Zark's

What Happens When Rats Feel Crowded?

Mmm.  As a college freshman, I had to read "The Rat Trap".  Sheesh.  What a depressing story...  A colleague asked the other day if our culture was experiencing more disorder than in the past.  I wonder if mankind is not experiencing the rat effect.

John B. Calhoun was the American ecologist and psychologist who observed behavioral changes with increased population density.  His study of population pressure began with the Rodent Ecology Project of Johns Hopkins University in 1947.  Wiki tells he was intrigued that the population of 10,000 square foot outdoor pen never had more than 200 rats, and stabilized at 150 rats.  He discovered that rats cannot live harmoniously in a group larger than 12, at which time psychological effects begin to tear the group apart.  (He noted the same was true for humans.)

The New York Times tells that one of his discoveries was universal autism.  This is when the members of a last generation of rodents in an increasingly crowded environment will not procreate.  Their social skills and interaction become so deteriorated that they stay alone and just groom themselves.  These are rats who lack for nothing, but because of their crowded conditions, they simply 'check out'. 

Escaping the Laboratory is an interesting review of Calhoun's life and studies.  Before the great 'check out' described above, their behaviors become more bizarre as the population increases, despite having sufficient food and water.  Aggressive packs develop, mothers abandon their babies, and (gulp) they even turn to cannibalism.  Further, the social changes are permanent.  

With such data, Calhoun began to assert there was an upper bound for the number of individuals before population pressure began to destroy a culture.  It might seem that Calhoun would have become very pessimistic about mankind's future.  However, the authors (Edmund Ramsden and Jon Adams) explain he viewed his experiments as a science lesson and guidance for how we should construct the cities of the future. 

Organ Transplants from India

Australians caught up in 'Dr. Horror' kidney racket tells that an Indian medic was peddling kidneys from poor laborers.  Perhaps 400-500 kidney transplants were performed by Amit Kumar and his collaborators.  Making the story worse, Kumar is not a physician - he learned how to transplant kidneys by 'associating' with surgeons.

Although the donor 'price' is about $1500 - $2500, many have claimed their organs were stolen after they were drugged.  Indian kidney recipients paid up to $45,000 for the transplants, and international customers from America and Australia paid much more.

Kidney transplant market thrives in Delhi tells there is an Indian law prohibiting the sale of organs.  The law is circumscribed by the donor signing a statement that the patient is a relative.  At most hospitals, there are 'middlemen' who learn of someone' need for an organ transplant.  They will arrange for a donor organ.  The kidney may sell for $4,500, but the recipient must be prepared to pay $250 a month for anti-rejection drugs for the rest of their life.  A donated organ can survive up to ten years within the patient.

Human Mice - Tickling the Devil?

During the Manhattan Project, one of the most dangerous experiments was called, 'tickling the dragon's tail.'  To determine the mass of uranium necessary for a chain reaction, scientists at Los Alamos constructed a near-critical pile of uranium and then dropped a slug of uranium through it.  Although gravity reliably pulled the slug down and way from the mass, for a split-second, the amount of uranium was sufficient for a chain-reaction.  Although extremely hazardous, it was the safest experiment Oppenheimer and his team could devise.

The Mouse With a Human Liver tells about Salk Institute's generation of a mouse with a near-human liver.  (About a 95% match.)  The idea is to create a viable test subject that experiences the same liver infections and diseases as a human.  Instead of limiting researchers to a petri dish of a few cells, this permits test and observation of a complete organ.  

The Salk Institute explains the researchers created the human liver from a mouse that has genetic defect.  By introducing human cells into the liver, the mouse liver becomes populated with human cells.  Tests show the mouse experiences human liver infections and diseases.

Mmm.  New Bill Would Ban Human-Animal Hybrids tells this is a complex issue.  All of us believe medical research for the purpose of curing or preventing human diseases is unquestionably good.  But suppose Weeki Wachi Springs, a longtime Florida tourist attraction wants to create true mermaids instead of being content with beauties that breath through transparent air hoses?  Should that be permitted? 

Okay, what is the demarcation between acceptable blending of human genes within an animal?

The Addiction of Running

Wiki tells that a beta endorphin is an endogenous opioid peptide neurotransmitter.  Key in on the word, opioid, as in opium.  Just like morphine and codeine, it is addictive.  A "runner's high" is when the body stressed sufficiently to produce endorphins.  But it has to be from a long, sustained, workout.  Something that I didn't know - the time of the endorphin release coincides when the body had used up its store of glycogen.  Some have considered the "runner's high" as a myth, but brain scans have confirmed what many a dedicated runner can tell you - it feels good.

Runner's High describes the feeling as euphoric, or a sense of invincibility.  Maybe it is because the body has depleted its reserves and it is the will of the mind that keeps the runner moving.  The body and the mind have disassociated, and free of the body, the mind feels freedom.  Perhaps I am addicted to it, because when I cannot run because of an injury or really bad weather, I miss my morning 'buzz' from running.

