A-Z Challenge: H is for Heart.

How many times have you asked yourself, "Why am I doing this?", "What am I doing?", "Am I on the right path?"

We've all been there at one time or another. Perhaps several times. For many decades I have always asked myself this: 'Does this path I am on, or about to embark on, have heart?' 

What does that mean?  Our heart is the organ that pumps our life's blood to all of our internal tissues. When it stops pumping, the body dies. Metaphorically, heart is also our inner-most truth-sayer; it tells us the truth. It is the source of our compassion, love, determination, our weaknesses and strength. It is being 'whole' instead of being lost in strewn bits and pieces. It is also the source of our 'knowing', despite our awareness or lack of. When we lose 'heart', we lose our direction, motivation, commitment, our strength, and our happiness. We lose ourselves and we are not whole.

The heart knows the way home; it knows the truth. It knows when we are off-course. It also knows when we are betrayed; by others or by ourselves. A path with no heart can suck all our self-esteem and self-worth from us. Or it can instill false hopes. Losing heart will leave us empty, angry, and unbalanced, leaving us blundering blind on a heartless path.

Embarking on a path may be full of uncertainties. But if we have heart, and we know that our direction is true; if we accept that we may have to change course along the way, and if we learn from all the obstacles along our path, then that path has heart. And as we journey forward, we become stronger and whole; and more happy.

"You must always keep in mind that a path is only a path. Each path is only one of a million paths. If you feel that you must now follow it, you need not stay with it under any circumstances. Any path is only a path. There is no affront to yourself or others in dropping a path if that is what your heart tells you to do. But your decision to keep on a path or to leave it must be free of fear and ambition. 

I caution you: look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself and yourself alone this one question. Does this path have a heart? All paths are the same. They lead nowhere. They are paths going through the brush or into the brush or under the brush of the Universe. The only question is: Does this path have a heart? If it does, then it is a good path. If it doesn’t, then it is of no use." - from The Teachings of Don Juan, by Carlos Castaneda

I look forward to my new Path with Heart. I hope you all do the same.

A-Z Challenge: G is for 'Government'.

To attack the 'government' per se and blame it for all our ills is like sticking a Band-aid on a giant festering abscess.  - Yours Truly

A-Z Clallenge. F is for Forgiving.

"Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember. We change the memory of our past into a hope for our future."
 - Lewis B. Smedes

This includes forgiving yourself.

A-Z Challenge: E. Environmentalist

“But they are harder to find now, those spirits. I look out across the moonlit Lake District ranges, and it’s as clear as the night air that what used to come in regular waves, pounding like the sea, comes now only in flashes, out of the corner of my eyes, like a lighthouse in a storm. Perhaps it’s the way the world has changed. There are more cars on the roads now, more satellites in the sky. The footpaths up the fells are like stone motorways, there are turbines on the moors, and the farmers are being edged out by south-country refugees like me, trying to escape but bringing with us the things we flee from. The new world is online and loving it, the virtual happily edging out the actual. The darkness is shut out and the night grows lighter and nobody is there to see it.” - Paul Kingsnorth, Confessions of a Recovering Environmentalist

I’m not sure when I realized I was an ‘environmentalist.’ I always scorned being classified or grouped into labels, such as a feminist, liberal/democrat/conservative/republican. To me they were just names of boxes which we crawl in or are shoved into with labels on the covers. Once labeled, all personal thought and individual ideas are ignored. You don’t own yourself anymore.

I realized decades ago that my attachment; actually, my very sense of identity and place, with the non-human environment was an inherent part of me that can’t be ignored or pretended. I am a product of my environment. It’s a symbiotic relationship. Even as a scientist, a biologist, I am constantly reminded of the world around me and how it affects me. I wither and fade in cities. In the forests, the desert, near lakes and rivers, surrounded by a variety of flora and fauna, I am a child and wizened adult, a creative and loving force.

An environmentalist to me is to listen and care for the surrounding environment. To speak for them in a language humans can understand. To learn their stories and nourish their growth. To respect their inherent values and places in our complicated web of life. And to find a way to re-establish connections between people and their wild partners on this planet. Before we destroy it all, and in this way, destroy ourselves. I want to give back what it gives to me: life.

Yet it seems that 'environmentalism' has evolved into something else. Like those labeled boxes we are hide in, even the environmentalists are trading that early set of values for trendy and compromising chips, like playing at an environmental casino. It’s all about trading species in one place for another million hours of air conditioning in an overpopulated desert city. Or the sacrificial lamb in the name of ‘conservation’. Conservation of what? And for whom? This is not the ‘environmentalist’ that I am today, nor was before.

