Vocab v42
Brodmann Areas
Areas of the human cerebral cortex that are distinct from each other anatomically and in cellular composition, as determined by Korbinian Brodmann.
h5n1 flu
Bird flu H5N1 is a type of influenza virus that causes a highly infectious, severe respiratory disease in birds called avian influenza (or "bird flu"). Human cases of H5N1 avian influenza occur occasionally, but it is difficult to transmit the infection from person to person. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1, also known as A(H5N1) or simply H5N1, is a subtype of the influenza A virus which can cause illness in humans and many other animal species.[1] A bird-adapted strain of H5N1, called HPAI A(H5N1) for highly pathogenic avian influenza virus of type A of subtype H5N1, is the highly pathogenic causative agent of H5N1 flu, commonly known as avian influenza ("bird flu"). It is enzootic (maintained in the population) in many bird populations, especially in Southeast Asia. One strain of HPAI A(H5N1) is spreading globally after first appearing in Asia. It is epizootic (an epidemic in nonhumans) and panzootic (affecting animals of many species, especially over a wide area), killing tens of millions of birds and spurring the culling of hundreds of millions of others to stem its spread. Many references to "bird flu" and H5N1 in the popular media refer to this strain.[2]
what usually tells cells to stop dividing?
Cells regulate their division by communicating with each other using chemical signals from special proteins called cyclins. These signals act like switches to tell cells when to start dividing and later when to stop dividing. Cells - except for cancerous ones - cannot reproduce forever. When aging cells stop dividing, they become "senescent." Scientists believe one factor that causes senescence is the length of a cell's telomeres, or protective caps on the end of chromosomes. Every time chromosomes reproduce, telomeres get shorter.
cephalosporins
Cephalosporins are bactericidal (kill bacteria) and work in a similar way to penicillins. They bind to and block the activity of enzymes responsible for making peptidoglycan, an important component of the bacterial cell wall. ... Each time the structure changes, a new "generation" of cephalosporins are made. The cephalosporins are a class of β-lactam antibiotics originally derived from the fungus Acremonium, which was previously known as "Cephalosporium". Together with cephamycins, they constitute a subgroup of β-lactam antibiotics called cephems. Cephalosporins were discovered in 1945, and first sold in 1964.
Lambda baryon
The Lambda baryons are a family of subatomic hadron particles containing one up quark, one down quark, and a third quark from a higher flavour generation, in a combination where the quantum wave function changes sign upon the flavour of any two quarks being swapped (thus differing from a Sigma baryon). They are thus baryons, with total isospin of 0, and have either neutral electric charge or the elementary charge +1.
Sigma baryon
The Sigma baryons are a family of subatomic hadron particles which have two quarks from the first flavour generation (up and/or down quarks), and a third quark from higher flavour generations, in a combination where the wavefunction does not swap sign when any two quark flavours are swapped. They are thus baryons, with total Isospin of 1, and can either be neutral or have an elementary charge of +2, +1, 0, or −1. They are closely related to the Lambda baryons, which differ only in the wavefunction's behaviour upon flavour exchange.
Stefan-Boltzmann law
The Stefan-Boltzmann law describes the power radiated from a black body in terms of its temperature. Stefan-Boltzmann law, statement that the total radiant heat power emitted from a surface is proportional to the fourth power of its absolute temperature. ... The law applies only to blackbodies, theoretical surfaces that absorb all incident heat radiation.
Black hole information paradox
The black hole information paradox[1] is a puzzle resulting from the combination of quantum mechanics and general relativity. Calculations suggest that physical information could permanently disappear in a black hole, allowing many physical states to devolve into the same state. This is controversial because it violates a core precept of modern physics—that in principle the value of a wave function of a physical system at one point in time should determine its value at any other time.[2][3] A fundamental postulate of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics is that complete information about a system is encoded in its wave function up to when the wave function collapses. The evolution of the wave function is determined by a unitary operator, and unitarity implies that information is conserved in the quantum sense. As of November 2019, the paradox may have been resolved, at least for simplified models of gravity (see Recent developments). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole_information_paradox
cerebral cortex
The intricate fabric of interconnected neural cells covering the cerebral hemispheres; the body's ultimate control and information-processing center. The cerebral cortex is the thin layer of the brain that covers the outer portion (1.5mm to 5mm) of the cerebrum. It is covered by the meninges and often referred to as gray matter. The cortex is gray because nerves in this area lack the insulation that makes most other parts of the brain appear to be white.
You don't see with your eyes, you see with your brain.
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cyclins
A group of proteins whose function is to regulate the progression of a cell through the cell cycle and whose concentrations rise and fall throughout the cell cycle Cyclin is a family of proteins that controls the progression of a cell through the cell cycle by activating cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) enzymes or group of enzymes required for synthesis of cell cycle. Cyclins were originally named because their concentration varies in a cyclical fashion during the cell cycle. (Note that the cyclins are now classified according to their conserved cyclin box structure, and not all these cyclins alter in level through the cell cycle.[5]) The oscillations of the cyclins, namely fluctuations in cyclin gene expression and destruction by the ubiquitin mediated proteasome pathway, induce oscillations in Cdk activity to drive the cell cycle. A cyclin forms a complex with Cdk, which begins to activate but the complete activation requires phosphorylation, as well. Complex formation results in activation of the Cdk active site. Cyclins themselves have no enzymatic activity but have binding sites for some substrates and target the Cdks to specific subcellular locations. Cyclins, when bound with the dependent kinases, such as the p34/cdc2/cdk1 protein, form the maturation-promoting factor. MPFs activate other proteins through phosphorylation. These phosphorylated proteins, in turn, are responsible for specific events during cycle division such as microtubule formation and chromatin remodeling. Cyclins can be divided into four classes based on their behavior in the cell cycle of vertebrate somatic cells and yeast cells: G1 cyclins, G1/S cyclins, S cyclins, and M cyclins. This division is useful when talking about most cell cycles, but it is not universal as some cyclins have different functions or timing in different cell types. G1/S Cyclins rise in late G1 and fall in early S phase. The Cdk- G1/S cyclin complex begins to induce the initial processes of DNA replication, primarily by arresting systems that prevent S phase Cdk activity in G1. The cyclins also promote other activities to progress the cell cycle, such as centrosome duplication in vertebrates or spindle pole body in yeast. The rise in presence of G1/S cyclins is paralleled by a rise in S cyclins. G1 cyclins do not behave like the other cyclins, in that the concentrations increase gradually (with no oscillation), throughout the cell cycle based on cell growth and the external growth-regulatory signals. The presence of G cyclins coordinate cell growth with the entry to a new cell cycle. S cyclins bind to Cdk and the complex directly induces DNA replication. The levels of S cyclins remain high, not only throughout S phase, but through G2 and early mitosis as well to promote early events in mitosis. M cyclin concentrations rise as the cell begins to enter mitosis and the concentrations peak at metaphase. Cell changes in the cell cycle like the assembly of mitotic spindles and alignment of sister-chromatids along the spindles are induced by M cyclin- Cdk complexes. The destruction of M cyclins during metaphase and anaphase, after the Spindle Assembly Checkpoint is satisfied, causes the exit of mitosis and cytokinesis.[6] Expression of cyclins detected immunocytochemically in individual cells in relation to cellular DNA content (cell cycle phase),[7] or in relation to initiation and termination of DNA replication during S-phase, can be measured by flow cytometry. Kaposi sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV) encodes a D-type cyclin (ORF72) that binds CDK6 and is likely to contribute to KSHV-related cancers.
recursive loop
A recursive loop is said to have occurred when a function, module or an entity keeps making calls to itself repeatedly, thus forming an almost never-ending loop. Recursive constructs are used in several algorithms like the algorithm used for solving the Tower of Hanoi problem.
