A new way to remember loved ones: DNA in a pendant

People hoping to remember deceased loved ones with something more permanent than a lock of hair or faded photo can now have a piece of their DNA saved in a pendant.

Eiwa Industry Co. recently began selling pendants for preserving genetic mementos of the dead.

The company, which mainly manufactures decorative metal fixtures for houses, entered the DNA pendant business last August with a line of products for saving the DNA of bygone pets. Quickly, the company started receiving requests for pendants for human DNA, said general manager Morihito Ikai.

“Bereaved parents would contact us and say, `If you can save a piece of a dog or cat’s DNA, why not some of my daughter’s?”’ he said.

The human DNA pendants come in two shapes. One resembles a rounded perfume bottle. The other is shaped like a stylized human face, cut in such a way that it can fit together with a second pendant of the same shape — “for couples,” Ikai said.

Study: Korea not always the most-wired

Because of its high prevalence of broadband access, South Korea is often considered the world’s “most-wired” nation. But a new study of international Internet usage offered evidence that people in other countries are even more connected.

When pollsters for Ipsos Insight recently asked 6,500 people in 12 countries whether they had used the Internet in the past month, 68 percent of South Koreans said yes. That ranked No. 4, behind Japan (89 percent), Canada (72 percent) and the United States (71 percent).

For those who track Asia’s fastest-rising economies, China had a rate of 50 percent, while India showed just 15 percent.