Word: place
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...remote, snow-swept expanses of northern Sweden are an unlikely place to begin a story about cutting-edge genetic science. The kingdom's northernmost county, Norrbotten, is nearly free of human life; an average of just six people live in each square mile. And yet this tiny population can reveal a lot about how genes work in our everyday lives...
What's more, any such effects of nurture (environment) on a species' nature (genes) were not supposed to happen so quickly. Charles Darwin, whose On the Origin of Species celebrated its 150th anniversary in November, taught us that evolutionary changes take place over many generations and through millions of years of natural selection. But Bygren and other scientists have now amassed historical evidence suggesting that powerful environmental conditions (near death from starvation, for instance) can somehow leave an imprint on the genetic material in eggs and sperm. These genetic imprints can short-circuit evolution and pass along new traits...
...converted warehouse in Tai Kok Tsui, a remote western corner of Kowloon. It's the office of Hong Kong Unison, the organization she founded in 2001 geared to defend the rights of minorities. Initially, Wong had precious little funding and had to scavenge for furniture to outfit the place. She now has backing from a few private donors as well as the international NGO Oxfam, but times are still lean. An array of colorful drapes liven up the space, while a staff of local Chinese and South Asian volunteers busy about. Wong is a blur of energy and enthusiasm, rattling...
...hopes that, bit by bit, attitudes will change and Hong Kong's minorities get the fair shake they deserve. "All I want," Wong says, "is for this city to be the truly international place it claims...
...Obama's team has decided that the old triggers that were put in place to alert intelligence analysts have not kept up with the evolving threat of al-Qaeda and its sympathizers. "Five years ago, it would have been one thing if a Nigerian went to Yemen," said the senior official involved in the discussions. "It's different now when a Nigerian in the summer of 2009 goes to Yemen, because we know that al-Qaeda is trying to make a play in West Africa, specifically in Nigeria...