not be great for your health, but you can breathe easy knowing no animals were harmed in the process.

UP NEXT: The healthiest things you can order at 12 fast-food chains

SEE ALSO: Most vitamins are useless, but here are the ones you should take

Duncan Hines Creamy Home-Style Frosting (Classic Vanilla)

Other than a possible issue with how sugar is processed, many Duncan Hines frosting flavors are a-ok for vegans.

Sugar is an issue for some vegans because some refined sugar is processed with animal bone char, although this is not stated as an ingredient in sugar. 

The classic vanilla frosting flavor contains sugar, vegetable oil, water, and corn syrup, but no milk products. On the other hand, vegans generally have to be wary of homemade frostings, which may contain butter, milk, or heavy cream.

Oreos

Milk's favorite cookie is surprisingly safe for vegans. The classic creme filling isn't made with milk products.

Fritos

Classic Fritos contain just three ingredients: corn, corn oil, and salt. 

Amateur photographer Charles W. Cushman traveled extensively in the US and abroad from 1938 to 1969, capturing beautiful portraits of everyday life. 

His archive has been donated to and maintained by Cushman's alma mater, Indiana University, which has kindly given us permission to publish his gallery of New York City photos taken in 1941 and 1942.

These images give a great glimpse into what everyday life in Chinatown, the Financial District, and Midtown was like over 70 years ago.

SEE ALSO: 21 pictures of New York City in the early 1900s

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The old Fulton Market on Manhattan's Lower East Side wasn't quite so bustling on this Saturday afternoon in 1941.

Photo: Courtesy of Charles W. Cushman Photograph Collection / Indiana University Archives

There were still traffic jams on South Street along the East River in 1941.

Photo: Courtesy of Charles W. Cushman Photograph Collection / Indiana University Archives

Here, a view of the East River and the majestic Brooklyn Bridge.

Photo: Courtesy of Charles W. Cushman Photograph Collection / Indiana University Archives