(토요모임) [Oct. 31, 2015] Saturday meeting topic

[Scarlet]

Howdy ! 

It's me Scarlett !   

This week we have 4 topics. 

◈ 9 changes successful people make before they’re 40

◈ Halloween 

- Here's The Spooky Truth About Halloween

- The Halloween Pumpkin: An American History

- HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN

◈ Who’s the best Bond? 

◈ Genome editing

- Scientists genetically modify human embryos in controversial world first

- Genome editing: how to modify genetic faults – and the human germline

Hope you enjoy the topics. 

With luv 

Scarlett 

---

9 changes successful people make before they’re 40

By Shana Lebowitz and Mike Nudelman Oct 29 2015

It’s OK to mess around during your 20s. But your 30s are the ideal time to cement the habits that will help you achieve personal and professional fulfillment for the rest of your life.

From your health to your money and your relationships, here are nine lifestyle tweaks you can make to lay the foundation for lifelong success.

This article is published in collaboration with Business Insider. Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

To keep up with the Agenda subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Author: Shana Lebowitz is a strategy reporter for Business Insider. Mike Nudelamn is Business Insider’s Graphics Editor.

Article source : https://agenda.weforum.org/2015/10/9-changes-successful-people-make-before-theyre-40/?utm_content=bufferdde9f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

---

10 changes to make in your 30s that will set you up for lifelong success

Shana Lebowitz / Sep. 25, 2015, 

Many people spend their 20s getting some unhealthy behaviors out of their system — like sleeping until 2 p.m. on Saturdays and spending all their disposable cash on new kicks. But your 30s are an ideal time to cement the habits that will help you achieve personal and professional fulfillment for the rest of your life. To give you a head start, we sifted through recent Quora threads on this critical life transition and highlighted the most compelling responses.

Here are 10 lifestyle tweaks you can make in your 30s to lay the foundation for lifelong success.

1. Stop smoking.

If you've started smoking, stop immediately, suggests Quora user Cyndi Perlman Fink.

While you can't undo the damage you may have already incurred from smoking, research suggests that those who quit before age 40 have a 90% lower mortality risk than those who continue.

2. Start going to sleep and waking up at the same time every day.

It might be tempting to use the weekends to recoup your sleep debt, but Nan Waldman recommends you hit the hay and wake up around the same time every single day.

If you oversleep for even a few days, experts say you risk resetting your body clock to a different cycle, so you'll start getting tired later in the day. Avoid a lifetime of sleep issues by sticking to bedtime and wake-up routines whenever you can.

3. Start exercising regularly.

"Try to move yourself as much as possible," says Alistair Longman. "It doesn't matter if it's walking, cycling, running, weightlifting, hiking, swimming — as long as it involves some movement."

In the later half of your 30s, you start losing muscle mass, so it's especially important to exercise at this time. But remember to choose physical activities you really love, since you're less likely to continue exercising if you dislike your workouts.

4. Start keeping a journal.

"Journal your life! Your written records will entertain and endear in your future," writes Mark Crawley.

Even if you'd prefer to keep your musings to yourself, putting your thoughts and feelings on paper can help you deal with stressful events.

5. Start saving money.

"Building the habit of saving early means you'll continue it further down the line," says Cliff Gilley.

It might seem like your golden years are a lifetime away, but the earlier you start saving, the more time your money has to accrue interest.

6. Start pursuing a life dream.

"Don't delay pursuing your life goals," writes Bill Karwin. "Want to buy a house? Have kids? Write a book? Pick one of those life goals and get started. What can you do between now and the end of the year to embark on one of them?"

7. Start learning to be happy with what you have.

"If you are content with what you have, you will have a happier life," says Robert Walker.

It's really about gratitude: Research suggests that appreciating what you have can increase happiness and decrease negative feelings. Perhaps that's why Oprah Winfrey kept a daily gratitude journal for years.

8. Stop thinking you need to satisfy everyone.

"After I reached 30, I stopped feeling the need to please everyone. You can choose your friends and contacts more carefully," says Kevin Teo. In particular, Teo realized he wasn't obligated to be nice to people who were unfriendly toward him.

Whether you decide to whittle down your Facebook friends to a mere 500 or simply hang out more with the people who make you happy, it's important to invest your time and energy wisely.

