Category Archives: Biology

Dogs Playing Matchmaker

Dog’s have a sense of smell approximately 10,000 – 100,000 times more sensitive than ours. A recent episode of NOVA went in to detail about just how acute these canine molecular detectors can be. Dogs are now helping to detect cancer as well.

Superior smell, but ok vision

This all makes sense when you look at things on a molecular scale. In some ways, our bodies are like the car you take to the emission inspection. The health of your body, like your car’s engine, can be assessed by it’s emissions. When it comes to reproduction, “health”, can be a relative term. Certain individuals mate more healthily with some, than with others. Human pheromones are said to communicate this information between prospective lovers.

It stands to reason, if a dog can smell illnesses like cancer, it can smell human pheromones. Given the right training, it may be possible to ask a dog to sniff out your best reproductive partner from a crowd. Of course ideal genetic compatibility probably does not ensure emotional compatibility…but who knows..maybe it does.

Norton Anti Virus for Humans

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Have you ever noticed how your computer gets slower over time? Those of you with Macs are probably less likely to know what I am talking about. But you Windows users who frequently surf the web understand.

The internet and our computers have become complex ecosystems of viruses and programs interacting in ways that we cannot predict. Your computer accumulates viruses or other malware by virtue of simply doing day to day activities. Over time these accumulated bits of interacting code (malware and programs) start to slow down your computer. Like an aging mind. What if the aging process is a result of a biological equivalent of the over accumulation of “programs” and “malware”?

Over the course of our evolution, our DNA and our Microbiomes may have accumulated opportunistic life-like processes (some life forms too) that cause us to age. I don’t want to limit it to life forms as we know it because there are some biological processes and interactions that are somewhat life-like, but not exactly alive.

Human Microbiome

Unlike a computer, our operating system is not so easily hacked. Hence, it takes generations for other life processes to cozy up to a larger organism like us and integrate. The end result is the same. A gradual overload/decline of/in the system. Maybe we can develop some sort of a biological “Norton Antivirus” that goes in and removes the harmful life processes that cause us to age.

Intelligence as a Repeating Fractile Pattern at Different Scales

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I recently wrote a blog post “A Brain the Size of the Universe”. It got me thinking about fractals, a different kind of repeating pattern at different scales.

The interesting characteristic of a fractal is that it repeats a similar pattern over and over at different scales. As you zoom in or out, the pattern repeats itself. This video demonstrates the effect.

Fractals are a fundamental way that nature seems to organize itself. Fractals are every where we look.

Trees Grow in a Fractal Pattern

Leaves Have a Fractal Pattern

Sea Shells Have a Fractal Pattern

Coastlines Can Be Measured More Accurately Using Fractal Mathematics

Our Lungs and Blood Vessels Are Laid Out in a Fractal Pattern

Since fractals seem to be so fundamental to the way the natural universe works, it is reasonable to wonder if we ourselves are within a larger pattern. Is it possible that we live in an infinite continuum where there is no limit to how large things are and no limit to how small things are? Like in the video above, there is no beginning and there is no end to how large or small existence can be.

Maybe intelligence itself is a repeating pattern or outcome at different scales. A brain the size of the universe, a brain the size of ours and a brain smaller than a quark…and so on down, or up, the line it would go. Maybe intelligent life in the universe is not only separated by distance, it’s also separated by scale. Or maybe it’s only separated by scale and we are the only thinking beings to inhabit this particular scale of existence.

Smell-O-Vision (4D TV) Coming to You Soon

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Smell-O-Vision will soon be a reality. You will be able to smell what is going on in your favorite movie or television show. Some refer to this phenomenon as “4D” since it adds another dimension to the 3D experience currently available.

Imagine watching TV at home and a commercial for McDonald’s comes on. You may be able to actually smell the Big Mac and fries. Or you may be watching Downton Abbey and catch a whiff of Lady Grantham’s perfume accompanied by a convenient button on the side of the screen that allows you to order her scent.

The Scent of Elegance

This new dimension in entertainment will remake and create industries. Especially once 4D TV makes it’s way in to a significant number of households. The perfume and cologne industry have much to gain from 4D. Food and dining establishments could also use this technology to promote their products. But what about the more subtle influences and uses of 4D TV?

Smell is a direct path to the emotional center of our minds. A familiar smell can spark an intense memory. A disgusting scent can cause instant dislike.

Smell Connects Directly to Emotion in the Brain

What would it be like to watch The President speak on TV and occasionally smell his after shave? That’s an endorsement Gillete might like to have! Or what if a political candidate decided to pipe in the smell of apple pie into your living room as you watched his speech? How might that effect the way you perceive that person? On the dark side of things, what if CNN brought you the smell of war and it’s aftermath? That memory might stick with you for quite some time.

In elementary school I did a science project that explored the link between scent and taste. I will never forget how participants in the project could be induced into having taste hallucinations simply by introducing a smell while they were eating. Smell has a big influence on how many of us perceive the world. The power of smell should not be underestimated.

Do Soul Particles Exist?

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I was recently emailing a friend and she presented a fascinating two part question to me. She asked;

A) “Do soul particles exist? Kinda like undetected dark matter. Might explain why folks feel spiritual/religious connections not yet “proven” by science and..”

B) “Assuming there are invisible soul particles, isn’t it conceivable that they’d be recycled. So someone’s soul may consist of a combination of prior souls. A soul that’s part Martin Luther King, Amelia Earhart and part homeless Indian man. Or even better: Martin Luther King, Amelia Earhart and wise African elephant.”

Soul Particles

When I read the question, my imagination started running with the idea….here is what I speculated.

Yes there are soul particles. They linger about in clusters. Sort of like dust storms. Like dust storms, each individual dust particle is in close proximity to the other. That’s the definition of a “storm/cloud”…a bunch of particles blowing around close to each other. One of the differences between a conventional dust cloud and a soul particle cloud is the dimension in which they are close. Dust clouds work in 3 dimensions. The way we know things in every day life. The soul particle clouds work in a 4th dimension. Or some sort of an equivalent. For example, one particle could be in China and another in Norway. They are far apart in 3 dimensional space. But in 4 dimensional space they could be side by side.

Soul particles are generated by, and also attracted to, the quantum effects in neural tissues. Quantum effects in the neural tissue are the result of electrical activity in the brain. The electrical activity and it’s patterns are determined by the experience of the person and the way their biology reacts to that experience.

There are probably “funky” type effects too. For example, soul clouds might attract other soul clouds which include clusters of other people. Like how certain types of people tend to get along with other similar types of people. And “converse” relationships like that between victim and predator may exist as well. They seem to find each other too, over and over again.

People can move in and out of soul particle clouds by changing their thinking. That thinking changes the electrical impulses in the brain. Those electrical impulses have quantum effects on the neural tissue. The soul particles interact with those quantum effects. Maybe the quantum effects can also have effects on the thinking. There are probably larger clouds and smaller clouds. Some are easier to move into or out of than others. They can overlap.

And somehow, these soul particles tend to have an influence on events that are not directly connected to human influence. Like weather, luck, environment and the time period in which you are born. And maybe seemingly random experiences like the types of information people happen to find themselves exposed to (for example you walk through a book store and a book catches your eye and changes your life). Funky.