Since the debut of the Mirrored Force Resonance First Edition in 2022, which was an update of the revolutionary 2016 Armin Strom Mirrored Force Resonance, the brand has excited us with the Manufacture Editions in green and blue, and now introduces the Mirrored Force Resonance Ice Blue. This fresh interpretation combines the technical mastery of its predecessors with a dial that truly catches the eye and has a very soothing effect.
As we’re here talking about a new edition of a well-known watch, we’re not going to remake the entire technical explanation, as groundbreaking as it can be. However, if you want to understand how Armin Strom managed to create a watch truly capable of using the benefits of the resonance phenomenon, I invite you to take a look at one of these two videos, here and here. Believe me when I say that it’s absolutely fascinating.
Now on to the new Mirrored Force Resonance Ice Blue. The familiar 43mm stainless steel case measures 11.55mm in thickness and features a comfortable lug-to-lug length of 49.60mm, striking a nice balance between presence and wrist-friendliness. The case’s polished surfaces complement the anti-reflective sapphire crystals front and back, offering an unobstructed view of the watch’s remarkable movement and its resonance mechanism in action. Water resistance is a modest but practical 30m.
The Ice Blue dial features a sunray guilloché pattern to adorn the off-centred time display, a decoration introduced for the first time in the Mirrored Force Resonance line. This icy blue dial plays beautifully with light, catching and reflecting it in dynamic ways. The black circular satin-brushed chapter ring grounds the design, while polished and facetted rhodium-plated indices and hands, crafted in-house, provide a sharp contrast for excellent legibility.
The dial’s left side displays the brand’s signature resonance mechanism: two balances oscillating in opposite directions, linked by Armin Strom’s patented resonance clutch spring. Two seconds counters add symmetry and provide a visual confirmation of the precise synchronisation that defines resonance technology, with the pusher at 2 o’clock used to synchronise them in case it’s needed.
The watch is powered by the Manufacture Calibre ARF21, a hand-wound movement with two independent regulating systems, connected via the clutch spring, that significantly improve chronometric stability and precision. The movement operates at a frequency of 25,200 vibrations per hour, offers a 48-hour power reserve, and is meticulously finished with traditional haute horlogerie techniques, including polished bevels, Geneva stripes, perlage, and black-polished screws, which are visible through the sapphire caseback.
The watch is worn on a dark blue Alcantara strap with white stitching, adding a sporty, elegant touch, and is closed with a classic stainless steel pin buckle. Limited to 15 pieces, the Mirrored Force Resonance Ice Blue is priced at CHF 78,000. For more information, please consult arminstrom.com.
From the glow of blue LEDs to the ‘miracle’ of IVF, the Nobel Prize celebrates individuals whose discoveries have changed the world. These six innovations and discoveries not only improve our daily lives, but save them and help create new ones.
At a glance
The discovery of blood groups enabled safe transfusions
IVF helped millions struggling with infertility
The invention of lithium-ion batteries transformed energy storage
Blue LEDs led to long-lasting, eco-friendly white light.
Synthetic indigo dye made affordable denim possible
The CCD sensor sparked the digital photography era
Enabling safe blood transfusions
Close up of A positive blood in bag. Credit: ER Productions Limited/Getty Images
It is likely you know someone who has donated or received blood. However, life-saving blood transfusions were once so unpredictable, that using them risked triggering a potentially fatal reaction.
This risk was reduced once Karl Landsteiner discovered the existence of human blood groups. He tested blood samples to see whether one person’s red blood cells clumped together when mixed with blood serum from another’s. His experiments showed that adverse reactions occurred when a recipient possessed natural antibodies to a donor’s blood cells. In these cases, he found that the red blood cells from the donated blood began to clump, or agglutinate.
In the recipient these agglutinated red cells could clog blood vessels and stop the circulation of the blood to various parts of the body, or crack open, leaking toxic contents out in the body, which could eventually be fatal.
From his research, Landsteiner classified people and their blood into groups.
Today, blood transfusions are routinely used when dealing with trauma or major surgery, ensuring that patients receive blood that matches their own to reduce the risk of life-threatening reactions caused by incompatible blood.
Read more about blood transfusions and Karl Landsteiner
Making affordable denim possible
Credit: RuslanDashinsky via Getty Images
Do you have a favourite pair of jeans? Adolf von Baeyer played a role in putting affordable denim in millions of wardrobes, by helping to make it possible to produce indigo’s distinctive blue colour industrially instead of extracting dye from the indigo plant.