9. Stop comparing yourself to others.

"If you are unable to do some things in life compared to your siblings and friends, then please be at peace with yourself," advises Mahesh Kay. "Don't be harsh on yourself."

As one psychotherapist writes, constantly peering over your shoulder to see what others are doing doesn't help you accomplish your goals. You'd be better off spending time thinking about what you want to achieve and eval‎uating your progress on those fronts.

10. Start forgiving yourself for your mistakes.

"Forgive yourself your mistakes. We all make plenty of them. Don't dwell on the errors of the past — learn from them, let them go, and move ahead," writes Liz Palmer.

One social psychologist says that self-compassion (the ability to forgive yourself and learn from your mistakes) is the key driver of success. That's likely because people who practice self-compassion see their weaknesses as changeable and try to avoid making the same errors in the future.

Article source : http://www.businessinsider.com/changes-to-make-in-your-30s-2015-9

---

<Questions>

Q1. To be a successful person, how many rules do you follow among above 9 items? 

Q2. What is the definition of success in your life ? 

Q3. Do you work out on a regular basis? How long do you exercise per week? 

Q4. Do you keep a journal ? What is the merits and demerits of keeping a journal ? 

Q5. Do you have the monetary plan for the future period ? 

Q6. Do you have a life dream? What is it ? What are you preparing for your dream? 

Q7. According to an article, self-compassion which is the ability to forgive yourself and learn from your mistakes is the key driver of success.

---

Here's The Spooky Truth About Halloween

The Huffington Post  |  By Christine Dalton

Posted: 10/14/2014 11:54 am EDT 

Candy and costumes, ghouls and goblins, tricks or treats. Halloween in a nutshell, right?

NOT. SO. FAST. Sure, all of these elements embody modern-day Halloween festivities, but the holiday's roots actually date back thousands of years.

The Halloween celebration we know today cycled through different cultures, religions and traditions. Take in the short and sweet Halloween history lesson provided and you'll be the smartest and most well-respected person at your Halloween party ... Yes, even if you dress as the three-breasted woman.

1 Halloween originated from the Celtic festival of Samhain.

Over 2,000 years ago, the Celts celebrated the end of the harvest season on Oct. 31. They believed that on that night, ghosts of the dead returned to earth to wreak havoc on their crops and possess the living. 

What did they do to ward off the ghosts? Dress up in animal heads and skins to entertain and confuse the spirits, naturally.

2 We can thank the Romans for that whole bobbing for apples thing.

Put your whole face in a bucket of water, they said. It'll be fun, they said. THANKS FOR NOTHING, ROMANS. 

Around 43 A.D., once the Romans had conquered Celtic territory, they took the festival of Samhain and combined it with two of their own festivals: Feralia, a day to remember the dead, and the festival of Pomona, a day to celebrate the goddess whose symbol was the apple. Fast forward a few thousand years, and now we're bobbing for those damn things.

3 The word Halloween comes from the Middle English word "Alholowmesse."

By 609 A.D., the Catholics wanted in on the spooky action. Pope Boniface created All Martyrs Day, which would eventually evolve to become All Saints' Day, celebrated on Nov. 1. Catholics incorporated many elements of the Celtic holiday of Samhain by celebrating with costumes and bonfires ( a thinly veiled attempt to convert the Celtic pagans to Christianity). 

The new, fusion holiday was also known as All-hallows (derived from Alholowmeesse, or All Saints' Day in Middle English), therefore the night before became All-hallows Eve, and then Halloween.

4 Americans weren't too jazzed about Halloween... at first.

In the early colonies, rigid Protestant beliefs precluded the holiday from taking hold. BUZZ KILL. 

But when the Irish Potato Famine sent an influx of Irish (Catholic) immigrants to the America, Halloween gained some traction. In the late 1800s, Americans began dressing up, going door to door for treats, and celebrating within their communities.

5 Eventually, we came around; Halloween is now America's 2nd largest commercial holiday.

Halloween's popularity went through ebbs and flows in the U-S-of-A. The holiday lost popularity in the '20s and '30s when young hooligans started using Halloween as an excuse to commit vandalism. By the 1950s, town leaders curbed vandalism and focused celebrations on school-aged children. Trick-or-treating's popularity grew and helped make the holiday second only to Christmas, commercially.