I’ve been called a ‘tree hugger’. So be it. Sometimes I’d rather hug a tree than many of my own species.

“We are environmentalists now in order to promote something called “sustainability.” What does this curious, plastic word mean? It does not mean defending the nonhuman world from the ever-expanding empire of Homo sapiens sapiens, though some of its adherents like to pretend it does, even to themselves. It means sustaining human civilization at the comfort level that the world’s rich people—us—feel is their right, without destroying the “natural capital” or the “resource base” that is needed to do so.” - Paul Kingsnorth

A-Z Callenge: D is for Dervish (dancing dust)

Circling

Dervish wind

Dust in your eyes

and nose.

Pushing sideways

uplifting.

Calm

Duplicity wind.

Swirling around us

everywhere.

Dance your dance

Dervish wind.

A-Z Challenge: C is for Culture

What is culture? Is culture dead? Or is it just running on autopilot in chaotic traffic on a busy highway immersed in a plethora of signage which no one reads or cares?

“We seldom realize, for example that our most private thoughts and emotions are not actually our own. For we think in terms of languages and images which we did not invent, but which were given to us by our society.”  ― Alan Wilson Watts

“The decay and disintegration of this culture is astonishingly amusing if you are emotionally detached from it. I have always viewed it from a safe distance, knowing I don't belong; it doesn't include me, and it never has. no matter how you care to define it, I do not identify with the local group. Planet, species, race, nation, state, religion, party, union, club, association, neighborhood improvement committee; I have no interest in any of it. I love and treasure individuals as I meet them, I loathe and despise the groups they identify with and belong to.”  ― George Carlin

“While much psychology emphasizes the familial causes of angst in humans, the cultural component carries as much weight, for culture is the family of the family. If the family of the family has various sicknesses, then all families within that culture will have to struggle with the same malaises. There is a saying cultura cura, culture cures. If the culture is a healer, the families learn how to heal; they will struggle less, be more reparative, far less wounding, far more graceful and loving. In a culture where the predator rules, all new life needing to be born, all old life needing to be gone, is unable to move and the soul-lives of its citizenry are frozen with both fear and spiritual famine.”- Clarissa Pinkola Estés

Culture, cultura, is the cultivation of an integrated system of learned behavior patterns which are characteristic of the members of a society and which are not a result of biological inheritance. It is our ideas, beliefs, our morals and our self-identity as a collection of individuals. It is a collective 'Us.' And a collective 'Them'. It was once the fabric of our civilization. Now it is becoming our collapse. 

Perhaps our redemption lies in the following words:

“What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of differences, their attractions and repulsions. Life is plurality, death is uniformity. By suppressing differences and pecularities, by eliminating different civilizations and cultures, progress weakens life and favors death. The ideal of a single civilization for everyone, implicit in the cult of progress and technique, impoverishes and mutilates us. Every view of the world that becomes extinct, every culture that disappears, diminishes a possibility of life." 
-  Octavio Paz  (Mexican poet, writer, and diplomat, 1914-1998)

“Culture is not your friend. Culture is for other people’s convenience and the convenience of various institutions, churches, companies, tax collection schemes, what have you. It is not your friend. It insults you. It disempowers you. It uses and abuses you. None of us are well treated by culture.” - See more at: http://www.endalldisease.com/73-mindblowing-terence-mckenna-quotes/#sthash.bPR5UuXg.dpuf

“Culture is not your friend. Culture is for other people’s convenience and the convenience of various institutions, churches, companies, tax collection schemes, what have you. It is not your friend. It insults you. It disempowers you. It uses and abuses you. None of us are well treated by culture.”
– Terence McKenna - See more at: http://www.endalldisease.com/73-mindblowing-terence-mckenna-quotes/#sthash.bPR5UuXg.dpuf

“Culture is not your friend. Culture is for other people’s convenience and the convenience of various institutions, churches, companies, tax collection schemes, what have you. It is not your friend. It insults you. It disempowers you. It uses and abuses you. None of us are well treated by culture.”
– Terence McKenna

“Personal empowerment means deconditioning yourself from the values and the programs of the society and putting your own values and programs in place.”
– Terence McKenna
- See more at: http://www.endalldisease.com/73-mindblowing-terence-mckenna-quotes/#sthash.bPR5UuXg.dp

A-Z Challenge: B is for Bobcat

I'm cheating today for this letter. I write weekly posts for the FaceBook page of Terlingua Ranch (Terlingua, Texas), and today's post happened to be about the bobcat. This secretive animal deserves some special attention, so it will be the subject for today's letter 'B'.

