12 DEC 2017 by ideonexus
Summary of Human Evolution
ABOUT 13.5 BILLION YEARS AGO, MATTER, energy, time and space came into being in what is known as the Big Bang. The story of these fundamental features of our universe is called physics.
About 300,000 years after their appearance, matter and energy started to coalesce into complex structures, called atoms, which then combined into molecules. The story of atoms, molecules and their interactions is called chemistry.
About 3.8 billion years ago, on a planet called Earth, certain molecules combi...Folksonomies: epic history
Folksonomies: epic history
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notes07 APR 2015 by ideonexus
Resveratrol and SIRT1
For the last decade, the science of aging has increasingly focused on sirtuins, a group of genes that are believed to protect many organisms, including mammals, against diseases of aging. Mounting evidence has demonstrated that resveratrol, a compound found in the skin of grapes as well as in peanuts and berries, increases the activity of a specific sirtuin, SIRT1, that protects the body from diseases by revving up the mitochondria, a kind of cellular battery that slowly runs down as we age. ...Folksonomies: longevity supplements
Folksonomies: longevity supplements
1 19 MAR 2015 by ideonexus
The Umwelt Bubble
The biologist Jakob von Uexküll’s term Umwelt refers to a concept about the subjective world of an organism. The world can be imagined as a soap bubble, which surrounds each individual and contains signifying markers relevant only to the world of that specific creature. This soap bubble, or Umwelt, is actively created by the individual organism in a process of forming a perception of reality, which is guided by the organism’s design, its physiology, and its needs.
According to Uexküll,...Folksonomies: perception transhumanism
Folksonomies: perception transhumanism
1 notes
notesBy Laura Beloff's "The Hybronaut Affair: A Ménage of Art, Technology, and Science"
25 JAN 2015 by ideonexus
NBIC: Nano-Bio-Info-Cogno
There's no one silver bullet technology that's going to make us all into superbeings. The trick is in the
mix of different technologies. NBIC stands for nanotechnology, biotechnology, information
technology, and cognitive science.
Look at it this way: with nanotechnology and biotechnology, we stand to gain control over
inorganic and organic matter. With advanced information technology, we get not just the horrendous
data glut that's now tormenting us (and our National Security Agency), but d...24 JAN 2015 by ideonexus
Life with Metabolism VS Replication
It is logically possible to postulate organisms composed of pure hardware, capable of metabolism but incapable of replication. It is possible to postulate organisms composed of pure software, capable of replication but incapable of metabolism. And if the functions of life are separated in this fashion, it is to be expected that the latter type of organism will become an obligatory parasite upon the former. This logical analysis of the functions of life helps to explain and to correct the bias... 1 notes
notes24 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
The Universe Holds the Meaning we Give It
Things happen because the laws of nature say they will—because they are the consequences of the state of the universe and the path of its evolution. Life on Earth doesn’t arise in fulfillment of a grand scheme but as a by-product of the increase of entropy in an environment very far from equilibrium. Our impressive brains don’t develop because life is guided toward greater levels of complexity and intelligence but from the mechanical interactions between genes, organisms, and their surr...Sean Carroll argues that our existence and our intelligence is the product of nature's algorithms. Life holds the meaning we give it.
13 OCT 2013 by ideonexus
The Two Kinds of Cell Growth
In 1838, Matthias Schleiden, a botanist, and Theodor Schwann, a physiologist, both working in Germany, had claimed that all living organisms were built out of fundamental building blocks called cells. Borrowing and extending this idea, Virchow set out to create a “cellular theory” of human biology, basing it on two fundamental tenets. First, that human bodies (like the bodies of all animals and plants) were made up of cells. Second, that cells only arose from other cells—omnis cellula e... 1 notes
notesHypertrophy and hyperplasia, cells either grow bigger or grow more numerous.
08 JAN 2013 by ideonexus
Evolutionary Biology and the Punk Scene
Evolutionary biology historically has focused on a particular kind of change in heritable traits. Some traits enable an organism to have more offspring than other organisms in a population. In this way, a heritable trait can become more abundant in the next generation. It's a simiple numbers game. New traits appear first in a single organism (like the debut songs on a pioneering punk album). But they can appear in increasing numbers of organisms with each :h new generation if they help organi... 1 notes
notesAn interesting comparison, that demonstrates the natural selection of memes in culture works the same as genes in biological fitness.
12 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Individuals VS Species
The assumptions of population thinking are diametrically opposed to those of the typologist. The populationist stresses the uniqueness of everything in the organic world. What is true for the human species,–that no two individuals are alike, is equally true for all other species of animals and plants ... All organisms and organic phenomena are composed of unique features and can be described collectively only in statistical terms. Individuals, or any kind of organic entities, form populatio...Folksonomies: taxonomy perspective
Folksonomies: taxonomy perspective
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notesSpecies are classified according to a mean, the perspective is to ignore the variation within the species.
08 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Wonder at the Age of the Earth
The great age of the earth will appear greater to man when he understands the origin of living organisms and the reasons for the gradual development and improvement of their organization. This antiquity will appear even greater when he realizes the length of time and the particular conditions which were necessary to bring all the living species into existence. This is particularly true since man is the latest result and present climax of this development, the ultimate limit of which, if it is...Folksonomies: evolution prescience
Folksonomies: evolution prescience
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notesLamarck believes we will marvel at the time it took us to get here, and wonder at the future apex we might reach.
