A prestigious Taiwanese researcher specializing in anti-aging protein research was found dead in his office yesterday morning surrounded by injection bottles of sedatives and muscle relaxants.
Lin Yu-yi (林育誼), 38, who also served as an assistant professor at National Taiwan University College of Medicine’s Graduate Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, was rushed to a hospital after being found in his office with no signs of life at about 11am yesterday. He was later pronounced dead after efforts to resuscitate him failed.
A preliminary examination of Lin’s body found a pinhole on his left arm and a fresh bruise on his forehead. Needles were also found at the scene along with sedatives and muscle relaxants, police said.
Police ruled out suicide as no suicide note was found at the scene and, according to Lin’s family members, everything was going well with his wife and family.
However, Lin’s family said he may have injected the muscle relaxants due to overwhelming work-related pressure, which raised suspicions that Lin’s death could have been an accidental overdose. Ruling on the cause of death is on hold until the results of Lin’s blood analysis are given, police said.
According to Lin’s assistant, no visitors were seen entering Lin’s office that morning and no strange sounds were heard coming from it.
With a doctoral degree from the medical school of Johns Hopkins University in the US, Lin was one of the few researchers in Taiwan studying anti-aging proteins. A research team he led was featured in the scientific journal Nature in February for their discovery of the key mechanism for maintaining cell energy balance — believed to be linked to cellular aging and cancer.
A study published by online booking platform Expedia revealed searches for travel to Taipei have ballooned 2,786 percent following the lifting of COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions due to the city being a “designation dupe” for Seoul. The TikTok trend for duping — referring to substituting a designation for a more inexpensive alternative — helped propel interest in Taipei, it said in a consumer survey titled “Unpack ‘24,” which was conducted from September to October in 14 countries. Location dupes are “every bit as delightful as the tried-and-true places travelers love,” Expedia trend tracker Melanie Fish said of the year’s popular alternatives, which
SAFETY IN REGULATION: The proposal states that Chiayi should assess whether it is viable to establish such a district and draft rules to protect clients and sex workers The Chiayi City Council passed a motion yesterday to assess the viability of establishing a regulated red-light district. The council yesterday held its last session of the year, at which its fiscal 2024 budget was approved, along with 61 other proposals. The proposal to assess the viability of establishing a red-light district was put forward by independent Chiayi City Councilor Molly Yen (顏色不分藍綠支持性專區顏色田慎節). The proposal cited 2011 amendments to the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), which stipulate that city and county governments can pass autonomous regulations on the sex trade to manage the industry and guarantee industry workers’ rights. A ban on the
CHINA illness surge: Of 88 travelers from China, Hong Kong and Macau with respiratory symptoms who were encouraged to get tested upon arrival, 70.6% had the flu Two hundred and sixty people with COVID-19 were hospitalized and 31 deaths related to the virus were reported last week — the highest numbers in four weeks, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that cases are expected to peak next month. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said that of the 260 people hospitalized last week with moderate to severe COVID-19, 98 percent had not received the Omicron XBB.1.5-adapted COVID-19 vaccine. Among the people hospitalized this year, 78 percent were aged 65 or older, while most of the those who were hospitalized or died have or had
A small-scale protest that called on the government to cancel its plan to welcome Indian migrant workers in a bid to tackle Taiwan’s labor shortage was held in Taipei yesterday. During the protest, comprised of a few dozen people staged in front of the Presidential Office on Ketagalan Boulevard, the protest’s chief initiator, a woman identified only as “Yuna” said they wanted the central government to reconsider allowing migrant workers from India to enter Taiwan. Most people in Taiwan had little knowledge about the potential plan to allow in Indian migrant workers until a report in the media last month, she
RSS