The Curious Science of Life in the Void

I was not really surprised when I came to know about Mary Roach's latest effort. Mary's books have always been based on extremely curious topics.

Mary Roach has yet again proved herself with packing for mars, she has found another unique topic to investigate and write about.

Her style of writing remains the same in this book, hilarious, direct and bizarre! She visits some topics like cadavers (actual dead people not crash test dummies) used for testing purposes and also some new titillating subjects, such as sex in space.

Mary Roach pushes the reader into the world of space flight and the difficulties of living in space, how do astronauts go to the toilet? do they really recycle their own urine and then precede to drink it? At the moment there are no baths and showers in space so how do they not stink of body odour all day long? Some other serious topics are discussed like what happens when you vomit in a spacesuit, and how do you survive if this happens to you when spacewalking?

She visits some interesting experiences that the original space pioneers had, for example how about the Apollo astronauts that could not stop farting...

For me packing for mars is her best book since "Stiff" which is one my all time favorites, i find it hard not to laugh out load when reading this particular book, which can sometimes be a little embarrassing.

Packing for mars is not just humorous but it also does a good job at explaining technical and scientific topics. Her style of writing is simple, she manages to get the main points across so that science people and non tech minded peeps can unders.

The Greatest Show on Earth

Many heroes, villains and wars have been created because of monotheism (the belief in the existence of one god), but science and the technologies science produces are used in these wars.

The author Richard Dawkins has a very extreme style of writing in this particular book, he doesn't mess about and storms in with very direct poignancy, so if you are deeply spiritual and religious, perhaps this is not the best choice of book for you......

The God Delusion is a remarkable argument against God, controversy arises as Dawkins blames god for a number of misdeeds against humanity and also blames him of being "psychotic".

Dawkins frustrations are caused with the theory of intelligent design and a host of other related issues, he throws an avalanche of hard evidence to bolster his case, Dawkins is a fascinating literary character that's out to slay old stories and non scientifically backed views.

"The God Delusion" is full of strong arguments of cosmic proportions and it affects our current world view.

Lets me put it like this, if you are religious and attempted to have an argument with Dawkins you better have your facts straight.

In Dawkins book the God delusion he puts powerful arguments forward that debase and unravel any and most religious doctrines and fallacies.

Why the extreme tone? Well i think this is because the man is determined not to see young children indoctrinated with a view that is not based on facs

The Greatest Show on Earth

Richard Dawkins most recent book "The Greatest Show on Earth" is a must read if you have to deal with people who do not believe in evolution!

This new volume supports the theory of evolution by natural selection. Once you have read this book you'll have a lot of data and facts to utilize in your next heated conversation on this sometimes controversial topic.

Dawkins texts on science were kept under wraps by the fame resulting from "The God Delusion". The people who do not believe in 'evolution' generally tend to be extremely spiritual and religious people which are sometimes at odds with his work, possibly also down to his previous work "the god delusion".

The author makes some bold statements, according to him if fossils had not been discovered, man would not have even considered evolution. Man would have not known the mysterious ways in which living things around us have evolved, the extinct living plants and animals and about how life existed thousands of years ago. Dawkins also takes into consideration molecular and radioactive dating, geological strata and plate tectonics, DNA sequencing, Darwin's voyages and the remarkable Lenski experiments with bacterial evolution demonstrating evolution.

Understandable, convincing, believable and easy are the words which can be used to describe Richard Dawkins writing style. Most people will be able to understand this book, although sometimes you have to read the passage twice before clearly understanding the topic. Even subjects like genetic science can be easily understood without prior knowled

Unleashing the Power of Consciousness

Epigenetics is a new field of biology that is been explored by Bruce. He unravels the obscure nature and behavior of cells under the influence of the environment. His view is that every individual cell functions as a universe, while the membrane saves the cell from foreign bodies and acts like the security guard who lets in the 'beneficial' and keeps out the 'harmful'.

We know that the 'cell' is the structural and functional unit of all living things, plants and animals. Lipton illustrates to us that the cells possess some kind of intelligence and therefore the cell can be taught through thinking and experience. As a result people should act and react in a positive manner to the environment, thoughts, suggestions and to outside energy.

We have enormous influence on the intellectual composition and framework of this cellular structure. Our influence can be so large that the cell genetics can be changed. The genetic propensity can also be changed by teaching the individual cell what to do next and also by shifting our mental and physical environment so that each and every cell can know and comprehend the type of alterations they need to create.

