During a seminar this Wednesday (13th May), a female scientist who studies sex chromosomes in a wide range of animals predicted that the human Y chromosome might disappear in 5.8 million years’ time!
The male audience among us could do nothing other than smiling rather wryly at this female specialist, but the female audience need not rejoice too early. The scientist further predicted two fates of the human species: either we will die out because of inability to reproduce, or new human species will evolve. The latter is actually not as far-fetched as it seems, because there’s a type of mouse called mole vole which has split into two lineages because of changes to sex chromosomes.
So why are humans heading down this predicament? It is thought that the sex chromosomes for mammalians, to which humans belong, evolved about 160 millions ago. There are two sex chromosomes X and Y, with two X’s giving rise to females and the X, Y combination to males. When reproductive cells are produced by a process called meiosis, the ancient Y chromosome would have been able to exchange genetic material with the X chromosome to erase any potentially harmful mutations and damages to the Y chromosome before it is passed on. However, the genetic exchange ceased once the Y chromosome has acquired a particular gene involved in determining the male sex (specifically, for the development of the testis). The Y chromosome accumulated mutations and other damages without the ability of purging them; its full function is hampered, and somehow this has led to a massive loss of genes from the chromosome. In humans, the some 1300 genes that were thought to be present originally in the Y chromosome are now down to 45 in a matter of 160 million years. It doesn’t take much maths to figure out that all the genes in the Y chromosome would disappear totally in a few million years if this trend continues.
But it won’t take this long before we know whether we as a species will survive. Pollution and climate change will turn the Earth and the livelihoods of many people upside down. Will we survive this more imminent threat?
星期三（5月13日）聽講座，那個女講者研究不同動物的性染色體並進行比較，推斷出人類男性Y染色體可能在580萬年後消失！
此話出於女中豪傑口中，男聽眾聽了且祇有苦笑的味兒，但女的也勿高興過早，那個專家預測，屆時人類祇有兩個下場：要麼現有人類因不能繁殖而會滅亡，要麼會演化成另一新物種。她並說此推說並非誑言，歐洲有種名為mole vole的鼠類動物，早已因為性染色體出現分岐而已分裂成兩個物種。
為甚麼人類可能有此下場？包括人類在內的哺乳類動物，有兩個決定性別的染色體，有兩個X的為女性，有一個X一個Y的為男性，大概是一億六前萬年前從更古的生物演化而來。從前的Y染色體在產生生殖細胞時發生的減數分裂（meiosis）中可以透過和X染色體交換DNA重組而把DNA中的不良特變清除，減低對該染色體的破壞，但自從Y染色體得到一個決定男性性別（主導睪丸發展）的基因後，這個X與Y的交換重組機能便終止，令Y染色體累積變異，功能大幅退化，並令染色體內的基因流失而令該染色體萎縮，以人類來說，一億多年裡由原來的1300多個基因減至現今的45個，若趨勢持續，要完全消失也祇是幾百萬年的事！
其實人類是存是亡，不用等幾百萬年，現時的環境污染、氣候變化足以徹底破壞未來幾代人類的生活，影響人類的命運，人類和地球的將來又會是如何？
The Australian Budget announced on Tuesday, meanwhile, is going to affect people’s lives more directly and in a more immediate time frame. This Budget of course concerns Australians, but it will undoubtedly generate a (small) ripple through the rest of the world.
The most unexpected announcement by far is the raising of the government pension age from 65 to 67 progressively from year 2017 to 2023. The government is also considering increasing the age of accessing superannuation savings to 67 in line with the new pension age. While the rest of the Budget is hardly news since its bits and pieces have been public knowledge, the pension age announcement has caught many by surprise, including the opposition parties in the Parliament who vented their astonishment collectively upon hearing this proposal.
An ageing population is not unique to Australia, and it’s going to send a fair few countries broke! Countries around the world are scrambling to diffuse this time bomb, and Australia is taking a rather bald step in increasing its pension age to be higher than most Western societies. The effectiveness of this move and its impact from the individual level up to the entire society will certainly be watched closely by governments around the world, who will then decide how to adopt similar policies in their countries.
