Barnett Weekly

In the 1974 book Lives of a Cell, author Lewis Thomas paints a disarmingly sweet portrait of a single cell that all but imparts a charming personality upon a living thing so small it’s microscopic. The life of a single cell, one of 40 trillion in each of our bodies, reflects the drama of human life itself: birth, growth, movement, maturity, reproduction and death.

Molecular biology was just on the verge of unlocking the secrets of DNA, RNA and the genetic code in 1974. In the 36 years since, the genome of human DNA, (over 3 billion base pairs comprised of between 20-25,000 protein coded genes), has been determined. The fruition of 3 billion years of natural evolution, the human genome ecapsulates the sum total of the history of animal life on earth, a genetic encyclopedia of change and transformation.

Scientists, it was announced, have recently constructed and inserted man-made artificial DNA into a bacteria cell and that cell went on to generate proteins produced at the direction of the artificial DNA and to replicate itself. Human evolution is now on the brink of sudden change. None of us can predict the precise nature of that change. What we can be sure of, however, is that at some point man-made artificial genes will make their way into living animals, and eventually to human beings.

It is not without some sense of trepidation that I imagine man-made people, and in time, designer genes. Want a baby with blue skin and pink polkadots? How about hands with six fingers and eyes that glow in the dark? It may sound far-fetched, but given our proven ability to commercialize every significant scientific invention, I think such outcomes are a sure bet.

What’s less certain is what happens when we screw up. By leapfrogging over the drawn-out process of natural selection and inserting man-made genetic characteristics based on market trends and focus groups, we’re moving into uncharted territory. Nature has used an elegant, if uncompromising, methodology for billions of years: mutate, test and keep what works over a long period of time. This fiscal year’s genetic blockbuster carries with it the same risks as any other hot consumer product, and the idea of people designed according to the latest fashion trend is, frankly, horrifying.

There are few major inventions that are put back in the bottle once removed. Science has a penchant for discovery and experiment, even if that means courting disaster. The search for knowledge has produced technological miracles and the machine age is nothing short of magical. Yet tampering with the stuff of life itself makes the risks of nuclear technology seem modest. If we consider the virus and its ability to combine with human DNA in relentless pursuit of successful mutation, it is readily apparent that even a casual mistake might end up polluting both human and non-human species of animal life.

Ironically, Lewis also recounts the biology of mitochondria, the organelle within each animal cell that is essential for energy conversion. Mitochondria have their own DNA, and Lewis traces it back to the plant kingdom. The very cellular structure that gives us life may be the result of a primordial animal-plant combination. We may, in some strange way, be highly evolved cabbages, and if we are not careful, into vegetables we may yet return.

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Visible matter, the objects we can see and the sources of energy that emit radio waves, comprise but 5% of all the matter in the universe. There is so little visible matter, in fact, that astrophysicists explain that the gravity that holds galaxies together is not that of visible matter, but is instead gravity produced by what they now call dark matter.

Dark matter is matter we cannot see, the composition of which is at present mostly unknown. Some dark matter is not comprised of the protons, electrons, neutrons and other particles we have become accustomed to; it is something else yet again. It exhibits gravity and therefore must have mass, but beyond that we know nothing.

WIMPS, or Weakly Interacting Massive Particles, are dark matter we cannot see, and are suspected to be some type of high mass particle matter, a form of “cold” dark matter emitting no energy of any kind; no heat, no light, and no measurable signature we can record. Forming part of a massive invisible matrix or scaffolding into which ordinary matter is irrevocably infused, its presence is betrayed by its gravitational effect on visible matter.

MACHOS, or Massive Astrophysical Compact Halo Objects, are ordinary matter generally too dark to see, such as very faint stars, white dwarf stars, or planets within a galaxy. Given this character, it is currently impossible to determine what percentage of the universe’s matter MACHOS represent.

Calculations indicate that MACHOS and WIMPS together account for at least 23% of the matter in the universe; accordingly, its gravity effects are great. Even though dark matter is poorly understood at present, it has nonetheless become a powerful tool in gathering information about the universe and its history. This tool is called gravitational galactic lensing, and it was predicted by Albert Einstein around 1911.

I cannot possibly cover Einstein’s discoveries in a 550 word essay, but gravitational lensing was a by-product of his prediction that like a glass lens, the gravity of massive celestial structures would bend and magnify the visible light of objects at a distance, even many light years in the distance. He did not envision the Hubble Space Telescope or other sophisticated computerized imaging systems; he thought his theory would never be verified through direct observation. He was wrong.