Event Horizon Telescope
The Event Horizon Telescope is a large telescope array consisting of a global network of radio telescopes. The EHT project combines data from several very-long-baseline interferometry stations around Earth with angular resolution sufficient to observe objects the size of a supermassive black hole's event horizon.
Keeling Curve
The Keeling Curve is a graph of the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere based on continuous measurements taken at the Mauna Loa Observatory on the island of Hawaii from 1958 to the present day.
Far more chilling and less intuitive is the fact that long-shot, all-or-nothing bets are now placed on a global level too — with humanity itself the de facto wager. Such a bet was first faced and considered in 1942. It was analyzed methodically. Then three years later, the bet was placed. The odds of a disaster were on the low side (one in 3 million, maximum). But the stakes were towering. The gamblers were running the Manhattan Project. The risk wasn't a nuclear war (yet), but that our atmosphere might burn up in a chain reaction triggered by their first atomic test. This prospect was first raised by Edward Teller, who later became the father of the hydrogen bomb. Robert Oppenheimer, who would soon lead the Los Alamos lab, called it a "terrible possibility". For his part, the head of the project's theoretical unit "found that it was just incredibly unlikely." But that sort of language is more comforting when, say, discussing a big softball game. So top people were convened to assess the danger. And confidence mostly reigned by the time of the test. We now know this confidence wasn't misplaced — so hats off to the team for getting it right! Although they were kind of right by fiat, since no one would be here to call them out if they'd blown it. It's also worth noting that Enrico Fermi took bets on the burnt-sky scenario on the big day. Although he was joking, he scared the bejesus out of the enlisted men at the test site, none of whom could parse the reassuring math.
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If we knew what we were doing we wouldn't call it research.
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Simulation theory, the big bang, and theology (god) are all axioms to the meaning of life. Meaning they are end points to a chain of thoughts. They all lead back to the same place, something we can presume existence of, but never be fully sure.
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Technology increases the danger index. In caveman time you could do very little damage to others due to the lack of tools/technology. As technology progresses the potential for harm increases exponentially.
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amara's law
"We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run."
endorphins
"morphine within"--natural, opiate like neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure. Endorphins are endogenous opioid neuropeptides and peptide hormones in humans and other animals. They are produced by the central nervous system and the pituitary gland. The term "endorphins" implies a pharmacological activity as opposed to a specific chemical formulation. any of a group of hormones secreted within the brain and nervous system and having a number of physiological functions. They are peptides which activate the body's opiate receptors, causing an analgesic effect.
autonoetic
"self-knowing" - episodic memory Autonoetic consciousness is the human ability to mentally place ourselves in the past, in the future, or in counterfactual situations, and to thus be able to examine our own thoughts. Our sense of self affects our behavior, in the present, past and future.
And by the way, who operates the green light? The experimenters might say that only a tiny handful of their peers have the background knowledge necessary to assess the risk. Which would probably be correct. But follow that path far enough, and a narrow clique of insiders take charge of assessing, taking, and benefitting from risks that imperil us all. In other words, these risks and their upside will be privatized. If that's bad when the world economy is at stake, and boy, is it, how do we feel when humanity's future is on the line?
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Complexity impresses your peers. Clarity impresses your customers.
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Diamond nanocrystals (5 nm in diameter) can be formed by detonating certain carbon-containing explosives in a metal chamber. These nanocrystals are called "detonation nanodiamonds". During the explosion, the pressure and temperature in the chamber become high enough to convert the carbon of the explosives into diamond. Being immersed in water, the chamber cools rapidly after the explosion, suppressing conversion of newly produced diamond into more stable graphite.[54] In a variation of this technique, a metal tube filled with graphite powder is placed in the detonation chamber. The explosion heats and compresses the graphite to an extent sufficient for its conversion into diamond. The product is always rich in graphite and other non-diamond carbon forms and requires prolonged boiling in hot nitric acid (about 1 day at 250 °C) to dissolve them.[43] The recovered nanodiamond powder is used primarily in polishing applications. It is mainly produced in China, Russia and Belarus and started reaching the market in bulk quantities by the early 2000s
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Teller reportedly did calculations suggesting that a fission explosion might generate heat so intense that it would trigger runaway fusion in the atmosphere. (Ironically, Teller later helped create thermonuclear bombs, in which fission catalyzes a vastly more powerful fusion explosion.) Teller brought his concerns to other physicists, including Bethe, an authority on fusion (and pretty much everything else in nuclear physics). Horgan: I wonder if you could tell me a little bit about the story of Teller's suggestion that the atomic bomb might ignite the atmosphere around the Earth. Bethe: It is such absolute nonsense [laughter], and the public has been interested in it... And possibly it would be good to kill it once more. So one day at Berkeley -- we were a very small group, maybe eight physicists or so -- one day Teller came to the office and said, "Well, what would happen to the air if an atomic bomb were exploded in the air?" The original idea about the hydrogen bomb was that one would explode an atomic bomb and then simply the heat from the atomic bomb would ignite a large vessel of deuterium... and make it react. So Teller said, "Well, how about the air? There's nitrogen in the air, and you can have a nuclear reaction in which two nitrogen nuclei collide and become oxygen plus carbon, and in this process you set free a lot of energy. Couldn't that happen?" And that caused great excitement. Horgan: This is in '42? Bethe: '42. Oppenheimer [soon to be appointed head of Los Alamos Laboratory] got quite excited and said, "That's a terrible possibility," and he went to his superior, who was Arthur Compton, the director of the Chicago Laboratory, and told him that. Well, I sat down and looked at the problem, about whether two nitrogen nuclei could penetrate each other and make that nuclear reaction, and I found that it was just incredibly unlikely. And I said so, and I think Teller was very quickly convinced and so was Oppenheimer when he'd returned from seeing Compton. Later on we found out that it is very difficult to ignite deuterium by an atomic bomb, and liquid deuterium, which is much easier to ignite than the gas, but at the time in '42 we thought it might be very easy to ignite liquid deuterium. Well, Teller, I think he has to be much commended for that. Teller at Los Alamos put a very good calculator on this problem, [Emil] Konopinski, who was an expert on weak interactors, and Konopinski together with [inaudible] showed that it was incredibly impossible to set the hydrogen, to set the atmosphere on fire. They wrote one or two very good papers on it, and that put the question really at rest. They showed in great detail why it is impossible. But, of course, it spooked [Compton]. Well, let me first say one other thing: Fermi, of course, didn't believe that this was possible, but just to relieve the tension at the Los Alamos [Trinity] test [on July 16, 1945], he said, "Now, let's make a bet whether the atmosphere will be set on fire by this test." [laughter] And I think maybe a few people took that bet. But, for instance, in Compton's mind it was not set to rest. He didn't see my calculations. He even less saw Konopinski's much better calculations, so it was still spooking in his mind when he gave an interview at some point, and so it got into the open literature, and people are still excited about it.
