Cell Biology and Cancer

• How sophisticated is our understanding of cancer?
• How does a TCM approach to cancer differ?

1) I think we are still in the middle stages of understanding cancer. If we were further along, we would have more effective cures and prevention protocols. Cancer is tricky because while there are some overlapping facts about all cancers, every kind of cancer is unique, and even specific types of cancers are different in different bodies. This makes cancer more of an umbrella term for many diseases, and the unique-ness of every person's cancer means that standardized approaches, which western medicine is so fond of, doesn't always work well. 

2) TCM is about treating a person with cancer, rather than treating cancer. So, rather than giving someone a drug or treatment that is meant to attack or kill a person's cancer cells, TCM practitioners would focus on strengthening a person's constitution and helping to balance their energy so the person's system was strong enough to fight the cancer off on its own. 

Physics Week 7 - Chaos Theory

• Ordered Chaos - does this sound familiar?
• Fractals as patterns of complex systems
• Consciousness out of chaos?

Ordered chaos sounds familiar! Reminds me of my bedroom when I was a kid, or the roads in cities in Iran. It looks totally wild and chaotic, but somehow it still functions. This could also be applied to our government, which is completely enmeshed in a million rules and procedures but somehow is still totally chaotic. 

Fractals: It seems to me like fractals are a representation of looking at the micro to understand the macro, and vice versa, which is something we do in TCM. Somehow, even in complex systems where chaos seems to reign supreme, certain patterns and relationships emerge. 

Consciousness: I think consciousness is a way that order comes out of chaos, and that its ordered-ness is very precarious. It's a way for the universe to notice, and to observe, and there are patterns that can be observed through consciousness. However I think because of entropy we are always sliding back towards chaos

Chemistry Week 6

• Test your understanding of hypotheses – try Avogadro's Hypothesis and report back on your findings
• What exactly is a mole? - try "What Is a Mole, Checking Out the Mole"

Avogadro's hypothesis site not working :(

What is a mole: The mass of substance containing the same number of fundamental units as there are atoms in exactly 12.000 g of ¹²C. Fundamental units may be atoms, molecules, or formula units, depending on the substance concerned. An amount of any chemical compound that is equal to the combined atomic weights or the molecular weight, expressed in grams, contains 602,213,670,000,000,000,000,000 molecules.

Physics Week 6: Vibrations

Are all vibrations "good":
- the first thing that comes to my mind if earthquakes, and how if you're a human hanging out when the earth shakes around you, it's not a good vibration! It is interesting to note that earthquakes often create new environments for new plants and animals, so guess it all depends on your perspective. 

Resonance in my world:
- I live in west oakland, near where the nimitz freeway collapsed. There's a little memorial park that's kindof overgrown and forgotten-looking, and I wonder how many people living in west oakland today were directly affected by that disaster. I know if will only be a matter of time before the next quake, and I wonder if there is any way to predict what kind of resonance a quake will produce

Connections between Energy and Qi:
I think that qi is energy that is temporarily in your body. It is your being's energy, the energy of your life-force that you borrow from the universe. Qi moves in waves and has far-reaching effects, and can move out of your body as you expend energy and when you die. 

Biology: The Pattern of Life

Distinguishing between living and non-living systems:

- for me, living means some kind of push towards growth and homeostasis. Also some kind of respiration i.e. taking in from the environment and processing on the inside. But I'm open to changing my mind/being proven wrong (I'm thinking about crystals and how they grow and change over time and wondering if they could be classified as living by some standards). 

Getting back to nature:

- As a certified plant and nature person, I know that I need to spend time outside and in nature as often as possible in order to feel balanced, peaceful, and alive. I'm wary of "fixes" like grounding mats that try to say "get the benefits of nature without actually interacting with nature!" because I think its truly missing the point and having a reductionist view of the benefit of time spend in nature. It's similar to how western medicine extracts one thing from a plant and says that the medicine is better/as good as the plant. There's a lot to be missed when you don't actually spend quality time outside, and a lot of it cant be quantified. 

Chemistry Week 5

Colors of your kitchen:

There are many colors in my kitchen! The colors in my cupboards and fridge ranges from green (arugula, kale, zucchini) to blue(berries), pink (chard), yellow (beans), red (beans, fruit), and orange(s). I guess that means I'm staying up on the colors to take care of my whole physical and energetic body! I don't always have blue and purple foods around, and should probably buy more purple yams and cabbage. 

Physics Week 5

My Asymmetrical World:
I like thinking about how the world is actually asymmetrical. I think as humans we often see balance and symmetry as some kind of goal or ideal, when really that's pretty unrealistic and unnatural. I'm thinking about asymmetry when it comes to power and relationships, and how people don't need to be exactly balanced in order to thrive and can achieve harmony through interpersonal support. For example I'm really good at organization, emotional support and keeping track of what needs to be done when, my partner is really good at fixing things when they break and de-escalating conflict, and my housemate/best friend is really good at taking care of our animals and plants and cooking. We don't need to be perfectly symmetrical within ourselves to be part of a functioning whole. 

CP violation: I think this is fascinating! I don't exactly know what the implications are, why it happens or what it ultimately means, other than it means that there is more going on than we can comprehend. And I love that! What is the hidden force that led to our current matter-dominant universe? Maybe we're not meant to know.