The Bobcat (Lynx rufus) is found throughout the North American continent and their habitat ranges from forests to deserts. This wild cat is closely related to the larger Canadian lynx (Lynx canadensis). Both of these wild cats evolved from a common ancestor, the Eurasian lynx, which crossed the Bering Land Bridge into northern Canada from Asia approximately 2.6 million years ago. The first wave of the Eurasian lynx migrated into southern North America, which was soon cut off from the north by glaciers. This population evolved into modern bobcats around 20,000 years ago. Later migrations from Asia settled in the northern areas and developed into the Canadian lynx.

Most taxonomists do not readily accept the proposed 12 subspecies of the bobcat because their division is roughly based on geographical regions that do not have clear breaks. The only cited differences between the subspecies are general size and coloration, and even these features have blurred boundaries. The larger species members range in eastern Canada and New England, and the smaller are often found in the southeast states, such as Florida. Bobcats inhabiting the forests tend to be darker than those found in the deserts. Then again, a wide divergence exists between sizes of the sexes depending on their location. So it appears that the bobcat is readily adaptable to their immediate environment and habitat.

The bobcat is roughly twice as big as the average housecat. The adult varies from 19 to 49 inch long from the head to the base of the tail, averaging 33 in.  The stubby ‘bobbed’ tail, from which the animal derives its name, adds another 3.5 to 8 inches. An adult measures about 12 to 24 inches tall at the shoulders. The male weighs an average of 21 lbs, but have been reported up to 40 lb. The female averages about 15 lbs with a few weighing in at 34 lb.

Movement of the bobcat depends on the habits of their prey. Typically they hunt during dusk until midnight and dawn hours. An animal’s range size can vary from 8-126 square miles, dictated by season, food and mate availability. They tend to follow alongside roads and in trails, moving 2-7 miles within their habitual route and are usually secretive.

Bobcats are solitary hunters. In southern regions, rabbits, hares and small rodents are the primary food source. Like the coyote, the bobcat is an opportunistic predator that, unlike the more specialized Canadian lynx, will readily vary its prey selection. They will also scavenge kill from other animals. Coyotes also compete with bobcats for food, since they both eat the same prey species.

Here in Texas, bobcat breeding season usually begins in February and the young are born about fifty days later in dens located in caves and crevices. Litter size varies from two to seven, but two is most common. Kittens are weaned when they are about two months old and remain with their mother until early fall, when they move out on their own.

Tracks of the bobcat resemble the cougar, but can easily be extinguished based on size. Like all felines, bobcat tracks show four toes without claw marks. They range in size from 1 to 3 inches wide with the average about 1.8 inches. Additionally, their tracks are larger (by ½ to 1”) than those of house and feral cats. Like most wild cats, the bobcat 'directly registers', meaning its hind tracks usually fall exactly on top of its fore tracks. Also, their front feet are larger than their hind feet.

If you see a bobcat, they are probably more scared of you than you of it. Regardless, leave them alone and feel lucky that you spotted one.

A-Z Blogging: A is for Adaptation

Adapt or.... do what? That's a good question. We know that one of the primary drivers of success and evolution in biology is adaptation. A living cell or organism that is able to change due to altered external conditions, such as pH, moisture levels, temperature, or to change their shape, has a better chance of surviving a wider range of conditions than ones that do not. This ability is often called 'plasticity' in the science community. Organisms that have greater plasticity within a range of conditions adapt easier and quicker. Those that can't adapt may die.

Extending this to cognition and learning, there's more bang per buck in the 'A' department. Think of a Triple-A Club: Assimilation, Accommodation and Adaptation. A Swiss biologist and psychologist, Jean Piaget, developed a fundamental theory for cognitive development in children, and which has then served as a general theory for learning, cognitive function and psychology. After all, we don't stop learning after reaching adulthood, although many adults are less adaptive to change.

Briefly, assimilation of new information into previously existing structures or schema coincides with accommodation, the formation of new mental structures when new information does not fit into existing structures in the mind. The mind's natural tendency then is to organize information into related, interconnected structures, where the most basic structure is the scheme.

For example, a person encounters a geco for the first time and incorporates that into his or her existing schema for "lizards". When the adult meets a rattlesnake  for the first time and learns that it is different from "lizards," he or she must create new representation for "snakes."