People naturally react differently to a prospect of delayed retirement. Those who would have wished to enjoy a new chapter of life after work may find that they have less time to do so before the effects of old age kicks in. In contrast, there are those who would feel they are still physically and mentally fit enough, and they will find life more fulfilling by continuing to show their worth at work. But will this mean that the younger generations would find it more difficult to move up their career ladders? It’s important to keep the career aspirations of the future generations alive and flowing while retaining the wisdom of age at any work place.
(PS: working later in life does have a benefit, if you believe in this research!)
星期二澳洲公布的財政預算，影響的是與我們更切身的將來，雖然即時直接關系到的是澳洲，但長遠有可能牽連到世界其他地方。
那天最出人意表的公布，就是澳洲政府會把領取政府退休金的年齡，由2017年至2023年逐步由65提高至67歲，也會考慮把自己供款的公積金的提取年齡一併提高至67歲。其實財案不少重要內容，早已又不同途徑散布，唯獨是這個退休年齡改變是在當日才宣布，所以國會內的反對黨聽罷也馬上嘩然。星期三跟同事吃飯時講到此事，我打趣說，待我們退休時，肯定不祇是67歲了。
人口老化不是澳洲獨有的難題，將來養活和照顧退休者足已令好些國家破產（英文連結）！人人都要想法拆彈，澳洲把退休年齡提高至67歲，比很多西方社會都高，究竟會有甚麼成效，對個人至整體有何後果，相信很多國家都會關注，繼而仿效或修改（英文連結）。
推遲退休，自然有人歡喜有人愁，愁的是少了安享晚年的時候，到67歲才開始享受人生，唯恐健康和精神挨不了多年便沒能力了（英文連結），但這個世界總有些永不言休的人，退休年齡有或無都沒分別，總之一日財勢、權勢仍然在握，都不輕言退下，那些人看來還要有風駛盡，誇下「賺盡四代人」的海口之餘（即現金掌握政經大權的人，憑二次大戰後經濟起飛上位後，賺取了他們上一代及後兩代人的財富），還戀棧現有的地位，不會輕易讓後輩上位，難道社會年輕一輩真的無法發圍，前程似「咁」？
（後記：延遲退休也許對健康有好處！）
Time stops for no one and the world is continually going forward. But what sounds like an innocuous phrase is now much derided by many in the English speaking world!
This happens when this phrase ‘going forward’ is being used too often in a somewhat demeaning way. The perpetrators are the politicians, business people and celebrities who are, at times, only too keen to dodge complicated issues at hand and tell people to turn their attention from the present to the future. People now view this phrase with a lot of cynicism, a means to hide something and a way of getting out of a mess often of their own doing.
This cynicism is not unwarranted. One has to wonder what the world would become if we stop reflecting on the status quo and questioning the consequences for the sake of going forward.
社會總要前進、go forward的，不過going forward最近在英語世界已成為令人生厭的說話（英文連結）！
原來going forward可以是一種開脫說話，常掛在政商界及名人口中，用意是叫大家不要再糾纏於瓜葛中或再提起某事，而要「向前看」，但這句話用得太多太濫，成為填塞空白的空洞用詞。這個going forward，可算與2003年香港辯論基本法第23條針對國家安全立法時，主事人葉劉淑儀叫大家「放長雙眼」有異曲同工之炒！
Going forward不免有代價，但如果要不理現況、不顧後果的前進，世界又會變得怎樣？
These days everyone must be preoccupied by going forward (in the literal original sense!) I’ve had fewer on-line chats with friends, and Facebook status updates from my friends have become less frequent. My work is going forward too in the last couple of weeks as my work load has started to pick up. Let’s hope we’re all indeed moving in the right direction, in a meaningful way!
