New research on mice claims that environmental factors have an impact over generations. A tendency toward diabetes, obesity — even certain phobias — may be attributable to epigenetics.
Scientists are still working out what in our environment, including smoking, drugs, diet or abuse, might leave epigenetic marks. There is a host of known unknowns in this new scientific field, but most shadowy of all is epigenetic inheritance, by which the marks from one generation might be passed on to the next. Some have gone so far as to describe this as a kind of genetic memory, where our cells “remember” the lives of our ancestors.
If epigenetic inheritance is real, scientists are divided over how it might be happening. According to Anne Ferguson-Smith at the University of Cambridge, her work suggests that it could be down to tiny molecules in our cells that are known to help regulate gene activity. Even the sperm or egg cells inside a growing fetus might be affected by extreme conditions on a mother’s body, hence the impact on three generations.
However, the most popular theory focuses on a category of epigenetic mark known as “methyl groups,” ultimately derived from all sorts of things, including common foods. Some geneticists believe these marks might not just be altered by the environment, but that these changes could survive for generations.
Because much of what former US president Donald Trump says is unhinged and histrionic, it is tempting to dismiss all of it as bunk. Yet the potential future president has a populist knack for sounding alarums that resonate with the zeitgeist — for example, with growing anxiety about World War III and nuclear Armageddon. “We’re a failing nation,” Trump ranted during his US presidential debate against US Vice President Kamala Harris in one particularly meandering answer (the one that also recycled urban myths about immigrants eating cats). “And what, what’s going on here, you’re going to end up in World War
Earlier this month in Newsweek, President William Lai (賴清德) challenged the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to retake the territories lost to Russia in the 19th century rather than invade Taiwan. He stated: “If it is for the sake of territorial integrity, why doesn’t [the PRC] take back the lands occupied by Russia that were signed over in the treaty of Aigun?” This was a brilliant political move to finally state openly what many Chinese in both China and Taiwan have long been thinking about the lost territories in the Russian far east: The Russian far east should be “theirs.” Granted, Lai issued
On Tuesday, President William Lai (賴清德) met with a delegation from the Hoover Institution, a think tank based at Stanford University in California, to discuss strengthening US-Taiwan relations and enhancing peace and stability in the region. The delegation was led by James Ellis Jr, co-chair of the institution’s Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region project and former commander of the US Strategic Command. It also included former Australian minister for foreign affairs Marise Payne, influential US academics and other former policymakers. Think tank diplomacy is an important component of Taiwan’s efforts to maintain high-level dialogue with other nations with which it does
On Sept. 2, Elbridge Colby, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development, wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal called “The US and Taiwan Must Change Course” that defends his position that the US and Taiwan are not doing enough to deter the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from taking Taiwan. Colby is correct, of course: the US and Taiwan need to do a lot more or the PRC will invade Taiwan like Russia did against Ukraine. The US and Taiwan have failed to prepare properly to deter war. The blame must fall on politicians and policymakers