It took almost two decades for Baeyer to progress from the approximate structure of indigo to calculating its precise chemical formula, but within that time he already had enough information to produce the dye synthetically in three ways from different sets of raw materials rich in carbon atoms. In 1897 the first synthetic indigo went on sale, prompting a boom.
It is estimated that more than 4.5 billion pairs of jeans are sold worldwide every year, and most of them are dyed with synthetic indigo.
Inventing a sensor for capturing images electronically
The CCD image sensor is at the heart of a solid state video camera. A flat chip of oxidized silicon covered with a complicated array of metal electrodes is the image sensor at the heart of the solid state video camera built by Bell Lab engineers. Photo: Alcatel-Lucent/Bell Labs
From preserving precious family moments to documenting dinners, we take more photos now than ever before.
Willard Boyle and George Smith were colleagues at the famous Bell Laboratories outside New York, and made it possible to capture images electronically. They sketched an image sensor based on Albert Einstein’s photoelectric effect – in which arrays of photocells would emit electrons in amounts proportional to the intensity of incoming light – during a brain-storming session for a new type of information storage.
The charge-coupled device (CCD) they invented gave rise to an explosion in digital imaging. In addition to being used in digital cameras, CCDs play a crucial role for the scientific world, including in medicine and astronomy. Without CCDs we would not have seen the astonishing images of space taken by the Hubble space telescope.
Creating white light for energy-efficient lamps
The blue LED: an energy- efficient, environmentally-friendly light source Photo: Public domain
Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) illuminate everything from Christmas trees to football stadiums, but long-lasting, energy efficient white LED lamps would not be possible without the work of three laureates.
Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura produced bright blue light beams from their semi-conductors in the early 1990s, adding to existing red and green diode technology, to create a fundamental transformation of lighting technology.
LEDs are far more energy-efficient than older light sources, and therefore have much lower environmental impact. They use at least 75% less energy and last around 25 times longer than incandescent bulbs. With 15% of global power consumption and 5% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions created by electricity for lighting, a global shift to energy efficient bulbs such as LEDs is urgently needed, and could slash these emissions by more than one third.
Enabling a rechargeable world
Credit: shisheng ling via Getty Images
Electric vehicles are considered to be the key technology to decarbonise road transport, which is responsible for one-sixth of emissions. Many electric vehicles rely on lithium-ion batteries, which are also used to power small portable electronic devices like phones, and to store energy from solar and wind power, making a fossil fuel-free society a possibility.
The foundation of the lithium-ion battery was laid during the oil crisis in the 1970s. Stanley Whittingham created a two-volt battery with great potential, but it was too explosive to be viable. John Goodenough refined the materials used to make a breakthrough that would lead to more powerful batteries, helping Akira Yoshino to create the first commercially viable lithium-ion battery in 1985.
Lightweight, hardwearing lithium-ion batteries can be charged hundreds of times without their performance deteriorating, and have revolutionised our lives since they first entered the market in 1991, paving the way for a wireless, fossil fuel-free society.
Developing a treatment for infertility
Credit: Catherine Delahaye via Getty Images
In the 1950s, Robert Edwards came up with the radical idea of helping childless couples to conceive by fertilising the mothers’ eggs outside the body and then replacing them in the womb.
He first demonstrated human in vitro fertilisation (IVF) in 1969, but the fertilised eggs never underwent more than a single cell division. He teamed up with gynaecologist Patrick Steptoe, who worked out how to remove suitable eggs directly from women’s ovaries to overcome this challenge, and the nurse and embryologist Jean Purdy. Together, they also overcame some societal resistance to their research. Their resilience and determination led to the birth of Louise Brown, the world’s first ‘test tube baby’, in 1978.
Worldwide, there are over 500,000 IVF deliveries every year. IVF has become a familiar and, for many, easily-accessible option to turn to when problems are encountered in conceiving a child.
WBC light heavyweight champion David Benavidez will defend his title against Britain’s Anthony Yarde in November, Saudi boxing officials announced on July 3.
Turki Alalshikh, chairman of the General Entertainment Authority and president of the Saudi Boxing Federation, confirmed the fight as part of Riyadh Season. The exact date and venue are yet to be finalised.
The bout will be Benavidez’s first since he was promoted to full champion status.