6 Just how commercial you ask? Americans spend a cool $6 billion each year on Halloween.

Approximately $4 billion is spent annually on costumes, decorations and parties. Candy consumption alone makes up $2 billion. The candy industry makes a quarter of the year's revenue during Halloween alone.

7 The astronomical amount of money spent on candy is no fluke.

Not by a long shot. In 1985, the Senate held hearings on daylight saving time. Candy makers allegedly placed candy pumpkins on the seat of each senator as an incentive to vote to extend daylight saving time into November. Why? So candy-grubbin' kiddies would spend one more hour trick-or-treating, forcing their neighbors to buy more candy to fill the baskets.

8 The original jack-o'-lanters were made from turnips, beets, and potatoes.

The ubiquitous decoration comes from a centuries-old Irish myth about a man named Stingy Jack. Jack managed to royally piss off the Devil during his time on Earth, so the Devil wouldn't let him into hell after his death. Because the trickster was also banned from heaven, Stingy Jack has been wandering the Earth with only a light in a hollowed-out turnip ever since. 

The Scots and the Irish paid tribute to Jack by recreating his lantern with potatoes, turnips and beets on Halloween. When immigrants brought the tradition to the United States, they used the native pumpkin for their holiday carvings.

9 A Halloween full moon is even more rare than a white Christmas.

Since 1925, there have only been five full moons on Halloween (1925, 1944, 1955, 1974, 2001). You'll have to wait until 2020 to see the next one.

Article source : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/14/spooky-truth-about-halloween-history_n_5955044.html?utm_hp_ref=halloween

---

HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN

Straddling the line between fall and winter, plenty and paucity, life and death, Halloween is a time of celebration and superstition. It is thought to have originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints and martyrs; the holiday, All Saints’ Day, incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows’ Eve and later Halloween. Over time, Halloween evolved into a secular, community-based event characterized by child-friendly activities such as trick-or-treating. In a number of countries around the world, as the days grow shorter and the nights get colder, people continue to usher in the winter season with gatherings, costumes and sweet treats.

CONTENTS

Ancient Origins of Halloween

Halloween Comes to America

Today’s Halloween Traditions

Halloween Superstitions

 ANCIENT ORIGINS OF HALLOWEEN

Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.

 DID YOU KNOW?

One quarter of all the candy sold annually in the U.S. is purchased for Halloween.

To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other’s fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.

By 43 A.D., the Roman Empire had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain. The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of “bobbing” for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

On May 13, 609 A.D., Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome in honor of all Christian martyrs, and the Catholic feast of All Martyrs Day was established in the Western church. Pope Gregory III (731–741) later expanded the festival to include all saints as well as all martyrs, and moved the observance from May 13 to November 1. By the 9th century the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands, where it gradually blended with and supplanted the older Celtic rites. In 1000 A.D., the church would make November 2 All Souls’ Day, a day to honor the dead. It is widely believed today that the church was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. All Souls Day was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels and devils. The All Saints Day celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints’ Day) and the night before it, the traditional night of Samhain in the Celtic religion, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.

 HALLOWEEN COMES TO AMERICA

Celebration of Halloween was extremely limited in colonial New England because of the rigid Protestant belief systems there. Halloween was much more common in Maryland and the southern colonies. As the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups as well as the American Indians meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge. The first celebrations included “play parties,” public events held to celebrate the harvest, where neighbors would share stories of the dead, tell each other’s fortunes, dance and sing. Colonial Halloween festivities also featured the telling of ghost stories and mischief-making of all kinds. By the middle of the nineteenth century, annual autumn festivities were common, but Halloween was not yet celebrated everywhere in the country.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, America was flooded with new immigrants. These new immigrants, especially the millions of Irish fleeing Ireland’s potato famine of 1846, helped to popularize the celebration of Halloween nationally. Taking from Irish and English traditions, Americans began to dress up in costumes and go house to house asking for food or money, a practice that eventually became today’s “trick-or-treat” tradition. Young women believed that on Halloween they could divine the name or appearance of their future husband by doing tricks with yarn, apple parings or mirrors.

In the late 1800s, there was a move in America to mold Halloween into a holiday more about community and neighborly get-togethers than about ghosts, pranks and witchcraft. At the turn of the century, Halloween parties for both children and adults became the most common way to celebrate the day. Parties focused on games, foods of the season and festive costumes. Parents were encouraged by newspapers and community leaders to take anything “frightening” or “grotesque” out of Halloween celebrations. Because of these efforts, Halloween lost most of its superstitious and religious overtones by the beginning of the twentieth century.

