Put Yourself to Bedlam

I am the life force power of the fifty trillion beautiful molecular geniuses that make up my form - at one with all that is." Jill Bolte Taylor

The following video floored me.

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is a Harvard trained Neuroanatomist or in plain English: a big wig scientist who studies brains.

JBT had a stroke in 1996. The video is of her speech about the event, her recovery and most importantly what she learned about her essence by experiencing a brain trauma from the inside out. It is a fascinating presentation on every level.

Peace,
XXKHT

p.s. For better quality, large screen viewing, see the video at it's original source here:

Jill Bolte Taylor at Monterey

“The mathematical sciences particularly exhibit order, symmetry, and limitation; and these are the greatest forms of the beautiful.” --Aristotle

Science has proven me right once again.

Quite a while ago, I wondered aloud if life expectancy weren't related to the number of heartbeats a creature has. I noticed that small animals have rapid heartbeats while large animals have slower ones, and that the larger tend to have longer life expectancies than the smaller by degrees*.

For instance, the average weight of a rat is 250-300g and its life expectancy is 3-5 years; while an elephant weighs in at about a ton (depending on the breed and gender) with a life expectancy of roughly 60 years.

According to Geoffrey West, president of Santa Fe Institute, the thing the rat and the elephant (and every other animal with a heart) have in common is the number of times those hearts will beat in it's lifetime, which, under the best circumstances, is 1.5 billion.

It all goes back to efficiency of calorie burning and a host of other complex contributors, but the basic formula is 1.5 billion beats und das ist alles.

Make your own Beating Heart Message

The study poses a new question - also one I've pondered in the past - if there are a finite number of heartbeats to be had, what does that mean in relation to cardio exercises? Are we, in performing these exercises slowing heart disease, but potentially shortening our life spans in the instance that we (specifically) weren't going to develop the disease in the first place? More importantly, wouldn't it be awesome if science developed better methods of prediction than what genetics have provided so far? Think of how much time could be saved not sweating at the gym. A viable excuse for laziness! Just the kind of absolution I could really put to use.

In addition to my early hypotheses of cardiorhythmic relativity, I have long imagined everything tied to a single mathematical equation. Not just bio-processes, but every process and consequent result, from cosmic/celestial to molecular.

Dr. West mentions this mathematical connection in Robert Krulwich's piece on NPR.

Viva la fractals!
XXKHT

*dogs seem to defy the size equation, with the large ones living far shorter lives on average than the smaller breeds. I think maybe it has to do with the larger breeds susceptibility to life shortening disease etc., but who knows?
Even more curiously, lobster seem to defy the perils of aging, if not death by bisque, all together.

Womens Wobble, But They Don't Fall Down

Scientists have not only asked, but answered the question of how hugely pregnant women ambulate without "toppling" over.

According to Harvard researchers, women have evolved larger hip bones and a wedge shaped lumbar vertebrae, in addition to wider pelvises to compensate for the different center of gravity that childbearing creates. It is thought that these changes likely reduce the amount of pain involved in carrying the forward load as well (though to my memory, it felt something like carrying a load of wet laundry beneath my skin with a softball wedged up my... erm...pelvis).

As a bipedal species, we've adapted these unique mutations to continue to walk upright, presumably rather than crawling on all fours in the late stages - which with our shortened arms would not only be impractical, but would subject gestating mothers to the inevitable ridicule of their otherwise useless mates.

Speaking of useless mates:

"...what about men with stomachs the size of babies or bigger? What keeps them from toppling over?"

Their back muscles are used to compensate, but that probably means more back pain, theorized Shapiro, who added: "It would be a fun study to do to look at men with beer bellies to see if they shift their loads.*"

I wonder what sort of adaptations the male body has created so far...

I believe the technical term is Barcalounger.

Look at that! He even evolved an artificial pet (saves bending over, I guess).
XXKHT

**By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer