Week Thirteen: Cognition: Bringing Forth a World

1. Do you agree that "to live is to know"?

To live is to know what? You can be alive and not know anything, not know anything for sure, or know something for sure, but wrongly. I do not have a solid understanding of Capra, Maturana and Varela, but am taking the statement "living systems are cognitive systems" at face value. I think consciousness and cognition (knowing) are two different things. Something can contain consciousness without necessarily having thought processes...I think. There are so many different levels of awareness, even amongst human beings. Perhaps they are saying this is all that counts -- a level of awareness, no matter what it is you are aware of. But what about someone who is passed out, blacked out drunk? They are not aware of anything -- neither cognition nor consciousness is happening -- and yet they are still alive.

This is one of those tricky philosophical questions that can back you into a semantic corner. Part of me wishes to abandon this line of thinking because it tangles me all up and doesn't really seem to get us anywhere.

Something as obtuse as Capra's writings on cognition deserves a likewise difficult response. Following is a you tube clip that contains no moving images. It is the second part of a ten part lecture by my hero Wallace Black Elk and the only image is a grainy still photograph of his face. In the recording that plays along he speaks in English and sometimes in Lakota, and says his prayers, and sings some songs, but the primary content seems to be the same as Capra's -- he speaks of life and consciousness, but spoken in his own way. The "clip" definitely requires patience. As he says, "I'm not formally educated, but I hear loud and clear."




you can find the rest of it on you tube...

2. Memory and magic -- how might you view things differently now?



There is both an upside and a downside to intense concentration, apparently. Following is a link to a five minute you tube video that has the embedding function disabled (therefore I can't paste it on my page here, but you have to cut and paste this link). It's worth it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAnKvo-fPs0

This is another good one ("How to take someone's wallet just by asking"):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZohpDS2aMc&NR=1

Week Twelve: Cell Biology

1. Describe connections you are making between cell biology and your TCM studies.

Honestly, I must admit I am not making many connections between cell biology and my TCM studies...yet. I haven't started my official TCM classes, so this is one reason. Also, in a way, I want to try to separate the two ways of thinking so that my TCM training is not resting on a mis-matched foundation. At this point, naively or not, I would like to understand TCM on its own merits, and understand cell biology on its own merits. In Western medical journals, it has been shown that acupuncture improves the immune response of the body, can relieve pain, etc., and the correlating biochemical processes involved could be discussed. But to me this removes the art from TCM.

I talked this over with someone just now because my response seems weak to me, and frankly I feel kind of stupid about this question, or maybe just stubborn, or possibly lazy. He said to me, "Well, isn't it integrative medicine that you're learning, and it's not up to you whether or not you want to make a connection?" Hm. Yes. That's true.

Even so...I still feel resistant at the moment to making too much of a connection because there is no art to cell biology; it is not grounded in a broader context. This is the reason I am studying Chinese Medicine and not becoming an allopathic physician.

I am not satisfied with my answer, however, and will keep thinking on it.

2. Impressions on the link "How Cells Divide: Mitosis vs. Meiosis":

The move from asexual to sexual reproduction (and corresponding process of meiosis) brings up a "wow" feeling in me -- such a beautiful and perfect and simple solution with such grand implications of love and community and relationships. In addition to awe and wonder, a lot of mundane questions arise in me as well such as:

How did the process of meiosis come about? What was the transition phase like? Are there any animals or living creatures in existence that are currently involved in the process of this evolutionary transition? Perhaps the sharks and komodo dragons that can sometimes reproduce asexually? Or the bees, ants, and wasps, whose males of those species are reproduced with only half the chromosomes?

The other question I have is which 23 chromosomes are provided by the egg and which by the sperm? And how did they arrive at knowing which 23 the other was providing so as not to provide duplicates?

We are like one body split into two in a way. In order to reproduce ourselves we need another being. That is both mysterious and beautiful.

Week Eleven: Living Diversity

1. Examine your own immediate environment for diversity of species. Post your findings.

Houseplants: We have a few plants in the house.

One "goes to sleep" at night and she is my favorite plant friend. I like to watch the "tic...tic...tic" of the leaves slowly springing inward after the sun sets. I wish I knew the name of this plant.

There is also what is called a "Lucky Chinese Money Tree" that a friend of mine gave to me. She bought it for her boyfriend, then moved to Australia to complete her PhD on Dengue Fever. He was supposed to join her there, but instead he dumped her. When she came back for a visit she took the Lucky Chinese Money Tree away from him, and gave it to me. Lucky?

