Wave Theory

Posted on August 18, 2013 by James Cross
Portland_Japanese_gardens_zen_garden

Portland Japanese Garden. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Attribution: I, Laurascudder

While the universe seems to be built in an orderly manner, it might that its imperfections, breakages in order, and even disorder are partly the key to its beauty and complexity. In a perfectly ordered universe, the amount of matter and antimatter would have been the same; but, if the amount had really been the same at the beginning of the universe, matter and antimatter would have annihilated each other and we would have no universe. Asymmetry is often seen in quantum physics. Many seemingly symmetric forms in the living natural world, such as sea shells generally only coil in one particular direction according to species. This can be traced back to asymmetry in the chemistry of life. Most of the molecules of life can be exist as mirror images but living organisms almost exclusively utilize the left handed configuration for amino acids and the right handed configuration for sugars belonging to DNA or RNA.

These observations about the universe as a whole may have direct application to our health and how we live our lives. While many of us crave and protect order in our life, sometimes too much order is not good. A Zen garden never has its stones perfectly spread equidistant from each other. The beauty of the natural world comes from a sort of dynamic disorder. Physical and mental health may not be a matter of perfect order and balance but is instead produced by a balanced chaos.

Continue reading →

Posted in Cold fusion, Randomness, Running, Waves | 4 Comments

Dying Brain Active

Posted on August 12, 2013 by James Cross

A study Surge of neurophysiological coherence and connectivity in the dying brain has found that the brains of dying mice show unusual coherent activity for up to 30 seconds after cardiac arrest. Let me quote from the abstract:

The brain is assumed to be hypoactive during cardiac arrest. However, the neurophysiological state of the brain immediately following cardiac arrest has not been systematically investigated. In this study, we performed continuous electroencephalography in rats undergoing experimental cardiac arrest and analyzed changes in power density, coherence, directed connectivity, and cross-frequency coupling. We identified a transient surge of synchronous gamma oscillations that occurred within the first 30 s after cardiac arrest and preceded isoelectric electroencephalogram. Gamma oscillations during cardiac arrest were global and highly coherent; moreover, this frequency band exhibited a striking increase in anterior–posterior-directed connectivity and tight phase-coupling to both theta and alpha waves. High-frequency neurophysiological activity in the near-death state exceeded levels found during the conscious waking state. These data demonstrate that the mammalian brain can, albeit paradoxically, generate neural correlates of heightened conscious processing at near-death.

This could explain near death experiences as discussed in a previous post.

Posted in Consciousness, NDE | 1 Comment

Life Gets Complicated

Posted on July 28, 2013 by James Cross

NAUT2

“In some sense man is a microcosm of the universe; therefore what man is, is a clue to the universe. We are enfolded in the universe”. – David Bohm

The conventional understanding of evolution is that natural selection driven by random mutation accounts for the development of complexity and the diversity of species. Mutations that are detrimental create organisms that will be less likely to survive and create progeny. Mutations that have beneficial effects bestow upon the organisms better survivability and a greater chance the mutation will persist into the next generation. Mutations that are neither beneficial or detrimental may or may not persist; however, a neutral mutation combined with another mutation might produce either a detrimental or beneficial effect. This slow progression of evolution driven by random mutation results in new species. From the earliest single celled organism to humans and whales new organisms and new species arose through chance. This is what Jaques Monod referred to when he said: “Our number came up in the Monte Carlo game.”

This conventional understanding may account for a lot of what happens in evolution. At the same time, it is undoubtedly a vast over simplification of how the diversity of species on our planet has arisen. Life seems to have more strategies at it disposal than waiting for random mutations. And even when random mutations do occur as a part of the evolutionary process, other mechanisms seem to play critical roles in the development of complexity. Continue reading →

Posted in Human Evolution, Origin of Life, Quantum Mechanics, Randomness | 2 Comments