Entries by tag: biology
“The state of flow, like the path that bears its name, is volatile, unpredictable, and all-consuming. Flow feels like the meaning of life for good reason. The neurochemicals that underpin the state are among the most addictive drugs on earth. Equally powerful is the psychological draw. Scientists who study human motivation have lately learned that after basic survival needs have been met, the combination of autonomy (the desire to direct your own life), mastery (the desire to learn, explore, and be creative), and purpose (the desire to matter, to contribute to the world) are our most powerful intrinsic drivers—the three things that motivate us most. All three are deeply woven through the fabric of flow. Thus toying with flow involves tinkering with primal biology: addictive neurochemistry, potent psychology, and hardwired evolutionary behaviors. Seriously, what could go wrong?”
—Steven Kotler in The Rise of Superman; Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance, p158, in Ch10 entitled The Dark Side of Flow.
--Yuval Noah Harari in Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, 2015, p74.
His work has been far from satisfactory... he will not listen, but will insist on doing his work in his own way... I believe he has ideas about becoming a Scientist; on his present showing this is quite ridiculous, if he can't learn simple Biological facts he would have no chance of doing the work of a Specialist, and it would be a sheer waste of time on his part, and of those who have to teach him.
--a college professor, on the report card of Sir John B. Gurdon, who won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his revolutionary research on stem cells
http://snakesarelong.blogspot.ca/2014/11/the-9999th-reptile.html
Also fascinating: why snakes (and lizards!) have 2 penises:
http://snakesarelong.blogspot.ca/2014/11/the-9999th-reptile.html
( More about the biology, and the source, behind cut.Collapse )
Types of Plastic:
1 PET
2 HDFE
3 PVC (rafts)
4 CDPE (bags)
5 PP
6 PS (polystyrene)
7 Other
I posted once about the Great Pacific Waste Dump, basically just parroting media hype. It turns out the plastic in the ocean is mostly in tiny bits instead of in a big island of capped bottles. It is thickest in the five GYRES on the planet, which appear to me to be doldrums where there are no tradewinds or strong currents. The most directly alarming thing about the litter of plastic bits is that it is covered in life that is migrating in a whole new way. Barnacles, biofilm and plankton all hitch a ride or get tangled in the mess. We had NO IDEA what this is going to mean in the long run. A new name has been coined for all the microorganisms on the polypropylene and polyethlene in the ocean: the Plastisphere. The only organism named by Emelia DeForce PhD in last night's Science Pub talk was Vibrio, the same genus as cholera. I was dying to ask if MRSA was on the plastic around Hawaii but we left because the line was long and we were done. All the factoids in this post are courtesy of Dr DeForce.
Plastic is made from crude oil into nerdles (sp?), which are small balls of hard petroleum product. Those can then be shipped to the manufacturers who combine them with additives and make their product.
( the article from LifeCollapse )
nor the most intelligent,
but the one that is most responsive to change.
-—Charles Darwin
CONSERVATION
RESILIENCE
RELOCALIZATION
FAMILY PLANNING
BEAUTY
BIODIVERSITY
( the Post Carbon Institute, that isCollapse )
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