Taiwanese copy because they have not yet fully learnt the technology… its called learning by doing… they will get there in the end…
[quote=“B.B.”]
One of the exceptions. David Ho developed what is known as the “Cocktail Drug Therapy” to stop the HIV virus reproductive process. He is not of Chinese nationality all right, but definitely of Chinese race, in case some are wondering about the natural difference of races here. 
And many Chinese descendent Nobel Laureates in science over the past 100 years.
The list goes on…[/quote]
I would call the guy American, as he lives there and has done his work there.
I would imagine that most of the rest have done their work abroad as well. The environment here is not that great at fostering disruptive technologies.
Hey, as a former student of agriculture (yup its true, my major was cows and plows)… lots of this bio-engineering GM food scares the crap out of me… I would not eat this cake if it was the last thing on earth! God forbid, the best thing I can think that would happen after you ate this is your pee would glow in the dark!
Probably. And poo too. But in the end it wil end up back where it came from. Algea. 
Imagine, after eating the cake you can turn of the lights and find a room full of glowing people. Scary! 
It would stop all you kids peeing in the swimming pool.
Well that’s another inventive story that I used to tell children at the swimming pool. 
Don’t pee in the pool, and if you do the special pee-detecting chemical will make the water turn red.
Maybe it’s time to invent the pee-chemical. 
Pee chemical that changes color----I saw that in the US years ago when I was a lifeguard 
kirsty
What about all the crap you breath in your lungs everyday in Taiwan or the heavy metals found in the shellfish. Name me a case where a GMO product has harmed anybody except for a handful of cases of peanut allergic reactions people have had. I work in this area but don’t work for anybody benefiting from GMO. It just pisses me right off when I hear this same ole spiel trotted out, if these people really cared what harmed them or harmed the environment they should check into the facts. It’s stupid anecdotes and half truths like that which you spread that take away from real issues.
As a former agricultural student you should be worried about the immense harm fertiliser run off causes to our rivers, methane from cows and herbicides do the natural environment, none of which is associated with GMOs. Why do you think you can’t fish in your local river. I say this because most rivers in the world are basically useless for fishing in now, even in very rural areas. Have you ever seen wild flowers such as painted in old impressionist masterpieces. No, because they don’t exist anymore due to intensive farming practices and mechanisation.
Why does my father tell me he about all these birds he used to hear in the local woods, the frogs he used to catch and the fish that used to swim in little streams near his farm. You know what, I’ve never seen any of these fish or frogs or birds he talks about because they were killed when mechanization and pesticides were introduced into the country just before I was born. That is a real tragedy.
Why don’t you complain about these changes to the natural environment. Perhaps because you accept that the countryside was always like that since you have been born.
You will be eating your words literally when you buy cheaper food in the supermarket that would have rotted in transport previously and cost more fuel and more fertiliser to support before it got to you.
Why are you so worried about a natural protein which is extracted from red algae and broken down in your stomach (it will not make your pee glow although that would be cool in my book). It’s not GMO
(genetically modified organism) , the protein is extracted from an organism in nature and processed (probably a dinoflaggelate). In fact it’s possible you already ingest this protein in low doses from fish or shellfish that feed on this algae. Being a protein it is very unlikely to cause harm upon digestion. You probably eat the cakes in Taiwan which are loaded with artificial sweeteners and chemicals. If you drink the milk in Taiwan you will notice that it doesn’t go sour for weeks, which is probably due to the antibiotics abuse here which is among the highest in the world.
Many wonderful and beautiful organisms are naturally bioluminescent and it doesn’t do them any harm.
Check it out and enjoy
siobiolum.ucsd.edu/biolum_web.html
I can see why you are a ‘former’ student as you have no idea of biotechnology and the natural world and even less about what is harmful to the environment or you personally.
On a separate note:
I work in R&D for a local firm. It is sadly true that not much original gets done here. I’ve worked both in academia sinica and industry. There IS often a problem in thinking about new projects or risking money on new research. Patents are things to get round or ignore . However in this respect we are not much different from many huge pharmaceutical companies which will often infringe patents of individuals or small companies knowing that the smalltimers don’t have money to challenge in protracted legal battles. I hear about it all the time. It’s a two way street. The big guys will often buy the patent holders out which is often ok for the patent holder, but if they don’t want to sell out it is very difficult to fight them.
Also working for a small company in an isolated country I can see that it is very difficult to come up with BIG NEW TECHNOLOGY without a huge industrial, financial and academic base. There is only so much you can do.
Imagine you want to make an automated detection machine, you want the best, you need
robot (japan)
optics (US)
centrifuge (germany). You simply can’t make invent all those parts and produce them with the small industrial base of Taiwan.
Copy now, innovate later. If it means the company is around in five years to do some real research so be it.
However I had them take me seriously on an idea for a product that would never have gotten off the ground in the west. At least they don’t hold up ideas if they think it might make money!