By the 1920s and 1930s, Halloween had become a secular, but community-centered holiday, with parades and town-wide parties as the featured entertainment. Despite the best efforts of many schools and communities, vandalism began to plague Halloween celebrations in many communities during this time. By the 1950s, town leaders had successfully limited vandalism and Halloween had evolved into a holiday directed mainly at the young. Due to the high numbers of young children during the fifties baby boom, parties moved from town civic centers into the classroom or home, where they could be more easily accommodated. Between 1920 and 1950, the centuries-old practice of trick-or-treating was also revived. Trick-or-treating was a relatively inexpensive way for an entire community to share the Halloween celebration. In theory, families could also prevent tricks being played on them by providing the neighborhood children with small treats. A new American tradition was born, and it has continued to grow. Today, Americans spend an estimated $6 billion annually on Halloween, making it the country’s second largest commercial holiday.

  TODAY’S HALLOWEEN TRADITIONS

The American Halloween tradition of “trick-or-treating” probably dates back to the early All Souls’ Day parades in England. During the festivities, poor citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called “soul cakes” in return for their promise to pray for the family’s dead relatives. The distribution of soul cakes was encouraged by the church as a way to replace the ancient practice of leaving food and wine for roaming spirits. The practice, which was referred to as “going a-souling” was eventually taken up by children who would visit the houses in their neighborhood and be given ale, food, and money.

The tradition of dressing in costume for Halloween has both European and Celtic roots. Hundreds of years ago, winter was an uncertain and frightening time. Food supplies often ran low and, for the many people afraid of the dark, the short days of winter were full of constant worry. On Halloween, when it was believed that ghosts came back to the earthly world, people thought that they would encounter ghosts if they left their homes. To avoid being recognized by these ghosts, people would wear masks when they left their homes after dark so that the ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits. On Halloween, to keep ghosts away from their houses, people would place bowls of food outside their homes to appease the ghosts and prevent them from attempting to enter.

 HALLOWEEN SUPERSTITIONS

Halloween has always been a holiday filled with mystery, magic and superstition. It began as a Celtic end-of-summer festival during which people felt especially close to deceased relatives and friends. For these friendly spirits, they set places at the dinner table, left treats on doorsteps and along the side of the road and lit candles to help loved ones find their way back to the spirit world. Today’s Halloween ghosts are often depicted as more fearsome and malevolent, and our customs and superstitions are scarier too. We avoid crossing paths with black cats, afraid that they might bring us bad luck. This idea has its roots in the Middle Ages, when many people believed that witches avoided detection by turning themselves into cats. We try not to walk under ladders for the same reason. This superstition may have come from the ancient Egyptians, who believed that triangles were sacred; it also may have something to do with the fact that walking under a leaning ladder tends to be fairly unsafe. And around Halloween, especially, we try to avoid breaking mirrors, stepping on cracks in the road or spilling salt.

But what about the Halloween traditions and beliefs that today’s trick-or-treaters have forgotten all about? Many of these obsolete rituals focused on the future instead of the past and the living instead of the dead. In particular, many had to do with helping young women identify their future husbands and reassuring them that they would someday—with luck, by next Halloween—be married. In 18th-century Ireland, a matchmaking cook might bury a ring in her mashed potatoes on Halloween night, hoping to bring true love to the diner who found it. In Scotland, fortune-tellers recommended that an eligible young woman name a hazelnut for each of her suitors and then toss the nuts into the fireplace. The nut that burned to ashes rather than popping or exploding, the story went, represented the girl’s future husband. (In some versions of this legend, confusingly, the opposite was true: The nut that burned away symbolized a love that would not last.) Another tale had it that if a young woman ate a sugary concoction made out of walnuts, hazelnuts and nutmeg before bed on Halloween night she would dream about her future husband. Young women tossed apple-peels over their shoulders, hoping that the peels would fall on the floor in the shape of their future husbands’ initials; tried to learn about their futures by peering at egg yolks floating in a bowl of water; and stood in front of mirrors in darkened rooms, holding candles and looking over their shoulders for their husbands’ faces. Other rituals were more competitive. At some Halloween parties, the first guest to find a burr on a chestnut-hunt would be the first to marry; at others, the first successful apple-bobber would be the first down the aisle.