Today, galactic gravitational lensing is providing us with information about celestial objects  nearly 13 billion light years away. MACHOS and WIMPS, dark matter, play a role in this because their mass within and surrounding clusters of galaxies generates substantial gravitational effects on the surrounding space, and intensifies the lensing effect. In other words, though we cannot see most dark matter, we can use it to see visible matter light sources beyond it. We can even somewhat determine size, shape and  chemical components.

If one day we discover that a species of beetle had developed television, or if a colony of ants invented the radio, we would rightly be astonished. We would frankly, consider it a miracle. Human beings are in evolutionary terms a recent species inhabiting a little planet in a backwater solar system within an average galaxy, one among uncountable billions. Yet here we are, using super-sensitive instruments to view galaxies 13 billion light years away using galactic lensing predicted by a remarkable genius nearly 100 years ago. Talk about astonishing!

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I’ve been spending time lately watching live and recorded transmissions from the International Space Station. Unlike the videos and transmissions of the past with poor image fidelity and sound, the quality of the current transmissions is fantastic. The color is great, the image clarity and focus are perfect, and the sound is clear and clean.

Traveling at 216 miles above the earth (1,140,480 feet) the station has had as many as 13 occupants, including the crew of the Space Shuttle. 216 miles seems so close, particularly when you consider distance on the ground. San Francisco and Los Angeles, for example, are more like 600 miles from each other. Yet at 216 miles from the surface of the earth, gravity creates orbital equilibrium against the centrifugal force of the station, speeding around the globe at over 17,000 miles per hour. Within the station, it’s all free-floating, not the least of which is human hair, prone to stand straight up it seems in the absence of gravity.

The conversations between station inhabitants and personnel on the ground are unfailingly polite, filled with “great job, thank you, exceptional work, professionally done” and other such superlatives. I suppose it’s a way to help insure that the space station crew feels appreciated and uplifted; a depressed space station crew makes for lousy conversation.

Watching the EVAs, (Extra Vehicular Activity, meaning working outside in space suits) are particularly interesting. From time to time, a camera view shows the earth as backdrop, moving quickly below the rotating station. 17,227 miles per hour is so fast that the station circles the globe in 91 minutes, and one gains a sense of that speed as Africa or Asia quickly slide out of view. Moving from hand-hold to hand-hold using grab bars installed on the outside surface of the station, the astronauts twirl and glide themselves in any direction, like acrobats or gymnasts of exceptional talent. There’s no net in space, no safety mats, no spotters. One big mistake and an astronaut can quickly become floating space debris.

NASA has its own cable TV channel, which I guess we’ve all helped finance. Personally, I’m fine with that. I like the idea of people living in space, floating the day away weightless, lighter than a feather. I like the idea of looking down on our planet, like a watchful parent minding a beloved child. I like that people of various nationalities live together in the station, and the presence of both men and women. In its way, like a home-made version of Star Trek, the space station presents us with the model human society: polite, virtuous, clean, industrious, non-discriminatory, multi-cultural, non-sexist, and courageous.

It’s too bad I’m the only one watching NASA TV; I’ve yet to find anyone else who enjoys seeing people live and work in outer space. On one level, it’s terribly boring. There’s no plot line, the projects include unscrewing and screwing many steel bolts, the space suits look clunky, the inside of the station is cluttered and gray, and there are no special effects. On the other hand, I keep reminding myself that these people are in outer space; floating, no atmosphere, outside temperatures of 250 degrees in the sun, and minus 250 degrees in the shade, unprotected from high energy cosmic rays, vulnerable to death in an instant. The most exciting real time, non-scripted reality show, ever!

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In comparison to ancient stone-age cultures, we consider our modern culture an advanced civilization. In actuality, all that has really advanced is technology and information; our silly and superstitious emotional selves have not changed a bit, as so amply evidenced by “Reality TV.” For the moment, though, let’s accept the definition of an advanced civilization as one which has developed and implemented increasingly sophisticated technologies.

In comparison to our modern culture, our conceptions of a more highly advanced civilization include imaginings of superior creatures from alien worlds like planet Krypton, with technologies that vastly outstrip our own. These imaginings include faster than light space craft and communications, multidimensional and temporal technology that allow time travel, evolutionary advances enabling ESP, thought transfer and mind control, the ability to manifest in many different physical forms and shapes, and other such extraordinary abilities.

