Tuesday, August 25, 2015
The CASE for TEACHING IGNORANCE
IN the mid-1980s, a University of Arizona surgery professor, Marlys H. Witte, proposed teaching a class entitled “Introduction to Medical and Other Ignorance.” Her idea was not well received; at one foundation, an official told her he would rather resign than support a class on ignorance.
Dr. Witte was urged to alter the name of the course, but she wouldn’t budge. Far too often, she believed, teachers fail to emphasize how much about a given topic is unknown. Eventually, the American Medical Association funded the class, which students would fondly remember as “Ignorance 101.”
In case some who have read our posts here haven’t noted that we very much are dedicated to pointing out the vast areas of ignorance which surround the few islands of knowledge, this article from the Times is totally on point.
Being aware of what you don’t know, we add, is much harder than being aware of what you do know. In neuroscience we dwell on an island, surrounded by a vast ocean who extent we don’t even glimmer. Perhaps many of us are afraid to set out on that ocean of uncertainty and radical questions for fear like those before Columbus, that they might fall off the edge of the earth.
http://www.nytimes.com/…/the-case-for-teaching-ignorance.ht…
In 2006, a Columbia University neuroscientist, Stuart J. Firestein, began teaching a course on scientific ignorance after realizing, to his horror, that many of his students might have believed that we understand nearly everything about the brain. (He suspected that a 1,414-page textbook may have been culpable.)
As he argued in his 2012 book “Ignorance: How It Drives Science,” many scientific facts simply aren’t solid and immutable, but are instead destined to be vigorously challenged and revised by successive generations. Discovery is not the neat and linear process many students imagine, but usually involves, in Dr. Firestein’s phrasing, “feeling around in dark rooms, bumping into unidentifiable things, looking for barely perceptible phantoms.”
Presenting ignorance as less extensive than it is, knowledge as more solid and more stable, and discovery as neater also leads students to misunderstand the interplay between answers and questions.
Michael Smithson, a social scientist at Australian National University who co-taught an online course on ignorance this summer, uses this analogy: The larger the island of knowledge grows, the longer the shoreline — where knowledge meets ignorance — extends. The more we know, the more we can ask. Questions don’t give way to answers so much as the two proliferate together. Answers breed questions.
However, we must note that answers don’t always breed questions….sometimes the reward in the answers is so great that we cling to models which helped us and failed to ask the broader deeper questions…..surely answers can lead to the recognition of the need to ask more questions…but they don’t always. In neuroscience many of those doing the most brilliant and diligent research are rattling around inside a cage created by the answers of the past…and not realizing that new questions must be asked.
Those of us who engage in scientists are merely mortal creatures and not “minds” observing any sort of “objective reality”. We only proceed by means of models and metaphors that guide our thought ( those of us who are not angels…really on such devices for our minds to work. Once we find a model to work somewhat (as for example the nineteenth century model of the atom, patterned after our solar system) we cling to it. The problem is we learn to live within the bounds of that model…and so rarely come to realize all the questions that remain …not only unanswered….but unasked.
It is not easy to realize what those questions might be however, until we free ourselves from the model/metaphor which has given us our answers. Newtonian physics gave us a wealth of answers…and yet all the questions…the hypotheses…..the proofs …or relativity physics did not even arise. Since the questions asked by Einstein were not possible within the confines of the established paradigm And why would one not be more interested in digging around in the turf of the island of knowledge? It took an Einstein to follow the path of Columbus….and realize what was unknown…and thus ask those questions.
The borderland between known and unknown is also where we strive against our preconceptions to acknowledge and investigate anomalous data, a struggle Thomas S. Kuhn described in his 1962 classic, “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.”
This, for us , is one of the truly seminal books of our times and every scientist should be forced to read that as part of his or her education. Kuhn said, memorably, that ‘new paradigms often only succeed old established paradigms, when those who were educated in the old paradigms reach their demise…either through retirement or death.
So for us the issue of realizing our ignorance and asking new questions is intrinsically involved with our realization of the ephemeral, destined to be surpassed nature of our way of speaking about things in neuroscience….and to grasp just how we might break out of the model/metaphor in which we are unwittingly entrapped. We have posted a wonderful shot tale from the dervish Nasrudin on this point already…but it bears repeating:
A man was walking home late one night when he saw the Mulla Nasrudin searching under a street light on hands and knees for something on the ground. "Mulla, what have you lost?" he asked.
"The key to my house," Nasrudin said.
"I'll help you look," the man said.
Soon, both men were down on their knees, looking for the key.
After a number of minutes, the man asked, "Where exactly did you drop it?"
Nasrudin waved his arm back toward the darkness. "Over there, in my house."
The first man jumped up. "Then why are you looking for it here?"
"Because there is more light here than inside my house
The study of ignorance — or agnotology, a term popularized by Robert N. Proctor, a historian of science at Stanford — is in its infancy. This emerging field of inquiry is fragmented because of its relative novelty and cross-disciplinary nature
சங்கப் பெண்பாற் புலவர்களைப் பற்றி
ஒரு பெண் காதல் வயப்பட்டிருக்கிறாள் என்பதை அதற்குத் தொடர்புடைய ஆணிடம் சொல்லிவிடுவதற்கும் வெளிப்படுத்துவதற்குமான வழிமுறைகள் நிகழ்காலத்தில் எளிமைப்பட்டிருப்பதாக நினைத்துக்கொண்டிருக்கிறோம் . ஆனால் இன்றும் கூட ஒரு பெண் தன்னுடைய காதலை சக மனிதர்களிடம் சொல்ல இயலாத நிலை தான் இருக்கிறது . காதலை மட்டுமல்ல தன்னுடைய கோபம் , இயலாமை , துயரம் ,கனவு மற்றும் அவளின் முறையீடுகள் இவற்றை தன்னுடைய சக மனிதர்களிடம் அவள் பகிர்ந்து கொள்வதை விடவும் இயற்கையிடமே அவள் அதிகம் பகிர்ந்திருக்கிறாள் .