Of course, whether we’re asking for romantic advice or trying to avoid seven years of bad luck, each one of these Halloween superstitions relies on the good will of the very same “spirits” whose presence the early Celts felt so keenly.

Article source : http://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween

---

The Halloween Pumpkin: An American History

OCTOBER 25, 2013 By Stephanie Butler

“We have pumpkins at morning and pumpkins at noon,

If it were not for pumpkins we should be undoon.”

Those lines, from a poem written by a Massachusetts settler in the 1630s, seem particularly appropriate at this time of year. Halloween is nearly here, so grocery stores, coffee shops and bakeries fill with pumpkin-flavored treats, from muffins to lattes to ravioli.

Modern Halloween comes from the Irish festival Samhain, an occasion that marked the passage from the summer harvest season to the dark of winter. Tradition dictated huge bonfires be built in fields, and it was believed that fairy spirits lurked in the shadows. To distract these spirits from settling into houses and farms, people would carve rudimentary faces into large turnips, and set candles inside. The turnip lanterns would rest along roadways and next to gates, to both light the way for travelers and caution any passing fairies against invading.

The celebration of Halloween in America didn’t take off until waves of immigrants from Ireland and Scotland arrived in the mid-1800s. Pumpkins are native to North America, so while it’s not known exactly when the first pumpkin was carved and lit, the first mention of pumpkins jack o’lanterns comes at around the same time. In 1866, the children’s magazine “Harper’s Young People” reported that “a great sacrifice of pumpkins” had been made that for that year’s Halloween celebrations. Pumpkin carving grew more and more popular as the years went on. By the 1920s, Halloween had been embraced throughout the United States. Parties and costumes became the norm, and “trick or treating” soon followed in the mid-1930s.

As pumpkin carving grew into a multi-million dollar industry, American farmers began to examine the specific types of pumpkins they grew, and bred new lines of squash specifically for carving. Massachusetts farmer John Howden developed the Howden pumpkin in the 1960s, and it is still the most popular carving pumpkin in America. However, the very things that make the Howden perfect for Halloween (thick stem, shallow ribs, thin flesh in relation to size) make it less than ideal for eating. Meanwhile, varieties like the Sugar Pie, Kabocha, and Carnival make for better eating, and are enjoying a renaissance at farmers’ markets and tables across the country.

Article source : http://www.history.com/news/hungry-history/the-halloween-pumpkin-an-american-history

---

<Questions>

Q1. Have you ever joined Holloween Party ? Which costume did you wear?

       If you were invited to the Holloween party, which costume would you like to wear? 

Q2. Do you know the origin of Holloween? What is the "Trick-or-treating"?

Q3. Do you enjoy party? If yes, Why do enjoy joining party? 

Q4. Why Carved Pumpkins are Called "Jack O' Lanterns"?

Q5. Do you know any superstitions in terms of Holloween? 

---

Who’s the best Bond? 

This amazing infographic compares the stuff he's really famous for

23/10/2015 - 19:49:19

We’ve all the arguments about who’s the best/worst Bond - so let’s have a look at some of the stats.

The boffins at GB Show Plates have some up with this seriously impressive infographic - with a difference.

They had a look at some of the things the suave spy can’t seem to get enough of – killing, drinking, kissing, driving fast cars - to see how they all compared, side by side.

We think you’ll agree – it’s a must for all Bond fans.

Article source : http://www.breakingnews.ie/showbiz/whos-the-best-bond-this-amazing-infographic-compares-the-stuff-hes-really-famous-for-702188.html

---

<Questions>

Q1. When you think about the movie "007", what ideas are coming up? 

Q2. Do you like the spy film genre, which is often considered a subgenre of thriller and/or action, deals with the subject of fictional espionage? Which one is your favorite? 

Q3. In the movie 007, James Bond is a main character. And until now various actors played 007. Which character is your favorite? And what is the reason for that? 

Q4. If you take a secret agent role in the movie, which role would you like to take? 

       And what is the reason for that? 

Q5. What could be the advantages and disadvantages of secret agent? 

Q6. What are the basic qualifications of being a spy? 