A tall, bedraggled, all too often ignored Corn plant lives in the living room.

An orchid sits in the kitchen. It has been alive for many years and one must be patient with it. Suddenly it will bloom, lasting for months, and then drop its petals and sit baldly for many months.

Yard Plants:
Oh, way too many to list, but I will list what I know:
Orange tree, lemon tree, rosemary bush, jalapeno, several varieties of tomato that haven't given up yet, calendula, yellow and red onions, brussel sprouts, squirrel-bitten kale, celery, basil, mint, pear, plum, persimmon, fig (the tree most often picked by neighbors), fennel, foxglove, lavender, belladonna, princess tree, bougainvillea, flowering kale, stocks, yarrow, echinacea, rhubarb, green beans, avocado, date palms, blue spruce, magnolia, wisteria, many varieties of succulents and cacti, blackberry, many varieties of roses, crab grass (erg!), clover, nasturtium, passion flower, stinkhorns (a very unusual mushroom...it looks like a penis and smells like semen--I swear!), morning glory, hana flowers, pyrocanthis, spider plant, geranium, orchid, kinickkinick, false madrone, fake orange tree, fireweed, ferns, bamboo,


Foods: pumpkin, onions, garlic, bananas, tomatoes, carrots, broccoli, rice, teas, coffees, herbs, beans... (if I go into the pantry and list all the different species I find I might never come out...)

People: male and female (different species??)

Dogs: two. Different breeds. Same species.


Other living creatures (mostly) outside of the house: rats, mice, squirrels, raccoons, ruby-throated humming birds, tiny irritating ants, fruit flies, brown apple moth, black widows, house fly, silverfish, tons and tons of rock doves (pigeons!), house finch, an occasional California scrub jay, crows, seagulls and Canadian Geese fly over head, once I saw a very impressive tomato hornworm, ladybugs, aphids, snails, the occasional stray cat, redworms, bees, wasps, and many other bugs and creepy crawlies that populate the outdoors.

2.Impressions of the links on cells

The first link presents theories about how the first cells may have formed. I find these theories kind of silly. It reminds me of an idea a little kid would come up with to explain something mysterious in the grown up world. No matter where the "building blocks of life" came from -- hydrothermal vents in the deep ocean, rain, meteorites from outer space -- there is no mechanical explanation that can satisfactorily explain the beginning of life. You can mix all the essential ingredients of life into a soup pot, but do you create life? No. You don't. And I think even after billions of years, you'd still just have chemicals sitting in a soup pot.

In a science-nerd sort of way I think it's sweet that we couldn't survive without our bacterial friends that live in our gut. We are so different, and yet they are part of us, and have been since the beginning. I have a tender feeling toward them -- they are helping to keep me alive, and I am helping them by providing real estate!

To the left, my little buddies.

Week Nine: The Chemistry of Life

1. What are your thoughts on the ethics of “gene therapy”?

I think as a society and a culture and a human family, we should focus on prevention and healthy balanced living (this includes living in harmony with the environment, so that we do not create so many toxic situations that cause disease) instead of these highly technical fixes that treat the human body like a machine. However, I also think that if I had a child that was suffering and the suffering could be alleviated using something like gene therapy, I would probably jump at the chance to have my child treated. This paradox is troubling to me. The world view of this sort of medicine and the need for it all seems so basically wrong, and yet there does seem to be a need for it. We seem to have a lot of weird new diseases and it is awful to watch someone suffer. The hope of a quick fix is quite attractive. I hate that I feel so wishy washy about it all.

I looked gene therapy up on wikipedia and looked at the ethics section of the entry. It talks of the "Weismann barrier" which basically means that gene therapy can be thought of as ethical so long as adjustments to an individuals DNA are not something can be passed along to future generations. "The Weismann barrier is the principle that hereditary information moves only from genes to body cells, and never in reverse. " This principle is commonly accepted and gives gene therapy research the ethical go-ahead--if we really screw this person up, at least it won't spread into the population. However, some believe that if reproductive DNA (like gene therapy to the testicles) is applied, it may actually be passed on to future generations. The "Weismann barrier" can be breached. This may indeed be a problem. Wikipedia also lists other issues with gene therapy and reasons it may not work so well, including the fact that it has caused deaths.