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The answers to all the great questions are paradoxes.
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Treat a janitor with the same respect as the CEO.
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Twitter has become a text based role playing game.
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We live in a time when unforeseen breakthroughs erupt daily from garages and labs, then quickly diffuse from vetted sanctums to the mainstream.
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When suicidal mass murderers go all in, technology is the main force multiplier.
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Yet despite being a science fanboy, I see some unsettling parallels.
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Strangelet
A strangelet is a hypothetical particle consisting of a bound state of roughly equal numbers of up, down, and strange quarks. An equivalent description is that a strangelet is a small fragment of strange matter, small enough to be considered a particle. The size of an object composed of strange matter could, theoretically, range from a few femtometers across (with the mass of a light nucleus) to arbitrarily large. Once the size becomes macroscopic (on the order of metres across), such an object is usually called a strange star. The term "strangelet" originates with Edward Farhi and Robert Jaffe. Strangelets can convert matter to strange matter on contact.[1] Strangelets have been suggested as a dark matter candidate. The known particles with strange quarks are unstable. Because the strange quark is heavier than the up and down quarks it can spontaneously decay, via the weak interaction into an up quark. Consequently particles containing strange quarks, such as the Lambda particle, always lose their strangeness, by decaying into lighter particles containing only up and down quarks. But condensed states with a larger number of quarks might not suffer from this instability. That possible stability against decay is the "strange matter hypothesis" proposed separately by Arnold Bodmer[3] and Edward Witten.[4] According to this hypothesis, when a large enough number of quarks are concentrated together, the lowest energy state is one which has roughly equal numbers of up, down, and strange quarks, namely a strangelet. This stability would occur because of the Pauli exclusion principle; having three types of quarks, rather than two as in normal nuclear matter, allows more quarks to be placed in lower energy levels.
Tensor Processing Unit (TPU)
A tensor processing unit is an AI accelerator application-specific integrated circuit developed by Google specifically for neural network machine learning.
lymphocytes
A type of white blood cell that make antibodies to fight off infections one of the five types of WBC
Cephalopod beak
All extant cephalopods have a two-part beak, or rostrum, situated in the buccal mass and surrounded by the muscular head appendages. The dorsal mandible fits into the ventral mandible and together they function in a scissor-like fashion. The beak may also be referred to as the mandibles or jaws.
ammonium in cephalopods
Ammonium is a readily available by-product of the carnivorous cephalopod diet. ... The body mass of ammoniacal squids is comprised of roughly 50-60% ammonium fluid that reaches concentrations near 500 mM (Clarke et al., 1979, Voight et al., 1994).
ammonium nitrate
Ammonium nitrate is the ammonium salt of nitric acid. It has a role as a fertilizer, an explosive and an oxidising agent. It is an inorganic molecular entity, an ammonium salt and an inorganic nitrate salt. Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound, the nitrate salt of the ammonium cation. It has the chemical formula NH ₄NO ₃, simplified to N₂H₄O₃. It is a white crystalline solid and is highly soluble in water. It is predominantly used in agriculture as a high-nitrogen fertilizer.
arm vs tentacle
An easy way to spot the difference is that arms have suckers along their entire length, while tentacles only have suckers at the tip. This means that octopuses have eight arms and no tentacles, while other cephalopods—such as cuttlefish and squids—have eight arms and two tentacles
Why does anesthetic make you sleep?
Anaesthetics work by stopping the nerve signals that keep you awake and aware from reaching your brain. During this state of induced sleep, procedures can be carried out without you feeling anything. Anesthesia or anaesthesia is a state of controlled, temporary loss of sensation or awareness that is induced for medical purposes. It may include analgesia, paralysis, amnesia, or unconsciousness. A patient under the effects of anesthetic drugs is referred to as being anesthetized
RDX
RDX is an organic compound with the formula (O2NNCH2)3. It is a white solid without smell or taste, widely used as an explosive.[2] Chemically, it is classified as a nitramide, chemically similar to HMX. A more energetic explosive than TNT, it was used widely in World War II and remains common in military applications. It is often used in mixtures with other explosives and plasticizers or phlegmatizers (desensitizers); it is the explosive agent in C-4 plastic explosive. RDX is stable in storage and is considered one of the most energetic and brisant of the military high explosives[3], with a relative effectiveness factor of 1.60.
appendix stores good bacteria
Researchers deduce that the appendix is designed to protect good bacteria in the gut. That way, when the gut is affected by a bout of diarrhea or other illness that cleans out the intestines, the good bacteria in the appendix can repopulate the digestive system and keep you healthy.
Chemical vapor deposition
Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a vacuum deposition method used to produce high quality, high-performance, solid materials. The process is often used in the semiconductor industry to produce thin films. In typical CVD, the wafer (substrate) is exposed to one or more volatile precursors, which react and/or decompose on the substrate surface to produce the desired deposit. Frequently, volatile by-products are also produced, which are removed by gas flow through the reaction chamber. Microfabrication processes widely use CVD to deposit materials in various forms, including: monocrystalline, polycrystalline, amorphous, and epitaxial. These materials include: silicon (dioxide, carbide, nitride, oxynitride), carbon (fiber, nanofibers, nanotubes, diamond and graphene), fluorocarbons, filaments, tungsten, titanium nitride and various high-k dielectrics. CVD is commonly used to deposit conformal films and augment substrate surfaces in ways that more traditional surface modification techniques are not capable of. CVD is extremely useful in the process of atomic layer deposition at depositing extremely thin layers of material. A variety of applications for such films exist. Gallium arsenide is used in some integrated circuits (ICs) and photovoltaic devices. Amorphous polysilicon is used in photovoltaic devices. Certain carbides and nitrides confer wear-resistance.[7] Polymerization by CVD, perhaps the most versatile of all applications, allows for super-thin coatings which possess some very desirable qualities, such as lubricity, hydrophobicity and weather-resistance to name a few.[8] CVD of metal-organic frameworks, a class of crystalline nanoporous materials, has recently been demonstrated.[9] Applications for these films are anticipated in gas sensing and low-k dielectrics CVD techniques are adventageous for membrane coatings as well, such as those in desalination or water treatment, as these coatings can be sufficiently uniform (conformal) and thin that they do not clog membrane pores.[10]
Chemical vapor deposition diamond
Chemical vapor deposition is a method by which diamond can be grown from a hydrocarbon gas mixture. Since the early 1980s, this method has been the subject of intensive worldwide research. Whereas the mass-production of high-quality diamond crystals make the HPHT process the more suitable choice for industrial applications, the flexibility and simplicity of CVD setups explain the popularity of CVD growth in laboratory research. The advantages of CVD diamond growth include the ability to grow diamond over large areas and on various substrates, and the fine control over the chemical impurities and thus properties of the diamond produced. Unlike HPHT, CVD process does not require high pressures, as the growth typically occurs at pressures under 27 kPa. The CVD growth involves substrate preparation, feeding varying amounts of gases into a chamber and energizing them. The substrate preparation includes choosing an appropriate material and its crystallographic orientation; cleaning it, often with a diamond powder to abrade a non-diamond substrate; and optimizing the substrate temperature (about 800 °C) during the growth through a series of test runs. The gases always include a carbon source, typically methane, and hydrogen with a typical ratio of 1:99. Hydrogen is essential because it selectively etches off non-diamond carbon. The gases are ionized into chemically active radicals in the growth chamber using microwave power, a hot filament, an arc discharge, a welding torch, a laser, an electron beam, or other means. During the growth, the chamber materials are etched off by the plasma and can incorporate into the growing diamond. In particular, CVD diamond is often contaminated by silicon originating from the silica windows of the growth chamber or from the silicon substrate.[52] Therefore, silica windows are either avoided or moved away from the substrate. Boron-containing species in the chamber, even at very low trace levels, also make it unsuitable for the growth of pure diamond.