---

Scientists genetically modify human embryos in controversial world first

New procedure used to modify disease-causing gene, but raises questions over

whether restrictions should be placed on new wave of genetic techniques

Thursday 23 April 2015 15.08 BST

Scientists in China have genetically modified human embryos in a world first that has re-ignited the debate over the ethics and safety of genetic therapies that have the potential to prevent inherited diseases.

The work raises fresh questions over whether restrictions should be placed on a new wave of genetic techniques that are rapidly gaining ground in labs across the world.

The Chinese group used a genome editing procedure called Crispr to modify an aberrant gene that causes beta-thalassaemia, a life-threatening blood disorder, in faulty IVF embryos obtained from local fertility clinics.

The embryos used for their experiments were abnormal and incapable of developing into healthy babies and would have been destroyed by the clinics. They were not implanted into women once the modifications were made.

The team, led by Junjiu Huang at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, is the first to publish such work, confirm‎ing rumours that have been circulating for months that human embryos had been modifed in China. The work is described in the journal Protein and Cell.

Two prominent journals, Nature and Science, rejected the paper citing ethical objections, Huang said.

Many scientists believe that genetically modifying human embryos crosses an ethical line and should remain taboo. But the capability is becoming ever more likely. Scientists have recently developed a host of genome editing procedures. And while they are incredibly powerful and simple to use, how safe they are, and how they should be used, is not yet clear.

Last month, researchers writing in Nature called for a global moratorium on the genetic modification of human embryos, citing “grave concerns” over the ethics and safety. They added that any therapeutic benefits were tenuous.

Genetic modification of the DNA in human embryos would not only affect the individual but their children and their children’s children and so on down the generations. Advocates argue that could halt the inheritance of genetic diseases that run in families, but it could also pass on unforeseen medical problems that the procedures may cause.

The Chinese team attempted to correct the faulty gene that causes beta-thalassaemia in 86 human embryos. The procedure worked properly in only a tiny portion of those tested. “If you want to do it in normal embryos, you need to be close to 100%,” Huang told the journal Nature. “That’s why we stopped. We still think it’s too immature.”

One of the main safety concerns with genome editing is the risk of changes being made to healthy genes by accident. These so-called “off-target” edits happened far more than expected in Huang’s study, suggesting that the procedure they used is far from safe.

“What the paper really emphasises is that we are far away from using genomic editing because it’s not safe. The idea of using this for designer babies is very far-fetched. The technology is too far off,” said Dusko Ilic, a stem cell researcher at King’s College, London.

But Ilic said that research on genome editing, and its potential uses in humans, would continue unabated. “You cannot stop science. No matter what moratorium is proposed, you cannot stop this work continuing around the world,” he said.

He added that the Chinese work was not unethical. “These embryos had been fertilised by two sperm. They would have been discarded by any IVF clinic in any country in the world. There is no ethical objection you can bring.”

Doctors at IVF clinics can already test embryos for genetic diseases and pick the healthiest ones to implant into women. If genome editing was safe and effective, it could potentially be used to correct genetic faults in embryos instead of picking those that happen to be healthy. Currently, under UK law, genetically modified embryos cannot be transferred to women.

One UK geneticist who did not wish to be named because the work was so contentious, told the Guardian that the Chinese study had long been expected : “It was clear to everyone that these techniques were going to work in humans and that it would be done at some point,” they said. “It’s a bit sensationalist.”

“You can argue that it could be hugely beneficial to correct genetic diseases, but on the other hand we don’t know it’s safe and it’s a slippery slope. How long will it be before people try to alter eye and hair colour, and height and intelligence?”

Huang now hopes to improve the safety and efficiency of the procedure in experiments that use human tissues and animals.

Article source : http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/apr/23/scientists-genetically-modify-human-embryos-in-controversial-world-first

---

Genome editing: how to modify genetic faults – and the human germline

Is it time for a debate on whether there are any circumstances

where there is an ethical case for ‘editing’ human embryos?

Wednesday 2 September 2015 00.01 BST

The biggest funders of scientific research in the UK have called for a renewed debate on the ethics of genetically modifying human embryos and other tissues, in an effort to prevent serious diseases. There has been rapid progress in developing a powerful tool called genome editing, which has the potential to transform the treatment of genetic conditions by rewriting the DNA code of affected cells. Scientists believe that a debate should be had about the ethics of modifying human embryos, before the science gets ahead of public opinion. Here’s the background to the story.

