We might think we’re something special with our global communications network, and we’re right, but bacteria are able to grow electrical connections out of their own bodies. A feat beyond all mortals except Steve Rogers. Recent research shows that single-celled organisms may be sending electrical-mails of their own.
The recent discovery of biological nanowires has opened a whole new field in bacterial investigation. Still in its early stages, the research has already discovered organisms which build tiny electrical connections out of rust and others which can extrude their own thin wiring. These are used by some bacteria to acquire metal atoms, but it seems they may have many more uses.
Researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute believe that the wires, which can even connect different species, could be used for energy or even information exchange. The concept of single-cell semaphore isn’t so unlikely - we already know that bacteria can exchange chemical signals, and if they’re also connected by a conducting wire they could use that too.
The implications are incredible. You’ve often heard how insects outnumber every single one of us, but bacteria far outstrip them and us with human cells outnumbered ten to one even within our own bodies. Anything we can learn about energy distribution and communication at this level would be fascinating, quite apart from the movie potential of a mass-minded bacterial army.
1 week ago
Mithraism
Mithraism was a mystery religion with devotees sworn to secrecy. Nothing could be spoken or written down. What little is known of Mithra, the god of justice and social contract, has been deduced from reliefs and icons found in temples. Most of these portray Mithra clad in a Persian-style cap and tunic sacrificing a white bull in front of Sol, the sun god. From the bull’s blood and semen, grain, grapes and living creatures sprout forth. Sol’s wife Soma, the moon, begins her cycle and time is born. The letters ‘VSLM’ that are inscribed on many Mithraic stones are part of a secret code thanking Mithra for his good deeds and are recognizable only to the faithful. Mithraism and Christianity competed strongly because of the striking similarity in many of their rituals. Both involve shepherds, an ark built to escape a flood and a form of baptism. Devotees knelt when they worshipped and a common meal - a communion- was a regular feature of the liturgy.
The Mysteries of Mithra, which came to flower in the near east during the Hellenistic age as a kind of Zoroastrian heresy, and in the Roman period was the most formidable rival of Christianity… Celebrants wore masks representing animals of the Zodiac: for astronomy was undergoing a new development in this period through an application of Greek thought to the data of the centuries of Sumero-Chaldean observation. In all religions of the age, the Zodiac had come to represent the bounding, ever revolving sphere of time - space - causality, within which the unbounded Spirit operates unmoved yet moving in all. – Joseph Campbell
2 weeks ago
Archaeologists working amid the smog and din of Mexico City may be on the verge of unlocking an extraordinary time capsule.
The leaders of a team exploring a site opened up by earthquake damage believe that they have found the first tomb of an Aztec ruler. If they are right the site may yield one of the great treasures of antiquity, the sort of haul that fires the imagination of people far beyond academic circles.
None of the finds has been put on public display but Britain will get an early preview. Fourteen gold objects from the site will feature in the British Museum’s exhibition on Moctezuma II, the last great Aztec ruler. These could prove to be the early pickings of a much richer harvest. Colin McEwan, head of the British Museum’s Americas section, said: “There is no question that this has the potential to be a once-in-a-generation find”.
2 weeks agoThe Rose of Jericho (Selaginella pilifera), also known as the Resurrection flower or Doradilla flower, is a desert plant growing in the Middle East and Central America. For long periods, these ‘roses’ live in desert regions, growing and reproducing as any other plant until the environment no longer supports an adequate existence. When this time has come, the flowers and leaves are dead and fallen, they lose moisture and the drying branches curl inwards, forming a round ball. They retract their roots from the soil and allow the desert winds to carry them across the desert, until one day they arrive in a damp place where they can continue to grow and spread. The ball then expands again, opens flat on the ground and deposits its seeds, which germinate. Once watered, the dried-up looking young plants soon begin to bud.
Even after 50 years without water the plant will resurrect, no surprise it is sometimes called dinosaur plant!
2 weeks ago
Serge Raynaud de la Ferrière (born 18 January 1916-1962) was born in Paris, France, at 6 Rue Grand aux Belles to his father, Georges Constantine Louis Raynaud, who was an engineer, and his mother, Madame Virginie Marie Billet. His parents moved to Brussels, Belgium when he was two years old, and his mother died there when he was only five years of age. He studied at Comunal de la Rue Americana, San Lucas School in Rue Pallais, the Boarding School in Boisforte (after his father was sent to the Belgian Congo to build bridges), and attended the Catholic University of Lovaine where he graduated as a mining engineer in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. Although Serge grew up and studied in Belgium he would return to his native France in his early twenties and would die in Nice, France in the year 1962.
He was the founder of the Universal Great Brotherhood, a worldwide cultural organization that has branches in more than 22 countries.
Serge Raynaud de la Ferriere was initiated into the Yogic Sciences and Philosophies on March 17, 1950 by Swami Navaratman and Shri Guruji Yogaswami of Jafna, Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka). It was at this time that he was given the title of Mahatma Chandra Bala. Immediately following, he took the vow of the Sannyasin. This is the Hindu word for a renunciate, and is the self-imposed temporary stage where one relinquishes all material well-being, such as home, clothing, money, family, sex, etc.
Articles regarding Serge’s stay in Ceylon,(Sri Lanka), and his Mission were published by : The Times of Ceylon, Colombo; The Ceylon Daily News, Colombo; The Thinkaran, and Tamil Daily Newspaper, on March 16, 1950. Also in the following magazine: Thangarajah, 21 St. Albans Place, Bombalapitiya, Colombo Ceylon.
He achieved notoriety in the European and American press and radio, thus lending scientific credibility to the ancient science of astrology.
3 weeks ago