நிலத்தின் தன்மையும் அதன்மேல் வாழுகிற மக்களின் மனமும் கூட இன்றைக்கு மாறியிருக்கிறது . எனவே இயற்கையும் கூட அவளைக் கைவிட்டுவிட்டதாக நினைக்கிறாள் . இவ்வாறு நிலமும் அதன் பண்புகளும் திரிபடைந்திருக்கும் நிகழ்காலத்தில் தன்னுடைய துயரையும் மகிழ்வையும் பெண் யாரிடம் சொல்வாள் ? இன்றைய பெண்களின் கண்ணீரும் அவளின் துயரமும் அவளுடைய சொல்லும் இயற்கையிடமும் சேராமல் உரியவரிடமும் சேர்ப்பிக்க இயலாமல் நான்கு சுவர்களுக்குள் மோதி அதற்குள்ளேயே எதிரொலித்து அடங்குகிறது .
Sakthi Jothi
Monday, August 24, 2015
New technology could reduce wind energy costs.
(Read complete to learn about one of the major problem of wind turbines you may not be aware of.)
Engineers from the University of Sheffield have developed a novel technique to predict when bearings inside wind turbines will fail which could make wind energy cheaper. The method, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society A and developed by Mechanical Engineering research student Wenqu Chen, uses ultrasonic waves to measure the load transmitted through a ball bearing in a wind turbine. The stress on wind turbine is recorded and then engineers can forecast its remaining service life.
When a bearing is subject to a load, its thickness is reduced by a very small amount due to elastic deformation, and the speed of sound is affected by the stress level in the material. Both these effects change the time of flight of an ultrasound wave through a bearing.
The new method is the only way to directly measure the transmitted load through the rolling bearing components. It uses a custom-built piezoelectric sensor mounted in the bearing to measure the time of flight and determine the load. This sensor is less expensive and significantly smaller than currently available, making it suitable for smaller turbines. It can also provide a better prediction of the maintenance needed, saving money in servicing. Professor Rob Dwyer-Joyce, co-author of the paper and Director of the Leonardo Centre for Tribology at the University of Sheffield says: "This technique can be used to prevent unexpected bearing failures, which are a common problem in wind turbines. By removing the risk of a loss of production and the need for unplanned maintenance, it can help to reduce the cost of wind energy and make it much more economically competitive."
The new technology has been validated in the lab and is currently being tested at the Barnesmore wind farm in Donegal, Ireland by the company, Ricardo. It is hoped it will be used in the future inside monitoring systems for other turbines.
Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) ::
Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) is a term given to various heart conditions including a Heart Attack (Myocardial Infarction) and Unstable Angina. These conditions are due to there being a reduced amount of blood flowing to a part of the heart. Various treatments are given and these usually depend on the type of ACS. Treatments help to ease the pain, improve the blood flow and to prevent any future complications.
Myocardial Infarction :
If you have a myocardial infarction, a coronary artery or one of its smaller branches is suddenly blocked. The part of the heart muscle supplied by this artery loses its blood (and oxygen) supply. This part of the heart muscle is at risk of dying unless the blockage is quickly undone. (The word infarction means death of some tissue due to a blocked artery which stops blood from getting past.) In addition to being known as a heart attack, a myocardial infarction is sometimes called a coronary thrombosis.
If you have a myocardial infarction, a coronary artery or one of its smaller branches is suddenly blocked. The part of the heart muscle supplied by this artery loses its blood (and oxygen) supply. This part of the heart muscle is at risk of dying unless the blockage is quickly undone. (The word infarction means death of some tissue due to a blocked artery which stops blood from getting past.) In addition to being known as a heart attack, a myocardial infarction is sometimes called a coronary thrombosis.
Unstable angina :
Unstable angina occurs when the blood clot causes a reduced blood flow, but not a total blockage. This means that the heart muscle supplied by the affected artery does not die (infarct).
Unstable angina occurs when the blood clot causes a reduced blood flow, but not a total blockage. This means that the heart muscle supplied by the affected artery does not die (infarct).
Causes
Acute coronary syndrome is most often a complication of plaque buildup in the arteries in your heart (coronary atherosclerosis) These plaques, made up of fatty deposits, cause the arteries to narrow and make it more difficult for blood to flow through them.
Acute coronary syndrome is most often a complication of plaque buildup in the arteries in your heart (coronary atherosclerosis) These plaques, made up of fatty deposits, cause the arteries to narrow and make it more difficult for blood to flow through them.
Eventually, this buildup means that your heart can't pump enough oxygen-rich blood to the rest of your body, causing chest pain (angina) or a heart attack. Most cases of acute coronary syndrome occur when the surface of the plaque buildup in your heart arteries ruptures and causes a blood clot to form. The combination of the plaque buildup and the blood clot dramatically limits the amount of blood flowing to your heart muscle. If the blood flow is severely limited, a heart attack will occur.
Various other uncommon conditions can also block a coronary artery. For example :
- Inflammation of the coronary arteries (rare).
- A stab wound to the heart.
- A blood clot forming elsewhere in the body (for example, in a heart chamber) and travelling to a coronary artery where it gets stuck.
- Taking cocaine, which can cause a coronary artery to go into spasm.
