Last week, the US announced major policy changes that will move towards normalizing relations between the US and Cuba. 

These changes will make it easier for Americans to travel to Cuba — and that is great news for Americans, because Cuba is full of gorgeous beaches, historic architecture, and incredible natural landscapes teeming with wildlife. 

Explore the colorful buildings of Habana Vieja (Old Havana).

Stroll along the water on Havana's Malecón.

This area is particularly beautiful at sunset.

If you're worried about getting boozy in front of your fiancée's parents over the holidays, it's not just the eggnog you should be watching.

As it turns out, many popular foods prepared with wine or liquor never have the alcohol completely cooked out. New Scientist deputy editor Graham Lawton tried it out for himself by eating several dishes sautéed, flambéed, or baked with booze. After each plate he consumed (an appetizer, a main course, and a dessert), Lawton measured his blood alcohol content.

Everyone processes alcohol differently, but the food clearly had an impact on Lawton.

By the end of the meal, he is visibly buzzed. More importantly, his blood alcohol level has skyrocketed — since it's too high for his BAC meter to calculate accurately, the device simply reads "HI." (We're not sure what kind of meter he was using or how accurate it was, but his readings jibe with what we know about cooking with alcohol.)

Throughout the meal, Lawton's BAC level alternates a bit. After an appetizer of rum-flambéed sausage, it spikes. The meter simply reads "HI." Assuming that Lawton had an empty stomach at this time, his gut was able to absorb the maximum amount of alcohol from whatever he ate or drank, which would explain the rapid rise in BAC.

Then, after time has passed and Lawton's body begins absorbing the alcohol he's eating at a slower rate, his BAC drops a bit to a low of 1.3 (.13 in US measurements) — still far too high to legally drive.

After dessert, however, his BAC shoots back up to "HI." While Lawton's body is absorbing less alcohol since he now has food in his system, he's ingested more alcohol than his body can process in the time he's been eating.

The US Department of Agriculture made this handy chart to compare how much alcohol content is retained in certain foods using various cooking times and methods.

When alcohol is added to a boiling liquid and removed from heat, a process frequently used in making reductions for meat dishes or desserts, close to 85% of the alcohol you put in your dish stays intact.

Of all the cooking methods you could use, baking or simmering removes the most alcohol overall. But 30 minutes of baking (a reasonable amount of time for brownies, bread, or a cake) would still leave you with a little over a third of any alcohol you added to the mixture. Cookies, by comparison, only spend about 15 minutes in the oven, so those will end up containing about 40% of any alcohol you've put in.

The only method that almost entirely removes the alcohol (and it still doesn't get it out entirely) is cooking or simmering for 2 and 1/2 hours or more. Fortunately, you can substitute other liquids for most of the alcohol recipes call for, like using ginger ale instead of white wine and tomato juice instead of red wine.

Watch Lawton's full video below.

SEE ALSO: Drinking Too Much Doesn't Necessarily Mean You're An Alcoholic

NOW READ: 9 Common Misconceptions About Alcohol

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Dutch photographer Hans Eijkelboom has spent the past 22 years photographing people in some the world’s fashion capitals of New York, Paris, Amsterdam, and Shanghai. 

Eijkelboom is a kind of anti-Bill Cunningham, and focuses not on individualism, but on recurring trends that he notices on the streets such as all denim outfits, plaid shirts, and fur-lined hoods.

He took thousands of photographs of regular people outside of shopping malls or on busy streets, and laid them out in a grid to show undeniable patterns in street fashion. Eijkelboom never spent more than two-hours capturing the photographs, he explained in an interview with Phaidon.

He then combined all of the photos he took into a 500 page book called, "People of the Twenty-First Century," which shows how people from across the world all basically dress the same. 

The photographs have been taken over a period of more than two decades, so some of the fashion trends — like all denim — have gone out of style: 

But the photographs represent an interesting take on individualism (and if it actually exists). 

The project is also a study of how consumerism effects our sense of individuality. 

"I think ‘how can you be so naïve to go to a shop, to buy clothes that sum up your personality, and not realise that, at the same time, 10,000 men and women around the world do and think the same things?"But I do it too, of course," Eijkelboom explains in Phaidon

"We’re told we’re individuals, and we buy these things, and we are a product of the culture that we live in."

