stevo247

I think I need to re-examine my understanding of “temperature” and “heat”. On earth you can take a thermometer to the north pole and get an objective reading, and that reading would correspond to your subjective impression. You could then go to the equator and the objective reading on the thermometer would also correspond to your subjective impression. But it seems difficult to determine the objective temperature of space relative to our sensory impressions. What I am trying to determine, is the temperature change from the sun to the earth. For example, the sun is really hot (I think). Does it radiate heat for x amount of miles into space? Then, is there a great distance in space where it is relatively cold? Then, when the suns light interacts with the earths atmosphere, does the temperature increase? And then, descending through the earths atmosphere, does the temperature start to decrease?

If you could freeze a moment in time, and draw a straight line from the earth to the sun; would it be possible to determine the temperature change from the earth, through the atmosphere, into space, and then as close to the sun as possible, using the typical spacecraft that can fly to mars, etc. if an object is needed to determine temperature? Where would the big temperature changes take place?

What is the "temperature of the medium" beyond the reaches of the earths atmosphere (about 11,000 to 12,000 miles away from earth)?

What is the temperature of space just beyond the earths atmosphere?

I had a guy with a backhoe help me clear out some brush on my property and he put a nasty scrape on the side of a large beautiful tree. Is there a way to treat something like that to promote healing?

Here is another interesting perspective: Cellular life is sustained by tightly regulating the functions of the cell’s physiologic systems. The expression of predictable behavioral repertoires implies the existence of a cellular "nervous system." This system reacts to environmental stimuli by eliciting appropriate behavioral responses. The organelle that coordinates the adjustments and reactions of a cell to its internal and external environments would represent the cytoplasmic equivalent of the "brain." The notion that the nucleus and its genes are the "brain" of the cell is an untenable and illogical hypothesis. If the brain is removed from an animal, disruption of physiologic integration would immediately lead to the organism's death. If the nucleus truly represented the brain of the cell, then removal of the nucleus would result in the cessation of cell functions and immediate cell death. However, experimentally enucleated cells may survive for two or more months with out genes, and yet are capable of effecting complex responses to environmental and cytoplasmic stimuli (Lipton, et al., Differentiation 1991, 46:117-133). Logic reveals that the nucleus can not be the brain of the cell! Studies on cloned human cells led me to the awareness that the cell’s plasmalemma, commonly referred to as the cell membrane, represents the cell’s "brain." Cell membranes, the first biological organelle to appear in evolution, are the only organelle common to every living organism. Cell membranes compartmentalize the cytoplasm, separating it from the vagaries of the external environment. In its barrier capacity, the membrane enables the cell to maintain tight "control" over the cytoplasmic environment, a necessity in carrying out biological reactions. The cell membrane is an organic information processor. It senses the environment and converts that awareness into "information" that can influence the activity of protein pathways and control the expression of the genes. A description of the membrane’s structure and function reads as follows: (A) based upon the organization of its phospholipid molecules, the membrane is a liquid crystal; B) the regulated transport of information across the hydrophobic barrier by IMP effector proteins renders the membrane a semiconductor; and © the membrane is endowed with IMPs that function as gates (receptors) and channels. As a liquid crystal semiconductor with gates and channels, the membrane is an information processing transistor, an organic computer chip. The cell is a carbon-based "computer chip" that reads the environment. Its "keyboard" is comprised of receptors. Environmental information is entered via its protein "keys". The data is transduced into biological behavior by effector proteins. The IMP BITs serve as switches that regulate cell functions and gene expression. The nucleus represents a "hard disk" with DNA-coded software. Recent advances in molecular biology emphasize the read/write nature of this hard drive. http://www.brucelipton.com/article/insight-into-cellular-consciousness

I think that Sir Francis Bacon (a philosopher) is considered the father of scientific method. He emphasized the value of "experience" rather than the acceptance of religious dogma. Experience evolved into experiment. Observation, hypothesis, experiment. Inductive reasoning.

Perfectly clear skies here. I've seen this a couple of times. During a lunar eclipse, the moon appears more three dimensional to me. My wife mentioned to someone that she was talking to on the phone that we were observing the lunar eclipse. They replied, "Don't you have to use special eye protection?"