So, ethically it may be wrong to use experimental technology on human beings when we don't fully know the consequences. I am going to gamble and say that gene therapies are being developed through use and abuse of innocent non-human animals, which I always think is wrong. Wrong wrong.

2. Check out and review the one of these Definitions of the “Chemistry of Life”

I looked at the link that took me to Stanford's biochem department. A few things I noticed: Ethics does not play a big role in their course offerings. It is present, but not overwhelmingly so (I didn't see a single course devoted solely to this topic); out of about fifteen faculty members, just two are women--what's it like to be a woman biochemist and how does their approach differ from that of men? Biochemistry, like all advanced sciences, has its own language that injects brain scrambling roadblocks into the brain of the laywoman. So many unfamiliar vocabulary terms made it difficult to understand even the course offering descriptions. They study how molecules act at the cellular level. Backgrounds in organic chemistry and biology are required. Once you graduate from their program you can teach or do research. Highlighted on the website is the usefulness of biochemistry to understanding disease, particularly cancers.

3. Check out and review one of these Animations of General, Organic and Biochemistry

I wish that the animations had some explanatory text. That said, my limited knowledge found the animations mildly interesting.

Fat entry into a cell looks like a tennis ball being hit into a pond. So easily accepted! Olestra has many more "arms" than regular fat and looks mighty scary! I didn't like seeing the collapse and rupture of red blood cells. I hope this is not happening inside my body! Vitamin B12 looks very complicated -- like a bunch of jacks glued together in an artistically wild way. Vitamin C looks much simpler. Folic acid is fat and wormy.

I looked at codeine and morphine, viagra and heroine. I can't say I learned a lot from looking except to say that no chemical is inherently "bad" -- it's just a bunch of elements linked together. And it's odd that these different compounds can have such varying effects on the human body.

Week Eight: A Question of Balance

1. Semiconductor of the week:

Great web page explaining what a semiconductor is:
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/2072/semicond.htm

The semiconductor I chose is antimony because I wanted to learn about something I had never heard of before. And the word sounds kind of like a mix between Anthony and Alimony. It is silly to me that its symbol is Sb. What the heck? Well it is from the latin word “stibium” which could mean “mark,” “against one,” or “not found as a metal,” “not found unalloyed.” According to some sources the word means “monk killer” which makes the most sense to me as many early alchemists were monks and and antimony is poisonous. It acts on the body in the same way arsenic does -- small does add up, a large dose is lethal.

The element has been known for a very long time. That feels kind of nice. Something around with a history that humans have been playing with for a while. Because it has that shiny silvery luster, and we humans, like crows, like sparkly things, it had been used in make-up in the Middle East. The word “kohl” is used for a compound of antimony mixed with fat (which was used as the make-up). If you have any experience with eyeliner you will know that the word “kohl” is still used to describe certain kinds of eyeliner, though now that eyeliner -- often imported -- contains lead instead of antimony. Of course this is probably even more dangerous than if it were concocted with antimony.

Today antimony is used as a semiconductor in the computer industry. The most common use is to strengthen the hardness of lead in storage batteries. Other than other manufacturing uses and in safety matches and as a flame retardant in paint and enamel (the material burns so long as a flame is held to it, but then goes out as soon as the flame is removed), it had been used to treat Schistosomiasis (one of the most interesting names for a disease). Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease that comes from being in water that has a kind of snail that passes the parasite on to people (and other animals). It’s not necessarily deadly, but a chronic disease that can cause a lot of major problems, especially in children in developing countries. Add antimony on top of that and you’re probably a goner. It is reportedly no longer used to treat Schistosomiasis.

China contains the lion’s share of antimony -- estimated at over eighty percent (though there is a town in Utah called Antimony.) The element is found to be contained in over 100 minerals. It’s atomic number is 51.

2. Chembalancer Link

It was hard at first. The first one stumped me. Then when I figured that out I gathered some steam and they began to be really easy. The little explanations were kind of lost on me because I don't have enough exposure to the chemicals, can't really picture them in my mind, to really put the information into context. But the math was fun!

3. Balancing Equations Link

The website did not properly load for me...

Week Seven: Molecular Weight

1. Alkali Earth Metal of the Week: Meet the many faces of Strontium...




I picked strontium because I had never heard of it before and learned from Wikipedia that coral use this element to build their exoskeletons. Sealife is interesting to me and I like to imagine being an ocean dweller, so now I will relay what I learn to you about Strontium.