The 28-year-old previously held the interim belt, which he captured with a unanimous decision win over Oleksandr Gvozdyk in June 2024. He followed up with a victory against David Morrell in February, securing his position as the division’s leading contender.
Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) was elevated to champion earlier this year after former titleholder Dmitry Bivol opted for a trilogy bout against Artur Beterbiev rather than defend against the interim titleholder.
Long linked to a clash with Canelo Alvarez at super middleweight, Benavidez moved up in weight after failing to secure the fight.
His opponent, Anthony Yarde (27-3, 24 KOs), will be making his third attempt at a world title. The London-born fighter fell short in his first title shot against Sergey Kovalev in 2019 and again in 2023, when he was stopped by Beterbiev in a high-profile bout for the WBC, IBF and WBO titles.
Yarde returned to winning form in April with a points win over Lyndon Arthur on the undercard of Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Conor Benn. He’ll now seek a breakthrough moment against one of the division’s most powerful and technically gifted champions.
The November contest adds another high-profile name to Riyadh Season, which has emerged as a key player in boxing’s global calendar. Further details on the card are expected in the coming weeks.
The transaction is unprecedented in its scale, complexity and speed at which it was executed—setting a new benchmark. It is the largest refinancing of its kind to have taken place in the Hong Kong market.
New World Development’s core business areas include property development, property investment, and other strategic operations in Greater China, especially the Greater Bay Area.
The financial institutions supporting the transaction form a significant part of Hong Kong’s real estate finance banking community. A&O Shearman guided the wide range of financiers in the group through a complex structure over a short execution timetable, working closely with New World Development and the company’s counsel.
Partner Roger Lui commented “We are grateful to the bank group for placing their trust and confidence in A&O Shearman in supporting them and New World Development in taking this historic and significant financing to a close.”
“The mandate required us to address, at a senior level, queries from various stakeholders within each financial institution, explain the thesis of the proposed financing structure, as well as the need to process a large volume of documentation. Given the size of the company group and the number of banks involved, this was a complex undertaking. We are proud to have played a part in contributing towards the stability and vibrancy of the Hong Kong markets through this transaction.”
A&O Shearman deployed a host of advanced delivery tools including a global project management team across three time zones, an offsite legal support team, two data sharing platforms, and document automation.
The A&O Shearman team advising the lenders was led by partner Roger Lui, with support from of counsel, Welber Yim, partner Patrick Wong, senior associate Antonia Ma, partner Viola Jing and associate Joshua Chan, as well as partner Agnes Tsang.
The team was further supported by associate Zoe Lau, trainee Chelsea Leung, and wider team members in several locations, including Peerpoint conveyancing specialists Kylie Wong and Karen So. Partner Yvonne Ho, senior associate Tianyi Xu, and associate Peggy Zeng advised existing lenders. Partner Cindy Lo and senior associate Adrian Chiang advised a group of agents.
An exhibition room at Pop Mart’s theme park, Pop Land, in Beijing, on June 18, 2025.
Pedro Pardo | Afp | Getty Images
Beijing may have warned against “blind box” toys, but analysts are betting that Pop Mart International — the company behind Labubu dolls — will remain one of China’s hottest consumer brands this year.
In an editorial on June 20, China’s state media People’s Daily called for tighter regulations around selling blind-boxed toys and trading cards to children under the age of eight, such as verifying buyers’ age upon payment and requiring parental approval in online transactions.
Without naming Beijing-headquartered Pop Mart, the paper slammed businesses for enticing young children to spend heavily on “blind cards” and “mystery boxes” — a model central to Pop Mart’s appeal. The company often sells its dolls in a blind box to buyers who don’t know what character is inside until they open it.
Sequentially, Pop Mart’s share price plunged 12.1% for the week ending June 20, marking its steepest fall since late 2023, denting a massive rally that sent its shares over 600% higher over the last 12 months.
Its stock has regained some ground since then, hovering near the all-time high levels hit in mid-June.
The state media commentary on blind-box toys is reminiscent of Beijing’s regulations on video games in recent years, which were aimed at curbing gaming addiction and unsupervised in-game purchases by minors.
That led to restrictions on how long minors can play video games, as part of a sector-wide crackdown that wiped out billions of dollars in value from China’s gaming giants.
A boy playing a video game with a headset during the 2019 NetEase Future Conference at Hangzhou International Expo Center on Nov. 23, 2019, in Hangzhou, China.
