A zoo finally figures out why it failed to get two spotted hyenas to mate

The Sapporo zoo in Japan has spent the past four years trying to get a pair of spotted hyenas to mate. When they failed repeatedly, they decided to try and figure out what was going wrong. So they ran some tests.

And it turned out that Kami and Kamutori, a pair of hyenas the zoo had received from South Korea, were not exactly Jack and Jill — they were Jack and Jack. When South Korea gifted the pair to Japan, it said they were a mixed pair. And the mistake isn't quite as bizarre as it sounds. According to the Sapporo zoo, the external genitalia look very similar. 

Spotted hyenas are the only mammal that does not have an external vaginal opening and the females actually have a "pseudo-penis." ITV reports that the Japanese zoo is now looking for a female to mate with either of their two males.

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Police trade their shades for Google Glass

Google Glass — glasses outfitted with a video camera, screen and a computer — is out of reach for most people at $1500 a pair. Now, a police force in the United Arab Emirates intends to buy enough to outfit their police officers with them. The Dubai police department wants to connect them to a facial recognition database, so police officers will be alerted if they meet a wanted criminal.

According to Slate, the department will test using the glasses to track traffic violations and look for wanted or stolen vehicles. If that goes as intended, then the department intends to purchased enough glasses to outfit detectives with them, as well, using the facial recognition program.

How New Hampshire's immigrant communities are getting the taste of home

For many immigrants, food from their home countries is the tie that binds them to cultural traditions and each other. But making those foods in the US is not always easy. It can be difficult to find the right ingredients, especially for immigrants who live outside of America's largest cities.

But those barriers are coming down, at least in one state. Residents of Concord, New Hampshire — with a population 42,000 and change — now have access to a food stand that not only sells exotic Asian and African ingredients, it also serves them up in dishes prepared on site. PRI's The World visited Kathmandu Baazar to see how the shop got started and how it's doing.

The flag of ISIS flies over a new Kurdish city

The Syrian city of Kobani has been a flashpoint in recent weeks. The heavily Kurdish town, right near the Turkish border, was under attack by ISIS. Turkish armed forces assembled across from Kobani, but stayed in Turkey as ISIS moved toward the town.

Kurds from Turkey have moved back and forth to reinforce the city's militias to fight off ISIS advances. But on Monday, ISIS forces hoisted their black-and-white flag over the city's outskirts in a major setback for Syrian Kurds, despite help from US airstrikes.

According to The Guardian, the ISIS insursion has, so far, been isolated to the eastern part of the city, but Kurdish forces report being outgunned by the tanks and other heavy weaponry ISIS possesses. The fighting has devolved into a street-by-street battle. It's also led 160,000 Syrian refugees to flee and seek shelter in Turkey. 

Imagine a world without antibiotics. It might not be far off

Antibiotics help make bacterial infections mostly a non-issue for people living in the developed world. People get sick, receive a course of antibiotics and get better. But increasingly bacteria have become resistant to antibiotics.

These resistant bacteria often require specialized, highly-potent antibiotic therapy that can have serious side effects. For now, at least, that is still an option. In the near future, antibiotics may not be effective at all.

PRI's Innovation Hub talked to author Maryn McKenna about her new book, "Imagining the Post-Antibiotics Future." In it, she looks at what may happen — and how soon — if bacteria become broadly resistant to all antibiotics. It's not pretty — and it's our own fault.

What we're seeing on social

A Guatemalan girl's journey to America turned into an outright abduction by smugglers http://t.co/YmKYjrXMdj pic.twitter.com/irT8LKM2BV

— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 6, 2014

Weather around the world

Japan is still drying out from Typhoon Phanfone, which brought flooding and other problems to the island nation over the weekend. Already another tropical system is taking aim. Typhoon Vongfong is on a track that will see it collide with Japan this coming weekend — the third tropical or post-tropical system to batter the islands over the past month, according to AccuWeather.