The periodic basics: It's in the second column on the P. Table right in the middle of all the other alkali earth metals. Like all of these elements, Strontium is also a soft metal that reacts with halogens to form ionic salts and with water to form alkaline hydroxides. The point here is that it is reactive (two electrons in the valence shell means it will try to lose those electrons to become a doubly charged positive ion). It's atomic number is 38 and its atomic weight is close to 88.

While Strontium is actually kind of a metalic white color, because it is so reactive it changes color when it hits the air and looks yellowish. It is softer than calcium. This fact is making me curious about the element's place in exoskeltons. But I suppose I will find out why in a minute if I can be patient. A fun little fact for those who like explosions: if strontium is finely powdered and exposed to air at room temperature, it will spontaneously combust. Yay, Strontium. What a dramatic trick. And, when it burns it makes the fire burn a crimson color. How lovely. Someone noticed this beautiful trick and now these volatile salts are used in the production of flares and in pyrotechnics (specifically, it causes the red color in fireworks).

Another interesting fact about this all-too-ignored element is that it is used in a compound with aluminium in the glass of your color TV's cathode ray tube to prevent X-ray emissions. What would happen without it? I don't know.

Medically, Strontium can be incorporated into bone because it acts like calcium. It has a bunch of other interesting uses, but they are a little difficult to understand exactly. For example, Strontium atoms are being used in an experimental atomic clock that has "record-setting accuracy."

It might also be found in your toothpaste. Or mine. I hope the tube doesn't blow up. Then again, that'd be kind of cool if it did. But messy.

The mineral strontianite was found in Strontian, in Scotland. Strontium is found in strontianite, as well as in celestine. Strontium is the fifteenth most abundant element on earth. Can you believe that? Have you ever heard of it? I really don't think I have! China has most of the world's strontium. Spain and Mexico have a lot, too.

Another interesting thing about Strontium is that it doesn't occur naturally, but needs to be coaxed into its elemental state through some chemical processes. It also has a lot of different isotopes that are used in many very diverse ways. It is a product of nuclear fallout and therefore can be very dangerous because it immitates calcium and the body does not release it. They say it is sparklier than a diamond -- at least that's what I think this means: "Strontium titanate is an interesting optical material as it has an extremely high refractive index and an optical dispersion greater than that of diamond." But diamonds are harder, and Strontium is soft, therefore if you wore it as a gemstone in a ring it would probably smush.

Okay, so I'm almost done here. But maybe I missed something in my life -- specifically, news of Strontium. Here is the opening paragraph from an article titled "Strontium: Breakthrough Against Osteoporosis:"

"Mention strontium to most people, and they will almost always immediately think of strontium-90, a highly dangerous, radioactive component of nuclear fallout produced during atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons in the 1950s. As a result of above-ground nuclear testing, radioactive strontium spread throughout the environment and contaminated dairy products and other foods, and subsequently accumulated in the bones of both children and adults."

So maybe everyone but me has heard of this crazy element. I still haven't found out the bit about the coral yet. The whole article about Strontium's medical uses is here: http://www.worldhealth.net/news/strontium_breakthrough_against_osteoporo and actually pretty interesting.


2. Avogadro's Hypothesis link:

http://www.carlton.srsd119.ca/chemical/molemass/avogadro.htm

That was a lovely, straightforward and clear little web page. I did well on their quiz (was it for fifth graders?) which made me happy. What I took away from this website was how frustrating it must have been for those chemists all those years working off of Dalton's incorrect assumption that atoms from an element could not form a molecule and that everything had to be combined in a 1:1 ratio, yet they were not seeing anything left over. How crazy-making would that be??!! Thank goodness they finally realized that Avogadro was right. How surprising that someone else did not continue to keep his hypothesis in obscurity and decide to take credit for themselves (like the Marconi / Tesla radio debate). Very honorable to name it after Avogadro. I'm also wondering: did he really look like that?

3. What is a mole? Review of the link: http://www.ceramic-materials.com/cermat/education/111.html

I was following the web page along very nicely until the middle. Then I got confused so I consulted another source. A mole is the same number of particles found in 12 grams of carbon-12. There are 6.02 x 10exp23 particles in 12 grams of carbon 12. So a mole is a unit of measurement that equals 6.02 x 10exp23. What I am confused about now is the question "How many molecules are in one gram of a gaseous element?" I thought the link was leading us to the answer to this question, but now I am confused.