So how did we get here? Minor Variations in One Gene May Be Associated With Endurance Running explains that endurance athletes are likely to have variations of the NRF2 gene.  The Science Daily article explains that the gene is suspected to a) produce additional mitochondria - the power centers of living cells, and b) reduce the dangers of oxidation and inflammation.  Interaction between SNPs in the NRF2 gene and elite endurance performance explains that sprinters lack the gene, but the correlation is extremely high for long distance runners.     

It is interesting isn't it?  How marvelous our bodies are!

Looking Toward the Ides of March

Sheesh.  This winter doesn't seem to ever end.  We need to find a new phrase to replace, "a snowball's chance in ...".  Especially this winter when Charleston and Dallas have experienced snow.

Wiki tells us that in Rome, they celebrate the Ides of March with a toga run.  Mmm.  That sounds like fun, perhaps better than running with the bulls in Pamplona.  After reading James Michener's book, The Drifters, I have always wanted to run in Pamplona on 7 July, but I digress...

The Ides of March is the 15th, and if you recall Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar, a mystic advises the most powerful man in the world to "beware the Ides of March."  Alas, Caesar paid no heed, and when Brutus is the last among the conspirators to stab him, utters, "Et tu, Brute?"  (You too, Brutus?)

For everyone tired of February, I recommend, How to Celebrate the Ides of March.  Number five in the list of ten is, of course, a toga party.  Number eight is - book a trip to Rome.  Mmm.  40 degrees F in Rome tonight with a high of 50 degrees F tomorrow.  I vote for the toga party.

No More Science

Mmm.  Could this be about the last nighttime shuttle launch?  Endeavor is scheduled to launch at 4:39 EST on Sunday morning.  (I am planning on setting my alarm to watch the liftoff -but jeepers, that is early for a Sunday Morning.)  Then there are three remaining flights before the final countdown.  NASA took on the chin this week, with the President's budget canceling Moon 2.0. 

I'm intrigued by Are We Witnessing the End of Science?  Some believe that mankind has discovered everything but the Grand Unified Theorem and biology holds no new secrets.  The Guardian article suggests that if true, there will never be another science revolution.

When was the last great discovery?  Wiki tells us that Twitter was created in 2006.  Okay, maybe that doesn't qualify.  Was it the Double Helix?  (Watson and Crick's famous discovery in 1953 that DNA has the structure of a double helix.)  The Science Channel has a top 100 discoveries aggregated in eight different categories.  #1 for physics is The Law of Falling Bodies.  #1 for Astronomy is that The Planets Move.  #1 for Biology is Microorganisms.

Perhaps the promoters of the idea have a point.  With the world's population of 6.8 billion, compared to say, 1.5 billion in 1880, mankind has achieved very few discoveries in the past three decades.  Some might point to the drugs ingested by rebellious youth of the 60s, fathering our present culture (and today's scientists), but I digress.  For whatever reason, discovery has slowed down. 

No more science means no miracle cures or solutions to population pressure and dwindling energy resources.  It is certainly un-American.  How do you solve problems if isn't through science?

{Sun, 07 Feb 2010 04:31:57 AM EST

Endeavour will remain on the ground this morning after dynamic weather prompted the launch team to stand down for this attempt.  It was partially cloudy in Central Florida, so the liftoff would not have been that visible.}

 

Deciding the Fate of Those Who Cannot Communicate

Can you imagine being locked into your mind, unable to communicate or even move?  It sounds like a Stephen King novel, doesn't it?  Vegetative state patients can respond to questions explains that previous patient protocol for determining whether a person is still a person has been proven inadequate.

A new functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can detect awareness.  A patient could be awake, but have no awareness, because of brain damage.  But the new study shows that patients could be locked-in, but aware.  Wiki explains that fMRI monitors blood flow and blood oxygenation as a function of neural activity in the brain or spinal cord.  When nerve cells are active, they increase their consumption of oxygen.  The fMRI is able to detect the minute changes of oxygen in the blood.

The BBC reporter agreed to be scanned, and using the fMRI, researchers were able to successfully determine his non-communicated answers to questions.  The Wiki article explains the various stimuli given to test volunteers while researchers perform the 15 minute fMRI. 

In Locked In or Misleading, I wrote about German Ron Houben, who had been locked-in for seven years from an automobile accident.  The researchers were able to determine he was aware and could answer questions.

In the U.K., patients are categorized as permanent vegetative state (PVS) if they are unconscious and non-responsive for more than 6 to 12 months.  After this classification, most doctors do not recommend further treatment and feeding tubes can be removed.  But the BBC article says a study showed 43% of a sampled PVS patients were aware.

Today's quote in Time Magazine - "Physicians and society are not ready for 'I have brain activation, therefore I am.'  That would seriously put Descartes before the horse."

The ethical question about how our civilization determines who should live and who should not, became much harder.

Dunbar's Number and Social Networks

Wiki explains that Robin Dunbar is a British anthropologist and evolutionary biologist who proposed, Dunbar's number.  Dunbar's Number is a cognitive limit to the number of people we can maintain social relationships.  These are defined as social relationships in which all of the group know the others and how they relate to each other.  A commonly accepted number is 150.

