Week 13- Laughter is the Best Medicine

What a great note to end on..yes, laughter could be the best medicine ever. I believe hormone and cortisol levels do change with laughter..I know that even when I change my facial expressions, I begin to feel better..Happy Holidays, Larry!!

Week 13- Stem Cell Therapy

I have always been pro-stem cell therapy. I feel it is better to grow these stem cells so your body is able to generate whatever it needs to heal:)

Week 13- Wolf Hunt

This situation doesn't seem too balanced..people are killing entire wolf packs for sport..I don't see how this is fair. We are the ones intruding on their territory. Farms have dogs to protect their animals...what is the problem?

Week 12- Child Cancer in Rich Rural Families

I'm not convinced scientists can make a correlation with cancer and rural families. I feel it is important to be exposed to certain things and not live in a bubble, but scientists are not exactly sure what causes cancer, so I do not see how they could make this link. If stress is the link and poor families with a simpler lifestyle seem to have less stress, then maybe that is a link..there is just not enough evidence and information...

Week 12- American Bison

Reintroduction of the American Bison for American Indians seems amazing. With over 42 tribes involved, it seems it would help their spirit and communities. This is in response to the the white man's destruction of over 60 million buffalo. I didn't know we killed their buffalo as well the their people, but that would only make sense. They were able to live without the influence of the white man with all the things....meat, hide, bones..provided by the bison. I hope bringing the bison back will bring back some of their traditions as well as other benefits.

Week 11- End Goals of Social Ecology

end goals of social ecology...gender is created in certain countries by social norms...that is totally true! I never really thought about a social ecology, but it totally makes sense. One decision made by a country affects all other countries. I have seen videos of China killing whales and dolphins..many at once...I know this affects our oceans...Our recent oil spill in the bay...all these things are connected..

Week 11- Ecosystems Strong and Fragile

From what I read, ecosystems are very intricately connected, "like a spider web". Everything is so connected, that losing sand upstream may affect something downstream. One plant or animal going extinct in any ecosystem will affect the lives of other plants and animals in the ecosystem. Everything depends on every other little thing, down to the smallest bug, in any ecosystem.

Week 11- Deep Ecology Platform

I totally agree with this platform...It is sad that the world has come to a point where we actually need these things to be said. From the time Columbus landed, we have gorged ourselves on the land, plants, and animals until there is horrible pollution and we have killed most native plants and people actually in much of the world because their ways do not fit into ours. Many people this day do not accept people of other religions and color, much less respect plants and animals.

Week 8- Academy of Science

So I DID go on the field trip to the Academy of Science, but missed the lecture! I loved the living roof the best! So much wildlife and stars to see! It said that the roof used up 98 or 99% of the raid with no runoff. Seemed pretty cool..The grey whale overhead was pretty amazing, as well..Can't imagine seeing one of those in the wild! The only weird thing was so many dead animals in jars and the live tank with sting rays and sharks. I really wasn't expecting that..I know we need to learn, but I would rather not have to kill things..then again I DO eat meat..it is a hard debate;)

Week 8- Wester Approach HIV/AIDS

HIV is a difficult thing. Trying to keep up your immune system IS important, but it seems the virus is able to mutate so easily. Western's use of anti-retroviral and protease inhibitors seem to be all that there is available.

Week 8- TCM strengthen the immune system

I definitely feel TCM strengthens the immune system. The most important point to me (and the article!) in our medicine, is for the SP/ST to transform food correctly. TCM helps to balance the function of our internal organs. Balancing the ST/SP keeps our energy and immune systems up and ready to fight off disease.

Week 8: Deal Saved the Whales

Very sad that so much land around the world is being bought up, devloped, and destroying wildlife. So, if the Wildcoast and the Natural Resources Defense Council was able speak with the community about selling their land to save these amazing mammals, that is so wonderful. If it kind-of weird that the whales are so tame, they allow you to pet their tongues! I went to the Science museum this past Thursday, where they had the bones of a grey whale hanging, at least 10 meters! I hope this area of the Baja peninsula may be saved, as I would love to someday see these animals in the wild.