Week Six: Electrochemistry and Alchemy

1. Halogen of the week...

Halogen means “salt-former” -- compounds containing halogens are called salts. All halogens have 7 electrons in their outer shells.

Iodine was discovered in 1811 by Bernard Courtois, a fellow who was born in Dijon, France. He apprenticed as a pharmacist and then joined his father’s business, saltpeter manufacturing. Courtois was isolating sodium and potassium compounds from seaweed ash during the production of saltpeter (which is a component of gun powder, and in high demand during the Napolenonic Wars). He had added too much sulfuric acid to the seaweed ash and saw a purple vapor -- iodine. The word comes from the Greek “ioeides,” which means violet. (Following this discovery, Courtois went on to isolate morphine from opium.)

Iodine’s atomic number is 53. It is the least reactive of the halogens. Iodine is found concentrated in seawater and some sea plants, as well as in the mineral caliche, which is found in Chile. It is used in medicine (and at home often existing in your first aid kit), in photography (as silver iodide), to purify water, in halogen lights, and in dyes. Iodine is rare in the solar system and on Earth.

Iodine is required in trace amounts is all animals and in some plants. Kelp and algae have the ability to concentrate the element, which is why it has become an essential element in the food chain. It is the heaviest element known to be required by animals.

Our body uses iodine as a component of thyroid hormones which help to regulate our basal metabolic rate. The thyroid absorbs iodine from blood, and then distributes it into other bodily tissues, including the mammary glands. Iodine’s role in the mammary glands is to help regulate fetal and neonatal development. It acts as an antioxidant in other tissues.

If you eat kelp, some seafood, or plants grown in iodine-rich soil, you are getting your necessary iodine (recommended allowance is 150 micrograms per day). Iodine has also been added to some salt in order to ensure people get enough. In many developing countries people do not get enough iodine which can result in mental retardation, hypothyroidism, goiter, depression, weight gain, and extreme fatigue.



Iodine is also used in the manufacture of meth, so if you buy it in large quantities you will be investigated by the DEA.

2. Alchemy -- science, magic, art -- or all three?

From a very surface understanding of alchemy, it seems to me that the difference between alchemy and modern chemistry is that alchemy had a philosophical belief system underlying it, one that acknowledged and honored the "magic" of how matter can be transformed. Perhaps some of the early alchemists were "wrong" -- you apparently can't turn lead into gold, and it certainly isn't a good idea to eat lead -- but that doesn't mean that some of the underlying principles should be disregarded and forgotten, and that the mysterious should not be honored. In fact that seems like the biggest difference between alchemy and modern science. Modern science no longer honors the mysterious. It has rendered the whole world robotic and banal. Whereas alchemy wandered into questions of the soul and other metaphysical concerns such as unification with God. Their work was not separate from a spiritual path. Today, this would be seen as crazy or as a pollutant to true scientific pursuits. Which I think is too bad. I think one's work really should encompass life as a whole -- the spiritual, mental, physical, artistic, creative and mysterious elements of life.

Carl Jung used alchemical symbols to validate his theories about universality in psychological motifs. From the vantage point of human psychological and spiritual development, and an investigation of the mystery of who we really are and where we come from, the study of alchemical history and its symbols and philosophies are fascinating and possibly quite useful. I think that modern chemistry could also be looked at through the lens of metaphor and human development -- we have become quite detached from the natural world, are polluting ourselves and each other, and show a profound disrespect for life. But hope is on the horizon with the advent of scientific developments, such as the principles behind green chemistry, that are putting the recognition of the wholeness of the universe back into the mixing pot.

Here is a beautiful passage by M.L. von Franz from the book edited by Carl Jung "Man and His Symbols." The passage relates to the usefulness of alchemy as an epistemology for understanding the self:

"The alchemical stone (the lapis) symbolizes something that can be never be lost or dissolved, something eternal that some alchemists compared to the mystical experience of God within one's own soul. It usually takes prolonged suffering to burn away all the superfluous psychic elements concealing the stone. But some profound inner experience of the Self does occur to most people at least once in a lifetime. From the psychological standpoint, a genuinely religious attitude consists of an effort to discover this unique experience, and gradually to keep in tune with it (it is relevant that a stone is itself something permanent), so that the Self becomes an inner partner toward whom one's attention is continually turned."