Motherly Love: Nature's Backup Plan

As we learn more about the human genome we begin to grasp the power that our individual genetic coding has on regulation of our bodies.  This amazing process begins with development as a fetus and continues throughout our lives.  While the code itself changes very little, with the exception of radical mutations, it regulates a sometimes dramatically changing body in diverse environments.  It is quite amazing how all these different situations are controlled by a 3 billion letter code packaged into almost every single cell in our body.  It is truly fascinating!

While the influence of DNA of an individual is far reaching, the environment in which they live can be as equally far reaching.  Here we enter the age old argument of Nature Vs. Nurture.  How much of us is an animal driven by evolutionary precedents and programming, and how much is a product of our environment, upbringing, diet, emotions, etc.  I would answer that question with a resounding YES!  Just as the physical world has certain rules that can be seen in everyday life, the biological functions of our bodies follow similar rules.  For example, if you inject epinephrine (adrenaline) into someones blood stream, they will always exhibit certain changes to their physiology (increased heart rate, dilation of pupils, etc) due to the epinephrine binding to certain receptors.  This will happen despite the will or desire of the individual.  The brain, however, also has amazing control over the systems of the body.  The placebo effect is a perfect example of this.  Even when an individual is receiving nothing but a sugar pill, but think that they are getting a miracle drug, the body has been shown to significantly heal/change/improve, with no empirical evidence or explanation.  While this may seem miraculous, it is due to the brain controlling release of hormones, factors or other reactive molecules.

While the brain is still using natural/biological means in order to achieve the "miraculous" or unpredictable change it illustrates the power of the mind and the implications of placing that power in an unstable environment.  The stability or instability of ones environment can even alter the physical make up of the person's body.  Smoking, second hand smoke, or even extended exposure to pollution has been shown to mutate ones DNA, cause or significantly worsen disease, and lead to increased death rates.  This is a fairly obvious example, but what about growing up in an abusive household, or malnourished as a infant, child or teen?  While that can obviously effect ones state of mind and psyche, can it actually change their gene expression and influence behavior?

There was a study that examined the composition of the genomes in brains of suicide victims who grew up in abusive environments compared to suicide victims who were not abused as children and people who died by means other than suicide.  What they found was that the gene expression was altered in those from abusive backgrounds.  It was altered specifically at a gene that would make them more susceptible to cortisol, also known as the stress hormone.  With this altered susceptibility to stress, they also exhibited a higher prevalence of psychoses and suicide than those not abused as children.  This change in expression was due to alteration in what is known as the Epigenome.  

Epigenetics is essentially the study of the winding and packaging of the genome such that certain genes are more or less accessible.  While the genome is not changed directly, its influence can be altered by changing the epigenome.  While not entirely known and understood, the epigenome has been repeatedly shown to become altered through interactions with the environment.  This has been shown extensively with nutrition in the pre-, peri- and post-natal child.  Restriction of diets at these crucial developmental times leads to a higher prevalence of diseases like diabetes and cardiopulmonary disease. Conversely, those with detrimental genes may be protected by epigenetic alterations caused by motherly nurturing.

The implications of this are amazing.  First, that through our environment we can be physically changed and alter our behavior differently from what it might have been.  Second, that mothers have been our source of correcting problems long before we decided to wear mismatching clothes.  Whether that is planning from a higher power, providence, Karma or simply an evolutionary mechanism it is impossible to argue its importance.  So, go home, hug your mom, and thank her for the protection that she has afforded your. 

Internet Publication: Cure or Curse?

Recently I have found myself being drawn more towards the content of the comments of an online article than to the article itself.  This is based purely on the time spent reading the article compared to scrolling through the myriad comments following almost all publications.  I find myself drawn to the brashness of the comments either in support or against any article.  There are several things that I find very entertaining about the comments, namely;

1. The inability of a so many users to make coherent arguments purely due to grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors.

2. The constant use of name-calling and insult to feel as if one has gained footing in an argument.

3. Faulty logic, ad hominem and straw-man logic used to strengthen an argument.

The following sketch, exemplifies much of the arguing presently going on throughout the internet.  After about 4 minutes it looses focus, but still funny.

Unfortunately, all three of the aforementioned points greatly detract from the strength of ones argument.  In a formal argument one would be expected to maintain composure and avoid use of any of these, but the internet is by no means the formal argument arena.  In fact, comments have become so informal that the use of these logical fallacies and laziness has become acceptable and becomes the basis of the majority of disputes.  It makes for a very unproductive use of time having the argument, as well as reading and following others' threads.  The amount of profane language and name calling is so overwhelming that it looses all power and necessity.  It is as if one expects a greater reaction just by adding in a few expletives.  That, or the average user of the internet really has no other way of expressing themselves. 