Week 7- How sophisticated is our understanding.Cancer

It seems that over the years, we have learned how cells mutate to become cancer cells, but there are still arguments as to why. And, although there IS so much information about cancer, there are so many questions left unanswered. Some scientists think mutation is due to oncogenes, others talk about methyl groups. It seems lifestyle, tobacco use, etc, is a big part of cancer, yet many people experience cancer with having lived a pretty well-balanced life and diet...

Week 7- Genes still Evolving

I don't see why genes would stop evolving. As the article says, they did not just grind to a halt all of the sudden. Our environment continues to change, especially with global warming, and so I'm sure we will continue to evolve, change, skin color and all.

Week 7- TCM Approach to Cancer

As in all things, TCM looks at the overall condition of the body. TCM treats overall organ dysfunction and builds up the body so it may fight the cancer cells instead of focusing only on killing the cancer cells that have already formed. TCM helps control the symptoms while still maintaining some quality of life. I like this and feel TCM has it's place, but we must be aware of when the invasive Western approach may actually save a person's life, or if a more mild TCM approach may be more helpful.

Week 6- Respect in the West

Respect in Western medicine..it depends on who you talk to. Sure we know that Chinese medicine works on the spiritual plane AND the physical plane. It has been proven that it helps with IVF by triggering the production of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone, but science is still a religion. I hope some doctors come to find more of an open mind, but they believe only what they want to believe. One of my patients at school said her doctor "whispered" to her to get acupuncture. He told her that is the only thing that worked for him. What if he were to actually be open about this with other doctors? What a difference that would make...

Week 6- Language and tools in Chimps

Of course Chimps have their own language. Just because we have to study it to understand it doesn't mean they don't have their own words for things..whether that means grunts or sounds or whatever they decide to use. The same goes with tools used by chimps. Of course they use tools..sticks, rocks, reeds to get to termites...they are smart animals

Week 6- The Living and the Dead

At first I may want to say that even a bicycle IS living, as it may continue to rust and turn into other elements. But the difference is that something non-living is made the designer, one of us. Christians may say the designer is God, but I'm talking about one of us human beings right here on earth. A living thing or system is in the structure of the organism and is in the act of always becoming something else.

Week 5- Broccoli and Cancer

Cancer, although it is hard to control, is like most illnesses. It is usually not just one quick fix. Preventing cancer is a balance of stress, your lifestyle, including what you eat, breath, do, including exercise, and what you think about all day. It is nice to know what veggies have more of these anti-cancer qualities and to have an emphasis on green veggies, as we talked about in class, but everyone's body is so different. Although we know the basics, who knows how different bodies work to metabolize different foods to fight disease and transform that food into the energy that person needs.

Week 5- Chicken or the Egg

I vote for the egg, as the article stated:) It does seem the chicken, mutating from other similar species over time, would have to be inside the egg before he popped out to command attention! But, like I said, I would like to know how he survived? Did he look much different from his mom and dad? WAS he accepted, or WAS he the ugly duckling?

Week 5- Diversification

It does seem like diversification could save a species. If there is only one variety of plant or animal, they could be wiped out with a fungus, bacteria, virus, and other disease they could not fight off. I guess I thought bananas would always be around and should not take them for granted!

Week 4- Humans and Chimps

This is debatable, although does not matter to me, except for the fact that scientists now believe we were interbreeding again and again before we finally split. A week or two ago, we talked about splitting much earlier than what this article suggests (evo devo), and just genetically mutated for millions of years. It makes sense that there was more interbreeding involved, but sometimes it is hard to believe origins of findings of any fossil found, as the theory of where we came from and when we split continues to change.

Week 4- Raise Dopamine Levels

I do feel that people may raise their levels of dopamine and that positive attitude is part of it. I hate that the science world contributes our medicine just to this placebo effect, because I feel it is beneficial (I don't have to prove that to you guys at least) whether people want to "believe" it or not. I know that good attitude isn't everything, but if a person is very sick, he/she will not get better being negative most of the time.