Dunbar's hypothesis is that the number of social group members that humans can keep in memory is limited by the neocortex volume of the brain.  He also hypothesizes that it takes effort for 150 people to remain interconnected.  For this large a group to remain connected, a substantial number of the group must be social 'groomers', keeping the group together.

This is in contrast to Six Degrees of Separation which asserts that a chain of five people can connect you with any person on the planet.  Through technology, the physical world and its barriers are shrinking.  175 years ago, the telegraph had not even been invented, but today, we can talk or chat in real time with a person on the other side of the planet.  Sigh - frequently we do, when we call a major company's customer service.  Perhaps there are advantages to the French language.  But I digress.

Although we have these wispy connections to almost everyone on the planet, how deep are the connections?  Friendships in the Digital Age asserts the scale of our social circles have not changed.  The Forbes article explains that our social worlds consist of concentric circles of people, perhaps numbering, 5, 15, 50, and 150 people.  Mmm.  Maybe we could define these relationships as those who will sacrifice for you, visit you in the hospital, change an automobile tire for you, and return a phone call.

While Dunbar's Number is for a group, it is limited by the number of people that humans can remember with any significant detail.  The same limitation should exist for our aggregate relationships, in other words, all of those that we know.  So while some may have over 1,000 Facebook 'friends', most are limited to casual relationships because our brains cannot support a larger social network.

Also, something to ponder about - why are organizations becoming truly huge, seeming to defy Dunbar's Number?

Shipworms Enter the Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is the water mass between Sweden, Finland, and Poland in northern Europe.  Wiki tells that it is a brackish inland sea, even though it flows into the North Atlantic Ocean through the Danish Straits.  The explanation is the sea has a substantial salinity gradient, with the deeper water much more salty.  Because of some complex hydrography, only the least saline water flows out into the straits.  Very rarely are there inflows of ocean water.  Consequently, the sea remains brackish, about 1/3 as salty as the Atlantic.  On average, about 45 percent of the surface area is covered in sea ice.

Historically, the region is remembered for the marauding Vikings in the Middle Ages.  In the late 18th century, Peter the Great recognized the importance of a European port for Russia and built St. Petersburg in the upper reaches of the Baltic Sea.  It didn't hinder him that it was not Russian territory, but I digress...

Something I did not know - shipworms are not really worms.  Wiki explains they are saltwater clams with minimal shells.  These clams have a unique bacteria in a special gland that digest cellulose.  With wood being principally cellulose, they devastate wooden hulls and pilings.  In the past, copper sheathing was used as a defense against shipworms.  Wiki tells that Christopher Columbus' ships were among the first to float with this technology.

Shipworm Threatens Archaeological Treasures explains researchers have noted shipworms now appearing in the Baltic Sea.  Historically absent because of the low salinity of the Baltic Sea, they are now appearing along the Swedish coast.  That is unfortunate because there are an estimated 100,000 shipwrecks within the inland sea.  The Science Daily article speculates that warmer water temperatures are allowing the shipworm to be more tolerant of the brackish water and invade the Baltic Sea.  Yeah - I know, "Global Warming ate my homework."  Sheesh.

Archeologists are studying the dilemma and are proposing solutions such as covering the wrecks with geotextile and bottom sediment.  About 100 wrecks in the southern portion are known to be infested by the shipworm.

Your Future Hasn't Been Written Yet

In the film, Back to the Future, Doc Brown jubilantly counsels Marty, "...  your future hasn't been written yet!"  Or has it?  Do our genes contain our destiny? 

Mmm.  All of the positive thinking books in the world will not permit me to increase my height.  Neither will vitamins, nor fresh fruits and vegetables.  So some things such as eye color and height are dominantly determined by genetics, as explained in Nature Versus Nurture.  Studies of twins have shown both perspectives - they can have similar traits when raised in separate environments.  Yet they are not completely alike when raised in the same environment.

The originator of behavioral science, B.F. Skinner believed human behavior could be conditioned much like animals can be trained.  Wiki reminds us of psychiatrist John Watson, who said, "Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors..."

Mmm.  I don't believe John Watson could have ever trained me to please Simon Cowell on American Idol.

Why Your DNA Isn't Your Destiny has an interesting alternative to both genetics and nurture.  Dr. Lars Olov Bygren studied populations that had been exposed to severe famine and other environmental stress.  Basically the data showed that a single winter of overeating would affect grandchildren.  The Time article explains this is far faster than evolution has ever been postulated to react. 

Enter epigenetics.  Wiki explains that epigenetics is temporal changes in gene expression, but not the underlying DNA.  As you recall, DNA expresses (catalyzes) proteins that enable or disable complex chemical reactions within our cells.  Somehow cell memory has been created, and it can last for generations, but the DNA blueprint has not been permanently changed.  Researchers have discovered some chemical groups that can change gene expression, and we already know that environmental factors can likewise change gene expression.

There is good news in this - it means that diseases can be treated within the cell nucleus without direct DNA manipulation.  More importantly as the Time article's title indicates, we are not stuck with the outcome mapped by our DNA.  Through epigenetics, we can change our future.