The United States is a country of immigrants. It is a place where people from all over the world come to build a better life. Some immigrants bring their families. Some bring a few of their favorite things. Others come alone with nothing but determination. One thing that every immigrant brings with them is their culture.

    American immigration began in 1607 with the colony (殖民地) of Jamestown. In 1620, another group of people left England to build a settlement in America. They wanted to go to a place where they could practice their religion freely. Then many more people left their homes in Europe to build a better life in America. Many also came to America from Africa. By 1770, more than two million people had moved to America. Later on, more people came to the United States than ever before.

    In cities all over America, you can see different cultures that formed this country. Many things that you may think of as being “American” are actually from a foreign culture. Some of the best examples of this are the foods people eat. Pizza and spaghetti are foods that all Americans know and love. But both of them are from Italy. Baseball is an all-American sport. But the hot dogs that people eat during the game are a type of food that was brought to America by German immigrants.

    Over time, pizza and hot dogs have become a part of what is considered to be American food. In the same way, different groups of people have come together to define what an American is. An American can be a person of any background. An American can be of any faith. An American can be of any skin color. They can speak English clearly. They can speak English with an accent. Each new immigrant adds something new to American culture. It will keep changing as more people come to this country.

    Are you content with the shape of your nose? If not, the climate may be to blame, not your parents.

    This is according to a recent study carried out by scientists from Pennsylvania State University, US. They found that climate played a key role in shaping our noses. The findings were based on an examination of the size and shape of noses of 476 people from four regions — West Africa, East Asia, South Asia and Northern Europe, using 3D facial imaging technology.

     “People have thought for a long time the difference in nose shape among humans across the world may have arisen as a result of natural selection because of climate,” Arslan Zaidi, one of the lead authors of the study, told the Guardian. But while previous studies were based on measurements from human skulls(头骨), Zaidi and his team looked at nose shape itself.

    The result showed that wider noses are more common in warm and humid climates, while narrower noses are more common in cold and dry climates. That, Zaidi said, could be because narrower nasal passages (鼻道) help to increase the wet content of air and warm it, which is easier on our lungs. This, in turn, led to a gradual decrease in nose width in populations living far away from the equator (赤道).

    More study is still needed to test the link between climate and nose shape, but Zaidi believes the current findings are valuable in understanding potential health issue. “As we become more of a global community, we are going to come across climates that we are not adapted to,” he told the Guardian. This means moving to a very different climate might increase the risk of breathing problems.

    However, he added, “This may not be necessarily true for various reasons such as of modem medicine and the fact that our current climate is very different from what it used to be.”

    Empathy is the ability to share and understand the emotions of others. It is a construct of multiple components, each of which is associated with its own brain network. New research has found empathy may have a genetic component that affects personality, and cognition, psychiatric (relating to mental illness) conditions. The findings are highlighted in a new study led by researchers at the University of Cambridge, the University Paris Diderot and the Institute Pasteur, and 23andMe.

    Published yesterday in Molecular Psychiatry, the first study found evidence that genes influence our ability to read and understand emotions in others. The team at the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge analyzed data from 89,000 individuals worldwide, the majority of whom were 23andMe customers, who were willing to be researched.

    Participants completed a “Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test”, in which they were shown photos of the area around the eyes and asked to identify one of two possible emotions. This assessed Theory of Mind and the ability to recognize and appreciate another person's mental state. Researchers identified that women with certain genetic variants（变异）on chromosome（染色体）3 performed better, with higher levels of empathy. Interestingly, male performance on the test was not associated with a genetic variant. Overall, women consistently performed better than men, exhibiting higher levels of empathy.

    The genetic variant associated with empathy in women is near the gene LRRN1(Leucine Rich Neuronal 1) on chromosome 3, which is highly active in an area of the human brain. Brain scans have indicated that this section of the brain may play a role in cognition empathy.

    This is also the unprecedented study that relates measures of empathy with variation in the human genome（基因组）. Previous research that has attempted to assess the genetic associations of personality and psychological traits has sometimes been unreliable, due to their small sample size. 23andMe's large data offering enables scientists to gain insight into the biology behind features such as empathy.

    23andMe is committed to furthering such research and approximately 85 percent of customers agrees to allow their de-identified（去识别的）data to be made available for study. By allowing scientists access to its unique and powerful research resource engine, 23andMe helps open up genetics to qualified researchers, providing novel insights into individuals' features, genetic diseases and a variety of other conditions.

    I'll never forget the day when Mary came into my office and said, I am too old to learn how to use a computer. I shook my head. Here was a woman who had raised 6 children and who had made great progress in her career telling me that she was too old to learn something new. I told her that I always believed people were never too old to learn.

    Mary followed my advice and did learn how to use the computer. Now, she is retired and leading a very active life volunteering in her community(社区), using her computer skills and helping anyone that needs help.

    When she was in her sixties, one day she called me and said she had played the piano for others all her life, and now she was going to plan to make a CD of her own. My mind flashed back to the day when she told me she was too old to learn. You can imagine my surprise and delight.

    To produce the CD, she had a lot of things to learn. It was not just sitting at the piano and playing. She had to research the songs, learn about copyright(版权), and learn about marketing. It was pretty amazing for someone who once said she was too old to learn. And finally she made it. Now she has her own CD-Mixed Blessings.

    Most of you probably have heard about some people who have gone back to university in their seventies and have also graduated. They are on their way again to charging themselves with a new skill and a new attitude towards life. The point is you are unable to learn anything at any age if you believe you are too old. On the contrary, you can achieve anything at any age if you believe you can.