Visual China Group | Getty Images
“The magnitude of Chinese policymakers’ impact [on businesses] is way higher than that in other countries,” said Alfredo Montufar-Helu, senior advisor for the China Center at The Conference Board, a think tank.
That said, analysts view the fears of regulatory headwinds as overblown as Gen Zers and millennials, rather than young children, are Pop Mart’s main consumer demographic.
Pop Mart will largely be insulated from intensifying regulatory scrutiny as it targets younger adults with adequate purchasing power, Montufar-Helu said.
Local peers that focus on minors, however, will likely be “heavily impacted,” said Jeff Zhang, equity analyst at Morningstar.
There’s another factor that could cushion the regulatory impact on Pop Mart. It’s increasingly driven by overseas sales, especially in Southeast Asia, Zhang said. And the share of its China revenue will fall to about 30% in the next 10 years, he projected. Pop Mart’s overseas sales in 2024 have already surpassed the company’s overall sales in 2021.
Pop Mart derived about 61% of its revenue from mainland China in 2024, according to its annual report, drawing the rest mainly from Southeast Asia and East Asia, as well as Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
Its sales in North America grew more than 550% last year from a year earlier, and the company has 90 physical stores and vending machine spots across the United States.
HSBC Bank expects Pop Mart’s overseas revenue in 2025 to more than double to 14 billion yuan ($1.95 billion) from 2024 on strong sales momentum from “Labubu 3.0,” released in April. This figure would account for more than half of its entire projected revenue this year, up from 39% in 2024.
That just builds on the meteoric growth that the company enjoyed last year, when revenue more than doubled to 13.04 billion yuan, while profits nearly tripled.
Dopamine economy
The rapidly growing popularity of the ugly-cute toys contrasts with otherwise sluggish consumption in the country, as many become increasingly frugal in the face of an economic slowdown.
Younger Chinese consumers want to build toy collections for the sense of “affordable exclusivity” it gives them, said Montufar-Helu, as it can be satisfying to be “one of the lucky ones to get the special edition” at a reasonable price.
Pop Mart sells blind-boxed toys with prices ranging from about 59 yuan to 5,999 yuan. Collectors often spend hundreds or thousands of yuan, and rare models can fetch six-figure sums at secondThe state media commentary on blind-box toys is reminiscent of Beijing’s regulations on video games a few years ago,hand auctions.
Diana Lagaret (left) and Sahar Kutlu show off some of the Labubu items for sale at The Labu’Tique Shop in Anaheim on June 25, 2025.
Medianews Group | Getty Images
“The very point about blind boxes is the unknown, the uncertainty. There is some inherent curiosity about what someone’s gonna get. That brings about a certain degree of excitement when people are buying blind boxes,” said Chris Wong, senior clinical psychologist at Singapore-based Resilienz Clinic.
“When that uncertainty is resolved,” he said, referring to when the blind box is opened, “[that] usually comes with certain pleasant emotions, like fun, surprise and delight. That also plays a part in why people just keep on doing that.”
Seeing others share their own experiences of blind boxes on social media also amplifies such a response from the brain, as it fulfils the human need for social connection, the psychologist said.
Scalpers, counterfeits, production delays
But although the Labubu frenzy shows no sign of slowing, Pop Mart still faces other challenges that may dent its momentum, analysts said.
“While Pop Mart’s major IPs, such as Labubu” have “received some global popularity over the past two years … there is no guarantee that what is popular now will stay relevant over the next five to ten years,” Zhang said.
Other risks include uncertainty around the company’s ability to meet shifting demand and scalping, which could drive genuine consumers out of the market, HSBC analysts said.
Pop Mart issued a rare apology last month after a surge in orders caused delivery delays, with consumers complaining online about not having receiving orders weeks after placing them.
Counterfeit toys may also dampen Pop Mart’s reputation at home and abroad, analysts said, despite the government’s efforts in stepping up scrutiny at export checkpoints.
Customs at the Ningbo port, one of the country’s busiest ports, seized over a million counterfeit Labubu dolls in the first six months of this year, over intellectual property violations and smuggling concerns.
This picture taken on June 18, 2025 shows the character Labubu taking part in a performance at the Pop Mart’s theme park Pop Land in Beijing.
Pedro Pardo | Afp | Getty Images
To keep its brand fresh, Pop Mart has taken a page from Disney’s playbook, doubling down on expanding its IP portfolio, launching pop-up stores, a film studio and a theme park.
Pop Mart’s founder Wang Ning once hinted at his aspiration to turn the company into “China’s Disney.”