Headhoncho,
In extolling the virtues of GMOs and lamenting the loss of frogs, fish and wildflowers, you failed to mention the Cornell University study, published in Nature, in which researchers found evidence that pollen from genetically modified corn killed Monarch butterfly caterpillars. Other researchers have identified a risk of herbicide-resistant genes “migrating” into nearby weeds, possibly resulting in a new strain of poison-proof “superweeds.”
The question of whether genetically modified foods are directly hazardous to human health is at this point largely hypothetical, because it could take years for health problems to emerge. After all, how many nuclear bombs did the US govt detonate over the heads of US soldiers in tests in the Nevada desert? Would we say today that those tests posed no hazard? Obviously not.
Many feel that the primary potential hazard of genetically altered foods lies in the possible transfer of antibiotic-resistant genes to bacteria in people’s organs, which could lead to the growth of antibiotic-resistant disease strains. That process will obviously take time. To claim that genetically modified foods are safe because no one has died yet is naive, especially for a well-educated person such as yourself. Sure, you’re right that we ingest vast quantities of toxins in Taiwan’s air, water and food. But that hardly means that GMOs are ok.
I understand the concerns about GMOS. This is reasonable and warranted. However a bioluminescent birthday cake is in no way a GMO.
The Nature paper from Cornell you refer to has been discredited and (partially?) withdrawn and caused considerable embarrasment to the credibility of Nature. It seems the publication was rushed as they wanted to PROVE the first case of GMOs harming the natural environment and gain a lot of publicity. However I agree it’s important to regulate non discriminatory toxins on plants. I would still imagine this type of toxin is a lot better than the random spraying of organophosphates which occurs at present. The organophosphates build up in food supplies and enter the groundwater.
Unrestricted GMO planting of antibiotic resistant strains will eventually cause wild resistant hybrids as this is evolution in action. How detrimental they will be outside the artificial environment of modern intensive farming is undetermined. I would argue that biodiversity is facing a threat RIGHT NOW from alien species introduction around the world e.g.
homepage.westmont.edu/u/outside/ … hinfog.htm
(Simply look at the Cane Toad in Australia. Hard to imagine anything worse that a scientist in a lab could produce!)
which is 100 times any possible fall out from a GMO gone wild. The antibiotic resistance afforded to wild varieties would only benefit them in the artificial environment of a modern farm i.e. they would be a pest on farms but in the wild environment where natural selection depends on 1000s of factors I think the effect would be miniscule.
I agree that inserting antibiotic resistance genes as markers or whatever in plants is not a good thing and in fact it’s moronic in this day and age as the technology to remove the genes is easily available. As I know this has been fazed out by almost all new plasmids by removing the resistance genes before transforming the host plants. What you mention about antibiotic resistance is may be possible from eating food (that’s why I think antibiotics should be strictly regulated in food such as milk and meat) but it is much more likely from antibiotic prescription abuse such as we see in Taiwan. No wonder Taiwan has among the highest incidence of MRSA in the world.
New generation GMOs are more nutraceutical and health based. They will add benefits to the plant, not resistance to chemicals. The best example is the Golden Rice which contains vitamin A. This single plant has the potential to prevent millions of cases of blindness around the world. The American corporations which jumped on GMOS and steamrolled them into the US market but failed in Europe have a lot to answer for GMOs bad press, but so do the two faced people who condemn innovation because they don’t understand it.
I guess there will be failures in the future. Bad ideas for GMOs would be salt tolerant species of fish and plants or vice versa. The comparison of genetics to nulear bombs is not fair. My best guess is that the majority of future GMOs will be easier to process, more productive and include things that people really want to eat. And remember GMO means Genetically Modified Organism----that is a VERY broad term. One GMO may be adding vitamin A, another might be changing the color of a rose, a third might be adding the gene that gives resistance to Round-Up. It’s very hard to argue that changing the color of a rose or introducing vitamin A into a plant is as bad as introducing a gene for chemical resistance.
One final point. Go into your local fish store anywhere in Europe or the US (advanced environmentally friendly areas right).
In each tank are many varieties of non natuve fish , plants and molluscs that have the potential to run havoc if they enter the natural environment.
Look at the recent furore about snakheads.
What are the restrictions on their import and export-----practically none I can tell you. I can buy them over the internet in Ebay and ship them almost anywhere in the world if I want. Here are real problem organisms that are real and exist now and practically no restrictions are applied on them. Go figure.
See my reply below. Basically I don’t think this is always better!
Actually, I do try to stay away from the sweets here… the cakes are gross, use nothing but white flour and tons of sugar… YUK…
Milk in Taiwan, a good percentage is not even sourced from Taiwan, but is actually re-constituted powdered milk, Hey, I am sure you are right. I bet you a million bucks that all the cows here have all been given antibiotics in their feed and have been given rBST in order to increase their per day yield.
Now what is up with the personal attack??? 
First, not that I should ever have to justify an opinion to you, but FYI, I actually graduated with a BS in Agricultural Economics. I grew up on a small farm (a gentleman’s farm so I could be in FFA and 4-H) and I am the granddaughter dryland wheat and cattle rancher who ranched over 2000 acres . Did you know that I ran for a state office in my home state FFA when I was in high school? Did you know some of that my best friends back home work in the Agricultural industry? Some as farmers, some in marketing, some in governmental organizations, some in agricultural think tanks?