- Complications from heart surgery.
Various other uncommon conditions can also block a coronary artery. For example :
- Inflammation of the coronary arteries (rare).
- A stab wound to the heart.
- A blood clot forming elsewhere in the body (for example, in a heart chamber) and travelling to a coronary artery where it gets stuck.
- Taking cocaine, which can cause a coronary artery to go into spasm.
- Complications from heart surgery.
Sign & Symptoms
1. The most common symptom of a ACS is having severe Chest Pain. The pain often feels like a heavy pressure on your chest. The pain may also travel up into your jaw and down your left arm, or down both arms.
2. Nausea / Vomiting
3. Shortness of Breath (dyspnea)
4. Sudden, heavy sweating (diaphoresis)
5. Feel sick and feel faint
6. Abdominal Pain
7. Pain similar to heartburn
8. Clammy skin
9. Lightheadedness
10. Dizziness or fainting
1. The most common symptom of a ACS is having severe Chest Pain. The pain often feels like a heavy pressure on your chest. The pain may also travel up into your jaw and down your left arm, or down both arms.
2. Nausea / Vomiting
3. Shortness of Breath (dyspnea)
4. Sudden, heavy sweating (diaphoresis)
5. Feel sick and feel faint
6. Abdominal Pain
7. Pain similar to heartburn
8. Clammy skin
9. Lightheadedness
10. Dizziness or fainting
See More >>>>>
http://healthmedicalinfohmi.blogspot.com/…/acute-coronary-s…
http://healthmedicalinfohmi.blogspot.com/…/acute-coronary-s…
Copper clusters capture and convert carbon dioxide to make fuel
Capture and convert—this is the motto of carbon dioxide reduction, a process that stops the greenhouse gas before it escapes from chimneys and power plants into the atmosphere and instead turns it into a useful product.
One possible end product is methanol, a liquid fuel and the focus of a recent study conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory. The chemical reactions that make methanol from carbon dioxide rely on a catalyst to speed up the conversion, and Argonne scientists identified a new material that could fill this role. With its unique structure, this catalyst can capture and convert carbon dioxide in a way that ultimately saves energy.
They call it a copper tetramer.
It consists of small clusters of four copper atoms each, supported on a thin film of aluminum oxide. These catalysts work by binding to carbon dioxide molecules, orienting them in a way that is ideal for chemical reactions. The structure of the copper tetramer is such that most of its binding sites are open, which means it can attach more strongly to carbon dioxide and can better accelerate the conversion.
The current industrial process to reduce carbon dioxide to methanol uses a catalyst of copper, zinc oxide andaluminum oxide. A number of its binding sites are occupied merely in holding the compound together, which limits how many atoms can catch and hold carbon dioxide.
"With our catalyst, there is no inside," said Stefan Vajda, senior chemist at Argonne and the Institute for Molecular Engineering and co-author on the paper. "All four copper atoms are participating because with only a few of them in the cluster, they are all exposed and able to bind."
To compensate for a catalyst with fewer binding sites, the current method of reduction creates high-pressure conditions to facilitate stronger bonds with carbon dioxide molecules. But compressing gas into a high-pressure mixture takes a lot of energy.
The benefit of enhanced binding is that the new catalyst requires lower pressure and less energy to produce the same amount of methanol.
Carbon dioxide emissions are an ongoing environmental problem, and according to the authors, it's important that research identifies optimal ways to deal with the waste.
"We're interested in finding new catalytic reactions that will be more efficient than the current catalysts, especially in terms of saving energy," said Larry Curtiss, an Argonne Distinguished Fellow who co-authored this paper.
Copper tetramers could allow us to capture and convert carbon dioxide on a larger scale—reducing an environmental threat and creating a useful product like methanol that can be transported and burned for fuel.
Of course the catalyst still has a long journey ahead from the lab to industry.
Potential obstacles include instability and figuring out how to manufacture mass quantities. There's a chance that copper tetramers may decompose when put to use in an industrial setting, so ensuring long-term durability is a critical step for future research, Curtiss said. And while the scientists needed only nanograms of the material for this study, that number would have to be multiplied dramatically for industrial purposes.
Meanwhile, the researchers are interested in searching for other catalysts that might even outperform their copper tetramer.
These catalysts can be varied in size, composition and support material, which results in a list of more than 2,000 potential combinations, Vajda said.
The importance of right philosophy
It once happened, on a certain day, a bull and a pheasant were grazing on the field. The bull was grazing on the grass, the pheasant was picking ticks off the bull; they are partners, you know?
Then the pheasant looked at a huge tree which was at the edge of the field, and very nostalgically said, "Alas, there was a time when I could fly to the top most branch of the tree, but today I do not have the strength even to fly to the first branch of the tree"
The bull very nonchalantly said, "That's no problem! Eat a little bit of my dung every day, you will see, within a fortnight's time you will reach the top of the tree."
The pheasant said, "Oh, come off it! How is that possible?"
The bull replied, "Really, please try and see. The whole humanity is on it, you could try, too."
The bull replied, "Really, please try and see. The whole humanity is on it, you could try, too."
Very hesitantly, the pheasant started pecking at the dung, and lo, on the very first day it reached the first branch of the tree. In a fortnight's time, it reached the topmost branch of the tree. It just went and sat on the topmost branch and just enjoyed the scenery. The old farmer saw a fat old pheasant on the top of the tree. He took out his shotgun and shot him off the tree. So the moral of the story is: even bullshit can get you to the top, but never lets you stay there.
So if you are seeking a life of fulfilment, joy, peace and well being within yourself, don't try to fool yourself in some way. You must do the right thing, otherwise it won't work.
Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev
Friday, August 21, 2015
Movies For Business Lessons
Break out the popcorn, get comfy on the couch and watch these movies to get inspired and enlightened:
1. Deli Man
Image credit: Deli Man | Cohen Media Group
This fun documentary chronicles the rise of delis in the U.S. during the 1930s. The filmmakers interview many deli owners, including star Ziggy Gruber, a third-generation deli man and owner of Kenny & Ziggy’s, a tremendously successful authentic New York-style deli in Houston.
Gruber is charismatic and inspiring, and the movie shows how much he cares about his business and customers. He is energetic, obsessed with high quality, and loves what he does and the deli industry as a whole. He is very focused on delivering top-notch quality in every dish and every customer-service interaction.
He is also hands-on and brings warmth and love to his customers, and importantly, his employees, by engaging with them and showing he cares. Overall, the movie illustrates the importance of passion and heart in business and shows that those who find their passion will find success.
2. Woman in Gold
Image credit: Women in Gold | BBC Films (UK) | The Weinstein Company (US)
Woman in Gold tells the story of an elderly Jewish woman who 50 years later tries to reclaim artwork taken from her family by the Nazis. She begins a long and difficult legal battle with the Austrian government to get her family’s paintings back.
The movie depicts the struggle between knowing when to give up and knowing when to persevere. This balance is one the hardest elements entrepreneurs need to master.
Don’t be afraid to fail -- if a business isn’t a winner, discard it and move on. On the other hand, giving up too early can ruin real chances for success, which often only come after tremendous trials and tribulations. Certain fights can last for decades, just as the main character’s fight for justice did.
3. The Wolf of Wall Street
Image credit: The Wolf on Wall Street | Paramount Home Entertainment
The Wolf of Wall Street details the decadence and depravity of real-life stockbroker, Jordan Belfort. From crazy office parties to reckless drug use, the film depicts the flashy and shady side of business.
Greed, hedonism and fraud may be tempting for some, but for all will eventually lead to failure. There are no shortcuts to succeeding in business and life. Take the time to grow a credible business built on solid values and ethics.
4. Boyhood
Image credit: Boyhood | Paramount Home Entertainment
Boyhood not only attracted tremendous attention and acclaim after its release, but also way before, because it was a true purple cow that stood out in the industry. The movie chronicles the childhood of a young boy, and is the first to use the same actor as he aged over a 12-year period.
“If you've seen one cow, you've seen them all. But what if one of the cows were purple?” writes Seth Godin in his book, Purple Cow. “Make a purple cow. Get people's permission to find out what they really want.”
Purple cows have the power to capture attention and start conversations. Be remarkable, be different and get the attention of industry peers and consumers alike.
5. The Queen
Image credit: The Queen | Miramax
The Queen depicts how the British royal family reacted and publicly responded to the death of Princess Diana. Although she was urged to make an official statement and expression of grief, Queen Elizabeth II was stubborn in considering the death a private family matter.
Her strategy was a public-relations disaster, and the media and British people were outraged at the Queen’s seemingly cold composure. As more and more people displayed their grief at Buckingham and Kensington Palaces, the Queen finally took the advice of the prime minister, made a public statement about the death, and visited the palaces to acknowledge flowers and gifts the public has left.
The movie shows that no matter how powerful a person is, they still need to listen to others and take advice during times of crisis. Brand image can make or break a business, and during a crisis, that image is tested. Listen to what the public is saying, consider advice from trusted peers and let go of stubbornness and outdated traditions.
Thanks http://www.entrepreneur.com/
How blood vessels help in the peripheral nerve regeneration
The peripheral nervous system has remarkable regenerative capacities in that it can repair a fully cut nerve. This requires Schwann cells to migrate collectively to guide regrowing axons across a ‘bridge’ of new tissue, which forms to reconnect a severed nerve.
Researchers show that blood vessels direct the migrating cords of Schwann cells. This multicellular process is initiated by hypoxia, selectively sensed by macrophages within the bridge, which via VEGF-A secretion induce a polarized vasculature that relieves the hypoxia.
Schwann cells then use the blood vessels as “tracks” to cross the bridge taking regrowing axons with them. Importantly, disrupting the organization of the newly formed blood vessels in vivo, either by inhibiting the angiogenic signal or by re-orienting them, compromises Schwann cell directionality resulting in defective nerve repair.
This study provides important insights into how the choreography of multiple cell-types is required for the regeneration of an adult tissue.
http://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(15)00898-3
A Surprise Source of Life’s Code
Emerging data suggests the seemingly impossible — that mysterious new genes arise from “junk” DNA.
Genes, like people, have families — lineages that stretch back through time, all the way to a founding member. That ancestor multiplied and spread, morphing a bit with each new iteration.
For most of the last 40 years, scientists thought that this was the primary way new genes were born — they simply arose from copies of existing genes. The old version went on doing its job, and the new copy became free to evolve novel functions.
Certain genes, however, seem to defy that origin story. They have no known relatives, and they bear no resemblance to any other gene. They’re the molecular equivalent of a mysterious beast discovered in the depths of a remote rainforest, a biological enigma seemingly unrelated to anything else on earth.
The mystery of where these orphan genes came from has puzzled scientists for decades. But in the past few years, a once-heretical explanation has quickly gained momentum — that many of these orphans arose out of so-called junk DNA, or non-coding DNA, the mysterious stretches of DNA between genes. “Genetic function somehow springs into existence,” said David Begun, a biologist at the University of California, Davis.
