Soul: Nature vs. Nurture?

Where is the soul of a person? What happens to the soul when the body dies?

Experiences don't define a person. Obviously a good environment that nurtures the body for proper development is necessary. But if you reconstruct a person using genetic information then you are recreating the exact same person. The soul arises from the physical being created from the genetic information. If the person dies, the soul dies as well.

What about Identical twins who share exact genes?

They are the same person.

How can we test this idea of the soul arising from the body? What is a valid scientific approach? How can we test this idea by observing the behavior of cloned insects or animals?

In the news:

Do Twins Have a Sixth Sense?

-- Christie Ewen

What is the Impact of Lactose in Adults?

I've been thinking about lactose intolerance and galactosemia.  Perhaps, adults shouldn't be drinking milk? or dairy products?  Although most people have developed a tolerance to lactose, I'm wondering what are the other possible deleterious effects of lactose.

Lactose is broken down into glucose and galactose.  Those with galactosemia cannot break down galactose which leads to serious health problems.  The only treatment is eliminating lactose and galactose in the diet.

It should be noted that The Okinawa diet consists of almost no dairy products.   Unlike, the Blue Zones diet which encourages the consumption of goat's milk (contains lactose).

Also, cheese lactose content is much lower than milk or yogurt (See Stonyfield's lactose chart)

This needs further investigation.

by Christie Ewen

Life and Death (Yin and yang)

Does life and death go hand in hand?  What gives life, gives death and vice versa.  What form of death is necessary to be born again (sounds almost biblical)?

Here's an idea (not entirely thought through): How about introducing a virus that carries genetic information that mirrors the genetic information of the individual minus certain information to start a regression?  Then reintroduce the full genetic information at a desired age to kickstart the progression?  Finally, introduce a repeat cycle information.

-- Christie E.

A Look at Biologically immortal species

"Of particular interest is the Turritopsis nurticula.  Life is dynamic and this example is familiar in nature.  The pattern mirrors the universe breathing: expanding and contracting." -- Christie Ewen

Biologically immortal species

See also List of long-living organisms

Life defined as biologically immortal is still susceptible to causes of death besides aging, including disease and trauma, as defined above. Notable immortal species include:

• Bacteria (as a colony) — Bacteria reproduce through cell division. A parent bacterium splits itself into two identical daughter cells. These daughter cells then split themselves in half. This process repeats, thus making the bacterium colony essentially immortal.
  Recent research, however, suggests that even bacteria as a colony may eventually die since each succeeding generation is slightly smaller, weaker, and more likely to die than the previous.^[11]
• Hydra can be considered biologically immortal as they do not undergo senescence or aging.
• Turritopsis nutricula, a jellyfish, after becoming a sexually mature adult, can transform itself back into a child (the polyp stage) using the cell conversion process of transdifferentiation.Turritopsis nutricula repeats this cycle, meaning that it may have an indefinite lifespan.^[12]
• Bristlecone Pines are speculated to be potentially immortal; the oldest known living specimen is over 4800 years old.

REFERENCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immortality

YouTube: Quest for Immortality

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfTqXL0d9Ls

Word of the Day: quantal

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quantal

Enzymes are catalysts for accleration

While reading about proteins, I came across an interesting fact about enzymes: they act as accelerators.  Perhaps, manipulating the enzymes involved in aging can delay death.