HH, Now now, you need to calm down a bit. Actually did you know that I agree with you on the pollution and over use of Chemicals? In fact, the reason that I did not stay in Agriculture was 2 fold, first, I started as an Ag Education major… and no one in Eastern Oregon (the state I call home) would have accepted a 5’4 WOMAN as an AG teacher… and second, I was frustrated with the over influence of the petrochemical companies who have taken a time honored profession, have made family farming nearly impossible, due to the over-fertilization/overuse of herbicides and pesticides which has caused the subsequent leaching of all natural healthy minerals and organisms from the soil, so that all but the corporate farmer who must have at least 10,000 acres can break a profit. Did you know that I actual seriously considered a career in international agricultural development, working with small farmers around the world in bio-diverse farming situations, but again due to my gender thought better of it??? AH, but that was nearly 15 years ago, and I have left the farm… and moved on with my life as a member of a more honored and well beloved profession… 
All I said was that I get a bit scared by all of the GMO that is going on… it is still untested- LONG TERM
- Yes we have been using all sorts of science and chemistry and biology in our agricultural practices for the last 70 years. I am not sure that it has all been for the better. Numbers of heirloom species of vegetables (like tomatoes for example) which actually do ROT if they are stored for more than 2 days and therefore can not be trucked from a farm in the California Valley to a store in NYC… but taste much better than the tomatoes that do get trucked to NYC… are diminishing… if not becoming extinct. That a small number of organic and family farmers are trying to save these vegetables? That I totally support this type of Agriculture and buy organic/ family farmed goods, both here and in the States when ever possible.
So just calm down, relax, all I said IMHO eating a cake, which glows in the dark, scares me a bit OK 
NOW that this reply is totally off topic…I guess we can make it back on topic by stating, you know that the Chinese invented the iron plow, therefore making it much easier to farm larger spreads of land and therefore feed more people with less effort.
And more important, these are just my opinions, if you want to eat a glow in the dark cake… HAVE AT IT, as I said below, I think Taiwan cakes suck… regardless of if they glow or not
Kristy
Edited to correct spelling
Sorry, I was a bit strong on some personal points. I’ll edit it out.
Some of the concepts around GMO are complicated, therefore I reacted badly when a glowing cake (which is harmless in itself) was singled out in a negative manner and included with other basically unrelated concepts.
I happen to think the glowing cake idea is a great one (I know the American guy who has patented this idea so I’m going to send him a picture and let him know what is going on…he will be interested… . It’s also a big market and one of the best products I’ve seen produced in biotechnology locally, food is big money as we both know. Because a protein makes a light does not mean it is toxic like radioactivity. It’s merely a fluorescent re-emittance of energy (like glow stickers) or an enzyme reaction like in a firefly. Doesn’t do the firefly or algae any harm.
Of course I am a hothead so I’ll refrain from personal attacks
in the future.
So, it looks like we’ve come full circle. Even the glowing cake was apparently patented by an American – not a Chinese – so I guess we have to cross that off the list and it looks like we’re left with just the flying childrens’ toy, the firecrackers, the bamboo leaf umbrella and the wheelbarrow, and all from long ago. Reminds me of the eerie feeling I had at Angkor Wat, picturing this once great civilization now overgrown with vines.
China invented:
Car
Noodle
Aeroplane
Sewer
Skyscraper
Wooden Bridge
Poker
Chess
Telescope
Mathematics
and
Soup
Car and airplane? I thought those were Henry Ford and the Wright Brothers. What kind of car and airplane are we talking about?
Mathematics? Not sure what that means. I thought the oldest human remains were found in Africa, so surely Africans were the first to figure that one plus one equals two (mathematics). But the abacus may have been the first calculator.
As for chess, I don’t think so. If Chinese chess counts as chess then a catfish is a cat.
Skyscraper? What does that mean? Same for wooden bridge – were the Chinese the first to throw a log across a stream? I’d like to see the proof for that one.
How do you invent soup?
HH-
I am a hothead too, so all is forgiven! 
OK, soup… I don’t know if the Chinese actually invented it, but I will admit, they have made it an art form- Yum, some hot and sour soup please
Mom,
Ithink Hank just was the first to mass produce cars and I think Orville and Wilbur were just the first to get a plane to stay in the air for any appreciable time…
Could be wrong, but that was my understanding.
K
[quote=“Spack”]We all agree that China, as a nation, has invented all kinds of stuff, just not much in recent history.
[/quote]
I guess in my mind, it’s just a matter of perspective. Is it that China as a civilization hasn’t invented anything in recent history? Or are we just all too short-lived to be able to appreciate a broader scope of human history?
It seems comparable to a mosquito wondering why the Yankees haven’t won a World Series in recent history. (In related news, the mosquito will probably die a lifelong Anaheim Angels fan, not having the chance to live long enough to see the New York Mets make a complete turnaround in 2003.)
Also:
Candle
Umbrella
Computer
Bow and arrow
Book
Telephone
Bucket (but not spade)