This metamorphosis was once considered to be impossible, but a growing number of examples in organisms ranging from yeast and flies to mice and humans has convinced most of the field that these de novo genes exist. Some scientists say they may even be common. Just last month, research presented at the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution in Vienna identified 600 potentially new human genes. “The existence of de novo genes was supposed to be a rare thing,” said Mar Albà, an evolutionary biologist at the Hospital del Mar Research Institute in Barcelona, who presented the research. “But people have started seeing it more and more.”
Researchers are beginning to understand that de novo genes seem to make up a significant part of the genome, yet scientists have little idea of how many there are or what they do. What’s more, mutations in these genes can trigger catastrophic failures. “It seems like these novel genes are often the most important ones,” said Erich Bornberg-Bauer, a bioinformatician at the University of Münster in Germany.
The Orphan Chase
The standard gene duplication model explains many of the thousands of known gene families, but it has limitations. It implies that most gene innovation would have occurred very early in life’s history. According to this model, the earliest biological molecules 3.5 billion years ago would have created a set of genetic building blocks. Each new iteration of life would then be limited to tweaking those building blocks.
Yet if life’s toolkit is so limited, how could evolution generate the vast menagerie we see on Earth today? “If new parts only come from old parts, we would not be able to explain fundamental changes in development,” Bornberg-Bauer said.
Yet if life’s toolkit is so limited, how could evolution generate the vast menagerie we see on Earth today? “If new parts only come from old parts, we would not be able to explain fundamental changes in development,” Bornberg-Bauer said.
The first evidence that a strict duplication model might not suffice came in the 1990s, when DNA sequencing technologies took hold. Researchers analyzing the yeast genome found that a third of the organism’s genes had no similarity to known genes in other organisms. At the time, many scientists assumed that these orphans belonged to families that just hadn’t been discovered yet. But that assumption hasn’t proven true. Over the last decade, scientists sequenced DNA from thousands of diverse organisms, yet many orphan genes still defy classification. Their origins remain a mystery.
In 2006, Begun found some of the first evidence that genes could indeed pop into existence from noncoding DNA. He compared gene sequences from the standard laboratory fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, with other closely related fruit fly species. The different flies share the vast majority of their genomes. But Begun and collaborators found several genes that were present in only one or two species and not others, suggesting that these genes weren’t the progeny of existing ancestors. Begun proposed instead that random sequences of junk DNA in the fruit fly genome could mutate into functioning genes.
Yet creating a gene from a random DNA sequence appears as likely as dumping a jar of Scrabble tiles onto the floor and expecting the letters to spell out a coherent sentence. The junk DNA must accumulate mutations that allow it to be read by the cell or converted into RNA, as well as regulatory components that signify when and where the gene should be active. And like a sentence, the gene must have a beginning and an end — short codes that signal its start and end.
In addition, the RNA or protein produced by the gene must be useful. Newly born genes could prove toxic, producing harmful proteins like those that clump together in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. “Proteins have a strong tendency to misfold and cause havoc,” said Joanna Masel, a biologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson. “It’s hard to see how to get a new protein out of random sequence when you expect random sequences to cause so much trouble.” Masel is studying ways that evolution might work around this problem.
Another challenge for Begun’s hypothesis was that it’s very difficult to distinguish a true de novo gene from one that has changed drastically from its ancestors. (The difficulty of identifying true de novo genes remains a source of contention in the field.)
Ten years ago, Diethard Tautz, a biologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, was one of many researchers who were skeptical of Begun’s idea. Tautz had found alternative explanations for orphan genes. Some mystery genes had evolved very quickly, rendering their ancestry unrecognizable. Other genes were created by reshuffling fragments of existing genes.
Then his team came across the Pldi gene, which they named after the German soccer player Lukas Podolski. The sequence is present in mice, rats and humans. In the latter two species, it remains silent, which means it’s not converted into RNA or protein. The DNA is active or transcribed into RNA only in mice, where it appears to be important — mice without it have slower sperm and smaller testicles.
The researchers were able to trace the series of mutations that converted the silent piece of noncoding DNA into an active gene. That work showed that the new gene is truly de novo and ruled out the alternative — that it belonged to an existing gene family and simply evolved beyond recognition. “That’s when I thought, OK, it must be possible,” Tautz said.
A Wave of New Genes
Scientists have now catalogued a number of clear examples of de novo genes: A gene in yeast that determines whether it will reproduce sexually or asexually, a gene in flies and other two-winged insects that became essential for flight, and some genes found only in humans whose function remains tantalizingly unclear.
At the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution conference last month, Albà and collaborators identified hundreds of putative de novo genes in humans and chimps — ten-fold more than previous studies — using powerful new techniques for analyzing RNA. Of the 600 human-specific genes that Albà’s team found, 80 percent are entirely new, having never been identified before.
At the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution conference last month, Albà and collaborators identified hundreds of putative de novo genes in humans and chimps — ten-fold more than previous studies — using powerful new techniques for analyzing RNA. Of the 600 human-specific genes that Albà’s team found, 80 percent are entirely new, having never been identified before.
Unfortunately, deciphering the function of de novo genes is far more difficult than identifying them. But at least some of them aren’t doing the genetic equivalent of twiddling their thumbs. Evidence suggests that a portion of de novo genes quickly become essential. About 20 percent of new genes in fruit flies appear to be required for survival. And many others show signs of natural selection, evidence that they are doing something useful for the organism.
In humans, at least one de novo gene is active in the brain, leading some scientists to speculate such genes may have helped drive the brain’s evolution. Others are linked to cancer when mutated, suggesting they have an important function in the cell. “The fact that being misregulated can have such devastating consequences implies that the normal function is important or powerful,” said Aoife McLysaght, a geneticist at Trinity College in Dublin who identified the first human de novo genes.