From what I can gather so far (I still have a lot of homework to do), the "charge" begins at the dentrite, travels through (across?) the cell body of the neuron, and then travels through the axon to the synapse. What happens to the cell body during this process? Does it expand and contract? Also, is there a movement of cytoplasmic fluid through the axon during the transmission of the charge?

I find this idea very interesting: Guenter Albrecht-Buehler We have always accepted that the central control organ of an organism directly or indirectly tells the molecules of the rest of the body what to do in order to generate the myriad of its biological actions. Only in the case of cells most biologists believe differently. They think that the interaction of the macromolecules inside a cell generates the myriad of cell functions, and that studying them will explain the cell functions. I believe the opposite. Just like in the case of metazoa, the molecules of a cell are being told by a central information processing organelle what to do in order to generate cell functions. As you can see from my website, for the past 30 years I have tried to analyze the 'chain of command' in the case of cell motility. According to this work, the 'brain' of the cell (=centrosome?) collects visual information with its embedded 'eyes' (=centrioles), sends commands along 'nerves' (=microtubules) to the 'muscles' (autonomous cortical units, called microplasts) that initiate the molecular interactions that ultimately lead to extensions, ruffling, blebbing, retractions, etc. http://www.basic.northwestern.edu/g-buehler/htmltxt.htm As a major microtubule-organizing center, the centrosome, together with the embedded centrioles and connecting filaments (or microtubules), has lately been proposed to be the "brain" of a cell. Although there are a lot ofworks to be done to test this hypothesis, emerging data have suggested that this centrosome-centered "cell brain" is playing increasingly important roles in cell control. Genes seem not to tell the whole story, despite the commonly held view that genetic alteration is the cause of most medical problems including cancer development. Although the mechanisms through which gene expression and protein synthesis are regulated remain to be studied, current advances in our understanding of the roles of the centrosome in the regulation of DNA synthesis, DNA repair, cell cycle, apoptosis and in the maintenance of genetic stability are challenging our tradition thoughts. Genetic alterations may be repaired by the centrosome-centered "cell brain"-mediated self-defense, but the cell brain defects intend to cause genetic alterations, which, in turn, may result in cancer development. Further understanding of the roles of the centrosome/cell brain in these and other new aspects are becoming very helpful in comprehending why and how medical problems including tumors develop. Meanwhile, it suggests that great attention should be given to the centrosome/cell brain, instead of gene alone when treating medical problems, which is discussed in this paper on the basis of cell brain theory and may prove helpful in shedding light on the often paradoxical observations seen in cell control, particularly in cancer development. http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=17041280 http://www.lanjin.cn/theory.php?language=1

Didn't Darwin bring history into science?

Yes, it was related to the question, but the paragraph is open for discussion. Sorry for the lack of clarity with the question. Basically, I was curious about the statement that "a signal traveling along a neuron is accompanied by a slight local thickening of the membrane and a force acting outwards". I was wondering if it could be due to a flow of fluid into the membrane causing a mechanical tension, and whether that mechanical tension could also be responsible for the slight increase in temperature. I picture an expanding and contracting bulge. The expansion coinciding with the charge, and the contraction coinciding with the discharge.

Not surprisingly, pure water is a bad electrical conductor, but salt water is very good. “The conductivity of a solution of water is highly dependent on its concentration of dissolved salts and sometimes other chemical species which tend to ionize in the solution.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_conductivity From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_potential “The model of electrical signal propagation in neurons employing voltage-gated ion channels described above is accepted by almost all scientists working in the field. However there are a few observations not easily reconciled with the model: • A signal traveling along a neuron is accompanied by a slight local thickening of the membrane and a force acting outwards.[4] • An action potential traveling along a neuron results in a slight increase in temperature followed by a decrease in temperature;[5] electrical charges traveling through a resistor however always produce heat.” Is there a fluid congestion that accompanies the sodium ion transfer and the spike in action potential? Also, does the electrical charge travel across the cell membrane or within the membrane?

If the movement of substances and the activity of the body is considered an expenditure of energy, how is electrical energy added to the system? Is it derived somehow through the ingestion of air, food and water?

Could someone explain to me the nature of bioelectricity? Based on my experience (a goof while repairing a lamp), electricity does not seem “body friendly”. Since organic material is not usually considered a good conductor of electricity, how does bioelectricity conduct itself within the body?

