Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Week Five: The Complexity of Life
Broccoli is loaded with goodness: it's very low in saturated fat and cholesterol. It is also a good source of protein, vitamin E (alpha tocopherol), thiamin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus and selenium, and a very good source of dietary fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K, vitamin B6, folate, potassium and manganese. It's one of the strongest anti-cancer super food and its anti-cancer properties are maximized when the vegetable is steamed for about 3 - 4 minutes.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Week Four: The Pattern of Life
1. We do live in a society where people rely heavily on drugs for anything and everything. But the myriad of drugs has not made us more healthy. Western medicine likes to put a label on everything. If a disease cannot be named, it would be difficult for western science to find a cure for it. There are so many "auto-immune diseases" out there where the causes are unknown and so the treatment is at best to control the illness or manage the pain. TCM however examines and treats patterns. Even if one cannot put a label to the illness, it can still be treated.
It's quite interesting to read the article about the drug that can cure compulsive gambling. But like all drugs, this one is not without its side effects - serious damage to the liver. I wonder which one is worse to live with - compulsive gambling disorder or serious liver problem. It's also quite interesting to see the kind of drugs biotech companies are willing to invest and sponsor. There are so many life-threatening diseases out there that are desperately waiting for a cure, or at least a better drug without the terrible side effects. May be compulsive gambling should be left to psychologists and counselors, so as to better utilize existing resources.
It's quite interesting to read the article about the drug that can cure compulsive gambling. But like all drugs, this one is not without its side effects - serious damage to the liver. I wonder which one is worse to live with - compulsive gambling disorder or serious liver problem. It's also quite interesting to see the kind of drugs biotech companies are willing to invest and sponsor. There are so many life-threatening diseases out there that are desperately waiting for a cure, or at least a better drug without the terrible side effects. May be compulsive gambling should be left to psychologists and counselors, so as to better utilize existing resources.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Week 3: Genetic Evolution
1a. Chimps are a member of the hominidae family, same as humans and according to some, they split from human evolution about 6 million year ago. There are also two species of champs that are the closest living relatives to humans. So I guess it makes sense that "99.4% of the most critical DNA sites are identical in human and chimp genes". After all, we all come from the same family, right?
1b. I enjoyed the tutorial. There were a couple of questions that I had to go back and re-try, but overall, it was enjoyable and educational.
2. I found "Early Models of Evolution" quite interesting. Lamarck's theory of "use or disuse of various organs made them larger or smaller...and these traits could be inherited or passed on to offspring". But opposing evidences are clear in the mutation of mouse tail experiment and the practice of circumcision - mice still born with tail and practice of circumcision has no impact on future offspring. It's like our appendix, it has no function, but people are still born with it. Since this theory of Lamarck's is quite similar to the concept of "survival of the fittest", so with these opposing evidences, may be it's not quite "survival of the fittest" after all. What are the deciding factors that determine what physical attributes or traits are passed on to the future generation and what are discarded? What made some chimps evolve into humans and some remained as chimps? It's like looking into the origins of plants. Apparently, a tiny algae - algal mats was supposed to be the mother of all plants. Difficult to imagine one small algae giving birth to the wide array of plants we see today. But the theory is the same, this algal mats still thrives today but many have evolved into new organisms. Same question: what made some evolve and others not?
1b. I enjoyed the tutorial. There were a couple of questions that I had to go back and re-try, but overall, it was enjoyable and educational.
2. I found "Early Models of Evolution" quite interesting. Lamarck's theory of "use or disuse of various organs made them larger or smaller...and these traits could be inherited or passed on to offspring". But opposing evidences are clear in the mutation of mouse tail experiment and the practice of circumcision - mice still born with tail and practice of circumcision has no impact on future offspring. It's like our appendix, it has no function, but people are still born with it. Since this theory of Lamarck's is quite similar to the concept of "survival of the fittest", so with these opposing evidences, may be it's not quite "survival of the fittest" after all. What are the deciding factors that determine what physical attributes or traits are passed on to the future generation and what are discarded? What made some chimps evolve into humans and some remained as chimps? It's like looking into the origins of plants. Apparently, a tiny algae - algal mats was supposed to be the mother of all plants. Difficult to imagine one small algae giving birth to the wide array of plants we see today. But the theory is the same, this algal mats still thrives today but many have evolved into new organisms. Same question: what made some evolve and others not?
Friday, May 13, 2011
Week 2
1. Thoughts on Evo Devo
I love archeological findings, including findings of human skulls and bones which might help us to understand our ancestory. As I read those articles, a few questions came to my mind: firstly, what distinguishes one specie of humans from another? In the first few articles we read, they talk about how Homo erectus and Homo habilis lived about 2.5 - 1.6 million years ago, later we read that in 2003, a hominid skeleton that lived just 18,000 years ago was discovered, obviously a different species of humans. So I googled "hominid" and discovered that there are as many as 21 different species of hominid and that the earliest man roamed earth as early as 6 - 7 million years ago. It seems like the bone structures, brain size, number of teeth present, etc are what distinguished one specie from another. But is it possible that may be more than one species existed at a time and they cross-bred? And that our so-called mutations or a new specie was actually the result of cross-breeding?
