Happening in the World: If you thought NYC was cold lately, Nordic nation Lapland hits Europe’s winter record low temperature at negative 38.7 degrees Celsius (negative 37.7 degrees Fahrenheit). Lapland is the northernmost part of Finland, and is a popular tourist destination.

Happening in the US: A college professor at Duke stepped down after warning Chinese students not to communicate in their native language and urged them to “improve their English”. Megan Neely, head of Master of Biostatistics program at the college, sent an email to first and second-year students warning them to use English 100% of the time or else faculty members will not be willing to work with them in terms of future internships and master’s projects.

Happening in NYC: The NYC Transit is planning on spending 9.5 million on intensive cleaning of subway cars and stations. The MTA has 2,900 cleaners employed, but states that the private contractors have more skills and technologies. Riders say that they do not see a difference.

Happening on Campus: Today at 4:30 PM, there will be a talk on Narrative in the Natural Sciences at the Faculty House. All disciplines use narratives in their work, but narrative has been traditionally considered literary or historical. Narratives are also important in medicine and science communication, and this conference explores such topics.

Photo via ABC News