The definition of “brain” that I’ve been using is “the organ that perceives sensory impulses and regulates motor impulses” and “the part of the central nervous system involved in regulating and controlling body functions while interpreting information from the senses transmitted through the nervous system.” Based on that definition, I find it difficult to equate the nucleus and the function of the genes and chromatin, with the function of a “brain”. I would think that something analogous (or homologous) to a cellular nervous system would be a more functional representation. I can appreciate the belief that the nucleus (genes and chromatin) of the cell is analogous to the brain of the cell. I am sure that most would probably agree with you. It just does’t make sense to me yet. I just can’t see how the nucleus co-ordinates the integration of sensory impression and motor activity.

Here is a decent link for info about the nervous system: http://www.britannica.com/oscar/print?articleId=110703&fullArticle=true&tocId=75826 "The responsiveness of a single cell can be illustrated by the behaviour of the relatively simple amoeba. Unlike some other protozoans, an amoeba lacks highly developed structures that function in the reception of stimuli and in the production or conduction of a response. The amoeba behaves as though it had a nervous system, however, because the general responsiveness of its cytoplasm serves the functions of a nervous system. An excitation produced by a stimulus is conducted to other parts of the cell and evokes a response by the animal. An amoeba will move to a region of a certain level of light. It will be attracted by chemicals given off by foods and exhibit a feeding response. It will also withdraw from a region with noxious chemicals and exhibit an avoidance reaction upon contacting other objects." "If later organisms evolved from single-celled ancestors, then there must have been some system for the transmission of information from one evolutionary stage to the next. These conditions have been defined as: (1) a stable means for encoding, transmitting, and decoding characteristics from one generation to the next, (2) the possibility of alterations in the code taking place by mutation or sexual recombination, and (3) a means of selecting only those characteristics for transmission that are favourable for survival. As mentioned in the section Stimulus-response coordination, protozoans (single-celled organisms) move toward places that are favourable for survival, such as areas with optimal conditions of light and temperature. As the metazoans (multicelled organisms) developed, entire groups of cells probably tended to move toward favourable conditions, and when the number of cells became very large, a system of internal communication—in effect, a nervous system—developed. Two general types developed: the diffuse nervous system and the centralized nervous system"

I can appreciate the desire for the clarification of terms. That’s sort of what I am trying to do with the term “brain”. Clearly, the functioning of a bug brain, or a bird brain does not reach the range of capabilities of the human brain. But in regards to each type of organism, the brain serves a common function. The definitions that seems most appropriate so far is “the organ that perceives sensory impulses and regulates motor impulses” and “the part of the central nervous system involved in regulating and controlling body functions while interpreting information from the senses transmitted through the nervous system. Since I am interested (as a layman) in the origin and development and of “the brain”, I started wondering what type of organism has the most primitive style brain. Recently, like yesterday, I read about the planarian. It’s a freshwater flatworm that’s used as a model of the central nervous system in higher organisms. This organism shows primitive “cephalization” and is considered to be one of the simplest brains. It also has eyes that respond to light! So is “cephalization” the criteria for possessing a brain? It seems to make sense that cephalization is the origin of the form of the organ ” brain”, or head brain. But what about the blind uncephalized worm that has a nervous system, and is perceiving sensory impulses and regulating motor impulses? What is organizing that function? I don’t know. From there, it’s not too much of a stretch (then again, maybe it is) to go back to a primitive eukaryote unicellular organism like a paramecia. From what I can understand so far, paramecia have organelles that perform similar functions as multicellular organisms, i.e. digestive system, immune system, reproductive system, etc. Albeit, they are primitive representations. Since they can sense and respond to external stimuli, it would appear that they have some sort of primitive nervous system. Would the nervous system (whatever form it takes on that scale) be comparable to a brain? What is the relationship of this nervous system, to the nucleus and the DNA? What is the relationship of this nervous system to the membrane? I don’t know. The membrane itself, also seems to be very sophisticated in it’s function and structure, in terms of sensing and determining what to let in and what to let out. Even the prokaryote, without a nucleus, demonstrates a perception of sensory impulses and regulation of motor impulses. Maybe the most primitive living cell constitutes the original “brain”. This is something I found interesting from General Systems Thinking. “By observing various types of systems and studying their behavior, we can recognize characteristics that are common to all systems. Once we have identified and described a set of concepts that are common to the systems, and observed and discovered among some of them certain relationships, we can construct from them GENERAL SYSTEMS PRINCIPLES. Thus, a system principle emerges from an interaction/integration of related concepts. Next, we are in the position to look for relationships among principles and organize related principles into certain conceptual schemes we call SYSTEMS MODELS. This process of starting from observation and arriving at the construction of systems models constitutes the FIRST STAGE of developing a systems view.”