Week 4- Drug for Everything

Yes, I do think there is a drug for just about everything. Not enough for the really important ones like cancer and HIV, but I guess they're scanning the oceans to find those. People want a quick fix, including myself. I'm going to confess that a year ago (I hope no one really reads this) I was feeling pretty low...more gray hair..gained some weight..no boyfriend..call a whahhhhbulance...Anyway, every time I went online an add would pop up about this medication that all the celebrities were taking to make them look younger, called Rez-V. I know..it's embarrassing..don't read any further... So, I ordered the free trial, never took the meds, and my membership cause it was way to freaky wondering how this medicine they were selling that hadn't QUITE gotten approved yet (not that that matters these days), could make your muscles and skin tighter and so-on! Whew! I do like the idea of a male contraceptives, though, and feel that would put a little more of the responsibility on their shoulders:)

Week 3-Cybernetics, Autopoiesis, and Evolution

Autopoiesis in this view seems to encompass things that are able to isolate from the outside world, yet still recreate from parts of themselves, or not. Cells are a biggie, but I like the idea of societies and institutions within societies having a homeostatic nature. Even things we think are autopoietic(is that a word?), maybe are not...like the article mentioned, worms burrowing holes, humans putting pipes through Alaska, both are examples of coevolution by helping to create other life forms by what we have left behind or our interactions with nature and the world around us.

Week 3-Human Genetic Evolution

We came from Africa originally, polynesians from mainland Asia, American Indians from Asia, but not people who exist now, more from Mongolians. It is pretty amazing that DNA is maternally inherited and we descended from one single female 2oo,000 yrs ago. And ALL of this started from prokaryotic cells 3.5 billion yrs ago in the atmosphere to our Homo line 200,000 years ago. A little hard to fathom... Pasteur refuting the theory of spontaneous generation and proving microorganisms are everywhere, even in air, we are still continuing to learn.

Prokaryotes, Eukaryotes, and Viruses

Sounds like there is still SO much to learn about bacteria. The one mentioned is in over 1700 different species? Bacteria is very smart and is able to become resistant over time. I thought we knew more about bacteria and Archaea, but with AIDS and CANCER research still needing medication, there is so much too be learned. I also don't think I would like to be a bacteria floating around at 30 miles an hour. I would get bored and I don't want to turn into a man!

99.4%

I knew our DNA was very close to chimps, but in my mind it was more a number like 50%. I would've never dreamed our DNA were THIS identical. Many behaviors are so similar; our sexual habits, the way we take care of our young, etc. They are able to communicate to each other...I'm sure we have much more to learn from our ancestors.

Why Darwinism Matters

There is so much in this article that i don't really know where to start. It seems people apply the theories of Darwinism all around to globe, to many things. What first struck me were the comments about the "Natural History of Rape". This author believed in evolutionary psychology, which states that natural selection not only determines the human body, but also human behavior. He then goes to claim that along with other survival strategies, rape was a strategy for humans to continue their seed. Wow, does this make rape ok? Do men not have a choice with flowers and wine any longer? Also, this brings in a morality issue. What does make someone moral? Even those who do not believe in a God could agree that killing babies and rape is evil. Still, this article mentions that morality is usually divided into two groups; one believing in divine revelation and the other believing it is something we construct ourselves. I believe it is definitely a balance of the two.

Ending with a quote by Sommers, I thought it related to the Creation Museum. In my experience, religion doesn't want people to question or research to gain knowledge of evolution and many other aspects of science and life. The disempowers people and makes them susceptible to be influenced more so by the religious leader he/she decides to follow. Sommers says that truth is a way to "empower students in the struggle against patriarchy, racism, and classism". I definitely feel stronger when I read up on something and have my own opinions, instead of memorizing my beliefs from a book my church handed to me.

How Did We Get Here?