On this subject of evolution and with dooms day on the back of my mind, it seems like those so-called primitive men who roamed the surface of the earth a few million years ago with a small brain-size managed to leave nature pretty much intact and that millions of years later, we, the supposedly intelligent specie are able to enjoy what they left behind. Yet, with a few decades, the intelligent specie, with a larger brain-size somehow managed to whack nature out of balance with possibly irreversible consequences. And the primitive people already knew about being respectful to the old and how to take care of them millions of years ago. Smaller brain size may be, but definitely a bigger heart than modern men.
Thoughts on Darwinism
I haven't made up my mind about whether we came from evolution or creation, but Darwinism made me think of cockroaches. They existed as early as 350 million years ago and there are as many as 4,500 species of cockroaches. Researches have shown that cockroaches easily co-operate and oragnize themselves to perform very complex tasks such as resource allocation. May be it's this working together and living in peace with each other that they've managed to survive all this time.
In the past, species went into extinction due to events that were beyond their control. Today, the human race is in dire danger because of our own actions. We have to recover our unity with nature in order to survive and even evolve into higher beings. We can no longer see nature as an endless reservoir of resources that we can exploit. As a Taoist would say, we have to be one with nature in order to obtain optimal health. If nature is diseased, so would we.
3. Comment on "Why Darwinism Matters"
A very interesting article and very disturbing to read that rape has been rationalized by scientists as an evolutionary adaptation, a strategy for maximising reproductive success. By inference then, we can go around and rationalize just about any irrational, immoral behavior because according to these scientists, "any behavior that survives today must have conferred some evolutionary advantage, otherwise it would not have been preserved by natural selection." Does this mean that we can do just about anything so long as it is to sustain the human race, then it's justified? What kind of a world would it become then?
In a society where we value scientific evidence and undervalue spirituality, our values have become distorted. In a society of punishments and rewards, we are taught to blame others when things go wrong in order to protect ourselves. Even in this instance, we are trying to rationalize something as immoral as rape and see it as man's adaptive reaction to evolution?!
We pride ourselves in advances in technology, in the wealth of knowledge we possess, yet I wonder if all this knowledge is making us a better race? Or just a tool for us to rationalize every unreasonable behavior as something outside our control and that we are simply victims of our circumstances. Why bother take responsibility for our actions, blame others and the environment, it's so much easier and according to these scientists, "the logic is inescapable."
I love archeological findings, including findings of human skulls and bones which might help us to understand our ancestory. As I read those articles, a few questions came to my mind: firstly, what distinguishes one specie of humans from another? In the first few articles we read, they talk about how Homo erectus and Homo habilis lived about 2.5 - 1.6 million years ago, later we read that in 2003, a hominid skeleton that lived just 18,000 years ago was discovered, obviously a different species of humans. So I googled "hominid" and discovered that there are as many as 21 different species of hominid and that the earliest man roamed earth as early as 6 - 7 million years ago. It seems like the bone structures, brain size, number of teeth present, etc are what distinguished one specie from another. But is it possible that may be more than one species existed at a time and they cross-bred? And that our so-called mutations or a new specie was actually the result of cross-breeding?
On this subject of evolution and with dooms day on the back of my mind, it seems like those so-called primitive men who roamed the surface of the earth a few million years ago with a small brain-size managed to leave nature pretty much intact and that millions of years later, we, the supposedly intelligent specie are able to enjoy what they left behind. Yet, with a few decades, the intelligent specie, with a larger brain-size somehow managed to whack nature out of balance with possibly irreversible consequences. And the primitive people already knew about being respectful to the old and how to take care of them millions of years ago. Smaller brain size may be, but definitely a bigger heart than modern men.
Thoughts on Darwinism
I haven't made up my mind about whether we came from evolution or creation, but Darwinism made me think of cockroaches. They existed as early as 350 million years ago and there are as many as 4,500 species of cockroaches. Researches have shown that cockroaches easily co-operate and oragnize themselves to perform very complex tasks such as resource allocation. May be it's this working together and living in peace with each other that they've managed to survive all this time.
In the past, species went into extinction due to events that were beyond their control. Today, the human race is in dire danger because of our own actions. We have to recover our unity with nature in order to survive and even evolve into higher beings. We can no longer see nature as an endless reservoir of resources that we can exploit. As a Taoist would say, we have to be one with nature in order to obtain optimal health. If nature is diseased, so would we.