Detonation nanodiamond
Detonation nanodiamond (DND), also known as ultradispersed diamond (UDD), is diamond that originates from a detonation. When an oxygen-deficient explosive mixture of TNT/RDX is detonated in a closed chamber, diamond particles with a diameter of c. 5 nm are formed at the front of the detonation wave in the span of several microseconds. The diamond yield after detonation crucially depends on the synthesis condition and especially on the heat capacity of the cooling medium in the detonation chamber (water, air, CO2, etc.). The higher the cooling capacity, the larger the diamond yield, which can reach 90%. After the synthesis, diamond is extracted from the soot using high-temperature high-pressure (autoclave) boiling in acid for a long period (ca. 1-2 days). The boiling removes most of the metal contamination, originating from the chamber materials, and non-diamond carbon. Various measurements, including X-ray diffraction[1] and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy[2] revealed that the size of the diamond grains in the soot is distributed around 5 nm. The grains are unstable with respect to aggregation and spontaneously form micrometre-sized clusters (see figure above). The adhesion is strong and contacts between a few nano-grains can hold a micrometre-sized cluster attached to a substrate. Nanosized diamond has extremely large relative surface area. As a result, its surface spontaneously attaches water and hydrocarbon molecules from the ambient atmosphere.[3] However, clean nanodiamond surface can be obtained with appropriate handling.[2] The detonation nanodiamond grains mostly have diamond cubic lattice and are structurally imperfect. The major defects are multiple twins, as suggested by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy.[2] Despite the carbon source for the diamond synthesis—TNT/RDX explosive mixture—being rich in nitrogen, concentration of paramagnetic nitrogen inside diamond grains is below one part per million (ppm).[1] Paramagnetic nitrogen (neutral nitrogen atoms substituting for carbon in the diamond lattice) is the major form of nitrogen in diamond, and thus the nitrogen content in DND is probably very low.
does diamond work as a semiconductor?
Diamond is a semiconductor and exhibits properties that are far superior to the reigning champion silicon. It has fantastic electronic properties, allowing charges to move around much faster than silicon. Also, diamond transistors switch operate at much higher temperatures as diamond has a larger band gap than many other materials (in particular silicon). Not just that but diamond transistors switch much faster than its germanium and silicon counterparts. There's always a catch when something is too good to be true. The problem in fact is not a scientific one but an economic one. Scaling and commercializing diamond transistors will exponentially increase the cost of its products. Semiconductor industry is a big game of economics.
kinases
Enzymes that catalyze the transfer of phosphate groups from ATP to acceptor molecules. an enzyme that catalyzes the transfer of a phosphate group from ATP to a specified molecule. In biochemistry, a kinase is an enzyme that catalyzes the transfer of phosphate groups from high-energy, phosphate-donating molecules to specific substrates. This process is known as phosphorylation, where the substrate gains a phosphate group and the high-energy ATP molecule donates a phosphate group. This transesterification produces a phosphorylated substrate and ADP. Conversely, it is referred to as dephosphorylation when the phosphorylated substrate donates a phosphate group and ADP gains a phosphate group (producing a dephosphorylated substrate and the high energy molecule of ATP). These two processes, phosphorylation and dephosphorylation, occur four times during glycolysis. Kinases are part of the larger family of phosphotransferases. Kinases should not be confused with phosphorylases, which catalyze the addition of inorganic phosphate groups to an acceptor, nor with phosphatases, which remove phosphate groups (dephosphorylation). The phosphorylation state of a molecule, whether it be a protein, lipid or carbohydrate, can affect its activity, reactivity and its ability to bind other molecules. Therefore, kinases are critical in metabolism, cell signalling, protein regulation, cellular transport, secretory processes and many other cellular pathways, which makes them very important to human physiology.
how cephalopods have sex
Female cephalopods often mate with numerous males, and then store the sperm until they spawn. In most octopus species, females can even mate with two males at the same time. ... Males set up dens close to females and use their long mating arm to deliver sperm packets to the female.
gray matter
Grey matter (or gray matter) is a major component of the central nervous system, consisting of neuronal cell bodies, neuropil (dendrites and unmyelinated axons), glial cells (astrocytes and oligodendrocytes), synapses, and capillaries.
what is tapioca made of?
Tapioca is a starch extracted from the cassava root. It is used as a thickening agent in many foods. It can be made into flour -- it has a similar texture to cornstarch -- which is often times used in gluten-free breads. It can also be made into pearls in varying sizes. cassava starch: Tapioca is a starch extracted from the cassava root through a process of washing and pulping. The wet pulp is then squeezed to extract a starchy liquid. Once all the water evaporates from the starchy liquid, the tapioca flour remains. Alternatively, cassava flour is the whole root, simply peeled, dried and ground. However, cassava is poisonous unless it is peeled and thoroughly cooked. If it is eaten raw or prepared incorrectly, one of its chemical constituents will be attacked by digestive enzymes and give off the deadly poison cyanide. As little as two cassava roots can contain a fatal dose. This is why cyanide poisoning from cassava is a greater concern for those who live in developing countries. Many people in these countries suffer from protein deficiencies and depend on cassava as a major source of calories. What's more, in some areas of the world, cassava has been shown to absorb harmful chemicals from the soil, such as arsenic and cadmium. This may increase the risk of cancer in those who depend on cassava as a staple food. This is because raw cassava contains chemicals called cyanogenic glycosides, which can release cyanide in the body when consumed. Those who have an overall poor nutrition status and low protein intake are more likely to experience these effects, since protein helps rid the body of cyanide. The roots are also used to make flour, tapioca, and a wide range of other food products. While the roots are low in protein and vitamins, they are an abundant source of starch. But the starch contains relatively high levels of amylose, which can be difficult to digest. For background, remember that starch is made up of two components, amylose and amylopectin. Amylose is a straight chain of glucose units connected by alpha 1-4 bonds. These bonds are broken by the enzymes maltase and amylase. Amylopectin contains the same chains, but also has "branch points" created by alpha 1-6 bonds. these bonds are broken by the enzyme isomaltase. Theoretically, amylose should be easier to digest because it does not require isomaltase, and does not have the steric hindrance caused by the branch points. However, amylose can form a very compact physical structure, which inhibits digestion. Therefore, amylopectin is actually digested better than amylose. In practical terms, waxy corn contains much more amylopectin (lower amylose:amylopectin ratio) than regular corn. My reading of the data on waxy corn is that it is slightly more digestible than regular corn, but the difference is so small it's hard to find in performance. I don't know of any effect of the ratio on feed intake. Boba tea (also called pearl tea or bubble tea) is a sweet drink that combines milk, flavored tea and tapioca pearls that are sucked up through an extra-large straw and chewed. ... The tapioca pearls usually are black and are made from cassava starch, sweet potato and brown sugar.
