WEATHER
Sunrise timings announced
The first rays of sunlight to appear in Taiwan next year are to be seen at 6:08am on Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼), the Taipei Astronomical Museum said yesterday. The first rays will hit Dragon Head Rock, while on Taiwan proper, the sun is expected to be first visible at 6:11am in Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) on the southernmost tip, the museum said. A sunrise’s timing depends on the location and altitude of a place, the museum said. For instance, the sunrise would occur six-and-a-half minutes earlier if observed at 1,000m above sea level, it said. Also, for every 1km eastward and southward, the sun rises 2.4 seconds and 1.1 seconds earlier respectively, the museum said. It has developed an interactive map for people who want to catch a glimpse of the first rays of sunshine. They can visit www.tam.museum/sunrise2019/sunrise2020test.htm to see when and where the sun is to rise in any area.
WEATHER
Temperatures to drop
As another round of northeasterly winds set in, temperatures nationwide are expected to fall to as low as 13°C in the north next week, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. The wind system is expected to intensify tonight and begin affecting Taiwan next week. The wind is forecast to strengthen on Tuesday and Wednesday, sending the mercury to 13°C to 14°C in the north, the bureau said. Despite the winds, humidity is expected to be low, which would result in stable conditions aside from occasional showers until Thursday, when wet air is expected to bring more rain to the nation, the bureau said. Although Typhoon Kammuri is unlikely to affect Taiwan directly, its periphery brought high waves to Keelung and the northeastern coastal areas yesterday, it added. The storm was about 1,840km east-southeast of the nation’s southeastern tip at about 8am and was moving in a westerly direction toward the Philippines, bureau data showed.
SCIENCE
Chemists win prize in Paris
Two biophysical chemists were on Wednesday awarded this year’s Franco-Taiwanese Scientific Grand Prize in Paris for their research on the application of fluorescent nanodiamonds in the medical field. The award, cofounded by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the French Academy of Sciences, was awarded to Chang Huan-cheng (張煥正) and Francois Treussart. Chang, a researcher at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, is a pioneer in the field of fluorescent nanodiamonds, synthetic diamonds that emit fluorescent light. The research team used the diamonds to track the movements of cells such as stem cells and cancer cells, Chang said, adding that they plan to use the technology to stimulate the production of antibodies, achieving the same effect as a vaccine. Treussart, a professor at the Ecole Normale Superieure Paris-Saclay, has been working with fluorescent nanodiamonds for more than a decade. He praised researchers in Taiwan for their efficiency in brainstorming and executing ideas, and said that innovation is definitely one of Taiwan’s advantages with regards to scientific research. The award carries a cash prize of 38,200 euros (US$42,090). The prize is an annual award that can be given to scientists in any field, but prioritizes research that facilitates collaboration between Taiwan and France.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,