Cells communicate. If they didn’t, you would not be reading this. We don’t fully understand the process, but communication definitely occurs on a molecular level. We can seemingly even increase their ability to communicate, as a study on the use of Omega 3s to help boys named Elliot and Mark seems to show. Elliot and Mark took part in a study conducted in 12 Durham schools as reported by BBC online. Elliott, not doing well in school and addicted to the couch and TV, started to become more intellectually active, even reading all the Harry Potter books and getting better marks in school. The nine-year-old’s reading level “jumped 18 months” over the study period. The study needs some follow up work, but the gist of the research is that DHA helps neurons communicate.
Seems we have mechanisms for communication throughout our bodies. Hormones do that job; proteins or even parts of proteins might be key. Take a study conducted by Bruce Spiegelman and Steven Gygi. A substance called irisin appears to increase in the blood during exercise and might be a key to telling the body to lose weight. Who knows for sure? Well, we don’t at this time, but the study illustrates a point here. We’re pretty complex critters, and different cells and molecules apparently work together, communicating with one another, supposedly for the good of the whole.
NICHD scientist Dr. R. Douglas Fields recently said in reference to a process called myelination, "We can now see another type of communication, in which cells along a neuron’s length can sense the chemical signals the neuron releases." Gosh! How can we keep all this stuff straight? There’s so much to communicating within our bodies we might never fully understand it all, and that makes how we can communicate with other humans even more perplexing. Do we, as our parts seem to do internally, communicate externally for the good of the whole? If so, what do we communicate? Is it wisdom?
Some people seem to have it all together. They are quick-witted and knowledgeable. All their parts seem to work well, but we put most of the emphasis on what their brains can do. They have fast brains. The synapses are efficient, the messenger chemicals all do their jobs, cells cooperate, and nothing seems to inhibit communication within the nervous system. The cells in their bodies all do a good job at funneling messengers wherever they need to go. Some such people also seem to be wise; we know that because they impart their wisdom to us. But then there are other people who seem to be “less put together” yet who are simultaneously wise.
In all this communicating, where does wisdom lie? Is it “in a place”? Surely, it’s not in a cell. Surely, not in messenger molecules. In all cells? In a group of neurons? In the total body? In the mind? Does the mind work as efficiently as the brain? Is wisdom, like the information transferred in the body information du jour? Or is it another form of information to be communicated? And at what speed is wisdom either acquired or transferred?
If mind is the residence of wisdom, then we can understand how some of us, regardless of efficient, rapidly communicating physical systems in place, seem to act unwisely. History has given us many examples of smart people acting unwisely. With regard to wisdom, it seems possible to have a fast brain and a slow mind.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/articles/intelligenceandmemory/omega_three.shtml 17 September 2014
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/08/150813130018.htm Cell Metabolism, 2015; DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2015.08.001 reported online by Science Daily on August 13, 2015
http://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/new-videos-show-nih-studies-communication-between-brain-cells
Seems we have mechanisms for communication throughout our bodies. Hormones do that job; proteins or even parts of proteins might be key. Take a study conducted by Bruce Spiegelman and Steven Gygi. A substance called irisin appears to increase in the blood during exercise and might be a key to telling the body to lose weight. Who knows for sure? Well, we don’t at this time, but the study illustrates a point here. We’re pretty complex critters, and different cells and molecules apparently work together, communicating with one another, supposedly for the good of the whole.
NICHD scientist Dr. R. Douglas Fields recently said in reference to a process called myelination, "We can now see another type of communication, in which cells along a neuron’s length can sense the chemical signals the neuron releases." Gosh! How can we keep all this stuff straight? There’s so much to communicating within our bodies we might never fully understand it all, and that makes how we can communicate with other humans even more perplexing. Do we, as our parts seem to do internally, communicate externally for the good of the whole? If so, what do we communicate? Is it wisdom?
Some people seem to have it all together. They are quick-witted and knowledgeable. All their parts seem to work well, but we put most of the emphasis on what their brains can do. They have fast brains. The synapses are efficient, the messenger chemicals all do their jobs, cells cooperate, and nothing seems to inhibit communication within the nervous system. The cells in their bodies all do a good job at funneling messengers wherever they need to go. Some such people also seem to be wise; we know that because they impart their wisdom to us. But then there are other people who seem to be “less put together” yet who are simultaneously wise.
In all this communicating, where does wisdom lie? Is it “in a place”? Surely, it’s not in a cell. Surely, not in messenger molecules. In all cells? In a group of neurons? In the total body? In the mind? Does the mind work as efficiently as the brain? Is wisdom, like the information transferred in the body information du jour? Or is it another form of information to be communicated? And at what speed is wisdom either acquired or transferred?
If mind is the residence of wisdom, then we can understand how some of us, regardless of efficient, rapidly communicating physical systems in place, seem to act unwisely. History has given us many examples of smart people acting unwisely. With regard to wisdom, it seems possible to have a fast brain and a slow mind.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/articles/intelligenceandmemory/omega_three.shtml 17 September 2014
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/08/150813130018.htm Cell Metabolism, 2015; DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2015.08.001 reported online by Science Daily on August 13, 2015
http://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/new-videos-show-nih-studies-communication-between-brain-cells
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