Biochemistry Week 12

Meiosis, Mitosis, and the Creation of the Universe

Bio-chemistry doesn’t always inspire a complex mix of feelings wavering between primordial wow-ness mixed with wonder at the possibility of some grand orchestrating force that some people call “God” and that I might refer to as a multi-dimensional pantheistic playing field where higher dimensions interface with material reality mysterious and inexplicable ways. In this multi-dimensional mystical reality circus, I sometimes wonder how EXACTLY non-physical entities (Gods, angels, demons) influence material reality, or does science have creation all figured out with the Big Bang theory and quantum physics? The fact that nature seems to have synchronistically worked out both asexual reproduction (mitosis) and sexual reproduction (meiosis) to the effect that babies are given EXACTLY half of the chromosomes of each parent- to me- seems like some kind of small miracle that I have a hard time believing nature- in a strictly material or Darwinian natural evolution sense- just came up with by mere coincidence subject to survival of the fittest. Now I’m no creationist, but who or what inspired the process of mitosis whereby the innate intelligence of a cell causes its nucleus to split, creating two identical nuclei, or the equally small miracle of meiosis whereby an egg or sperm “know” that its chromosomal half is just around the bend in a hopefully suitable mate’s matching parts? If we are biologically dependent on the other sex’s chromosomes to create new life, might we also be emotionally or spiritually interdependent as well? Such musings conjure up images of Tibetan consorts sitting in yab yum- god and goddess dependent on the other to create the universe.

Citric Acid Cycle Animation

The animation we were asked would be more comprehensible if we more extensive chemistry foundation. I felt like I was listening to some quixotic futuristic language, and one that would take me years to learn. The one thing I got out of it is that citric acid cycle helps a cell produce ATP or other molecules out of raw building blocks such as amino acids, fatty acids, and monosaccharides. The other thing I got ouf of it was that I am a chemistry novice. I wish I had more to add.

Do humanity and bacteria share a common ancestor?

At first, I thought, “No way do human beings and bacteria have a common ancestor.” In bacterias’ cells, DNA is not separated from the cytoplasm, whereas in humanity’ DNA, the DNA is located in the cell nucleus. This biological difference seems to point to a lack of relation. However, there is a theory that suggests that all living things on Earth have a common ancestor, and this study has aimed to find the Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA). The theory suggests that the LUCA is a single cell that existed 3 or 4 billion years ago from which all life as evolved since. The scientific evidence for the common ancestor of humanity and bacteria is that the same exact genetic code is used in humans and bacteria, so that a gene from a human can be place into a bacterium, and the bacterium will make a human protein. This is how insulin is made. Who knew?

BioChemistry Week 11- Chemistry of Life

Biography:

Erin is a tantric yogini, crystal aficionado, singer, clarinetist, pianist, composer, face-painter, Vajrayana Buddhist & Hindu, and believer in the true teachings of the Cosmic Christ. She got her BA in music and studied hatha, Iyengar, bhakti, tantric yoga, dance, Eastern philosophy, and pranic healing outside of school. She is an empathic healer, mystic, masseus, and magician (both sex magic, wicca, and life as a magical practice) with keen insight into human psychology and a novel approach to combining yoga asanas and chakra sounds in order to open all the chakras, including the sacral and throat chakras. She had a full kundalini awakening a few years ago, which was one of the most ecstatic moments of her lie and opened up some past-life and multi-dimensional awareness. She has been around the universe a long time….

Once upon a time in her mid 20s, she accidentally became the clownarchist queen of the L.A. Underground and lived on a fairyland in Topanga Canyon, throwing shocking social deprogramming costume parties, performing Dadaist poetry, performance art, and generally creating all kinds of beautiful madness. Her life was truly like a living fairytale, before crashing down at the height of her fame, divorcing her husband and grieving her father who was murdered. She went from thinking she was going to become a rockstar and model in Europe to having a near-death episode at 27 which sent her fleeing to Tucson Arizona to rest for a few years before the Great Spirit told her move to San Francisco. It was in the ghetto of the Mission that she met her fairy rockstar soulmate who is currently producing and co-writing her first album, a haunting elegy of alien conspiracy and dark emotional landscapes.