Thus, the internal world has to accommodate itself to the external evidence that it confronts and adjust to it. Or, in our principle 'A' word, it has to adapt. And we know that for adults, that can sometimes be a difficult and painful process.

For children, this process is much less painful because they are somewhat 'blank slates'. Assimilation and accommodation in young children is similar to writing new sentences on a brand new chalkboard. On the other hand, adults have dirty and cluttered blackboards on which information is often etched or imprinted with thick crayons and all of which complicates accommodation of new information. Adults take in new information or experiences and incorporate them into existing ideas, or change existing ideas based on their assimilation and accommodation of new information.

Unfortunately, most adults tend to modify new experience or information somewhat to fit in with their preexisting beliefs. Many times, if new information doesn't pigeonhole with preexisting beliefs, that information is discarded. That adult will not likely adapt to changing information and experiences.

Through adaptation, we are able to adopt new behaviors that allow us to cope with change. Apparently, lately in our social and physical worlds modern humans have lost their ability to adapt to new ideas and changes in our worlds. Perhaps that is why our behavior has degenerated to worse than children. Perhaps we can use the excuse of domesticated dogs, for which some biologists claim as the 'arrested juvenile state' of their ancestors, the wolf.

Perhaps that is why we humans have such a fear and hatred of wolves. We and they are less likely to adapt to changing environments and social upheaval like the coyote, who are very adaptable.

The coyote are the Tricksters; we can learn from them. ;)

Voracious Worm Evolves to Eat Biotech Corn Engineered to Kill It

Voracious Worm Evolves to Eat Biotech Corn Engineered to Kill It - Wired Science

Any scientist that pays attention to evolution should know this would happen. But I suppose that this isn't well accepted by industry and/or farmers.

"After years of predicting it would happen — and after years of having their suggestions largely ignored by companies, farmers and regulators — scientists have documented the rapid evolution of corn rootworms that are resistant to Bt corn."

As one evolutionary ecologist commented, "this is yet further confirmation of Malcolm’s Law." (great video clip ;) )

A friend asked me in response to this, “Evolve or adapt? Is this a new species? Has its DNA changed?”

My response was as follows:

Very good question! The short answer is: Yes to both evolve and adapt. No, these resistant insects are not a new species.  To explain in detail would require a long discussion because it is a complex subject. But I'll see if I can adequately summarize.

Evolution and adaptation are not mutually exclusive. Not all adaptations result in one species evolving into a new species. On the other hand, the first and foremost driver of evolution, and therefore part of the process of evolution, is adaptation. The important factor is the degree and expanse of adaptation.

Resistance may be defined as “a heritable change in the sensitivity of a pest population that is reflected in the repeated failure of a product [including GMO plants] to achieve the expected level of control when used according to the label recommendation for that pest species.” Cross-resistance occurs when resistance to one insecticide confers resistance to another insecticide, even where the insect has not been exposed to a different insecticide.

Because insect populations are usually large in size and they breed quickly, there is always a risk that insecticide resistance may evolve, especially when insecticides are misused or overused. In reference to the scenario of the corn rootworm, these animals have evolved the ability to resist mortality from the toxins that are genetically incorporated into the corn plants and which confers the plants’ abilities to repel insects that feed on them, or have potential to feed on them.

Resistance can be acquired in several ways, depending on the interacting organisms. You may have heard about the increased and widespread resistance of bacteria to antibiotics, especially Staphylococcus and the mycobacteria that cause tuberculosis.  Bacteria acquire resistance very quickly because they are single-celled organisms, increase rapidly in population, and they readily evolve, including changes in their DNA via horizontal gene transmission (whereby genes from one organism are laterally transferred to another without traditional reproduction). This is a very basic tool in most biologicaland molecular labs. However, with higher organisms, this all becomes more complicated.

Insects are the second most rapidly evolving organisms, especially in their resistance to pesticides and other toxins. And they have evolved several mechanisms of acquiring that resistance.

1. Metabolic resistance: This is when resistant insects alter or destroy the toxin faster than susceptible insects, or quickly rid their bodies of the toxic molecules before it can reach its site of action (humans possess many of these same enzymes for the same purpose, such as cytochrome p450). Resistant insects may have higher levels or more efficient forms of such enzymes. Additionally, these enzymes may have broader spectrum of activity conferring detoxification of many different insecticides. Metabolic resistance is the most common mechanism and often presents the greatest challenge.
   