Promiscuous Proteins
Promiscuous Proteins
De novo genes are also part of a larger shift, a change in our conception of what proteins look like and how they work. De novo genes are often short, and they produce small proteins. Rather than folding into a precise structure — the conventional notion of how a protein behaves — de novo proteins have a more disordered architecture. That makes them a bit floppy, allowing the protein to bind to a broader array of molecules. In biochemistry parlance, these young proteins are promiscuous.
Scientists don’t yet know a lot about how these shorter proteins behave, largely because standard screening technologies tend to ignore them. Most methods for detecting genes and their corresponding proteins pick out long sequences with some similarity to existing genes. “It’s easy to miss these,” Begun said.
That’s starting to change. As scientists recognize the importance of shorter proteins, they are implementing new gene discovery technologies. As a result, the number of de novo genes might explode. “We don’t know what things shorter genes do,” Masel said. “We have a lot to learn about their role in biology.”
Scientists also want to understand how de novo genes get incorporated into the complex network of reactions that drive the cell, a particularly puzzling problem. It’s as if a bicycle spontaneously grew a new part and rapidly incorporated it into its machinery, even though the bike was working fine without it. “The question is fascinating but completely unknown,” Begun said.
A human-specific gene called ESRG illustrates this mystery particularly well. Some of the sequence is found in monkeys and other primates. But it is only active in humans, where it is essential for maintaining the earliest embryonic stem cells. And yet monkeys and chimps are perfectly good at making embryonic stem cells without it. “It’s a human-specific gene performing a function that must predate the gene, because other organisms have these stem cells as well,” McLysaght said.
“How does novel gene become functional? How does it get incorporated into actual cellular processes?” McLysaght said. “To me, that’s the most important question at the moment.”
“How does novel gene become functional? How does it get incorporated into actual cellular processes?” McLysaght said. “To me, that’s the most important question at the moment.”
https://www.quantamagazine.org/20150818-a-surprise-source-…/
The Rise of an Intuitive Humanity
Social and cultural change is occurring fast right now across this planet, and it looks as if it will accelerate further. Many people are experiencing a wide range of personal impacts, disruptions, and rearrangements in their lives. At the same time, we are also seeing how our social infrastructures, modes of communication, and connectivity are adjusting and shifting to these changes. Within the last 150 years alone we have witnessed an amazingly rapid process of transition in human civilization, perhaps even without being consciously aware of it. In terms of the bigger picture, this is an incredibly swift rate of change.
The ebb and flow of human history has cradled the gradual unfolding of the individual and the growing responsibility that this implies. This emerging ‘blooming of the individual’ has occurred alongside the story of the slow decline in aristocracy, elite rule, and the demise of tyranny. This human story has accelerated in recent centuries, with the fall of feudalism; the birth of democracy; and the growth of an increasingly connected global humanity. Alongside this we have also seen the increasing acceptance and sharing of planetary values. We could say that human society is in the early contractions of the birth of a planetary civilization.
Conscious development is a psycho-spiritual process, aided by socio-cultural impulses and influences that have woven throughout our history. Most recently, the strong impulses in the 1960s and the end of the 1980s have helped to catalyze the conscious awareness of many people the world over. Many seeds were planted that would actualize over time. The psychic states experimented with in the 1960s showed that there were alternative dimensions of consciousness and gave a taste of these to a hungry young audience. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the end of several archaic political institutions, gave a taste of the power for change when many thought it almost impossible.
Impulses of renewal and regeneration have long been part of the ongoing processes of human, cultural, and psycho-spiritual development. True revolutions are not those of physical violence but of radical shifts in perceptions, knowledge, and ultimately the individual self. The increasing presence of human consciousness has been evident over the years through the expansion of intelligence, psychological awareness, humanitarianism, empathy, and creative innovation. The emergence of the intuitive human has been seen out on the playing fields of the world – in stadiums, fields, and in streets the world over. The collaborative nature of sport, with its team work, its shared rules and game-play, is one example that has arisen to help shift the human spirit.
What I am suggesting is that as this trend unfolds we are likely to see new generations of individuals coming into the world who will be the change, rather than being born into change. And these new arrivals will challenge even further our social systems and ‘big institutions’ from the very fact that they will be acting more from instinct and intuition. The age of Guru-hood, spiritual elitism, and the throng of commercial ‘Teaching’ methods is going to be replaced by a greater gnosis within humanity. External belief systems that we often depend upon will be challenged, and gradually replaced, by the recognition of a living intelligence – an intelligence that has always existed within the human race. When the truth is known instinctively, it no longer requires cultural preservation: domes, spires, institutions, or Teachings. The living intelligence is more fluid and exists everywhere, for everyone, all of the time. We only need the means to access it. This means of access is a process that will increasingly manifest as developmental impulses between human-planet-cosmos continue to unfold.
Over the coming years of this century humanity will increasingly gain greater access to heightened inner awareness (gnosis) as the connection to a pervasive living intelligence strengthens. The old roles of central hierarchy are diminishing; human societies around the globe are forming decentralized networks of connection and communication, much the same as our ancestral bacterial networks. Our social milieu is increasingly mirroring how biology has long since organized itself. This new arrangement facilitates a different form of energy to be active upon the planet. An energy that supports a different way of doing things and of making things happen. The days of a singular Messiah speaking to the multitudes are over. We are now moving into a time upon this planet where it will be the multitudes that will amplify and spread the new understanding.
