Hong Kong teen sails to High Arctic: Hong Kong scientists in DNA breakthrough
Sixteen-year-old Emi Kingan from Canadian International School has completed a two-week expedition to Canada's High Arctic with 112 other youths from around the world
Sixteen-year-old Emi Kingan from Canadian International School has completed a two-week expedition to Canada's High Arctic with 112 other youths from around the world. Kingan was the only student from Hong Kong to take part in the journey that involved sailing up the west coast of Greenland and crossing the Davis Strait and the Northwest Passage in the company of international scientists, Inuit leaders and polar explorers. Since 2000, more than 2,500 youths from around the world have travelled to the Arctic and Antarctic as part of the Students on Ice project. The expeditions aim to foster respect and understanding for the planet by showing the important role the polar regions play in the global ecosystem.
A team of scientists from the division of life science and the Jockey Club Institute of Advanced Study at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Tsinghua University's School of Life Sciences have achieved a breakthrough by solving the near atomic structure of the MCM2-7 Complex, which plays a key role in destabilising and unwinding duplex DNA during DNA replication. Results of the joint research, led by HKUST professor Bik Tye (above left) and visiting professor Yuanliang Zhai (above right), were published in the latest issue of the journal, .
George Washington University has dropped its testing requirement for most admissions, becoming one of the largest and most prominent US schools to exempt its applicants from the SAT or ACT, reports. Critics of the tests have claimed they are culturally biased and often fail to reflect academic potential. Dean of admissions Karen Stroud Felton says: "We want outstanding students from all over the world and from all different backgrounds - regardless of their standardised scores - to recognise GW as a place where they can thrive." More than 125 private colleges and universities featured in rankings now have test-optional admission policies, according to the National Centre for Fair and Open Testing, or FairTest. Twenty have joined that group since January 2014, including Wesleyan University, ranked 15th among US liberal arts colleges.