cassandra complex
The Cassandra complex is the name given to a phenomenon where people who predict bad news or warnings are ignored or outright dismissed. The Cassandra metaphor occurs to one, when one's valid warnings or concerns are disbelieved by others.
dark arts
The Dark Arts, also known as Dark Magic, refers to any type of magic that is mainly used to cause harm to, exert control over, or even kill the victim. Despite being labelled "dark", the Dark Arts are not necessarily "evil".
god complex
No matter how complicated the problem, you have an absolutely overwhelming belief that you are infallibly right A god complex is an unshakable belief characterized by consistently inflated feelings of personal ability, privilege, or infallibility.
Pascal's Theorem
Pascal's theorem is a direct generalization of that of Pappus. Its dual is a well known Brianchon's theorem. The theorem states that if a hexagon is inscribed in a conic, then the three points at which the pairs of opposite sides meet, lie on a straight line. The theorem is clearly projective.
electrolytic dissociation
In electrolytic, or ionic, dissociation, the addition of a solvent or of energy in the form of heat causes molecules or crystals of the substance to break up into ions (electrically charged particles). Most dissociating substances produce ions by chemical combination with the solvent. Electrolytic or ionic dissociation is the process by which two ions held by strong electrostatic force are separated from each other in a solvent. ( I would suggest that you do not give an example of a covalent substance) Eg: NaCl, when dissolved in water, dissociates to give Na+ and Cl-.
agrippa's trilemma (Münchhausen trilemma)
In epistemology, the Münchhausen trilemma is a thought experiment used to demonstrate the impossibility of proving any truth, even in the fields of logic and mathematics. If it is asked how any given proposition is known to be true, proof may be provided. Yet that same question can be asked of the proof, and any subsequent proof. The Münchhausen trilemma is that there are only three options when providing further proof in response to further questioning: - The circular argument, in which the proof of some proposition is supported only by that proposition - The regressive argument, in which each proof requires a further proof, ad infinitum - The axiomatic argument, which rests on accepted precepts which are merely asserted rather than defended
Pascal's wager
It is better to wager everything on God's existence than to be a skeptic. Believing results in greater benefits than not believing.
unit 731
Japanese created it to take prisoners or innocent chinese. Created to make chemical tests on chinese. Chinese prisoners were poisoned, tortured brutally. burned, frozen, electrocuted, had arms cut off and attached to opposite sides. some had esophagus attached to their intestine. these were all for "scientific" reasons. was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that undertook lethal human experimentation during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) of World War II. It was responsible for some of the most notorious war crimes carried out by Imperial Japan. Unit 731 was based at the Pingfang district of Harbin, the largest city in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo (now Northeast China), and had active branch offices throughout China and Southeast Asia. A special project code-named Maruta used human beings for experiments. Test subjects were gathered from the surrounding population and were sometimes referred to euphemistically as "logs" (丸太, maruta), used in such contexts as "How many logs fell?". This term originated as a joke on the part of the staff because the official cover story for the facility given to the local authorities was that it was a lumber mill. However, in an account by a man who worked as a junior uniformed civilian employee of the Imperial Japanese Army in Unit 731, the project was internally called "Holzklotz", which is a German word for log.[16] In a further parallel, the corpses of "sacrificed" subjects were disposed of by incineration.[17] Researchers in Unit 731 also published some of their results in peer-reviewed journals, writing as though the research had been conducted on non-human primates called "Manchurian monkeys" or "long-tailed monkeys". The test subjects were selected to give a wide cross-section of the population and included common criminals, captured bandits, anti-Japanese partisans, political prisoners, the homeless and mentally handicapped, and also people rounded up by the Kempeitai military police for alleged "suspicious activities". They included infants, the elderly, and pregnant women. The members of the unit, approximately three hundred researchers, included doctors and bacteriologists.[19] Many had been desensitized to performing cruel experiments from experience in animal research. Prisoners were injected with diseases, disguised as vaccinations,[21] to study their effects. To study the effects of untreated venereal diseases, male and female prisoners were deliberately infected with syphilis and gonorrhoea, then studied. Prisoners were also repeatedly subject to rape by guards. Thousands of men, women, children, and infants interned at prisoner of war camps were subjected to vivisection, often without anesthesia and usually ending with the death of the victim.[23][24] Vivisections were performed on prisoners after infecting them with various diseases. Researchers performed invasive surgery on prisoners, removing organs to study the effects of disease on the human body. These were conducted while the patients were alive because it was thought that the death of the subject would affect the results. Prisoners had limbs amputated in order to study blood loss. Those limbs that were removed were sometimes re-attached to the opposite sides of the body. Some prisoners had their stomachs surgically removed and the esophagus reattached to the intestines. Parts of organs, such as the brain, lungs, and liver, were removed from some prisoners.[24] Imperial Japanese Army surgeon Ken Yuasa suggests that the practice of vivisection on human subjects was widespread even outside Unit 731,[26] estimating that at least 1,000 Japanese personnel were involved in the practice in mainland China. Unit 731 and its affiliated units (Unit 1644 and Unit 100 among others) were involved in research, development and experimental deployment of epidemic-creating biowarfare weapons in assaults against the Chinese populace (both civilian and military) throughout World War II. Plague-infected fleas, bred in the laboratories of Unit 731 and Unit 1644, were spread by low-flying airplanes upon Chinese cities, including coastal Ningbo and Changde, Hunan Province, in 1940 and 1941.[5] This military aerial spraying killed tens of thousands of people with bubonic plague epidemics. An expedition to Nanking involved spreading typhoid and paratyphoid germs into the wells, marshes, and houses of the city, as well as infusing them into snacks to be distributed among the locals. Epidemics broke out shortly after, to the elation of many researchers, where it was concluded that paratyphoid fever was "the most effective" of the pathogens. Japanese researchers performed tests on prisoners with bubonic plague, cholera, smallpox, botulism, and other diseases.[31] This research led to the development of the defoliation bacilli bomb and the flea bomb used to spread bubonic plague.[32] Some of these bombs were designed with porcelain shells, an idea proposed by Ishii in 1938. During the final months of World War II, Japan planned to use plague as a biological weapon against San Diego, California. The plan was scheduled to launch on September 22, 1945, but Japan surrendered five weeks earlier.
grand wizard
Leader of the KKK
Is it true that we all have cancerous cells in our body?