Our young children are being born into a world where on a daily basis – 24/7 – human thought patterns and consciousness flows through millions upon millions of computers, networks, and connected devices, forming a nonlocal realm of information and living intelligence. Yet this is not only occurring in the digital spaces, but also through the cultural sphere of artifacts such as movies, books, articles, songs, videos, etc, forming a field of connectivity that transcends our old temporal and spatial boundaries. Our external information technologies are now increasingly mirroring, or being superimposed upon, the living field of intelligence that underlies our reality. Such a physical matrix/construct is the external reflection of our inherent, non-visible connectivity. These impacts (or overlays) are also likely to catalyze a release of some form of transformative energy. There is no external model of communication and connectivity that does not have its corresponding reality in consciousness.
The children and young adults of today are beginning to break the old patterns and become the early wave of pioneers and system-change agents. They are showing a remarkable intuitive grasp of our modern technologies. They are reaching out and connecting, forming networks, supporting ecological practices and alternative health practices, forming community projects, seeking out healthy food, prioritizing well-being over career roles, re-invigorating a sense of the sacred, and pushing out the boundaries for new thinking. It is not occurring everywhere, or with everyone. There is still much confusion and emotional angst in our younger generations. However, a more intuitive human is coming through.
The Emperor Finally Has No Clothes
New thinking patterns and expressions of consciousness are now emerging in communities and societies throughout the world that are no longer tolerant of the old paradigm structures of separatism, egoism, and conflict. Rather than being a full-frontal revolt against incumbent systems, a more subtle wave of reformist change is arising that contributes to constructive social transition. Part of this reformist change will be the increase in transparency in our social systems. It is already happening now – we are seeing increased instances of corruption (political, financial, personal, etc) coming to the surface and being exposed. As the sun rises, they say, the shadows will at first become sharper and more visible. As the patterns of a different consciousness begin to be expressed through people, the inadequacies of many of our systems will increasingly be exposed. Those institutions, practices, and societies built upon fear and disingenuous values will falter as a new awareness within people demands a change in values and integrity. Old patterns of thinking – especially the disruptive patterns – will become increasingly obsolete over time as an intuitive intelligence is expressed through human consciousness. Soon, even our youngest babes will be pointing at the old idols and declaring, open-mouthed: ‘But look, they are not wearing any clothes!’ At that point, edifices and traditions will be forced to either disintegrate or re-calibrate themselves according to the new patterns.
The protective veneer of social appearance and status that once held sanctuary for certain people will no longer operate. Celebrities, politicians, wealthy elites, religious figures, once-respected public figures, and the rest – the façade will drop for many such people and the wave of transparency will make visible their misdemeanors. So much dirty laundry will be washed in public as a generation of intuitively-driven young minds and hearts will wish to heal a planet in order to bring in reform. The early tremors of youth insecurity (witnessed in violent outbursts and psychological instability) will come to be replaced by greater expressions of human intuition and inner confidence and balance. Many of us are already becoming students to our children and to the young adults in the world. We are seeing how our once unquestioning faith in external sources of information, opinions, and authority are now questioned by these young minds. Young people the world over are stepping away from dogmatic belief structures that they find limiting to the self and that take away the responsibility for an individual’s own self-empowerment.
A new form of common sense will emerge – one that is neither ‘common’ nor makes ‘sense’ to us now – and it will originate from a different state of awareness. Human behavior that made sense for when we imagined we lived as islands of individuality will no longer ‘make sense’ – nor be functional – for a species that consciously experiences the interconnectivity of all life. The more the human species transforms internally, the greater the change we will see occurring in our physical world, in our societies, technologies, culture, etc. The next generation can not be the same as the present, or the previous. In this moment of human history, to give birth to a duplicate generation – with the same ideals and values – would result not in a perpetuation of human societies but in their demise. That is why we need transformational change at the psycho-spiritual level both within and between generations. For those of us in the world now it has taken consistent exertion and energy to challenge our conditioning structures. In the past also we have struggled greatly against socio-cultural systems that were opposed, or unsupportive, to individual inner development. Now, however, change will come easier and at a more rapid pace.
The changes that we are likely to see in the coming years will be more profound than the changes that took place during our previous industrial revolutions. The period of our western industrialization transpired over several centuries. Now we are going to witness great changes set to occur within the span of just one single human lifetime. We will observe that communication, transparency, and honesty are much more powerful tools than secrecy, fear, and confrontation. The emperor’s false suit of body armor will disintegrate in the face of transparent, honest eyes. The sham elements within our political, financial, corporate, and media structures will scramble to maintain their façade. Yet their desperate actions will be viewed for what they truly are in the eyes of a more aware, informed, and awakened generation of young minds and hearts.
With or without us, the new young minds will create their own freedom to inspire and renew their world into being. They will have access not only to a vast intuitive inner world, but they will simultaneously be connected to a planetary network of information, contacts, and friends. Fearful incumbent structures of authority will attempt to control such networks of connection and communication, yet they will ultimately fail against the inevitable tide of great human awakening.
The younger generation(s) will likely be the ones to free humanity from the dominance of erroneous ideas – ideas that forged war, created poverty and hunger, and sustained dis-ease. We are seeing a generation that will be successful in removing these illusions from old thinking patterns. The new intuitive human has been in the making for some time now. Our world is far more peaceful today than it has been at any time in recent past epochs – despite what the mainstream media may be saying. This signals to us that the way energy patterns flow over the Earth is changing, encouraging people to seek peaceful solutions wherever possible. The living intelligence that is a part of the intuitive human is also a spiritual, empathic, and nurturing intelligence, which has been lacking in much of modern civilization.