 What is genome editing?

Genome editing is a powerful procedure that has already been a game-changer in helping scientists to understand the roles of genes in health and diseases. It coopts the natural immune defences of bacteria to create what is often described as “molecular scissors”. These can cut out, but also replace, strands of DNA with great precision. It is possible to change single letters of the DNA code.

 Why have the funders issued their statement now?

To signal to researchers that they support genome-editing research and are open to the therapies that might follow, once experiments show the procedures are safe and worthwhile. The majority of future therapies would target faulty genes in people’s organs, for example the mutation that causes cystic fibrosis in lung tissue. But genome editing could also be used to modify human sperm, eggs and embryos.

 How could genome editing help patients?

Scientists hope that genome editing will lead to radical new therapies for a range of diseases. One plan is to edit patients’ immune cells to make them attack cancers. Another is to make immune cells resistant to the HIV virus, so that even when it gets into people’s blood, the virus cannot take hold. 

 What about editing embryos?

Genome editing of embryos might not help many people, but it could give couples with genetic disorders a chance to have their own genetic children. If a couple know that their children will inherit a life-threatening genetic disease, they can choose to have IVF with a donor egg, or can adopt a child instead. Genome editing would work by correcting faulty genes in embryos before they are implanted.

 What are other countries doing?

In the US, some researchers have voiced concerns that genome editing is so cheap and simple that a maverick scientist could use the procedure to try to modify human embryos and implant them into women. Some want a moratorium on all genome editing research on embryos, while others have simply urged scientists not to modify embryos for clinical uses. The overwhelming view of scientists is that the procedure is too new to know how safe it is. A major concern is a public backlash could impact on the race to develop new and safe therapies. 

 Is it legal?

UK law prohibits genetically modified embryos from being implanted into women, but embryos can be altered in research labs under licence from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. They must be destroyed after 14 days. Research on embryos is more tightly controlled in many other European countries. In the US, there is no law banning genome editing of embryos, but the government’s National Institutes of Health (NIH) will not fund any use of gene editing technologies in human embryos. The NIH views any editing of the human germline as “a line that should not be crossed”. 

 What do the UK funders want?

Beyond supporting scientists who work on genome editing, the funders want a national debate on whether the genome editing of human sperm, eggs and embryos should ever be allowed. Are there any circumstances where there is an ethical case for modifying human embryos, or do concerns about introducing DNA changes to future generations always trump the benefits?

Article source : http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/sep/02/genome-editing-how-to-modify-genetic-faults-and-the-human-germline

---

<Questions>

Q1. What is "Genome editing"? 

Q2. Do you agree with the concept of genome editing? 

Q3. According to an article, even though genome editing technology is powerful but immature until now. Do you have any intention to apply this tech into your gene?

Q4. Do you have any intention to have genetically modified human embryos to prevent inherited diseases?

Q5. How do you think about the genetic modification of human embryos in the context of ethical aspect?

Q6. Do you think the genome editing of human sperm, eggs and embryos should ever be allowed? 

[Scarlet]

Englisholic 영어회화 모임(10/31) 장소관련 공지
------------------------------------------------------
아트에스프레소 리모델링으로 장소를 잠정적으로 변경합니다.
토요일(7-9) ♥ 엔젤리너스 2층 ♥ 에서 진행합니다.
------------------------------------------------------
♥ 엔젤리너스에서 음료주문시 잉홀릭 영어모임 예약건에대해 말씀하시면 10% 디스카운트를 받으실수 있습니다.

[세계일주]

이번주 토픽 할로윈도 내용이 쉽지않네요, 단어가 많이 어려워요, ㅋㅋ,내가 실력부족이니가 그렇겠죠, 토픽준비 하시느랴 수고하셨네요,감사합니다

[Scarlet]

단어 하나하나에 집중하시기보다는 전반적 내용에 집중하시면 더 좋을 것 같아요. ㅋ
그리고 관심가시는 주제 중심으로 준비하셔도 좋구요. ㅋㅋㅋ
그럼 즐건 하루 보내시고 모임에서 뵈요. ㅋ

[세계일주]

넵 , thank chief

[Jina]

토요일은 엔젤리너스군용?ㅋ 오키욤!!!ㅋ