My answer depends upon how "philosophical" and hypothetical you wish to get. My answer is essentially the same as Paul Lewis', except I will start with "Yes, we all have cancer in our system." What I mean to say is that (with my confidence interval of 99%), we all generate cancer cells in our bodies. Every time cells divide, mistakes happen. Every time DNA is replicated before cell division, mistakes happen. Every time we step out into the sunshine, there's is a goodly risk of UV-B radiation causing thymine dimers in the nuclear DNA of skin cells. Every breath of urban air exposes our lungs to carcinogenic molecules that can damage a cell's instruction set and lead to cancer. Cancer is nothing more and nothing less than our own body cells going wacky—dividing too much and/or not being able to shut down cell division and failing to die on schedule. The cool thing is that our bodies have exquisitely complex and elegant ways of preventing these unavoidable cellular mistakes from becoming fully-blown cancers that can threaten the health or can kill the organism (that's us!). Every second of every day, your body has mechanisms that - Protect DNA from certain kinds of damage; repairs DNA that becomes damaged, nonetheless; - Corrects mistakes in a cell's molecular machinery; - Causes cells that cannot be fixed (repaired or re-purposed) to commit suicide in a neat and orderly fashion; - Find and kill errant cells that went wacky and are now beginning to cause problems outside their own tissues; - ...and more! Right now, this instant in time, in my own body, there are likely to be several cells that have experienced mistakes of some sort during normal cellular activities. In the next instant, they will be repaired, their ability to divide arrested/shut down, will begin a series of events that will cause their disassembly (known as apoptosis), or will be targeted by the body's own immune system for immediate destruction. So, yes, it IS likely (I am 99% sure) that there is some cancer in a given person's body at any given time. The older they are, the more likely this is the case. However, that does not mean that there is anything to worry about unless ALL the diagnostic, repair, apoptotic, and immune systems fail. The "hitch," the monkey-wrench in the gears, the big twisty problem comes when the mistake in a cell happens to the repair and apoptotic pathways themselves! Under normal circumstances, if a cell gets wacky DNA (from environmental stuff or just by accident) that can cause a problem that cannot be fixed, a signal is sent within the cell to start apoptosis and the cell is disassembled (killed). The problem arises when the place along the DNA strand that gets damaged or altered is the very place that controls the signaling process or the operational processes for apoptosis. In that case, the wacky cell cannot be set up for disassembly and it continues to live, grow, and...reproduce; i.e. it becomes a cancer cell leading to the production of more cancer cells. Smoking tobacco, for instance, directly damages the gene for p53 in a lung cell. p53 is one of the factors responsible for sending a cell into apoptosis. Damage p53 = no apoptosis. Lung cells often receive damage from the environment because they are exposed to a constant influx of agents from the outside that can, and do, cause damage. Almost all the damage is repaired or the unrepairable cells are sent into apoptosis and die/disappear. (Can you see how a cancer can begin if you damage the very process that is required to remove a seriously damaged cell?) Cancer is bad, no doubt. We ALL generate cells that could be labeled "cancer," but the vast majority never develop into anything important because our bodies have in place such a cool set of systems to prevent these cancers from progressing.
what does lymph do?
The lymphatic system is a network of tissues and organs that help rid the body of toxins, waste and other unwanted materials. The primary function of the lymphatic system is to transport lymph, a fluid containing infection-fighting white blood cells, throughout the body The spleen is located in the upper left part of the belly under the ribcage. It helps protect the body by clearing worn-out red blood cells and other foreign bodies (such as germs) from the bloodstream. The spleen is part of the lymphatic system, which is an extensive drainage network. The spleen plays multiple supporting roles in the body. It acts as a filter for blood as part of the immune system. Old red blood cells are recycled in the spleen, and platelets and white blood cells are stored there. The spleen also helps fight certain kinds of bacteria that cause pneumonia and meningitis. Some of this lymph fluid is drawn back into the blood carrying carbon dioxide, acid & other waste products to be filtered out by the lungs & kidneys. The rest is drawn into lymphatic capillaries where it is taken to lymph nodes that act like tiny sewage treatment plants. There white blood cells gobble up debris while other mechanisms purify the lymph. The lymph ducts then empty into the circulatory system at the base of the neck near the thyroid gland, where iodine from that gland can further treat this fluid to purify it. Keeping the lymph moving is essential to keeping the tissues clean, must be considered in any cleansing program. Beyond the lymph there are 4 main organs that work together to disarm toxins & eliminate harmful waste products.
lymphatic system
The lymphatic system, or lymphoid system, is an organ system in vertebrates that is part of the circulatory system and the immune system. It is made up of a large network of lymphatic vessels, lymphatic or lymphoid organs, and lymphoid tissues. The vessels carry a clear fluid called lymph (the Latin word lympha refers to the deity of fresh water, "Lympha")[3] towards the heart. Unlike the circulatory system, the lymphatic system is not a closed system. The human circulatory system processes an average of 20 litres of blood per day through capillary filtration, which removes plasma from the blood. Roughly 17 litres of the filtered plasma is reabsorbed directly into the blood vessels, while the remaining three litres remain in the interstitial fluid. One of the main functions of the lymphatic system is to provide an accessory return route to the blood for the surplus three litres. The other main function is that of immune defense. Lymph is very similar to blood plasma, in that it contains waste products and cellular debris, together with bacteria and proteins. The cells of the lymph are mostly lymphocytes. Associated lymphoid organs are composed of lymphoid tissue, and are the sites either of lymphocyte production or of lymphocyte activation. These include the lymph nodes (where the highest lymphocyte concentration is found), the spleen, the thymus, and the tonsils. Lymphocytes are initially generated in the bone marrow. The lymphoid organs also contain other types of cells such as stromal cells for support.[5] Lymphoid tissue is also associated with mucosas such as mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT). Fluid from circulating blood leaks into the tissues of the body by capillary action, carrying nutrients to the cells. The fluid bathes the tissues as interstitial fluid, collecting waste products, bacteria, and damaged cells, and then drains as lymph into the lymphatic capillaries and lymphatic vessels. These vessels carry the lymph throughout the body, passing through numerous lymph nodes which filter out unwanted materials such as bacteria and damaged cells. Lymph then passes into much larger lymph vessels known as lymph ducts. The right lymphatic duct drains the right side of the region and the much larger left lymphatic duct, known as the thoracic duct, drains the left side of the body. The ducts empty into the subclavian veins to return to the blood circulation. Lymph is moved through the system by muscle contractions.[7] In some vertebrates, a lymph heart is present that pumps the lymph to the veins.
whats the difference between an anomalous fluid and normal fluid?
