US government monitors its citizens e-mails?

OT:

Scientists Map the Wiring of the Biological Clock (In The Brain) - June 5, 2013 Excerpt: Daily rhythms of sleep and metabolism are driven by a biological clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), a structure in the brain made up of 20,000 neurons, all of which can keep daily (circadian) time individually. If the SCN is to be a robust, but sensitive, timing system, the neurons must synchronize precisely with one another and adjust their rhythms to those of the environment. Herzog's lab has discovered a push-pull system in the SCN that does both. In 2005 they reported that the neurons in the clock network communicate by means of a neuropeptide (VIP) that pushes them to synchronize with one another.,,, And, as they now report in Neuron, these neurons also communicate with GABA that pulls on them weakly, so they are not too tightly coupled. Together these two networks (VIP and GABA) ensure the clock runs as coordinated, precise timepiece but one that can still adjust its timing to synchronize with the environment.,,, The "clock" inside each SCN neuron depends on the cyclic expression of a family of genes such as the Period (PER) genes. The expression of these genes and the neuron's firing rate typically peak at mid-day and fall at night. The gene activity is like the cogs in a clock, and the electrical activity like the hands on the clock.,,, These synchronized networks are very precise, says Herzog. If you let them free-run in constant darkness they will lose or gain only a few minutes out of the 1,440 minutes in a day. So they're accurate to within 1 or 2 percent. But they're ever so slightly off the 24-hour cycle tied to one turn of the planet on its axis. Over time they would drift far enough off that cycle to be of little use to us, unless they also had some means of synchronizing to local time.,,, Remarkably, when the network drops out, the clock becomes more precise. So the GABAergic network destabilizes the clock; it jiggles it a little.,, "We think the GABAergic network is there to let our clocks adjust to environmental cues, such as gradual, seasonal changes in sunrise and sunset," says Herzog.,, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130605130107.htm

Semi-related notes:

'In the 'spirit world,,, instantly, there was no sense of time. See, everything on earth is related to time. You got up this morning, you are going to go to bed tonight. Something is new, it will get old. Something is born, it's going to die. Everything on the physical plane is relative to time, but everything in the spiritual plane is relative to eternity. Instantly I was in total consciousness and awareness of eternity, and you and I as we live in this earth cannot even comprehend it, because everything that we have here is filled within the veil of the temporal life. In the spirit life that is more real than anything else and it is awesome. Eternity as a concept is awesome. There is no such thing as time. I knew that whatever happened was going to go on and on.' Mickey Robinson - Near Death Experience testimony - video http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4045544 Albert Einstein - Special Relativity - Insight Into Eternity - 'thought experiment' video http://www.metacafe.com/w/6545941/

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OT: Another Remarkable DNA Rescuing Machine (Elucidated) -June 4, 2013 Excerpt: Some of these are composed of four strands that form stable structures called G-quadruplexes or G4s, so named because they tend to be rich in guanine. They are not uncommon,,,, ,,there is a machine that can unwind these G4s quickly and efficiently. Called Pif1 helicase, it is conserved from bacteria to humans.,,, Pif1 is “highly conserved, from bacteria to humans,” (Thus, at least to me, suggesting important functionality for G4s though precisely what that functionality may be is not known yet). http://www.evolutionnews.org/2013/06/another_remarka072811.html Of note as to how fast the pace of discovery is now moving in molecular biology, Four-strand DNA itself was just recently discovered: Four-strand DNA structure found in cells Unusual nucleic-acid structure may have role in regulating some genes. - Alison Abbott - 20 January 2013 - with picture http://www.nature.com/news/four-strand-dna-structure-found-in-cells-1.12253 'Quadruple helix' DNA discovered in human cells - January 20, 2013 Excerpt: In 1953, Cambridge researchers Watson and Crick published a paper describing the interweaving 'double helix' DNA structure - the chemical code for all life. Now, in the year of that scientific landmark's 60th Anniversary, Cambridge researchers have published a paper proving that four-stranded 'quadruple helix' DNA structures - known as G-quadruplexes - also exist within the human genome.,,, Physical studies over the last couple of decades had shown that quadruplex DNA can form in vitro - in the 'test tube', but the structure was considered to be a curiosity rather than a feature found in nature. The researchers now know for the first time that they actually form in the DNA of human cells. "This research further highlights the potential for exploiting these unusual DNA structures to beat cancer –,,, "It's been sixty years since its structure was solved but work like this shows us that the story of DNA continues to twist and turn.",,, While quadruplex DNA is found fairly consistently throughout the genome of human cells and their division cycles, a marked increase was shown when the fluorescent staining grew more intense during the 's-phase' - the point in a cell cycle where DNA replicates before the cell divides.,,, It's a philosophical question as to whether they are there by design or not - but they exist and nature has to deal with them.,,, "The 'quadruple helix' DNA structure may well be the key to new ways of selectively inhibiting the proliferation of cancer cells. The confirmation of its existence in human cells is a real landmark." http://phys.org/news/2013-01-quadruple-helix-dna-human-cells.html bornagain77