Those of the new generation(s) will usher in a period where the feminine and masculine energies of the world will be re-configured and placed into greater balance and harmony. Human values of love, compassion, understanding, patience, tolerance, and empathy will be more openly expressed and part of an informed world – and not erroneously seen as being only predominantly ‘female’ values. The division that separates the masculine and feminine energies will continue to dissolve, and be replaced by a newer energy of unity – of coming together. Similarly, the artificial stigma around ‘male’ and ‘female’ roles in the world will be challenged and forced into change through the younger men and women actively re-modelling role expectations. Women’s participation will be more keenly appreciated, sought after, and brought into collaboration in such major areas as global politics, economy, and business. An intuitive energy will be more present in the world in the upcoming decades, and will find expression as younger women increasingly hold key influential positions in society. We are more open to recognize now that notions of duality – of one side having dominance over the other, whether male or female – is an old energy. The newer energies will be focused more on balance, and on bringing everything together into an integral whole that respects diversity within unity.
Humanity is now poised upon the cusp of a transition for which developmental potentials have long been preparing for. It seems that the rate of our preparedness grows exponentially with each passing year. A new form of energy has now entered upon this planet, and which facilitates an altogether different mode of operation. It is an energy that supports a networked and decentralized way of connectivity. It is now working through our human societies to engage with change from within. Its aim may be to help form a membrane of conscious human-planet intelligence across the Earth.
These energies are also spreading more rapidly from human to human through our integrated digital and biological fields of energetic connectivity. Soon there will not be an area isolated from such influence, as each village and town will have amongst its midst a new intuitive human – more so when the younger generations enter upon the Earth and begin to take up their roles and responsibilities.
There is something immensely exciting happening here on this planet. Something is rising within us, amongst us, through us, and penetrating the very fabric of our reality. It is a transformation without words, passing through each and every individual. It appears that some latent human capacities are now set to become activated, in alignment with evolutionary requirements.
See my earlier book ‘The Struggle for Your Mind: Conscious Evolution & The Battle to Control How We Think’
Kingsley L. Dennis
Glass paint could keep metal roofs and other structures cool even on sunny days
(This is the interesting phenonmenon what scientists have found):
Sunlight can be brutal. It wears down even the strongest structures, including rooftops and naval ships, and it heats up metal slides and bleachers until they're too hot to use. To fend off damage and heat from the sun's harsh rays, scientists have developed a new, environmentally friendly paint out of glass that bounces sunlight off metal surfaces—keeping them cool and durable.
The researchers present their work today at the 250th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
"Most paints you use on your car or house are based on polymers, which degrade in the ultraviolet light rays of the sun," says Jason J. Benkoski, Ph.D. "So over time you'll have chalking and yellowing. Polymers also tend to give offvolatile organic compounds, which can harm the environment. That's why I wanted to move away from traditional polymer coatings to inorganic glass ones."
Glass, which is made out of silica, would be an ideal coating. It's hard, durable and has the right optical properties. But it's very brittle.
To address that aspect in a new coating, Benkoski, who is at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, started with silica, one of the most abundant materials in the earth's crust. He modified one version of it, potassium silicate, that normally dissolves in water. His tweaks transformed the compound so that when it's sprayed onto a surface and dries, it becomes water resistant.
Unlike acrylic, polyurethane or epoxy paints, Benkoski's paint is almost completely inorganic, which should make it last far longer than its counterparts that contain organic compounds. His paint is also designed to expand and contract with metal surfaces to prevent cracking.
Mixing pigments with the silicate gives the coating an additional property: the ability to reflect all sunlight and passively radiate heat. Since it doesn't absorb sunlight, any surface coated with the paint will remain at air temperature, or even slightly cooler. That's key to protecting structures from the sun.
China's Monster Three Gorges Dam Is About To Slow The Rotation Of The Earth
The Myth: The filling of the reservoir behind Three Gorges Dam in China changed the rotation of the Earth.
The Evidence: Three Gorges Dam, China crosses the Yangtze River in Hubei province, China. It the world’s largest hydroelectric power station by total capacity, which will be 22,500 MW when completed. When the water level is maximum at 175 meters (574 ft) over sea level (91 meters (299 ft) above river level), the reservoir created by the dam is about 660 kilometers (410 mi) in length and 1.12 kilometers (0.70 mi) in width on average. The total surface area of the reservoir is 1045 square kilometers, and it will will flood a total area of 632 square kilometers, of land. The reservoir will contain about 39.3 cu km (9.43 cubic miles) of water. That water will weigh more than 39 trillion kilograms (42 billion tons).
A shift in a mass of that size would affect the rotation of the Earth due to a phenomena known as the moment of inertia, which is the inertia of a rigid rotating body with respect to its rotation. The moment of inertia of an object about a given axis describes how difficult it is to change its angular motion about that axis. The longer the distance of a mass to its axis of rotation, the slower it will spin.
You may not know it, but you see examples of this in everyday life. For example, a figure skater attempting to spin faster will draw her arms tight to her bodies, and thereby reduce her moment of inertia. Similarly, a diver attempting to somersault faster will bring his body into a tucked position. Raising 39 trillion kilograms of water 175 meters above sea level will increase the Earth’s moment of inertia and thus slow its rotation. However, the effect would extremely small. NASA scientists calculated that shift of such as mass would increase the length of day by only 0.06 microseconds and make the Earth only very slightly more round in the middle and flat on the top. It would shift the pole position by about two centimeters (0.8 inch). Note that a shift in any object’s mass on the Earth relative to its axis of rotation will change its moment of inertia, although most shifts are too small to be measured (but they can be calculated).
The Verdict: True.
Story Source: Business Insider.
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