最近少了跟友人在網上聊天，朋友Facebook的近況也更換得沒那麼頻密，不用想大家都是為工作和前途忙了，別說他人，我的工作近一兩周上了軌道後，工作量也比以前多了。大家都在going forward，希望這種going forward真的會有成果！
The male audience among us could do nothing other than smiling rather wryly at this female specialist, but the female audience need not rejoice too early. The scientist further predicted two fates of the human species: either we will die out because of inability to reproduce, or new human species will evolve. The latter is actually not as far-fetched as it seems, because there’s a type of mouse called mole vole which has split into two lineages because of changes to sex chromosomes.
So why are humans heading down this predicament? It is thought that the sex chromosomes for mammalians, to which humans belong, evolved about 160 millions ago. There are two sex chromosomes X and Y, with two X’s giving rise to females and the X, Y combination to males. When reproductive cells are produced by a process called meiosis, the ancient Y chromosome would have been able to exchange genetic material with the X chromosome to erase any potentially harmful mutations and damages to the Y chromosome before it is passed on. However, the genetic exchange ceased once the Y chromosome has acquired a particular gene involved in determining the male sex (specifically, for the development of the testis). The Y chromosome accumulated mutations and other damages without the ability of purging them; its full function is hampered, and somehow this has led to a massive loss of genes from the chromosome. In humans, the some 1300 genes that were thought to be present originally in the Y chromosome are now down to 45 in a matter of 160 million years. It doesn’t take much maths to figure out that all the genes in the Y chromosome would disappear totally in a few million years if this trend continues.
But it won’t take this long before we know whether we as a species will survive. Pollution and climate change will turn the Earth and the livelihoods of many people upside down. Will we survive this more imminent threat?
星期三（5月13日）聽講座，那個女講者研究不同動物的性染色體並進行比較，推斷出人類男性Y染色體可能在580萬年後消失！
此話出於女中豪傑口中，男聽眾聽了且祇有苦笑的味兒，但女的也勿高興過早，那個專家預測，屆時人類祇有兩個下場：要麼現有人類因不能繁殖而會滅亡，要麼會演化成另一新物種。她並說此推說並非誑言，歐洲有種名為mole vole的鼠類動物，早已因為性染色體出現分岐而已分裂成兩個物種。
為甚麼人類可能有此下場？包括人類在內的哺乳類動物，有兩個決定性別的染色體，有兩個X的為女性，有一個X一個Y的為男性，大概是一億六前萬年前從更古的生物演化而來。從前的Y染色體在產生生殖細胞時發生的減數分裂（meiosis）中可以透過和X染色體交換DNA重組而把DNA中的不良特變清除，減低對該染色體的破壞，但自從Y染色體得到一個決定男性性別（主導睪丸發展）的基因後，這個X與Y的交換重組機能便終止，令Y染色體累積變異，功能大幅退化，並令染色體內的基因流失而令該染色體萎縮，以人類來說，一億多年裡由原來的1300多個基因減至現今的45個，若趨勢持續，要完全消失也祇是幾百萬年的事！
其實人類是存是亡，不用等幾百萬年，現時的環境污染、氣候變化足以徹底破壞未來幾代人類的生活，影響人類的命運，人類和地球的將來又會是如何？
* * *
The Australian Budget announced on Tuesday, meanwhile, is going to affect people’s lives more directly and in a more immediate time frame. This Budget of course concerns Australians, but it will undoubtedly generate a (small) ripple through the rest of the world.
The most unexpected announcement by far is the raising of the government pension age from 65 to 67 progressively from year 2017 to 2023. The government is also considering increasing the age of accessing superannuation savings to 67 in line with the new pension age. While the rest of the Budget is hardly news since its bits and pieces have been public knowledge, the pension age announcement has caught many by surprise, including the opposition parties in the Parliament who vented their astonishment collectively upon hearing this proposal.
An ageing population is not unique to Australia, and it’s going to send a fair few countries broke! Countries around the world are scrambling to diffuse this time bomb, and Australia is taking a rather bald step in increasing its pension age to be higher than most Western societies. The effectiveness of this move and its impact from the individual level up to the entire society will certainly be watched closely by governments around the world, who will then decide how to adopt similar policies in their countries.
