Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/22
By: Elaine Hou

Taipei, Sept. 22 (CNA) American geneticist Jennifer Doudna, one of this year’s three recipients of the

Tang Prize in biopharmaceutical science, encouraged young Taiwanese to pursue a career in the area they are passionate about, during a speech to hundreds of high school students Thursday.

Citing her own experience, Doudna said she came from a small town in Hawaii and that no one in her family was a scientist. This background made it seem unlikely for her to be able to do what she is doing, she said.

At around age 12, her father gave her a book written by James Watson, an American molecular biologist and one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA in the 1950s, Doudna said. Her chemistry teacher in high school also triggered her interest in science, she added.

The teacher taught her that “science is about solving puzzles,” which she is passionate about, Doudna told the students.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-21
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

A local outspoken nephrologist has recently sparked controversy over the alleged carcinogenic risk associated with drip bag coffee products. Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that the filter bags found on the shelves in Taiwan are made of nonwoven fabric, not the alleged paper reinforced by a wet-strength agent, which is believed to contribute to cancer risk.

Dr. Chiang Shou-shan, a former attending physician at Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital, warned last Friday that the filter bag is usually made of paper which contains a cancer-causing carcinogen “wet-strength agent” intended for use in maintaining viability while hot water is poured into the small bag of roasted ground coffee.

“Wet-strength agents such as Polyamide Epichlorohydrin are a type of insecticide and a type of Alkylating agent. They are highly carcinogenic and can cause oral and stomach cancer if you consume them with foods or drinks,” Chiang said in his Facebook post.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/21
By: Christie Chen

Taipei, Sept. 21 (CNA) The winners of the second Tang Prize Awards will be honored at an award ceremony in Taipei on Sept. 25 in recognition of their achievements in diverse fields that complement those honored by the Nobel Prize.

The award ceremony, being held at the National Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall in Taipei, will be broadcast live by China Television Company and streamed live on YouTube (https://youtu.be/NR4A1OtHwuw).

A series of events coinciding with the award ceremony will be held starting on Thursday to further highlight the achievements of this year’s laureates.

The Tang Prize Week will consist of lectures from the laureates and their representatives at universities and high schools around Taiwan and also include exhibitions, a banquet and a concert by the Taipei Philharmonic Chorus and the Taipei Symphony Orchestra.     [FULL  STORY]

A Taiwanese man is recovering in a Paris hospital after being assaulted by an unidentified Eastern European man.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/09/20
By: ZiQing Low

A Taiwanese tourist was assaulted and dragged alongside a moving train in Paris at around 11 pm on

Sept. 18, suffering serious injuries.

The man, who was traveling with two other Taiwanese, had been involved in an argument with a group of four Eastern European men on a metro train, local newspaper Le Parisien reports.

According to Le Parisien, one of the Eastern European men spat on the Taiwanese man. The three Taiwanese tourists disembarked at the Champ-de-Mars station, near the Eiffel Tower, but the argument continued through the window of the train. One Eastern European man allegedly grabbed the Taiwanese man’s arm through the window as the train was starting to move.

The Taiwanese man was dragged along the platform and fell onto the tracks when the train left the station. The tourist suffered multiple fractures and is being treated at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-20
By: Cli Square, Taiwan News, Contributing Writer

Recently Taiwan endured the onslaught of Typhoon Meranti and Typhoon Malakas that came one after the other and caused flooding in some areas in the country. It is natural that people usually associate the scenes of flooding with the narrative of Noah’s Ark in the Bible. Therefore, Noah’s Ark is a befitting topic to talk about in the aftermath of the two typhoons.

According to Wikipedia, Noah’s Ark is the vessel in the Genesis flood narrative (Genesis chapters 6–9) by which God spares Noah, his family, and a remnant of all the world’s animals from the flood. According to Genesis, God gave Noah instructions for building the ark. Seven days before the deluge, God told Noah to enter the ark with his household and the animals. The story goes on to describe the ark being afloat throughout the flood and the subsequent receding of the waters. According to narratives in Genesis and the Quran, 120 years were spent on building Noah’s Ark.

It was a big boat made of “gopher” wood and had three internal decks, on each of which there were many cabins, a door in the side, and a skylight on the top. Different sexes of a same animal were arranged to live in the same cabin, and therefore when the deluge submerged everything else in the world, the boat was still rife with lives.     [FULL  STORY]