Eijkelboom’s process was a bit sneaky, he would wear his camera around his neck and take photos by pressing a trigger in his pocket, so that people will not react to the photographs. 

His photographs are different from the work of street style photographers like Cunningham or The Sartorialist because, "they are interested in the things that are exceptional, whereas I’m looking for things that you see all the time on the street,"  Eijkelboom told Phaidon.   

Although the project represents a certain conformity in society, Eijkelboom insists that his book has a positive message. 

"In the end you could say the book is about a fight, a war within society: more and more, big companies have their grip on people, in producing the clothes and so on. But in the book you see the possibilities to give it your own personal touch," he told the Guardian. 

The book is available at Phaidon, for more information about the project click here, and keep scrolling for a few more of our favorite grids.

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At the Nanjing University of Technology the clothes and culture of the 2,000-year-old Han dynasty are making a comeback. Students wear traditional hanfu dress - a long, loose-fitting kimono-style dress dating from the Han dynasty.

Produced by Devan Joseph. Video courtesy of Associated Press.

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Cards from all over the world are sent to the Rudolph, Wisconsin post office to be embossed with a special cancellation on certain days as well as an ink stamp that features a reindeer and reads, "Rudolph, Wisconsin — home of Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer."

Produced by Devan Joseph. Video courtesy of Associated Press.

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Learn how to tie ascot, once-around, and loop knots. This is the most useful information you'll learn this winter. So pay attention and stay warm.

Produced by Matthew Stuart. Special thanks to Devan Joseph and Antonio Centeno.

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Christmas is a deeply special time for people all over the word. During the holiday season, they celebrate in many ways.

No custom is more important to folks across the globe than the time-honored Christmas Eve or Christmas Day meal. Yet, these meals vary greatly in different parts of the world.

Inspired by this BookTable post by Rob Rebelo, we took a look at some typical Christmas meals from countries around the world.

Brazilians eat turkey on Christmas Eve, but not in the traditional North American style. Along with turkey, they serve rice, Brazil nuts, and a variety of fruit.

Germans often serve fruity Stollen cake, along with mulled wine called Gluehwein. Stollen is traditionally baked to have a hump, symbolizing the humps of the camels that carried the wise men to see Jesus.

Many Bulgarians fast before Christmas, so on Christmas they nosh on stuffed vegetables, soups, and cakes.

The 2015 Sony World Photography Awards may be still open to submissions for another few weeks, but the World Photography Organization has decided to reveal a selection of some of their favorite submissions from the contest so far.

Last year’s contest, which saw more than 140,000 entries, was the Awards’ most successful in its seven-year history. Judging from the photos shared by the World Photography Organization, this year could be even better.

 To submit your own photos, head to the World Photo Organization. The contest is open to entries in the Open and Youth competitions until January 5th and in the Professional competition until January 8th. 

"I was taking pictures of some Orangutans in Bali, Indonesia and then it started to rain. Just before I put my camera away, I saw this Orangutan took a banana leaf and put it on top on his head to protect himself from the rain," said photographer Andrew Suryono.

Fiona, the girl in the photo, is the youngest of photographer Arief Siswandhono's two daughters. Fiona used to be scared of cats, which was why the family adopted two kittens. After seven months, Fiona is no longer afraid.

In the Lower Omo Valley of Southern Ethiopia, a man of the Hamar tribe collects wood to build a defensive fence for his cattle.

This is the top for New York City. It's all downhill from here.

A new condo building is going up in Manhattan's Hudson Square neighborhood — the triangle on the river between Tribeca, SoHo, and the West Village that has until recently been mostly commercial and industrial buildings.

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I wanted to put the iPhone 6 time-lapse video to the test. I also really wanted to know why my baby is in a different position every time I check on her in her crib. I recorded the infrared night-vision output from the baby monitor for six hours. In the morning, my iPhone 6 had produced 26 seconds of video showing my baby's nighttime adventures. I was blown away by how much she moved!