But those initiatives don’t come cheap.
“Animation production requires a strong storytelling team that can consistently deliver compelling narratives,” said Echo Gong, an independent Shanghai-based retail consumption consultant. She added that managing a theme park also demands an entirely different skillset and far greater investment than simply selling toys.
Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth marched into the quarter-finals of the men’s singles event at the Canada Open 2025 badminton tournament with a commanding win in Ontario on Thursday.
Up against world No. 71 Wang Po-Wei of Chinese Taipei at the Markham Pan Am Centre, Kidambi Srikanth won his pre-quarterfinal match 21-19, 21-14.
The Indian badminton player trailed 18-13 at one stage before coming from behind to win the first game. Srikanth was also 13-10 behind in the second game but recovered to win it and went on to close out the match in 41 minutes.
Srikanth, who finished as runners-up at the Malaysia Masters in May, will face top seed and Olympian Chou Tien-chen of Chinese Taipei in the quarter-finals.
Srikanth’s compatriot and world No. 57 Sankar Subramanian also joined him in the quarter-finals after a 21-19, 21-14 win over Chinese Taipei’s Huang Yu Kai, who is 63rd in the men’s singles badminton rankings.
Sankar Subramanian will go up against Olympian and world No. 12 Kenta Nishimoto of Japan in the next round.
The two players have met once in the past, with the Japanese shuttler emerging triumphant following a straight games win in the Orleans Masters in March.
Meanwhile, the only remaining Indian in the women’s singles at the BWF Super 300 tournament also progressed to the quarter-finals.
Shriyanshi Valishetty, 75th in the women’s singles rankings, beat world No. 45 Letshanaa Karupathevan of Malaysia 21-15, 21-14 in 35 minutes.
She will face world No. 69 Amalie Schulz of Denmark in the quarter-finals. The 18-year-old Indian defeated Amalie Schulz in their only previous meeting at the Abu Dhabi Masters in 2023.
India’s doubles campaign at Canada came to an end on Wednesday after mixed doubles top seeds Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto bowed out after losing to Spain’s Ruben Garcia and Lucia Rodriguez.
Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth marched into the quarter-finals of the men’s singles event at the Canada Open 2025 badminton tournament with a commanding win in Ontario on Thursday.
Up against world No. 71 Wang Po-Wei of Chinese Taipei at the Markham Pan Am Centre, Kidambi Srikanth won his pre-quarterfinal match 21-19, 21-14.
The Indian badminton player trailed 18-13 at one stage before coming from behind to win the first game. Srikanth was also 13-10 behind in the second game but recovered to win it and went on to close out the match in 41 minutes.
Srikanth, who finished as runners-up at the Malaysia Masters in May, will face top seed and Olympian Chou Tien-chen of Chinese Taipei in the quarter-finals.
Srikanth’s compatriot and world No. 57 Sankar Subramanian also joined him in the quarter-finals after a 21-19, 21-14 win over Chinese Taipei’s Huang Yu Kai, who is 63rd in the men’s singles badminton rankings.
Sankar Subramanian will go up against Olympian and world No. 12 Kenta Nishimoto of Japan in the next round.
The two players have met once in the past, with the Japanese shuttler emerging triumphant following a straight games win in the Orleans Masters in March.
Meanwhile, the only remaining Indian in the women’s singles at the BWF Super 300 tournament also progressed to the quarter-finals.
Shriyanshi Valishetty, 75th in the women’s singles rankings, beat world No. 45 Letshanaa Karupathevan of Malaysia 21-15, 21-14 in 35 minutes.
She will face world No. 69 Amalie Schulz of Denmark in the quarter-finals. The 18-year-old Indian defeated Amalie Schulz in their only previous meeting at the Abu Dhabi Masters in 2023.
India’s doubles campaign at Canada came to an end on Wednesday after mixed doubles top seeds Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto bowed out after losing to Spain’s Ruben Garcia and Lucia Rodriguez.
In the statement, Kamal Gianchandani, President of MAI, said, “Aamir Khan has always been a filmmaker who puts the audience first. His decision to bring Sitaare Zameen Par exclusively to cinemas is a significant show of confidence in theatres and the shared magic of the moviegoing experience. Indian exhibitors thank Aamir Khan for standing by theatres. As we continue to welcome audiences with renewed energy and world-class films, Sitaare Zameen Par will remain a shining example of cinema’s resilience and its irreplaceable magic.”
