Word: trait
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...this a particularly American trait? Is the rest of the world experiencing some form of the same malaise? I do think this is a disease of affluence. The problems we're facing are not the problems faced by people in the subsistence society. Furthermore, they're not problems faced by societies that have become geographically nomadic. In areas where people remain close to where they were reared, I think you have a very different array of problems and concerns. Our material lives are better than any human beings have enjoyed at any point in history...
...used a new technique, called RNA interference, to construct a genetic sequence that blocked the gossypol-producing enzyme in the seeds only. After succeeding in the lab, he began a test in a greenhouse to see if the genetically modified cotton plant would survive and pass on its new trait. Rathore's just-compiled data show that the modified cotton appears to be normal in every way other than the fact that it has instantly edible seeds. "What works in the greenhouse should hold true in the fields," he says...
...REMO, Italy — I don’t know if it’s because she once worked at Vogue, or if she simply possesses a Jewish-mother-knows-everything trait, but my mum always suggests the best places to shop. 20 years of experience have taught me to trust her advice, and so I confidently lead my dubious friend past the designer labels and expensive leather in San Remo, towards a little shop that seems to specialize in buckets and spades...
...while being big is still an advantage - size offers a better survival cushion if food proves hard to find - there are other factors that limit how easily that trait is passed down. Coulson and his colleagues identified what they call the "young mum" factor. Sheep, unlike many other mammals, tend to have offspring quite early in life - mothers can have lambs at one-year-old, before they're fully grown. Since the size of the lambs is limited by the size of the mothers, younger mothers have smaller babies. Thanks to the milder winters, more sheep are able to survive...
Conan, in other words, revels in being the outsider, the underdog, the geek. (Jay's signature bit, on the other hand, was "Jaywalking," where he went on the street to ask people news and history questions and made them look ridiculous.) This is both a defining Gen X trait - think Judd Apatow's movies and Beck's "Loser" - and a sensibility suited to the 12:30 p.m. Late Night, the slacker sibling to The Tonight Show. Some doubters wonder if that can translate to a broader 11:30 audience. By promoting Conan and moving Jay, NBC is betting that this...