   
2. Target-site resistance: In this form of resistance the insect accommodates the chemical by altering one or more physiological functions. This may involve reduced neuronal sensitivity to insecticides, altered sensitivity by other enzymes and systems, even decreased penetration of the insecticide through the body wall, and increased excretion or sequestration of insecticide preventing it from reaching the site of action.
   
   
3. Behavioral resistance: This involves changes in behavior by which insects avoid insecticides. Resistant insects may detect or recognize a danger and avoid the toxin. Changes in behavior and subsequent resistance have been reported for several classes of insecticides. Insects may simply stop feeding if they come across certain insecticides, or leave the area where the toxin is present.

Two events greatly influence pesticide resistance: dosage and time. Continued applications over time can induce resistance to the insecticide and the resistant pests become increasingly difficult to control at the labeled rate and frequency. This in turn often leads to more frequent applications of the insecticide. The intensity of the resistance and the frequency of insecticide-resistant individuals in the population both increase further and problems of control continue to worsen as yet more product is applied. This can also equate with monoculture of a genetically modified crop containing a gene for toxins targeted at a pest, especially when the same GMO crop is plantedrepeatedly in successive years.

What the researchers in this study with the corn rootworm discovered is that the dosage of the toxin in the GMO plants (aka the expression of the gene that enables production of the toxin in the corn) was below the level where a large percentage of the population is killed. This is called a ‘low-dose event’. Consequently, the surviving population was able to exponentially increase their progeny that carry resistance. A resistant population was at high levels within three generations of these insects.

Another discovery was that in the resistant population, the genes that confer their resistance were not recessive. What that means is that even if many of the resistant insects mated with others outside of the range of the GMO crop, aka non-resistant insects, their progeny would still inherit the resistance from their resistant parents. (I won’t go into pre-adaptation resistance)

When resistance begins to show in crops, managers often switch to another pesticide if one is available.  To reduce acquisition of resistance by insects, another gene from Bt bacteria (which is the original source bacteria for all these Bt GMO transgenics) was inserted into another strain of corn. This strain of corn carries a gene for higher expression of the toxin (‘high-dose event’), to which the insects are more susceptible with higher mortality rate. However, those insects that already had resistance to the low-dose event strain of GMO corn were also more resistant to the high-dose strain of corn, which then compounded their total resistance.

The genetics of the heritable resistance traits and the intensive and repeated presence of the GMO crop containing the Bt toxin together are responsible for
the rapid build-up of resistance in the insects. I cannot answer your last question asking if the DNA of the insects has changed. The authors of this study on the corn rootworm did not (from my initial perusal of the published paper) examine changes in their DNA. They did, however, discover that the transcription of several genes has changed. What this means is that there are changes in how the DNA is expressed, resulting in increased levels of enzymes or other proteins that are coded by DNA. This could suggest changes in some of their DNA, including epigenetics, for genes that control how other genes are expressed. Also, horizontal gene transfer from plant chemicals and insecticides has been documented (published in 2013) in predatory mites (feeding on plants), but apparently the authors did not investigate this.

Speciation and taxonomical classification of species is considerably dependent on morphological differentiation and changes between closely related organisms. These resistant rootworms have not changed their appearances and bodily structures; only their metabolism (and possibly their target sites) and, less so, their behavior. This is why the answer to your question regarding a new species is negative.

I hope this answers your questions.

Science blogging community makes contact with the outside world | The Science Web

Science blogging community makes contact with the outside world | The Science Web


Satire, but there is some truth in this.

"From what we know so far, it appears that this group have been writing and commenting on blogs that are only read by other science bloggers. It is believed that around 80% of science blogs are actually blogs about other blogs."

Why Scientists Should Read Non-science Literature

Excellent blog post (10 Reasons Why Young Scientists Should Read (non-scientific) Literature) written by student Amy Wray in a research lab (Josh Drew -Ecology, Evolution and Conservation of Coral Reefs) at Columbia University on why scientists should read non-science literature. I wholly agree and approve. Except for one statement:

"There are many reasons why everyone should read literature, but I believe that young scientists in particular can benefit greatly from engaging with literary texts."

 Her suggestions apply to ALL scientists, young and old(er).

Remember this:

 “The best thing about being a scientist is you never have to grow up.” -Neil deGrasse Tyson

Who are we really?

Alan Watts wrote in 1966 (1):

..the prevalent sensation of oneself as a separate ego enclosed in a bag of skin is a hallucination which accords neither with Western science nor with the experimental philosophy-religions of the East..