The phase diagram you are showing is the one for an anomalous fluid like water and not for normal fluids like CO2. Depends on the definition. On this specific case, it means that the molar volume of ice is bigger than water. Usually, in a solid phase the molecules are more tightly bound, therefore, the molar volume is usually smaller for the solid phase, on water, it's the opposite, that's why ice floats on water! Anomalous fluid is just one that does not become more dense once it is solid.
steric hindrance
The prevention of a reaction at a particular location in a molecule by substituent groups around the reactive site. Steric hindrance is the slowing of chemical reactions due to steric bulk. It is usually manifested in intermolecular reactions, whereas discussion of steric effects often focus on intramolecular interactions. Steric hindrance is often exploited to control selectivity, such as slowing unwanted side-reactions. Steric effects are nonbonding interactions that influence the shape and reactivity of ions and molecules. Steric effects complement electronic effects, which usually dictate shape and reactivity. Steric effects result from repulsive forces between overlapping electron clouds. Steric effects are the effects seen in molecules that come from the fact that atoms occupy space. ... An example of steric effects is steric hindrance. This is when a large group in a molecule makes reactions not work. For example, an SN2 reaction does not happen on carbon atoms that have three substituents.
cyanide in seeds
The seeds (also known as stones, pits, or kernels) of stone fruits like apricots, cherries, plums, and peaches do contain a compound called amygdalin, which breaks down into hydrogen cyanide when ingested. And, yes, hydrogen cyanide is definitely a poison. In large doses, the body's ability to change cyanide into thiocyanate is overwhelmed. Large doses of cyanide prevent cells from using oxygen and eventually these cells die. The heart, respiratory system and central nervous system are most susceptible to cyanide poisoning.
can white blood cells pass through capillary walls?
The walls of these tiny blood vessels are very thin and are composed of overlapping endothelial cells which allow nutrients and waste to pass through. ... White blood cells can freely pass through the walls of a capillary. Red blood cells travel in single file through the capillaries. The walls of capillaries are made up of very thin, flat cells. The capillary walls keep large structures such as red blood cells inside the capillary. Other substances such as oxygen, carbon dioxide, glucose (sugar), and water can pass through.
how do trains stay on the track and how do they turn?
The wheels are tapered. Since trains cannot have a differential like cars do, the tapered wheels allow the trains to turn. A car differential allows the car to turn by having the wheels spin with different RPM's. They need to spin at different RPM's because they are travelling around different sized circles.
chromatography
the separation of a mixture by passing it in solution or suspension or as a vapor (as in gas chromatography) through a medium in which the components move at different rates. Chromatography is a laboratory technique for the separation of a mixture. The mixture is dissolved in a fluid called the mobile phase, which carries it through a structure holding another material called the stationary phase. The various constituents of the mixture travel at different speeds, causing them to separate.
syndication
the transfer of something for control or management by a group of individuals or organizations. "the syndication of loans to investors"
cerebrum function
thinking, personality, sensations, movements, memory Cerebrum: is the largest part of the brain and is composed of right and left hemispheres. It performs higher functions like interpreting touch, vision and hearing, as well as speech, reasoning, emotions, learning, and fine control of movement. Supposedly the main constituent of consciousness
Mitogen
an agent that triggers mitosis A mitogen is a peptide or small protein, that induces a cell to begin cell division: mitosis. Mitogenesis is the induction of mitosis, typically via a mitogen. The mechanism of action of a mitogen is that it triggers signal transduction pathways involving mitogen-activated protein kinase, leading to mitosis.
Moulin
steep hole in a glacier formed by running water in the summer, resembles a waterslide but not as fun a vertical or nearly vertical shaft in a glacier, formed by surface water percolating through a crack in the ice. A moulin is a roughly circular, vertical well-like shaft within a glacier or ice sheet which water enters from the surface. The term is derived from the French word for mill. They can be up to 10 meters wide and are typically found on ice sheets and flat areas of a glacier in a region of transverse crevasses.
TNT
Trinitrotoluene (TNT), or more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. This yellow solid is sometimes used as a reagent in chemical synthesis, but it is best known as an explosive material with convenient handling properties. The explosive yield of TNT is considered to be the standard measure of bombs and the power of explosives. In chemistry, TNT is used to generate charge transfer salts. In industry, TNT is produced in a three-step process. First, toluene is nitrated with a mixture of sulfuric and nitric acid to produce mononitrotoluene (MNT). The MNT is separated and then renitrated to dinitrotoluene (DNT). In the final step, the DNT is nitrated to trinitrotoluene (TNT) using an anhydrous mixture of nitric acid and oleum. Nitric acid is consumed by the manufacturing process, but the diluted sulfuric acid can be reconcentrated and reused. After nitration, TNT is stabilized by a process called sulfitation, where the crude TNT is treated with aqueous sodium sulfite solution to remove less stable isomers of TNT and other undesired reaction products. The rinse water from sulfitation is known as red water and is a significant pollutant and waste product of TNT manufacture. Control of nitrogen oxides in feed nitric acid is very important because free nitrogen dioxide can result in oxidation of the methyl group of toluene. This reaction is highly exothermic and carries with it the risk of a runaway reaction leading to an explosion.
does urine turn to ammonia
Urea is one of the waste products found in urine. It's a byproduct of the breakdown of protein and can be broken down further to ammonia in certain situations. Therefore, many conditions that result in concentrated urine can cause urine that smells like ammonia.
white matter
White matter is the whitish nerve tissue of the central nervous system that is mainly composed of myelinated nerve fibers (or axons). The central nervous system is the brain and spinal cord. And gray matter is grayish nerve tissue of the central nervous system mainly composed of nerve cell bodies and dendrites.
Thermohaline circulation
Winds drive ocean currents in the upper 100 meters of the ocean's surface. However, ocean currents also flow thousands of meters below the surface. These deep-ocean currents are driven by differences in the water's density, which is controlled by temperature (thermo) and salinity (haline). This process is known as thermohaline circulation. In the Earth's polar regions ocean water gets very cold, forming sea ice. As a consequence the surrounding seawater gets saltier, because when sea ice forms, the salt is left behind. As the seawater gets saltier, its density increases, and it starts to sink. Surface water is pulled in to replace the sinking water, which in turn eventually becomes cold and salty enough to sink. This initiates the deep-ocean currents driving the global conveyor belt. The thermohaline circulation is sometimes called the ocean conveyor belt, the great ocean conveyor, or the global conveyor belt. On occasion, it is used to refer to the meridional overturning circulation (often abbreviated as MOC). The term MOC is more accurate and well defined, as it is difficult to separate the part of the circulation which is driven by temperature and salinity alone as opposed to other factors such as the wind and tidal forces.[5] Moreover, temperature and salinity gradients can also lead to circulation effects that are not included in the MOC itself.
lymph
a colorless fluid containing white blood cells, which bathes the tissues and drains through the lymphatic system into the bloodstream. Lymph (from Latin, lympha meaning "water"[1]) is the fluid that flows through the lymphatic system, a system composed of lymph vessels (channels) and intervening lymph nodes whose function, like the venous system, is to return fluid from the tissues to the central circulation. Interstitial fluid - the fluid which is between the cells in all body tissues - enters the lymph capillaries. This lymphatic fluid is then transported via progressively larger lymphatic vessels through lymph nodes, where substances are removed by tissue lymphocytes and circulating lymphocytes are added to the fluid, before emptying ultimately into the right or the left subclavian vein, where it mixes with central venous blood. Since the lymph is derived from the interstitial fluid, its composition continually changes as the blood and the surrounding cells continually exchange substances with the interstitial fluid. It is generally similar to blood plasma, which is the fluid component of blood. Lymph returns proteins and excess interstitial fluid to the bloodstream. Lymph also transports fats from the digestive system (beginning in the lacteals) to the blood via chylomicrons. Bacteria may enter the lymph channels and be transported to lymph nodes, where they are destroyed.[clarification needed] Metastatic cancer cells can also be transported via lymph.