I found the topic of discussion in the biology of belief outstanding, we have all heard or perhaps have friends that are never ill or do not suffer from colds and flu as most other people do. This book and other experiences in my life make me think that just maybe if we believe that we will be healthy and have a positive outlook on life then we will be healthier, interesting read

Man and His Planet

In his book, 'Man and his Planet: An Unauthorized History,' James E. Strickling Jr. presents an analysis of a topic that has been debated by scholars, scientists, and religious leaders for generations - Creation versus Evolution. In his book, he examines both sides and provides an argument that refutes both their conclusions. His argument is based on the following specific line of reasoning: "Natural selection is Science's equivalent to religious fundamentalism and Creationist's interpretation of the origin of life as the 'Great Mistake.'" The overall objective of 'Man and his Planet' is to show that the creationists' "fixity of species" and the evolutionists' "very orderly gradual evolution of life on earth" are in error, and it is disadvantageous for them not to listen to opposing views as there is another potential alternative to how life emerged and evolved.

Strickling contends that "the creationist system of belief offers little value to our understanding and enlightenment." He also challenges the evolutionary concept of speciation by natural selection by arguing: "By surviving, it produces a circle; the surviving species survive because they are the fittest, and they are adjudged to be the fittest because they survive. Explains nothing - survived has survived. There are no facts to support speciation by natural selection." Instead, Strickling argues that natural selection allows a species to maintain its identity by means of natural selection.

Strickling provides an account of the Standard Geological Column Geological Record where the picture presented is a very orderly gradual evolution of life on earth. He details an assessment of Uniformitarianism vs. Catastrophism and argues that speciation is accelerated in times of catastrophe such as the ends of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic periods that were marked by extinction on a global scale. He contends Uniformitarianism does not satisfactorily explain evolution by natural selection.

Strickling provides a possible alternative that takes into account ancient documents that reveal natural electrical phenomena. The idea is that matter emerged from energy. That is, a burst of energy erupted and subsequently transformed to matter. This theory is comparable to the scientific 'Big Bang Theory' as well as to Deepak Chopra's spiritual system of beliefs pertaining to energy which asserts that there is an elaborate connection between quantum physics and consciousness. According to Chopra, "We are each a localized field of energy and information with cybernetic feedback loops interacting within a non-local field of energy and information."

Critique of Michael

At the beginning, Behe defines Darwinian evolution as 'a process whereby life arose from nonliving matter and subsequently developed entirely by natural means.' But he tempers evolution viability with questions raised from 'irreducible complexity' in the biochemical processes. Assailing unanswered questions arising in evolution theory, Behe contends: "At the tiniest levels of biology -- the chemical life of the cell -- we have discovered a complex world that radically changes the grounds on which Darwinian debates must be contested."

Behe admits to Catholic heritage in a biochemistry ambiance; as such, from the very first, he writes with one hand tied behind his back. The biological metaphysician in Behe is the Creationist in critique of Darwin's Evolution. Like all traditional religionists, he tempers conservative spirituality with generous helpings of liberal doctrinaire.

Science conceived the idea of cellular existence at about the same time as Darwin's voyage and evolutionary vision. He could not access Behe's considerable library on cellular structure, to advanced molecular knowledge, nor even to contemporaneous theoreticians Matthias Schleiden and Theodor Schwann, who concluded: "cells compose the entire bodies of animals and plants, and that in some way the cells are individual units with a life of their own." Behe described Schleiden and Schwann as biochemists at work in the early to middle 1800s -- the time of Darwin's travels and composing notes to write "The Origin of Species." In this regard, new discoveries in the field of biology were not available to the intrepid Darwin.

Behe assigns Darwin's theory to a 'Black Box' of unanswered questions. He denigrates Darwin's broadly based theory and creates a few 'Black Boxes' of his own: to wit, the perception of 'irreducible complexity' in cellular development, even when such complexity can be further reduced, to the very least atomic particle and to atom affinity toward symbiosis. He posits the last remaining box to be the cell -- opened to reveal molecules -- the bedrock of nature. But does not the bedrock of nature rest, not in molecules, but in single atoms and these somehow affected by subatomic particles, and other forces yet unclassified or unproven as energy incentives. Basic biochemistry must perceive the assembly of two or more atoms to constitute molecular creation. 'Hydrogen atoms' are the most abundant element in the universe, used in production of synthetic ammonia and methanol, in petroleum refining, and in organic materials hydrogenation. Within hydrogen and oxygen qualities rest the propensity to create water; all it takes is two hydrogen and one oxygen atom to create a molecule of water; even so, a catalyst is necessary to instigate precipitation; notwithstanding, all other molecules result from different atom combinations.

Admitted by Behe, Black Boxes sometimes occur within Black Boxes and sometimes the new boxes demand we revise all of our theories. Thus, Darwin cannot be the only theorist creating Black Boxes without qualification or resolution. Behe quotes the Santa Fe Institute's Stuart Kauffman, who suggested the Darwinian theory of evolution to be true and to account for the molecular structure of life. Of course, Darwin could not explain molecular structure because the knowledge and biochemistry tools available today were not widely available in Darwin's day!

A fault is found in Behe's consensus to denigrate 'natural selection' as unworthy to account for the 'irreducible complexity' common to cellular development. Contrary to Behe's view, the 'irreducible complexity' found in cellular development does not obviate a chance for 'Natural Selection' processes. He strains at a gnat and swallows a camel!

Biospheres Reproducing Planet Earth

Dorion Sagan's 1990 paperback Biospheres: Reproducing Planet Earth (McGraw-Hill Publishing, ISBN 0-553-28883-0) does more than deliver a unique vision of the planet's life support system. It also challenges the traditional view of humanity as the dominant feature of life on Earth.

Perhaps that is no less than should be expected from the offspring of astronomer Carl Sagan and biologist Lynn Margulis, whose unorthodox view of evolutionary biology sees life forms merging to produce new ones. Sagan the younger is well known as an author of books on culture, evolution, and the philosophy of science.

Ecospheres to Biosphere 2

Among the more interesting features of the book are the mentions of still-existing institutions that are unexpectedly abiding features of the economic and technological landscape.

For example, Ecospheres Associates in Tucson, Arizona manufactures and sells sealed glass balls filled with water containing green algae, other microscopic biota, and tiny shrimp in a symbiotic community that illustrates the principle of closed life support. It is one illustration of what Sagan calls "permanently recycling systems." Called EcoSpheres, they come in a variety of sizes, from 4 inches in diameter to 9 inches, are priced like small kitchen appliances, and have "replacement periods" of up to a year. With care, they can last for many years. EcoSpheres are a NASA spin-off, the first product of US experiments to create closed ecosystems, ultimately for humans in space habitats.

"Bioshelters", earthbound biospheres for individuals, families, and small groups, were a product of the gone-but-not-forgotten New Alchemy Institute (1969-1991). Between Apollo 11 and Biosphere 2, New Alchemy built several bioshelters it called "arks" at Cape Cod Massachusetts, Prince Edward Island (eastern Quebec), and other places. The Green Center at Hatchville, MA preserves New Alchemy's information legacy.

Ocean Arcs International, founded by the same people who brought you bioshelters, created the self-sustaining oceangoing vessels mentioned in Biospheres. Their idea of sailing Earth's oceans as little sea colonies, without dependence on anything nonrenewable, including fossil fuels, has since mutated into a wastewater processing method that might qualify as a technology for space colonies.

Biosphere 2, 35 miles north of Tucson, was taking shape just as Biospheres the book was nearing completion. The site has become Southern Arizona's best-known technological wonder. Situated among the red rocks of the Santa Catalina Mountains, out of sight of Highway 77 and the ordinary built environment, it is said that on certain summer evenings under one of those ruby Arizona sunsets, all of the visual cues are Martian. From the library tower of the human habitat, across a miniature ocean, rain forest, desert, savannah, and marshland, Biosphere 2 is 3.14 acres of Earth under glass. It has operated since 2007 as a research station and educational outreach project of the University of Arizona under a ten-year, $30 million grant from the Philecology Foundation.

Of Mice and Men

But the book has a downside. Its core philosophy is environmentalism, which is worthy of suspicion because of its tendency to denigrate humanity. Sagan is at risk for this as well, displaying a fairly consistent antihuman drumbeat that is easily the most off-putting feature of his little book.

Each human being, says Sagan, is both a multi-species assemblage and a unit of a larger organism. The typical Homo sapiens' surface is inhabited by a microbiological community of bacteria, fungi, round worms, pin worms, etc. Our guts are densely-packed tubes of bacteria, yeasts, and other microorganisms. To add further insult, the Lovelockian view of Gaia, Mother Earth, which Sagan describes sympathetically, features humans as mere components. It's almost enough to make one decide to leave all the dirt and non-human DNA behind, and build strictly artificial worlds, just to prove that we can. Except that we can't, as anyone who disturbs the equilibrium of their digestive jungle soon discovers.