Produced by Sara Silverstein

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One of the best features about Apple's new iPhones are their improved battery life. However, that doesn't mean you won't eventually run out of juice.

Portable chargers can fill in the gap, but are annoying to carry around. Afterburner combines the convenience of an extra battery pack with a case. It provides 150% phone charge in your pocket. Many cases with batteries are bulky, but this one only adds less than half an inch to your phone's height, and less than one quarter of an inch to the depth, so you'll only add a little heft for a lot of power.

The built in kickstand is great for watching movies or FaceTiming, and the Afterburner even charges using the same cord as your iPhone (Lightning) , so you won't need a micro-USB like other cases.

Thanks to our friends at Stack Commerce, you can grab the Afterburner iPhone 6 battery cases for 26% off plus Free Shipping.

Get 26% off the Afterburner iPhone 6+ Case ($44 + Free Shipping. US Only)

Get 33% off the Afterburner iPhone 6 Case ($40 + Free Shipping. US  Only)

Full Specs and more photos below:

Specs:

• Battery Type: Lithium Polymer 
• Battery Capacity: 4800mAH
• Battery Charge Time: 5 hours
• iPhone 6 Plus Charge: Up to 150%

Get 26% off the Afterburner iPhone 6+ Case ($44 + Free Shipping. US Only)

Get 33% off the Afterburner iPhone 6 Case ($40 + Free Shipping. US Only)

SEE ALSO:  The Drone Gift Guide: Four Drones To Help You Start Flying [Up To 55% Off]

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How to hack your new Keurig 2.0 >

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There's no shortage of advice on where to meet the right person, how to make people like you, and how to build a successful relationship.

Sometimes, though, people are attracted to each other for seemingly arbitrary reasons, such as what color you wear or whether you have a pet.

What might influence someone to fall for you? We pored through research on the psychology of attraction and found some fascinating reasons why people fall in love.

If you do something thrilling together.

In 1974, Donald Dutton and Arthur Aron wanted to test the connection between sexual attraction and anxiety. In their study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, they placed men under two conditions. The first walked across a high, shaky bridge. The other was on a low, sturdy bridge. Afterward, they met a female experimenter who asked them a series of questions and gave the men her phone number "just in case."

The men who met the woman after walking on the high bridge were more likely to call her than the men who met her on the low bridge. Psychologists call this phenomenon the "misattribution of arousal." The high bridge created a sense of arousal from the anxiety, but men mistakenly thought it was from the attraction to the woman.

This is why many people like to do exciting things on first dates, such as visiting amusement parks, skydiving, or riding motorcycles.

If you prime them to feel more attracted to you.

Priming is an implicit memory effect, which means that the stimuli you are exposed to can influence your response to later stimuli. For example, if people take a multiple choice test with words that have to do with "oldness" like "Florida," "gray," and "weak," they tend to walk slower afterward.

Yale psychologist John Bargh performed an experimentin which participants held warm or cold beverages and had to rate whether someone's personality was warm or cold. Participants who held warm beverages judged the person to have a warm personality, because their minds were already primed to think that way.

If you take someone on a coffee date instead of an ice cream date, they may feel more warmly toward you.

If you live close to them.

It's not only important to be close to someone emotionally — you should also strive to be close physically. According to an experiment at MIT, the proximity of students' dorm rooms increased how close they felt to one another.

This is because they had more passive interactions, like brief meetings as they passed one another in the hallway, which made them feel more intimate.

It's known as the mere exposure effect, which states that familiarity plays a huge role in attraction.

Adam Savage, co-host of the popular "MythBusters" television show, soured on the plot of "Interstellar". But when it comes to the newest films in the Star Wars franchise, he has nothing but high hopes.

Produced by Justin Gmoser

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Gift cards are probably the best kind of gift you can get. You can pick whatever you want and don't have to deal with the hassle of returning that ugly sweater your weird aunt from Florida got you.

So trade in that shiny plastic for something like a drone, great headphones, or classic sunglasses.

Happy holidays.

Target Giftcard

Beats headphones are classic, and everyone — from critics to users — loves them.

Or since it's the winter, get yourself a nice razor that'll keep your face smooth.

