Professor Linfa Wang. Director of the Emerging Infectious Diseases Programme at Duke-NUS, from Hong Kong claims "The most outstanding difference we've seen between bats and other mammals has to do with DNA repair. If the science is as true as we think it is, we can unlock the mechanisms and it can have a huge, huge impact.". So what is all this about and what impact does it have on humans, one might ask? Well, for one, the secret to longevity may be unlocked soon with all the ongoing research. Studies have shown that the secret to bats' longevity may be linked to their ability to harbour viruses that are deadly to other animals. Other than the fact that bats are found to be vectors of diseases such as Ebola, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the Middle East respiratory syndrome, recently published scientific evidences point to their unique responses to genetic wear and tear, ageing and diseases like cancer. Their low rates of cancer, ability to carry deadly viruses without suffering from it and ability in DNA repair have been proven to be astounding. Coming to existence about 50 million years ago and with about 1,100 species across the globe, bats are known to be conduits to spread zoonoses or diseases from vertebrates to humans. According to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, zoonotic diseases account for 60% of new infectious diseases. The viruses are speculated to be latent in the bat carriers which are then transmitted to other mammals, which are genetically closer to or have greater exposure to humans, that subsequently passed on the viruses to humans. A recent classic example is that of SARS, where the diseases was probably passed on to civet cats followed by humans. The bats' unique abilities may lie with their adaptation of their hearts to switch from just a mere 10 beats per minute during hibernation to 1,000 beats when they are in flight. Physiologically, when this happens, the host's metabolism surges resulting in a lethal and sudden shortage of oxygen while at the same time producing large amounts of toxic metabolic by-products that damage DNA. In essence, bats cope better with DNA damage repair, are carriers of viruses, have less cancer and typically live longer probably because all these are likely to be interrelated and expressions of a common denominator.
The pedestrian overhead bridge in front of Central Mall was planted with the Bauhinia kockiana. Further in the background stood a Yellow Rain Tree.
In the Central Mall podium were two red lampshades, which received a revival in Hong Kong recently for its subtle but significant illumination of meat in wet markets where the red glow provided a better appreciation of the meat by the buyers. The giant lampshade were constructed and sliced into two separate structures to provide seating spaces for the shoppers to rest their legs. Interestingly, when viewed from outside, there appeared to be a dozen of legs below the lampshade but these are all fake and are merely supporting structures to hold the lampshade upright.
Over at Illuma, which is renamed as Bugis + recently, I was captivated by the rooftop gardens that covered part of the facade of the iconic building. Renovations are ongoing and the new and biggest Uniqlo store in Singapore will open its doors here to visitors soon.
This is a sequel to the original movie "Love in the Puff" which I did not catch, so I do not know what happened between the two leads Shawn Yue and Miriam Yeung previously. But I guess it doesn't affect new viewers like me because it can be seen as an independent movie on its own.
It started off by showing how a girl seemed to be cursed because her three previous boyfriends were killed one after another in freak accidents related to cooking. For a moment, I thought I was in the wrong cinema until the two leads appeared.
The movie tells the tale of the two, who faced some relationship problems, broke up in Hong Kong and went to Beijing separately to work. When they met in Beijing again sometime later, the sparks between them were re-ignited. By then, the younger Shawn had a new mainland girlfriend of one year and Miriam was trying to start afresh with a nice, attentive and warm guy who came to her rescue in an incident.
It was a rather sad and poignant movie that explored the past and present relationships of the two characters, and how they fought hard to rekindle their past relationship but yet could not overlook the annoying flaws or let go of their new relationships. They were in a dilemma as they weighed whether to listen to their hearts to go back to their old flames or to listen to their heads to move on with their new found ones. Eventually, they each came to their final decision to stuck it out together. Despite each other's imperfections, they were perfect for each other as a couple.
For me, the interesting and even comedic parts came in the form of brief cameos by Ekin Cheng, Linda Wong, Huang Xiaoming and the laughter and vomit inducing cross-dressing video of Shawn Yue emulating Linda Wong's MTV hit song "Don't Ask Who I Am", which I attached below.
Today I was somehow reminded of the former 1989 Ms Hong Kong 2nd runner up, actress and singer Regina Zeng, whom I affectionately call by her chinese name 曾庆瑜. I love her acting and also love her songs very much. Her singing was sensuous and without a hint of the cantonese accent. Too bad, she retired so early. A few of my favourite classic sad but touching songs are shown below:
