>> ^dannym3141:
Yeah, but are you really gonna place a bet against the odds that between now and 14 billion years ago, any hydrogen atom in your body was NEVER part of a star? Like it just floated around for 14 billion years avoiding all contact with all other material, landed on earth perhaps in a science lesson, went into a test tube thanks to a series of freak localised winds, they did the burning hydrogen trick showing that it made water as a result, which then worked its way around the sewer system which you one day drunk and it's still in you now?
Or were you just trying to show how clever you were(n't)?Yes in that way it is true. It is very likely that most hydrogen atoms were part of a star at one time or another. I misinterpreted that statement as all atoms were made in a star.
However there must still be a lot of primordial hydrogen in the interstellar medium which will be incorporated into molecular clouds out of which stars form.

>> ^quantumushroom:
Atheists are quite capable of being as obnoxious and self-righteous as the pious.
Atheists are no better or worse than anyone else.
The MCP is God.
End of line.



MCP? Molecular and Cellular Proteomics??

In reply to this comment by gwiz665:
I think science's work to make me immortal is progressing quite nicely.

Our species is nearing the end of suffering the terminal illness of aging. If anti-aging/life extension through Bioprinting and other current and soon to be announced technologies is not established before your last day of living, Cryopreservation is the ONLY ship out of town! Re-animation through new technologies such as MNT (Molecular NanoTechnologies) is a certainty.

a conclusion a came to Manny years ago was that if time is infinite , then there are an infinite amount of times for the molecular arrangement that gives us consciousness to reoccur.

after death in this life we will repeatedly become conchoise to some exstent in different configurations. due to lack of perception of time when ded u will litraly repeatedly wake up, however im not so sure its likly to be as a fleshy creature could be as annything, whatever arengment of attoms and electrcity alow for you to be aware, allso u will probably reconfigure many times with no previous memory.

lol who knows if we already existed an infinite amount of times before but just don't remember, iv been geting alot of Daja voue recently mabyt its something to do with that , i personally think its more likely im just getting old .

In June of '07, I went down to Ecuador to train at an archaeological field school. I was an Anthro minor and intended to pursue a career in Biological Anthropology, specializing in molecular clocking (deducing rates of evolution through DNA base pair variation), and wanted some kind of field experience before finishing undergrad. I just googled archae field schools and picked one. It was run by a university in Florida to which I had no connection whatsoever. It was run by two profs and had two separate classes: one in archaeology (digging) and one in ethnography (meeting people and writing about them). I ended up in the archaeological field school.

Upon arriving, I met the rest of the participants. Many of them knew each other, and I was somewhat of a novelty. The first night, I managed to take the smart but prudish girl back to my room for some "Hey, I just met you, why don't we fool around" action. Little did I know what I was getting into.

She turned out to be crazy. Like top-notch, grade A, never-been-kissed, "I'll give you $100 to take my virginity" crazy. It didn't take me long to make it clear that I was not that in need of cash, and that I was not falling in love. This did not go over well, and for the first two weeks of the six week program, I had to apologize to every fucking person in the camp for subjecting them to the tears of this crazy, immature, raving girl.

However, (this is where it gets interesting) during those first two weeks, I was spending all day in the field away from Crazy, who was studying ethnography in the coastal village where we were camped about 6km away. All day, I was troweling dirt and plotting pits next to one of the hottest and most engaged-to-be-married 20 year old girls I've ever met. At first, her neutrality as a "spoken for" woman was a good haven from the rest of the crowd, who were still kind of up-in-arms about my bagging and bouncing Ms. Crazy. And so, my pit partner and I got along swimmingly, spending the grueling but relieved-from-social-antagonism days talking about this and that. Now, I gotta tell ya, I'm a strapping lad (about 2m ((that's 6'6")) and 115kg ((250 lbs))) and I was very good at the field work. There is very little that impresses women, especially 20 year old engaged-to-be-married women, like being physically excellent at something right in front of them.

Around the end of week two, I started to notice that my pit partner and I were getting all electric and stuff around each other, making eyes and whispering sweet nothings as we toiled away in our dirt hole. Things got spicier and spicier, especially when I found out that the fiance was a wannabe prize fighter who couldn't hold a job, had cheated on her, and held his crotch rocket in about as much esteem as his wife-to-be (also, he bought her a $20k ring and made her mother make the payments on it). As I clearly could not give a flying cockroach's penis about this douche, I let myself really fall for this girl.