Granted, our current understanding of the scientific physical laws of the universe may be yet be in their relative infancy, but nonetheless are the most advanced in human history. With our knowledge and technology we have plumbed the depths of atomic and quantum physics, engineered genetics, reduced computer memory to the tiniest molecular nano-scale, sent robotic satellites to the far reaches of the solar system, and created Silly Putty. These accomplishments make it easier for us to imagine the capabilities of civilizations more advanced than our own; after all, we believe in progress!

This begs the following question: If an advanced alien civilization wished to visit the inhabitants of planet earth, would they use a flying vehicle to do so? The star nearest to our solar system is over 4 light years away, the time it takes light traveling at 182,000 miles per second for four years: five trillion miles, plus. Attaining light speed using propulsion of any sort would take so long as to make the process prohibitively time-consuming, as would coming to a halt. If, perhaps, an advanced civilization had advanced to the point of teleportation, then no space craft would be needed, and that raises the question as to why they would need flying vehicles at all. And if no flying “saucers” are needed, why then do some people report they’ve seen them?

I actually like the idea of life on other planets. Within our modest galaxy of 100s of billions of stars there are certainly well over 100s of billions of planets, and many surely harbor forms of life. Assuming our dark fantasies about people filling alien bellies are wrong it would be truly fascinating to encounter life from another galaxy. But, again, the distances between stars are far too great for solid living creatures like us to physically travel. Based upon our understanding of physics, no physical object could survive flying through a black hole, and worm holes are pure conjecture at this point. All but three of the twenty-six dimensions currently contemplated by physicists are far too small for solid objects of any kind, and time travel poses unsolvable paradoxes, like what happens if you accidentally kill your own great-great-grandfather while visiting the past.

There certainly are strange lights and sounds in the sky for which we have no explanation. Reports of abductions and close encounters have not produced hard or convincing evidence. This leaves us with only our suspicions and fantasies, and they are as various as our fertile and vivid imaginations will allow.

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The scientific method requires that to be called truth, theory be confirmed through experiment and yield quantifiable and replicable results. Without such, theory will simply remain theory and will fade into obscurity. 

When it comes to quantum mechanics (dealing with the very smallest forms of “matter” or fields) and cosmology (dealing with the largest of matter or fields) many theories cannot be tested at all. In observing the very smallest bits, the difficulty rests with the absence of observational tools tiny enough to use, and the side effects of observation itself. The largest matter or fields of deep space involve distances so enormous that while science can observe, it cannot induce an experiment intended to generate a response; by the time an answer arrives we will all be gone. Thus, quantum and cosmological theories are rather metaphysical, involving probability of outcome instead of direct observation. Despite these limitations, over the centuries, science has nonetheless settled upon immutable physical “laws” that are consistent and apply universally.

One of these laws is that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. Another is that measurable interaction is reduced as the distance between massive objects increases. Ironically, two highly verifiable and replicable experiments generate results that run counter to these scientific truths.

A photon is an elementary “particle” associated with electromagnetism. The light and heat we enjoy from the sun is made up of photons and makes life possible on earth. Like other electromagnetic wave/particles, photons travel at the speed of light, 186,282 miles per second. Moreover, photons have a measurable property physicist’s call “spin” which is detectable and modifiable. When a photon is experimentally “split” in two, sending each “twin” photon traveling in the opposite direction at the speed of light, a remarkable and unexplainable effect occurs. When one of the twin photons is caused to change its spin, the other twin changes its spin as well. In other words, though traveling at the speed of light in the opposite direction, the split photons remain linked and in a way not understood, continue to remain in “sync.” This means (a) that some form of “communication” is happening faster than the speed of light, or (b) that some other as yet mysterious and unknown interdependent force is at play.

The other experiment involves a pendulum. When a pendulum is set in motion oriented in a straight line towards a celestial object like the sun, over time, (taking into consideration the rotation of the earth) the orienting object can be observed to have moved its position in relation to the pendulum. Remarkably, celestial objects that do not seem to move in relation to the pendulum are in fact those that are most distant from it. Since we know that all objects in space are in motion, the paradox of “Foucault’s Pendulum” is that the most distant objects appear to have a local stabilizing effect on the pendulum, an eerie interrelatedness that defies explanation.

These two experiments point to the profound and ever-present interdependence of all things, a unity that belies the “separateness” of our sensory observations and mental constructs. Most spiritual traditions speak of the truth of this unity. Ironically, as it delves ever more deeply into the true nature of things, modern science encounters a paradoxical truth that is precisely the same.

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