Is this really the case in the non-digital world?  Is this how we would talk to other people if we had a disagreement in a grocery store?  Essentially that is what this equates to.  Most commenters do not know the author of an article personally, and are only commenting because they "overheard" the opinions of the author through some long string of clicks originating from another site, or more likely, Facebook.  If I overheard someone talking to their family and friends while waiting in line at the store, whom I whole heartedly disagreed with, would I string a line of slurs and expletives together to "destroy" them?  NO!  I am fairly certain that 95% of the people commenting also wouldn't react that way.  In fact most would not say anything at all.  

What is this empowerment that people receive when commenting on the internet?  Anonymity.  Most people don't have to take responsibility for their comments because they will never meet the people they are berating, and even if someone responds as angrily they can just not visit that page.  Does this help us, or hinder us?  One may argue that it allows people to "vent their steam," and get how they really feel out.  But is that how someone really feels?  My opinion of someone whom I have never met and disagree with on at least this one topic is they are a F*&#!@* IDIOT! So now to be healthy we need to revert back to juvenile tendencies and throw a tantrum?  What happened to using our words?  What happened to keeping our composure?

Do most people believe that anyone with a differing opinion hates me and my opinion, therefore I must hate them and theirs in return?  That is what it seems like.  If I disagree with you, and think you are wrong some how that also means that you are a bad person, and your other ideas/opinions/practices are equally wrong and bad?  Why does my respect for someone else have to be dragged into our argument?  Just by having an argument (granted the word has a bad connotation that accompanies it) does not mean I am mad.  I may get passionate about subjects, but that passion means that it is important to me.  Someone who swears and curses, calling others names is putting up a facade of passion.  They want others to see how passionate they are by their rapid flailing arms and loud noises, but it all accounts for nothing.  

The internet is an amazing tool that we can use to connect, broaden, and expand our knowledge, understanding, and influence to the entire world.  In order to keep it a precision tool we to must fine tune our language, demeanor  and ideologies.  We must be open to the possibility that we might not have all the cards.  That through meaningful communication we can not only gain understanding, but become a conduit for someone else.  Isn't that what the purpose of the world wide web is?  

Now you see it...now you don't.

I think that I will start a lot of posts off by how amazing I think that the world is and how hard it is to comprehend. The more that I ponder and study it the more I find I will likely never understand. The fact that the way that we understand things is by using our senses of sight, smell, touch, sound and taste inevitably means that the majority of the universe is incomprehensible. Instead of sight we must substitute laws, rules and reason. Instead of observing phenomenon directly we must detect how they react and affect their surroundings.

As a summer intern at the NIH, my research required the use of microscopic metal beads with attached antibody. By adding the beads to flask of cells they helped to initiate cell proliferation. However they eventually needed to bet extracted, so what is the best way to manipulate a bead that is roughly 2 microns thick? Use a strong magnet of course. Most of the time the quantity of beads was so big (several million) that small wisps of rust colored beads could be easily seen by the naked eye. On occasion, however, the solution would be only 5 to 10 ml and thus only require an amount of beads that would be impossible to see with the naked eye. However, I knew that the magnet would still attract the beads. I knew that the electromagnetic forces would still allow me to complete my experiment. Even without being able to see the beads being removed, they were.

So we know about magnetism. We have seen the effects of other forces like gravity, electricity and friction. But imagine all the forces that are so common to our everyday lives that they are yet to be discovered and given a name. A book doesn't slide off of a table spontaneously because of friction and that same book doesn't start shooting pieces of pages off because the molecules of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen are held together by covalent forces.  Still further, the book does not combust spontaneously because those molecules are held stable by the attractive and repulsive forces of the protons, neutrons and electrons. But where then does it stop? How far down do the building blocks reach? If atoms are made up of protons and neutrons what are they made up of and what forces hold them together? Quarks? Strings? Higgs Boson particles? And in turn what makes and holds those particles?  The study of the sub-atomic universe is only trumped by the unknown accompanied by the expanses of the universe.

The universe is so large, sometimes it boggles my mind that scientists even feel comfortable putting numbers to how many stars or galaxies there are.  As astounding as the multitudes of physical heavenly bodies are I still wonder about the unseen elements at play in the universe.  Einstein's theory of relativity and others associated with that have helped to explain the interactions of these planets, but just as with the particles of the atom what other forces are involved?  How do these massive bodies interact with each other?  How does something so small as a black hole have a mass greater than most suns?  What force holds all that mass together and allows it to exist?

So here we are, stuck between the infinities.  But is that not the most exciting place to find ones self?  On a journey to bettering ones understanding and forwarding the race as a whole?  Unfortunately, not everybody can become an astro-physicist or construct an particle accelerator. However, that does not mean that a person inquisitive enough cannot discover the mysteries of the universe.  Striving for the next discovery or beating the previous best is what makes us human.  The moment that we sit back and let someone else figure it out, or let someone else take the risk we loose that part of us that could have done it. So let us always ask questions.  Let us ask what next, and why, until we find a deeper understanding that wasn't there before.  Most of all we must have the courage to take a risk and put ourselves on the line for the sake of advancement.