Here is a source of confrontation I (and some others) have had with modern science since beginning my studies:

"....our attention — which has been aptly called “an intentional, unapologetic discriminator” — works by dividing the world up into processable parts, then stringing those together into a pixelated collage of separates which we then accept as a realistic representation of the whole that was there in the first place." (2)

Alan Watts wrote:

Attention is narrowed perception. It is a way of looking at life bit by bit, using memory to string the bits together — as when examining a dark room with a flashlight having a very narrow beam. Perception thus narrowed has the advantage of being sharp and bright, but it has to focus on one area of the world after another, and one feature after another. And where there are no features, only space or uniform surfaces, it somehow gets bored and searches about for more features. Attention is therefore something like a scanning mechanism in radar or television. . . . But a scanning process that observes the world bit by bit soon persuades its user that the world is a great collection of bits, and these he calls separate things or events. We often say that you can only think of one thing at a time. The truth is that in looking at the world bit by bit we convince ourselves that it consists of separate things, and so give ourselves the problem of how these things are connected and how they cause and effect each other. The problem would never have arisen if we had been aware that it was just our way of looking at the world which had chopped it up into separate bits, things, events, causes, and effects. (1)

But this is the way we are trained from birth. Dissect, tear apart, and stuff all the pieces in boxes, unable to see and grasp all that ties everything together. I remember experiencing how hard this is to unlearn when I was taught tracking in my early 20's by a Native American. Who always shook his head and wondered aloud how Europeans and their descendents ever survived, and only so because of technological invention. For which we pay the price of losing our ability to 'see' and thus continue falling down into our own holes that we dig ourselves into.

"....And therein lies the crux of our human struggle" (3):

The real reason why human life can be so utterly exasperating and frustrating is not because there are facts called death, pain, fear, or hunger. The madness of the thing is that when such facts are present, we circle, buzz, writhe, and whirl, trying to get the “I” out of the experience. We pretend that we are amoebas, and try to protect ourselves from life by splitting in two. Sanity, wholeness, and integration lie in the realization that we are not divided, that man and his present experience are one, and that no separate “I” or mind can be found.

To understand music, you must listen to it. But so long as you are thinking, “I am listening to this music,” you are not listening.

The last, I was taught by my father.

These are the foundations of Zen, of meditation, of phenomenology, of tracking, of being present in the world. Of really being alive.


(1) Excerpt from The Ego and the Universe: Alan Watts on Becoming Who You Really Are, by Maria Popova and the website, "brainpickings". 
(2) Quote from: The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are (1966), by Alan Watts.
(3) Excerpt from An Antidote to the Age of Anxiety: Alan Watts on Happiness and How to Live with Presence, by Maria Popova. Quote by Alan Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety (1951).

Push, pull and grin

After nearly a six year hiatus I hit the weights. And I found myself as my own client. "Slow, and with purpose."  "Concentrate on every millimeter of movement." "Push/pull equally; don't get sloppy."

As a personal trainer with a background in physiology and kinesiology, most of my clients were older or with 'special needs' (post-physical therapy, athletes, etc). I provided instruction, demonstration, supervision, education, and discipline. Although I was a powerlifter, I did not train my clients as one, except for one client that was also a competitive powerlifter. Each person is different and requires their own tailored program. Now I am my own client; older and with special needs.

With an accumulation of broken bones (both ankles and pelvis), permanently dislocated collar bone, herniated disks, arthritis, old sprains, and muscle loss, my younger trainer self stands in front of me reminding me how to move with purpose and concentration, with focus, and with cues. "Place finger on your left abdominal muscles to feel recruitment." ( a form of biofeedback) "Push evenly with both legs, slower on the descent, concentrate on that left quad." (Old nerve impingement) "Arms and hands level with shoulders and keep those shoulders back against that pad!" (Avoid pronation of shoulders) "Yes, ma'am'" I found myself saying. 

I can feel the stress and stimulation in my muscles and joints. 'Remember this, you tissues?' I can also feel increased circulation in my low back joints. The chronic pain has been subdued. But I know what is coming tomorrow: DOMS (delayed-onset muscle soreness). And I'll do a light whole body set, stretch to reduce the soreness (repeated bout effect). And repeat in days to come. I'm on a roll, one I should never have stopped.

It feels good to be home inside me again.

Bears in wolf clothing

Reported in May 23' 2013' issue of Nature journal:

Hot topic, scalding hot, is the observed decrease in elk population in Yellowstone Nation Park. "It's those damned wolves!!!" Wolves, the ancient scapegoat for everything. Let's look underneath the wolf clothing.