Pascal's triangle
a pattern for finding the coefficients of the terms of a binomial expansion
Silphium
a plant from the genus Ferula that was a female contraceptive and widely used by Greek and Roman women for over 1,000 years until they collected the plant to extinction. seasoning, perfume, as an aphrodisiac, or as a medicine.[1][2] It also was used as a contraceptive by ancient Greeks and Romans.[3] It was the essential item of trade from the ancient North African city of Cyrene, and was so critical to the Cyrenian economy that most of their coins bore a picture of the plant. The valuable product was the plant's resin (laser, laserpicium, or lasarpicium). Silphium was an important species in prehistory, as evidenced by the Egyptians and Knossos Minoans developing a specific glyph to represent the silphium plant.[4] It was used widely by most ancient Mediterranean cultures; the Romans who mentioned the plant in poems or songs, considered it "worth its weight in denarii" (silver coins), or even gold.[2] Legend said that it was a gift from the god Apollo. The exact identity of silphium is unclear. It is commonly believed to be a now-extinct plant of the genus Ferula,[1] perhaps a variety of "giant fennel". The still-extant plants Margotia gummifera [pt][5] and Ferula tingitana[6] have been suggested as other possibilities. Another plant, asafoetida, was used as a cheaper substitute for silphium, and had similar enough qualities that Romans, including the geographer Strabo, used the same word to describe both.
infinite regress
a sequence of reasoning or justification that can never come to an end. An infinite regress in a series of propositions arises if the truth of proposition P₁ requires the support of proposition P₂, the truth of proposition P₂ requires the support of proposition P₃, and so on, ad infinitum. Distinction is made between infinite regresses that are "vicious" and those that are not.
anthrax
a serious bacterial disease of sheep and cattle, typically affecting the skin and lungs. It can be transmitted to humans, causing severe skin ulceration (malignant pustule) or a form of pneumonia (wool-sorters' disease). Once established, inhalation anthrax is often fatal, according to the CDC. Nearly half of all deaths occur within 24 to 48 hours of serious respiratory symptoms. A rare but serious bacterial illness.
starch
an odorless, tasteless white substance occurring widely in plant tissue and obtained chiefly from cereals and potatoes. It is a polysaccharide which functions as a carbohydrate store and is an important constituent of the human diet. Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants as energy storage. It is the most common carbohydrate in human diets and is contained in large amounts in staple foods like potatoes, wheat, maize (corn), rice, and cassava. Pure starch is a white, tasteless and odorless powder that is insoluble in cold water or alcohol. It consists of two types of molecules: the linear and helical amylose and the branched amylopectin. Depending on the plant, starch generally contains 20 to 25% amylose and 75 to 80% amylopectin by weight.[4] Glycogen, the glucose store of animals, is a more highly branched version of amylopectin. In industry, starch is converted into sugars, for example by malting, and fermented to produce ethanol in the manufacture of beer, whisky and biofuel. It is processed to produce many of the sugars used in processed foods. Mixing most starches in warm water produces a paste, such as wheatpaste, which can be used as a thickening, stiffening or gluing agent. The biggest industrial non-food use of starch is as an adhesive in the papermaking process. Starch can be applied to parts of some garments before ironing, to stiffen them.
thrombocytes
another name for platelets
erythrocytes
another name for red blood cells
spinal cord, hindbrain, midbrain, forebrain
as you move towards the forebrain tasks become more complex. the spinal cord and hindbrain are for lower level tasks like heartbeat, body regulation, etc.
degeneracy
becoming worse; decay
lymph heart
bits of striated muscle tissue embedded in the lymphatic vessels of some fishes, amphibians, reptiles, and embryonic birds, which slowly pulse to drive lymph through the vessels. A lymph heart is an organ found in some animals which pumps lymph. Lymph hearts are found in lungfishes, all amphibians, reptiles and flightless birds. They function as small pumps to pump lymph that has leaked out of the circulatory system back into the circulatory system. Lymph hearts are found in lungfishes, all amphibians, reptiles and flightless birds. The spleen is located in the upper left part of the belly under the ribcage. It helps protect the body by clearing worn-out red blood cells and other foreign bodies (such as germs) from the bloodstream. The spleen is part of the lymphatic system, which is an extensive drainage network.
pheromone tracking drones
drones that can track targets based off pheromones they release. speculative, but not far off from becoming a reality. would be spooky if implemented with a blockchain based assassination network.
antidiuretic hormone
hormone secreted by the posterior pituitary gland to prevent the kidneys from expelling too much water Antidiuretic hormone (ADH) is a hormone that helps your kidneys manage the amount of water in your body. The ADH test measures how much ADH is in your blood. This test is often combined with other tests to find out what is causing too much or too little of this hormone to be present in the blood.
Dysentery
inflammation of the large intestine Dysentery is a type of gastroenteritis that results in diarrhea with blood. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications may include dehydration.
what does cyanide do to body?
it blocks the utilization of oxygen at the cellular level In large doses, the body's ability to change cyanide into thiocyanate is overwhelmed. Large doses of cyanide prevent cells from using oxygen and eventually these cells die. The heart, respiratory system and central nervous system are most susceptible to cyanide poisoning.
five types of white blood cells
neutrophil, eosinophil, basophil, lymphocyte, monocyte
analgesic
painkiller
somatic
pertaining to the body
serum
plasma fluid after the blood cells and the clotting proteins have been removed Serum is the fluid and solute component of blood which does not play a role in clotting. It may be defined as blood plasma without fibrinogens. Serum includes all proteins not used in blood clotting; all electrolytes, antibodies, antigens, hormones; and any exogenous substances. an amber-colored, protein-rich liquid that separates out when blood coagulates.
Cerebellum function
process and store information, coordinates voluntary movements (posture, balance, speech) The cerebellum receives information from the sensory systems, the spinal cord, and other parts of the brain and then regulates motor movements. The cerebellum coordinates voluntary movements such as posture, balance, coordination, and speech, resulting in smooth and balanced muscular activity
steric
relating to the spatial arrangement of atoms in a molecule, especially as it affects chemical reactions.
Hawking radiation
results from a splitting of a virtual particle-antiparticle pair at the event horizon of a black hole. Hawking radiation is black-body radiation that is predicted to be released by black holes, due to quantum effects near the black hole event horizon. It is named after the theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who provided a theoretical argument for its existence in 1974. Hawking radiation reduces the mass and rotational energy of black holes and is therefore also known as black hole evaporation. Because of this, black holes that do not gain mass through other means are expected to shrink and ultimately vanish. Micro black holes are predicted to be larger emitters of radiation than more massive black holes and should thus shrink and dissipate faster.
coitus
sexual intercourse.
mental acuity
sharpness of mind Mental acuity comprises a person's ability to reason, focus, and recall information at optimum speeds. Losing mental acuity, or sharpness of the mind, is often referred to as cognitive decline — the key mental change associated with alzheimer's, dementia, parkinson's, and other brain and age-related disorders.
gyrus (gyri)
sheet of nerve cells that produces a rounded ridge on the surface of the cerebral cortex; convolution used to describe topology of brain