A little more about Evo Devo that started in the 1930's with fruit flies. It seemed Darwin's theory was just a start. He disagreed with Lamart that things could evolve within one generation. These guys in the 1930's went even further to say that different traits evolved by mutations. Only one characteristic may be altered at a time and evolution is even a much slower process than even Darwin dreamed.

Creation Museum

When I saw this, I thought, what a bunch of baloney! Thing is, most of my family believes in every word of the Bible and I want to respect their beliefs, but sometimes, such as with this creation museum, it seems a little over the top to me. I do not understand how a book interpreted so many times may be viewed so literally and as a history book. On the other hand, I can see why Christian scientists dispute many aspects of evolution of how the world was created. They ARE right in saying that there is always a maybe of probably in the equation. This could be very confusing to some, yet at least scientists try to do a little investigating. Science may try to find too many answers much of the time, but creating a museum depicting dinosaurs and Noah's ark just seems ignorant.

Darwinism matters

Although I don't like the beginnings of Darwinism, and how people misinterpret it as "survival of the fittest" to discriminate against others, I feel someone had to begin to bring this idea into the world. One NPR episode I heard recently about his life talked about how difficult it was for Darwin to being to write and reveal these concepts. It meant he had to go against what he believed and not be as close to the family and woman he loved, as she believed in a god and creationism. I guess this is why I never delved into Darwinism...my entire family was so religious, that I never looked outside of that for fear of what I might find. I do like how scientific his theories are and evolution in general. Although I feel we all have a special something to offer, these theories make more sense to me than just a POOF!! here you are!! concept...

Evo Devo

From what I gather, and I never had anything close to a firm GRASP on evolution, we used to thing new organisms formed or were just...shaZAMMM!!! created from old organisms. Evolutionary development seems to make more sense to me. Genes are created from old genes, so that part of the organism changes little by little by little by little...until millions of years later, another species if formed. So cool!

Social Darwinism and thoughts on readings

I haven't studied much on Darwinism since high school, and did not realize where a big part of racism stems from. The term, "social darwinism", coined in the late 19th century, was a mix of Darwin's followers who interpreted his theories as wanting to get "rid of the undesirable" in the human population, since "survival of the fittest" meant the strongest and most intelligent. In the 20th century, sterilization laws were even passed for certain groups not considered to score high enough on IQ tests. I don't understand how people may be so ignorant to think that "smart" is only IQ, and does not include creativity and so many other variables. I like the book, Seven Kinds of Smart, which goes into detail about how so many people are intelligent in different ways. We learn in different ways depending on how our brains relay information.

I also found it interesting that Nazi's used Darwinism as an excuse for the hatred and destruction brought upon the Jewish people. I will never understand racism or how one person or race may think he is so much better than another.

One other article mentioned how much of this was based on IQ tests. People, even up to 1994 with The Bell Curve, writing books about whites being more intelligent than minorities. So many studies have been done how that idea has been so ingrained in the heads of minorities and this totally affects test scores, along with no opportunity in this social structure.

Virtual Neurons..the making of a fake brain

Heck yes! Why not? This article does make me appreciate how complicated our brains are. Making a virtual brain seems helpful in studying how the brain works to aid in medications or insight into such a vast world in which we know not too much about.

Little "Bio" logie:)

hey...Melinda is the name...don't wear it out...I'm excited to take these classes at AIMC because I feel like I get to try to actually understand these topics instead of just memorizing them. Coming from a big family, my mother never took us t0 doctors. This is when I started my interest in alternative medicine. She worked hard to crush garlic and onions and apply them to our chest and feet whenever we were sick. She made teas, ground her own wheat for bread, and had a western herb for any illness we had. In about 1999, western doctors diagnosed me with corneal rosacea and treated me with simple antibiotics. Although these are often prescribed too often, I was legally blind at that point and they kept my corneas from scarring even further. Although I do like to try Chinese medicine and other herbal options first, I feel both alternative and western medicine have their place, as I definitely like to try to find a balance. It is just a matter of what works with the least amount of side effects for each person.

last minute

just seeing if this works!