In an attempt to 'reclaim' the trout population in the park lakes, 'humans' (clarification of which humans are not mentioned in the report) restocked the lakes with lake trout. Instead of the native trout. A detail missing from the original ecological assessment was that the lake trout spawn on the bottom of the lakes, unlike the natives, which do not. The introduced non-native fish are unable to be harvested by grizzly bears. Since fish are a major dietary source for grizzlies, the bears look for alternative food sources. Elk calves.

A research team in Wyoming estimated that this dietary shift accounts for as much as 11 percent reduction in the elk population, even elk that winter outside the park. "The decline of these elk is often blamed, perhaps erroneously, on the reintroduction of wolves."

But we do so love our scapegoats, don't we?

Which came first: obese chicken or its obese microflora?

Which came first: The obese chicken or its obese microbiota? « Nothing in Biology Makes Sense!

Good summary of a recently published paper on how our gut microflora influences metabolism of the entire organism. Most people tend to think of the gut simply as a container to periodically fill and empty. Only until recent years has science demonstrated that our gut is an organ actively involved in our entire physiology, including communication with the brain and immune system. In fact, just as our body fat is an endocrine organ, the gut is also involved in our endocrine system, including inflammation.

While we consciously or subconsciously interact with thousands of environment components on a daily basis, our gut contains another environment, the microflora, which interacts in ways we are unaware of. Part of that is comprised of what we swallow, sometimes microbes that hitch a ride on food we eat or drink. But that is why we have such a complex environment inside our gut. Hordes of 'good' bacteria often battle with 'bad' bacteria, and sometimes the latter may win. We usually become aware of those battle victories. Others are minor skirmishes that go unnoticed.

It is the chronic battles that alert the big army of our defenses, the immune system. And when the balance is continually upset, the rest of the body responds and other systems may malfunction.

Although epidemiological studies have suggested that some enteric bacteria are associated with obesity and chronic inflammation, the authors of this study demonstrated that a specific bacteria strain causes obesity. (Remember that association is not proof of causation.) However, a limitation of this study is the model: gnotobiotic (aka germ-free) mice. Regardless, it is a logical progression from in vitro models to study interactions of the gut microflora and metabolism. But we have more work to do on this.

My comments submitted on the website's post:

Gnotobiotic studies have their limitations despite that they are a logical progression from in vitro studies and isolate otherwise complex immune and intestinal interactions. Gnotobiotic animals typically have immune systems and intestinal walls that are under-developed. Also, all the food must be antigen free, which is difficult to achieve. Often, secondary infections can rapidly kill off an entire gnotobiotic colony or mask effects of controlled dietary variables. In our experience with gnotobiotic pigs (which are more relevant to human nutrition and gut microflora), administered probiotics had no effect on morbidity when challenged by a single-strain pathogen, whereas pigs in conventional state (non-gnotobiotic conditions) fared significantly better. Animals in a germ-free environment do not fully represent their counterparts in a conventional environment, and variables in studies with gnotobiotic animals must be strictly controlled (and are very expensive).

I found it interesting that in neither the paper or the supplementary information was provided the specific ingredients of the ‘WTP’ diet except for the major nutrient composition. ‘Chinese medicinal medicine’? ‘Prebiotics’? As a reviewer, I would have requested this information be more specific.

Academic Assholiness

"As we talked we started to wonder: do you get further in academia if you are a jerk?"

A recent blog post, Academic assholes and the circle of niceness, on the Thesis Whisperer examines the increasing trend of academic snobbery, arrogance, and, aptly termed, 'assholiness'.

Some people ask me why I retired early from academia. Depending on the inquirer, my responses range from "It was just time to do so," to a rant on the trend of academic assholiness.

During the last nine years at a large self-inflated university that trend has increased, and, in fact, has been selected for, intentionally or not. After being recruited for a research position there, I was genuinely excited and passionate about my work. Over the next nine years of experience and observations in two departments, that dwindled to waking up every weekday morning and forcing myself to go through the motions. The last two years were simply a job while I prepared to walk away from the Academic Empire.

This is not the only university in which I have observed and experienced Academic Assholiness. Nor have I been close-mouthed about specific examples like many others that endure it and trudge on. My grievances were nodded at, checked off and ignored. I watched with anger as a research lab manager fought for her job with a lawsuit because a department head covertly attempted to have her fired. In this case, it was a prompted by an illness resulting from unhealthy environmental conditions in the department. This was an ongoing complaint by several staff and researchers over several years, but was repeatedly ignored.

