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Monday, December 23, 2002
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Timothy Wilken, MD writes: Today, mind and brain scientists have made enormous progress in understanding how the human brain works. There has been many surprises in these recent advances. But the biggest shocker is that the brain doesn't decide what to do. Decision making is not controlled centrally in the brain. The mind-brain appears to act as a coordination and consensus system for all the cells, tissues, and organs in the body. The brain doesn't decide to eat. The cells of the body decide to eat, the brain coordinates their activity and carries out the consensus will. Our human brain stores the gathered information from the body's sensing of its environment, the brain presents opportunities for action reflective of both the sensing of environment and the needs and goals of the 40,000,000,000,000 cells it serves. The brain is not the leader of the body, it is the follower of the body. It is a system that matches needs in the body with its sensing of opportunities to meet these needs by action within the environment. The brain is a 'government' that truly serves its constituents– the cells, tissues, and organs that make up the human body. The apparent " I " is not real. It is really a " We ". ... If the human body can using unanimous rule democracy and synergic consensus can organize and coordinate the actions of 40 trillion cells so totally that we identify the whole organism as a single individual, then we humans should be able to use these same mechanisms to organize our species and solve our human problems. (12/13/02) | |
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Robert Michael Pyle writes: Our concern for the absolute extinction of species is highly appropriate. As our partners in Earth's enterprise drop out, we find ourselves lonelier, less sure of our ability to hold together the tattered business of life. Every effort to prevent further losses is worthwhile, no matter how disruptive, for diversity is its own reward. But outright extinction is not the only problem. By concentrating on the truly rare and endangered plants and animals, conservationists often neglect another form of loss that can have striking consequences: the local extinction. Local extinctions matter for at least three major reasons. First, evolutionary biologists believe that natural selection operates intensely on "edge" populations. This means that the cutting edge of evolution can be the extremities of a species' range rather than the center, where it is more numerous. The protection of marginal populations therefore becomes important. Local extinctions commonly occur on the edges, depriving species of this important opportunity for adaptive change. ... The number of people living with little hint of nature in their lives is very large and growing. This isn't good for us. If the penalty of an ecological education is to live in a world of wounds, as Aldo Leopold said, then green spaces like these are the bandages and the balm. And if the penalty of ecological ignorance is still more wounds, then the unschooled need them even more. To gain the solace of nature, we all must connect deeply. Few ever do. In the long run, this mass estrangement from things natural bodes ill for the care of the Earth. If we are to forge new links to the land, we must resist the extinction of experience. We must save not only the wilderness but the vacant lots, the ditches as well as the canyon-lands, and the woodlots along with the old growth. We must become believers in the world. (12/23/02) | |
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National Geographic -- A recent National Geographic survey on geographic literacy in a variety of countries produced the following results: Among 18 - to 24-year-old Americans --87% couldn't find Iraq on a map --70% couldn't find New Jersey --11% couldn't find the U.S. National Geographic is committed to making sure the next generation of young adults is better prepared to be informed citizens and responsible stewards of the planet. (12/23/02) | |
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GreenBiz.com -- Stanford University has unveiled an unprecedented approach to addressing one of the world's most challenging energy and environmental issues. The Global Climate and Energy Project (G-CEP) is an alliance of scientific researchers and leading companies in the private sector. Stanford University, as manager of the Project, will identify preeminent scientific researchers from around the world who will work with the private sector sponsors to conduct research into low greenhouse gas emission energy technologies of the future. (12/23/02) | |
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Time Magazine -- Here is a complete list of the best of the best. Arranged in categories such as "Transit and Talk," "Home & Safety," "Robots & Tech," each item gets its moment in the sun. (12/23/02)
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Washington Post -- Israel has stepped up preparations for a possible U.S. war against Iraq, scheduling joint exercises with U.S. forces and gas mask lessons for schoolchildren, Israeli officials said on Sunday. Israeli media reported Israel would go on high alert from January 15 in anticipation that hostilities would erupt in the Gulf some time between January 27 and February 26. The Defense Ministry would not confirm the date, but said Israeli security forces have been preparing for a possible Iraqi attack. Israel is concerned that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein will respond to any U.S. strike by launching missiles armed with chemical or biological warheads against the Jewish state which has been fighting a Palestinian uprising since September 2000. Some 1,000 U.S. troops are expected in Israel this week for an exercise involving U.S.-made Patriot missiles, which were largely ineffective in intercepting the 39 Scud missiles that Iraq fired at the Jewish state in the 1991 Gulf War. The Patriot has since been upgraded and Israel has developed and deployed the Arrow anti-missile system, designed to intercept Scuds at a higher altitude. Asked about the U.S.-Israeli military exercise, Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said it was being held "in preparation of any possibility of war." (12/23/02) | |
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New York Times -- Developers of Ahmanson Ranch, a planned minicity on the border of Los Angeles County, cleared a significant hurdle today when the Ventura County Board of Supervisors approved an environmental report necessary to start construction. After 20 hours of testimony, much of it devoted to concerns about the toxic chemical perchlorate in well water near the project ... The concentrations of perchlorate, which is associated with developmental delays in infants and children and thyroid issues in adults, were 28 times higher than standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency. ... Although the vote brings the 3,050-house development, which has been confronting challenges for 10 years, a step closer to reality, Washington Mutual, the developer, still faces significant challenges. (12/23/02) | |
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New York Times: Environment -- The Bush administration said today that it wanted to drop a Clinton-era proposal to reduce pollution runoff into rivers, lakes and streams. The Environmental Protection Agency said the program, offered in mid-2000 but blocked by Congress, was unworkable. It would have required states to prepare detailed plans for reducing runoff from storm water and agriculture. State and local officials criticized it as too expensive and inflexible. ... The agency said in September that more than one-third of surveyed rivers and half of all lakes and estuaries were too polluted for swimming or fishing. (12/23/01) | |
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Why has Aldo Leopold had so much influence on the environmental movement, and why has his slender book of essays, A Sand County Almanac, become, in the words of Wallace Stegner, "almost a holy book in conservation circles"? Perhaps because Leopold was a scientist, poet and philosopher, three gifts rarely found in one individual. As a scientist, he spoke with experience and authority. His way with words enabled him to communicate memorably with nonscientists. And he could not help but consider the philosophical and ethical implications of ecology. (12/22/02) | |
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There is one Christmas Carol that has always baffled me. What in the world do leaping lords French hens, swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won't come out of the pear tree have to do with Christmas? (12/22/02) | |
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Washington Post -- President Bush received a smallpox vaccination Saturday, fulfilling a promise he made when he ordered inoculations for about a half-million U.S. troops. ..."As commander in chief, I do not believe I can ask others to accept this risk unless I am willing to do the same." (12/21/02) | |
1:50:28 AM 
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© TrustMark
2003
Timothy Wilken.
Last update:
1/1/2003; 4:07:07 AM.
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