One of the definitions I found for brain in the websters dictionary was "the organ that perceives sensory impulses and regulates motor impulses". The biology on-line dictionary defined brain as: One of the two components of the central nervous system, the brain is the centre of thought and emotion. It is responsible for the coordination and control of bodily activities and the interpretation of information from the senses (sight, hearing, smell, etc.). That part of the central nervous system that includes all the higher nervous centers; enclosed within the skull; continuous with the spinal cord.That which is responsible for one's thoughts and feelings; the seat of the faculty of reason; his mind wandered; I couldn't get his words out of my head. Part of the central nervous system involved in regulating and controlling body functions while interpreting information from the senses transmitted through the nervous system. http://www.biology-online.org/dictionary/Brain

What part of the cell would be considered it's brain? Would it be the nucleus, the membrane, or would the whole cell be analogous to a brain?

What is the simplest organism that demonstrates the development of a head brain?

Time is the way that we measure change.

A couple of years ago, I read an article in the New York Times about what's being called the "second brain", the enteric system. Apparently, the enteric brain is involved in the process of digestion. It is a system of neurons and what-not that utilize neurotransmitters like dopamine and seratonin (like in the head brain) in the regulation of the digestive process. It's responsible for peristalis, and enzymes and all that. Here's the Wikipedia link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enteric_nervous_system It got me wondering about brains and what is a brain and what brain came first etc. It would seem to me, that in terms of evolution, the digestive brain would develop early.... ya gotta eat. And from what I can gather, the parasympathetic (expand) and sympathetic (contract) nervous system are connected and related to this enteric system. So then I started wondering about the "head brain". Sure looks like a bunch of intestines to me. Then I thought, is the functioning of the head brain a form of digestion? Could it be that the head brain is a sophisticated digestive system? Is the integration of sensory impressions a form of digestion? Eat impressions, excrete...... behavior? Anyway, I'm not a scientist and I lack most of the formal training that many of you folks have experienced. But I gather from here and there and try to put my understanding together the best I can. I value the level of knowledge and experience on this forum and I appreciate any impressions or comments.

Here are some jokes that I thought were pretty funny. There is this atheist swimming in the ocean. All of the sudden he sees this shark in the water, so he starts swimming towards his boat. As he looks back he sees the shark turn and head towards him. His boat is a ways off and he starts swimming like crazy. He's scared to death, and as he turns to see the jaws of the great white beast open revealing its teeth in a horrific splendor, the atheist screams, "Oh God! Save me!" In an instant time is frozen and a bright light shines down from above. The man is motionless in the water when he hears the voice of God say, "You are an atheist. Why do you call upon me when you do not believe in me?" Aghast with confusion and knowing he can't lie the man replies, "Well, that's true I don't believe in you, but how about the shark? Can you make the shark believe in you?" The Lord replies, "As you wish," and the light retracted back into the heavens and the man could feel the water begin to move once again. As the atheist looks back he can see the jaws of the shark start to close down on him, when all of sudden the shark stops and pulls back. Shocked, the man looks at the shark as the huge beast closes its eyes and bows its head and says, "Thank you Lord for this food for which I am about to receive..." A young woman dressed in shorts had been taking golf lessons. She had just started playing her first round of golf when she suffered a bee sting. Her pain was so intense that she decided to return to the clubhouse for help … and to complain. Her golf pro saw her come into the clubhouse and asked, "Why are you back so early? What’s wrong?” “I was stung by a bee,” she said. “Where” he asked. “Between the first and second hole” she replied. He nodded knowingly and said, “Then your stance is too wide.” Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, "Don't do it!" He said, "Nobody loves me." I said, "God loves you. Do you believe in God?" He said, "Yes." I said, "Are you a Christian or a Jew?" He said, "A Christian." I said, "Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?" He said, "Protestant." I said, "Me, too! What franchise?" He said, "Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?" He said, "Northern Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region." I said, "Me, too!" Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912." I said, "Die, heretic!" And I pushed him over. Went to my doctor and told him my penis is burning. He said, "that means somebody is talking about it."