UNDER $50 — A hig- end razor to battle the winter beard.
Philips Norelco Shaver 3500 — Price: $49.99

UNDER $100 — A TV stand that pairs well with that new flatscreen you got.
Convenience Concepts TV Stand — Price: $89.99

Walmart Giftcard

At Walmart, you can pick up a solid pair of headphones or a great 16 megapixel camera. 

And if you really want to go wild, check out that breathalyzer that attaches to your smartphone.

UNDER $50 — A breathalyzer for your phone; keep yourself safe on New Year's Eve.
Breathometer Smartphone Breathalyzer — Price: $49.95

UNDER $100 — Headphones to block out all the noise from your family.
Monster Inspiration Noise-Isolating Over-Ear Headphones— Price: $84.99

How about a drone?: The Sleek Panther Drone Is The Perfect Way To Start Flying [55% Off]

Looking for gadgets? Here Are 15 Hi-Tech Timepieces You'll Actually Want On Your Wrist

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Astrophysicist and StarTalk Radio host Neil deGrasse Tyson saw 'Interstellar' and then came by Business Insider to explain what the ending means – and if it's scientifically sound.

Produced by Will Wei. Additional camera by Devan Joseph.

StarTalk Radio is a podcast and radio program hosted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, where comic co-hosts, guest celebrities, and scientists discuss astronomy, physics, and everything else about life in the universe. Follow StarTalk Radio on Twitter, and watch StarTalk Radio "Behind the Scenes" on YouTube.

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The number of overweight and obese people has skyrocketed over the past thirty years, jumping from 857 million in 1980 to more than 2 billion in 2013. That's approximately a third of the world's population.

In 2010 alone, between 3 and 4 million people died due to complications from obesity.

While the United States is often pegged as the standard-bearer for overweight populations, there are more than a few countries tracking close behind.

With people in the world becoming more sedentary thanks to desk and computer jobs and more and more gaining access to high calorie, high fat foods like fast food and soda, the obesity epidemic will become a massive public health crisis in the coming decades, unless drastic steps are taken.

A new study out in The Lancet by the Global Burden of Disease has revealed the ten countries with the highest rates of obesity. A few may surprise you.

1. United States

78 million people, or 33% of the adult population.

2. China 

46 million people, or 4.4% of the adult population.

3. India

30 million people, or 3.8% of the adult population.

4. Russia

28 million people or 24.1 percent of the adult population.

5. Brazil

22 million or 16.2 percent of the adult population.

6. Mexico

20 million or 26.9 percent of the adult population.

7. Egypt

18 million or 35.9 percent of the adult population.

8. Germany

16 million or 24.3 percent of the adult population.

9. Pakistan

14 million or 13.6 percent of the adult population.

10. Indonesia

11 million or 6.8 percent of the adult population.

h/t GlobalPost

NOW WATCH: Why You Weigh Less In The Morning Than At Night

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Beirut experienced a renaissance of sorts in the mid-20th century.

Following World War II, the Lebanese capital became a tourist destination and financial capital, nicknamed "the Paris of the Middle East" thanks to its French influences and vibrant cultural and intellectual life.

That changed when civil war broke out in 1975, ravaging the city. Beirut has been rebuilt in the decades since (despite occasional violence), and is one again becoming a popular place for travelers.

Charles W. Cushman, an avid traveler and amateur photographer, visited Beirut in its heyday in 1965 and captured some stunning photos of everyday life in the city. These photos are being shared with permission from the Indiana University Archives.

In the 1960s, Beirut was a popular tourist destination and cosmopolitan city.

Cushman snapped this photo of the Mediterranean from the top of the Excelsior Hotel.

The trendy Excelsior was a popular escape. Check out that pool.

Sibling conflicts that begin in childhood often run the risk of lasting well into adulthood if the issues aren't addressed and resolved; but what are the causes of the issues themselves?

We posed this question to psychoanalyst and author Jeanne Safer Ph.D. and she said the conflicts generally arise because of preferential treatment from the parents toward one or more of the siblings. Dr. Safer offers advice for parents on how to avoid behavior that could lead to painful sibling rivalries.

Produced by Graham Flanagan

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