At the end of week three, we had four days off to travel wherever we chose. As I tend to be a loner if I don't find a very, very like-minded crony, I was planning to head south to Cuenca for a long weekend of solo traveling. But, as luck/fate/coincidence would have it, I met the soon-to-be-married lady and her traveling group at the bus stop just outside the village, also planning to go to Cuenca. Their group was minus a strong leader and without much Spanish, so I hooked up with them, "and it has made all the difference."

In Cuena, the girl and I fell in love. We didn't touch each other that weekend, but luck/fate/coincidence left us alone together too many times for there not to have been meaning in it. We talked by glowing midnight fountains, got lost on a house party dancefloor, drank too much shitty beer, and stared at the stars from the rooftop we had to crawl out a hotel window to sit on. Neither of us mentioned it out loud, but only used strong suggestion and innuendo. We both knew what was happening, but weren't sure if it was going to work. As I have failed to mention, but the astute reader might already suspect, my former liason Ms. Crazy considered herself to be Soon-to-Be-Married's best friend in Ecuador. She was right there in Cuenca with us the whole time, in complete denial of what was right in her face.

We returned from Cuenca on a Sunday, and I spent Monday and Tuesday white knuckled and sweating as I worked right next to a woman I could have ripped the perfect breast concealing oversized sweatshirt off and really gotten dirty. As she was engaged and about as virtuous as they come these days, no one suspected a thing. We were headed right straight towards Affair City on our pheromone and hormone fueled freight train, and no one else even had a whiff of it.

To this day, not one of the 20 or so other students has any idea that on that Tuesday after Cuenca, as we sat on the porch of my cabin--me playing guitar and her studying for the GRE--this girl and I began one of the world's greatest love affairs. That night, we finally put into words the feelings and fears, and each one assured the other that it would be safe as long as no one knew. At a peak moment in the conversation, I must have asked something like "Well, what's next, then?" The words she answered still echo in my mind whenever I have trouble sleeping. Sultry, slow and with head tilted, she said, "You wanna test the waters?" and glided across the porch and into my lightless room. I sat thinking Oh my god. She just fucking went into my cabin. Holy fuck, I'm gonna. Fuck. Shit. Wow. Wait a sec, she's in my cabin. STFU and get in there! She had to open the door to check if I was coming before the dazzle faded from my mind. I pushed her back into the darkness.

That was nearly two years ago now, and as I write, I am putting this princess to bed in our apartment in Taipei. We carried on an illicit affair, with trysts on 1 a.m. beaches, in shower stalls and in my Pacific breeze filled cabin for a month in Ecuador, and it has lasted to this day, across four continents and literally around the world. I have never written this story down before, and I just thank AC for giving me the forum.

Good talk. I wish I could handle 2 degrees because Microbiology/molecular biology is fascinating. The future of that field is something I would love to participate in.

In reply to this comment by EDD:
See deathcow's http://www.videosift.com/video/TED-Talks-Bonnie-Bassler-How-bacteria-communicates

Tags for this video have been changed from 'molecular biology, cells, science, motor' to 'molecular biology, cells, science, motor, cellular respiration, ATP, metabolism' - edited by mauz15

I'll add my 2 bits.

I get certain visual problems before a migraine. It begins with what i would liken to tunnel vision, where i'm focusing very hard on the "centre" of my sight, if you will, and the edges become milky almost. I wouldn't say i lose my sight in those areas, but i "don't see" them. Then, distances start to morph, and i translate the distance between my head and my book/monitor/desk/hand as both very small and HUGE at the same time. Almost as though i'm considering it on a relative level (relative to the size of my body) and also on a molecular level, where the distance is astronomical. Then, having recognised this, the distance begins to change in front of my eyes, almost like zooming in and out on a camera very quickly. It's nauseating, and it gives me a panic attack, it's a really scary sensation. Other times i'll get blue sparks occuring all around the peripheral vision area, they're nothing special really, the better of the 2.

Then i get a terrible, terrible headache that lasts for at least half a day. Often it feels like such a great pressure in my head that i think it'll explode. Usually it only goes if i sleep. I'm incapable of doing anything while i have that headache, it's debilitating. It pulses in a sense, become more painful for a while and then less painful for a while. I need utter darkness, including any LED's in the room, literally every source of light has to be extinguished. Marijuana has helped, and when i've been drunk i've thought that i had a migraine, but it wasn't feeling anywhere near as bad as a migraine (and so is it? perhaps not).

During the "aura"(?) phase with the visual hallucinations and for a few days after the headache part, i find it hard to speak. I know i can say something if i want to, but when i try to speak i stutter a lot, and it takes me a while to say what i want to say, and i often feel distanced from things.