Another example was a research scientist that continuously discriminated against gender and race of staff and graduate students in his laboratory. Grievances related to this individual were overtly ignored. Additionally, an academic scientist nearly destroyed the career of a young and brilliant scientist because of a personal dislike for her national affiliation and origin. And another scientist who intentionally recruited foreign graduate students to demand unreasonably long working hours, even threatening their educational and visa status if they complained. Then there's the junior scientist who feels that unrelenting humiliation of graduate and undergraduate students during their seminars or presentations elevates his own academic standing. And, lastly, the arrogant yelling at janitorial and service staff as if they were kicking a dog, or, mostly, their prevalent treatment of them as the Invisibles and Untouchables.

Finally, there is the Nobel Prize researchers recruited and installed in university departments at the expense -their research space and equipment- of other well-established and equally successful (without the NP recognition) academics, and whose snobbery and academic arrogance is overlooked and even smiled upon by university administration.

These are members of the increasing species of Academia assholiata that I see rapidly evolving in our social environment. I could continue with examples from 28 years in academic halls and three universities. Only one of these institutions, a small university, had a credible and effective process for grievances. The other two institutions had sham committees. Speaking openly meant being blacklisted. In the past four years I have seen too many young and bright scientists leave academia, and am now seeing a flood of older scientists flee, some jaded and bitter.I left last year without looking back.

I am heartened and pleased to see more public discourse like this post on these issues, and I encourage others in all levels of academia to be more outspoken.

KcD Studios: senior thesis

KcD Studios: senior thesis

 A brilliant idea and wonderful artistic imaginative renditions. A great idea to incorporate into teaching chemistry!

Visit Kacie's website and blog to see more artistic renditions of the periodic elements.

Treat obesity as physiology, not physics : Nature News & Comment

I find it sadly amusing that we still strive to reduce the obesity/diabetes problem down to one cause. As if reality and the world were binary: either/or. Instead of a very complex and dynamic network of factors involved with obesity and associated diseases. Until a human being is viewed holistically as a dynamic organism that responds to its intrinsic and extrinsic environment, and that the process to a state of obesity and diabetes is multifactorial, we will continue to blunder along as if blindfolded.


Treat obesity as physiology, not physics : Nature News & Comment

Precious Proteins

There I was; leading a small team of scientists to save these precious proteins for the world. For the future. Ice cream proteins. We had two of these rare proteins that expressed smooth, creamy, flavorful ice cream. And recovered another from an evil group of industrial men. It had been stolen from a collaborator; this one expressed rich butterscotch ice cream.

I had hidden these proteins in a house. But as the private industry group of men were surrounding us, I distributed the three precious proteins to three individuals in our small group (one looked like Albert Einstein). And told them to run. Run, hide; don't let ourselves, and the proteins be caught. Faint, punt, divert those bad men away from each of us. Don't listen to their pleas and lies.

We must preserve and keep these proteins safe. Safe for all to access in the future. Without modifications, without capitalization; free for all mankind. 'Run, and protect them with your lives.' For these are the keys to the Perfect Ice Cream. RUN!!!!

Then there was a small party outside, a gathering of friends to share food and music. Graeme playing guitar (I didn't think he had a music bone in his body), a girl with short blond hair and fine voice, and I thank John and Tracy for coming all the way from Indiana to play bass and share in the celebration. Of ice cream.

Full moon triggers wild and vivid dreams at night.

To mouse, or not to mouse. What is the question?

After many years in medical and veterinary biology and pathology, I always questioned the (rather blind) reliance on the mouse model by modern science. I was glad to see I am not the only one.

Sometimes, there is a 800-pound silverback gorilla in the room and he is 'invisible'. This article exposes the gorilla and shows that the problem animal is not the gorilla but in fact a big fat rodent! An often overlooked aspect of research studies using rodents is that these animals tend to be sedentary, mentally stagnant and overfed. This life style results in obesity and a range of consequent pathologies, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, accelerated neurodegeneration and renal failure. This article details the fact that animals in such an unhealthy state do not qualify as appropriate research models for anything other than the study of 'couch potatoes'. 

This is a major wake-up call for the research community and easily addressed by portioned feeding of laboratory rodents and by putting a running wheel in their cages.

Citation: Shelley C, Marshansky V: "Sometimes, there is a 800-pound silverback gorilla in the room and he is..."  Evaluation of: [Martin B et al. "Control" laboratory rodents are metabolically morbid: why it matters. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Apr 6; 107(14):6127-33; 

doi: 10.1073/pnas.0912955107]. 

Faculty of 1000, 22 Jul 2010. F1000.com/3078978