3. Comment on "Why Darwinism Matters"
A very interesting article and very disturbing to read that rape has been rationalized by scientists as an evolutionary adaptation, a strategy for maximising reproductive success. By inference then, we can go around and rationalize just about any irrational, immoral behavior because according to these scientists, "any behavior that survives today must have conferred some evolutionary advantage, otherwise it would not have been preserved by natural selection." Does this mean that we can do just about anything so long as it is to sustain the human race, then it's justified? What kind of a world would it become then?
In a society where we value scientific evidence and undervalue spirituality, our values have become distorted. In a society of punishments and rewards, we are taught to blame others when things go wrong in order to protect ourselves. Even in this instance, we are trying to rationalize something as immoral as rape and see it as man's adaptive reaction to evolution?!
We pride ourselves in advances in technology, in the wealth of knowledge we possess, yet I wonder if all this knowledge is making us a better race? Or just a tool for us to rationalize every unreasonable behavior as something outside our control and that we are simply victims of our circumstances. Why bother take responsibility for our actions, blame others and the environment, it's so much easier and according to these scientists, "the logic is inescapable."
Week 1
1. Short bio of myself
I am in my final trimester of my first year. Very glad to have gone this far. Biology is one of my last general science courses. I am hoping to be done with all my general sciences by the end of this trimester.
2. Although it's common knowledge by now, but being reminded again about the possible rising of sea levels in the future makes one cringe with fear. It's articles like this that makes one sit up and think about what it is that one can do to reverse this or lessen the effects to its minimum. Many times, people wonder how can changing one person's dietary habit, daily activities possibly help saving the environment, but this article helps to home in the idea that every little bit of action counts.
The article about the hoax kidney donor show was also quite interesting. I think there are various ways to get a message across and I don't really agree with the way they've chosen to convey the message. Also, the focus should be on treating kidney disease rather than looking for kidney donors. I know it's unrelated, but it reminds me how a few months ago, there were talks about insurance companies trying to limit women's access to mammogram, and there was a huge outcry about it. Yet, it has been proven that mammogram actually increases the risk of breast cancer ( http://thenewsouthwest.com/2011/mammography-screenings-increase-risk-of-breast-cancer/ ). I also went to a talk last year held by a well-known TCM practitioner who said that "mammograms should be recommended only for your enemies, not your patients."
3. Comments on links on Evolution:
I found David's work, "how to survive a mass extinction" quite interesting. Things like global warming, rising of sea levels, volcanic activities, etc could all trigger a mass extinction. David also agrees that if things continue the way they are, we are certainly heading for a mass extinction. However, lessons can be learned from fossils to avoid it. Surprisingly, species that tend to survive these mass extinctions are the ones no one bothers protecting: rats, weeds, cockroaches. May be because no one bothers to protect them and provide them with a nice, comfy habitat, they've learned to survive wherever they are and under any kind of harsh environment. They are everywhere, they thrive and in difficult times, they survive. May be there are valuable lessons we can learn from these creatures.
I am in my final trimester of my first year. Very glad to have gone this far. Biology is one of my last general science courses. I am hoping to be done with all my general sciences by the end of this trimester.
2. Although it's common knowledge by now, but being reminded again about the possible rising of sea levels in the future makes one cringe with fear. It's articles like this that makes one sit up and think about what it is that one can do to reverse this or lessen the effects to its minimum. Many times, people wonder how can changing one person's dietary habit, daily activities possibly help saving the environment, but this article helps to home in the idea that every little bit of action counts.
The article about the hoax kidney donor show was also quite interesting. I think there are various ways to get a message across and I don't really agree with the way they've chosen to convey the message. Also, the focus should be on treating kidney disease rather than looking for kidney donors. I know it's unrelated, but it reminds me how a few months ago, there were talks about insurance companies trying to limit women's access to mammogram, and there was a huge outcry about it. Yet, it has been proven that mammogram actually increases the risk of breast cancer ( http://thenewsouthwest.com/2011/mammography-screenings-increase-risk-of-breast-cancer/ ). I also went to a talk last year held by a well-known TCM practitioner who said that "mammograms should be recommended only for your enemies, not your patients."
3. Comments on links on Evolution:
I found David's work, "how to survive a mass extinction" quite interesting. Things like global warming, rising of sea levels, volcanic activities, etc could all trigger a mass extinction. David also agrees that if things continue the way they are, we are certainly heading for a mass extinction. However, lessons can be learned from fossils to avoid it. Surprisingly, species that tend to survive these mass extinctions are the ones no one bothers protecting: rats, weeds, cockroaches. May be because no one bothers to protect them and provide them with a nice, comfy habitat, they've learned to survive wherever they are and under any kind of harsh environment. They are everywhere, they thrive and in difficult times, they survive. May be there are valuable lessons we can learn from these creatures.
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