I've never had one at work or at university, i dread to think what i'd say/do if i had one. It's something i feel almost guilty about because i feel that if you've never had one you'd never accept/understand just how much it hurts. "Boss, i've got a migraine." - "Yeah, i've got a headache too, get back to work."

I'm actually feeling my hackles rise explaining it and remembering the feeling. I don't get any other the other stuff though.

I never knew about medication for migraines, i thought it'd just be painkillers. Gonna speak to my doc thanks to mintbbb's initial post.

aha yes the *brains channel - well jonny - is it kind of you to offer, I think there are a few more out there to try, and I think you should stick with the channel - I know alot of stuff must be long in there - however you should redefine it

From the molecular biology of neurons to theories of consciousness, the Mind and Brain channel is devoted to workings of the brain and its emergent mind. All videos in this channel offer some insight into the workings of brains (organic or synthetic). Videos of trippy optical illusions and Derren Brown mind tricks are generally not acceptable - unless, of course, they contain some explanation of how the brain is being manipulated to produce the demonstrated results.

to include any hypnosis or other trick, optical illusion - that while no prehaps expalaining the effect, requires the brain for the trickery to work.

This should be a fantastic channel! Take out the bit that requires some explaining, and you can have a channel choc full of brainteasers, opticals, manipulation, experiments, hypnosis, and medical related stuff - it'll be great

In the meantime...just as a side note - no to *zombie channel, fun, but dark and horrowshow cover that nicely

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

Time traveling surveilance drone from the future. It scans the entire scene at the molecular level for recreation and inclusion in the "Great Moments in History" theme park - around 170 years from now. You'll find one of these drones at all major historical events ... if you look hard enough.

It definitely belongs in the brain channel. Videos don't necessarily have to describe specific neural mechanisms. It does kind of fall in the grey area, but there's plenty enough implication on the nature of minds and brains there to justify its inclusion.

In reply to this comment by guessandcheck:
I'm afraid, it merely illustrates the ability and doesn't explain the biological nature of the learning, but I'll let you be the judge. As a warning the audio can be kind of loud for the voice-overs so you may want to keep an eye on the volume.

In reply to this comment by jonny:
Given the brief description, it sounds like a good candidate. I've bookmarked it and I'll try to watch it this weekend.

There is basically only one criterion for inclusion in the channel. Does the video explain the mental behavior demonstrated in the clip, as opposed to simply describing it. In other words, the video has to provide some insight into the underlying mechanisms, which can range anywhere from molecular biology to cognitive psychology and even into philosophy. There's a few in the channel that are in a bit of a grey area - either implying the mechanism, or being more philosophical in nature.

In reply to this comment by guessandcheck:
hey, just added a clip of a chimp learning English and Hebrew to your Brain channel. hope it fits your criteria, if not no worries. sounds like it'll be a great channel.

I'm afraid, it merely illustrates the ability and doesn't explain the biological nature of the learning, but I'll let you be the judge. As a warning the audio can be kind of loud for the voice-overs so you may want to keep an eye on the volume.

In reply to this comment by jonny:
Given the brief description, it sounds like a good candidate. I've bookmarked it and I'll try to watch it this weekend.

There is basically only one criterion for inclusion in the channel. Does the video explain the mental behavior demonstrated in the clip, as opposed to simply describing it. In other words, the video has to provide some insight into the underlying mechanisms, which can range anywhere from molecular biology to cognitive psychology and even into philosophy. There's a few in the channel that are in a bit of a grey area - either implying the mechanism, or being more philosophical in nature.

In reply to this comment by guessandcheck:
hey, just added a clip of a chimp learning English and Hebrew to your Brain channel. hope it fits your criteria, if not no worries. sounds like it'll be a great channel.

Given the brief description, it sounds like a good candidate. I've bookmarked it and I'll try to watch it this weekend.

There is basically only one criterion for inclusion in the channel. Does the video explain the mental behavior demonstrated in the clip, as opposed to simply describing it. In other words, the video has to provide some insight into the underlying mechanisms, which can range anywhere from molecular biology to cognitive psychology and even into philosophy. There's a few in the channel that are in a bit of a grey area - either implying the mechanism, or being more philosophical in nature.

In reply to this comment by guessandcheck:
hey, just added a clip of a chimp learning English and Hebrew to your Brain channel. hope it fits your criteria, if not no worries. sounds like it'll be a great channel.

so pretty much our DNA is made by a molecular zipper-like stenographer..

I believe this is in fact Neil Patrick Harris's older brother who lives in Florida. It wouldn't be the first time that siblings of a gay brother have a hard time adapting emotionally. Combine that with famous, much younger sibling who gets all the attention, and you've got the molecular precursors of pure crazy.