People naturally react differently to a prospect of delayed retirement. Those who would have wished to enjoy a new chapter of life after work may find that they have less time to do so before the effects of old age kicks in. In contrast, there are those who would feel they are still physically and mentally fit enough, and they will find life more fulfilling by continuing to show their worth at work. But will this mean that the younger generations would find it more difficult to move up their career ladders? It’s important to keep the career aspirations of the future generations alive and flowing while retaining the wisdom of age at any work place.
(PS: working later in life does have a benefit, if you believe in this research!)
星期二澳洲公布的財政預算，影響的是與我們更切身的將來，雖然即時直接關系到的是澳洲，但長遠有可能牽連到世界其他地方。
那天最出人意表的公布，就是澳洲政府會把領取政府退休金的年齡，由2017年至2023年逐步由65提高至67歲，也會考慮把自己供款的公積金的提取年齡一併提高至67歲。其實財案不少重要內容，早已又不同途徑散布，唯獨是這個退休年齡改變是在當日才宣布，所以國會內的反對黨聽罷也馬上嘩然。星期三跟同事吃飯時講到此事，我打趣說，待我們退休時，肯定不祇是67歲了。
人口老化不是澳洲獨有的難題，將來養活和照顧退休者足已令好些國家破產（英文連結）！人人都要想法拆彈，澳洲把退休年齡提高至67歲，比很多西方社會都高，究竟會有甚麼成效，對個人至整體有何後果，相信很多國家都會關注，繼而仿效或修改（英文連結）。
推遲退休，自然有人歡喜有人愁，愁的是少了安享晚年的時候，到67歲才開始享受人生，唯恐健康和精神挨不了多年便沒能力了（英文連結），但這個世界總有些永不言休的人，退休年齡有或無都沒分別，總之一日財勢、權勢仍然在握，都不輕言退下，那些人看來還要有風駛盡，誇下「賺盡四代人」的海口之餘（即現金掌握政經大權的人，憑二次大戰後經濟起飛上位後，賺取了他們上一代及後兩代人的財富），還戀棧現有的地位，不會輕易讓後輩上位，難道社會年輕一輩真的無法發圍，前程似「咁」？
（後記：延遲退休也許對健康有好處！）
* * *
Time stops for no one and the world is continually going forward. But what sounds like an innocuous phrase is now much derided by many in the English speaking world!
This happens when this phrase ‘going forward’ is being used too often in a somewhat demeaning way. The perpetrators are the politicians, business people and celebrities who are, at times, only too keen to dodge complicated issues at hand and tell people to turn their attention from the present to the future. People now view this phrase with a lot of cynicism, a means to hide something and a way of getting out of a mess often of their own doing.
This cynicism is not unwarranted. One has to wonder what the world would become if we stop reflecting on the status quo and questioning the consequences for the sake of going forward.
社會總要前進、go forward的，不過going forward最近在英語世界已成為令人生厭的說話（英文連結）！
原來going forward可以是一種開脫說話，常掛在政商界及名人口中，用意是叫大家不要再糾纏於瓜葛中或再提起某事，而要「向前看」，但這句話用得太多太濫，成為填塞空白的空洞用詞。這個going forward，可算與2003年香港辯論基本法第23條針對國家安全立法時，主事人葉劉淑儀叫大家「放長雙眼」有異曲同工之炒！
Going forward不免有代價，但如果要不理現況、不顧後果的前進，世界又會變得怎樣？
* * *
These days everyone must be preoccupied by going forward (in the literal original sense!) I’ve had fewer on-line chats with friends, and Facebook status updates from my friends have become less frequent. My work is going forward too in the last couple of weeks as my work load has started to pick up. Let’s hope we’re all indeed moving in the right direction, in a meaningful way!
最近少了跟友人在網上聊天，朋友Facebook的近況也更換得沒那麼頻密，不用想大家都是為工作和前途忙了，別說他人，我的工作近一兩周上了軌道後，工作量也比以前多了。大家都在going forward，希望這種going forward真的會有成果！
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