Erin is still healing while attending acupuncture school. Her illness gave birth to an intense interest and study in healing, spiritual devotion and discipline, and a passion for crystal jewelry making, including crystal womb belts for female reproductive pain. She is currently getting weekly acupuncture sessions and studying like a prophetic lunatic.

Review of Animation

I may have the image of an animated dog with his head in the toilet forever emblazoned in my mind after checking out the Acids and Bases link. I may not. But what I will always remember is that aspirin, coca cola, citrus fruits, and vinegar are acidic. I actually heard somewhere that coca cola was so acidic it could clean the gunk caked onto your toilet bowl. More chemically speaking, an acidic substance is anything that produces hydrogen ions. A basic substance is anything that produces hydroxide ions. Examples of basic solutions are baking soda, detergents, ammonia cleaners, tums and Rolaids. I learned that when acid and bases react, they form salt and a water. I found a pH chart of common substances like blood and coffee interesting, as chemistry is more intereting when it is connected to the common items of every day living. Some of the other information was dry and technical, and no amount of cute blue bubble boxes and bullet points could make fun or accessible enough to say, yeah, I read it but still didn’t “get it.”

Does the End justify the Means?

“The ends justify the means” is usually a phrase trying to pawn off unethical actions because supposedly, the end result makes it worth the perceived harm of the causes or procedures that go into that end result. My view is that all actions have karma, and it is a fool’s errand to think that shitty procedures produce somehow good outcomes. “The ends justify the means” is a phrase often used to justify war, (including the Gulf War which caused many birth defects of veterans’ children and cancer as a result of the use of depleted Uranium weapons used). “The Ends justify the means” never looks at long-term effects, only immediate gratification for some desired outcome which usually only benefits one party and not the Greater Whole (and really, we are all One). Every single action has karmic repercussion, which is why it’s a stupid phrase to use as an excuse to justify any unethical behavior thinking that if we can just put up with the b.s., we will somehow grow flowers out of it.

Chemistry Week 8

Silicon as a Semiconductor

Silicon and Germanium are the most common semi-conductors. Silicon’s atomic number is 14; its symbol is Si, and its atomic weight is 28. 0855 Silicon (along with) has 4 electrons in its outer orbital, which each form covalent bonds with other atoms. These four covalent bonds give Silicon both crystal and a lattice structure. The crystalline structure that its forms is a silvery, metallic-looking substance, although it is not actually a metal. A pure silicon crystal is nearly an insulator by virtue of the fact that its electrons are all “tied up” in covalent bonds and can’t move around freely. In order for a substance to be a good conductor, it has to have free electrons to move around, since electricity is dependent on the free flow of atoms. However, Silicon can become a better conductor by “doping” it up, adding impurities that allow it to become a better conductor in addition to an already viable insulator, hence the term “semi-conductor.” Silicon is used in almost all electronic devices.

Chembalancer- More Fun than you’d Guess

I have to admit I was skeptical of the fun potential of a fun based chemistry website, but for someone with a genuine curiosity about the way the world works, funbasedlearning.com actually was fun. Balancing chemical equations in the Classic Chembalancer game was easy enough, but the fun part was the info about the molecules once you got the answer right. It made chemical equations seems much less esoteric, abstract, and removed from my daily life to be rewarded with interesting information after correctly balancing chemical equation, so that I knew what these compounds were actually responsible for in the real world. Some things that I learned were that HCl is the hydrochloric acid that helps us digest food; magnesium gives fireworks their pyrotechnic flare; mercury is in thermometers but poisonous with skin contact. The element quiz was interesting, somehow not as addictive, but certainly good fodder for preparing for a Chemistry category on Jeopardy. I might be an uber nerd for admitting as much, (or I may just put a smile on my Chemistry teacher’s face), but I may even dink around on this site instead of using all my internet freetime on youtube music videos and online tattoo photographs.

Balancing Equations Tutorial

In the Balancing Equations tutorial, the student is prompted to answer how many atoms comprise the reactant and then the product. It took me one try to discern the difference between the reactant (which is the beginning part of the equation) and the product, which is the second part of the equation, and it also took that first try for me to remember basic algebra rules that anything inside the parentheses is multiplied by the number outside the parentheses. The computer pointed out that the hydrogen and oxygen in the equation were not balanced (through no mistake of my own), and so it took it upon itself to add a 4 in front of the H2O molecule to balance the product with the reactant.