This book on your link looks very good Ms. D O’Leary:

Biological Information: New Perspectives - Publication Date: August 5, 2013 http://www.amazon.com/Biological-Information-Perspectives-Robert-Marks/dp/9814508713/ Robert J Marks II (Author, Editor), Michael J Behe (Editor), William A Dembski (Editor), Bruce L Gordon (Editor), John C Sanford (Editor) In the spring of 2011, a diverse group of scientists gathered at Cornell University to discuss their research into the nature and origin of biological information. This symposium brought together experts in information theory, computer science, numerical simulation, thermodynamics, evolutionary theory, whole organism biology, developmental biology, molecular biology, genetics, physics, biophysics, mathematics, and linguistics. This volume presents new research by those invited to speak at the conference. The contributors to this volume use their wide-ranging expertise in the area of biological information to bring fresh insights into the many explanatory difficulties associated with biological information. These authors raise major challenges to the conventional scientific wisdom, which attempts to explain all biological information exclusively in terms of the standard mutation/selection paradigm. Several clear themes emerged from these research papers: 1) Information is indispensable to our understanding of what life is; 2) Biological information is more than the material structures that embody it; 3) Conventional chemical and evolutionary mechanisms seem insufficient to fully explain the labyrinth of information that is life. By exploring new perspectives on biological information, this volume seeks to expand, encourage, and enrich research into the nature and origin of biological information.

I agree with everything that is stated in the above paragraph. Although I think they severely underplayed statement #3 in relating just how inadequate evolutionary mechanisms are to explaining the information of life. In my few years of debating neo-Darwinists, I have yet to see even one example of evolutionary mechanisms generating any information above the non-trivial level. Despite abundant confidence and bluster on the neo-Darwinists part that there theory is a FACT FACT FACT, every example put forward by them has, upon closer inspection, fallen completely apart as an example of 'upward' evolution. The book sounds honest and sincere in its assessment of the situation within biology, and the last sentence seeking to push science forward out of the Darwinian rut sounds like cutting edge science to me.,,, Of related note, I heard Casey Luskin debating some history student who had led a movement to try to gut the law that presently protects academic freedom in Louisiana. I was struck by this history student's continual insistence that to criticize Darwinism is to criticize science and is to allow 'religion' in schools. ,,, I find his claim amazing because I have recently learned that naturalism, upon which Darwinism is based, if it were true, would render science, which he supposedly cherishes so much as a history student, impossible (See Plantinga's Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism). Moreover, besides the epistemological failure that would result if neo-Darwinism were true, on the empirical level, down in the nuts and bolts of science, advances in quantum mechanics have rendered the reductive materialism, upon which neo-Darwinism is built, invalid as an explanation for what we find in life. Basically neo-Darwinism is shown to not possibly be true on the empirical level, and on a epistemological level neo-Darwinism has the seeds of its own destruction sewn from within: Notes:

Quantum Information/Entanglement In DNA - Elisabeth Rieper - short video http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5936605/ Quantum entanglement between the electron clouds of nucleic acids in DNA - Elisabeth Rieper, Janet Anders and Vlatko Vedral - February 2011 http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1006/1006.4053v2.pdf DNA Can Discern Between Two Quantum States, Research Shows - June 2011 Excerpt: -- DNA -- can discern between quantum states known as spin. - The researchers fabricated self-assembling, single layers of DNA attached to a gold substrate. They then exposed the DNA to mixed groups of electrons with both directions of spin. Indeed, the team's results surpassed expectations: The biological molecules reacted strongly with the electrons carrying one of those spins, and hardly at all with the others. The longer the molecule, the more efficient it was at choosing electrons with the desired spin, while single strands and damaged bits of DNA did not exhibit this property. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110331104014.htm Looking Beyond Space and Time to Cope With Quantum Theory – (Oct. 28, 2012) Excerpt: The remaining option is to accept that (quantum) influences must be infinitely fast,,, “Our result gives weight to the idea that quantum correlations somehow arise from outside spacetime, in the sense that no story in space and time can describe them,” says Nicolas Gisin, Professor at the University of Geneva, Switzerland,,, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121028142217.htm Physicists close two loopholes while violating local realism - November 2010 Excerpt: The latest test in quantum mechanics provides even stronger support than before for the view that nature violates local realism and is thus in contradiction with a classical worldview. http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-11-physicists-loopholes-violating-local-realism.html Zeilinger Group - Photons run out of loopholes - April 15, 2013 Excerpt: In a nutshell: "Our photons can no longer duck out of being measured," says Zeilinger. This kind of tight monitoring is important as it closes an important loophole. In previous experiments on photons, there has always been the possibility that although the measured photons do violate the laws of classical physics, such non-classical behaviour would not have been observed if all photons involved in the experiment could have been measured. In the new experiment, this loophole is now closed. http://vcq.quantum.at/research/research-groups/zeilinger-group/news/details/419.html

and:

Alvin Plantinga - Evolutionary Argument against Naturalism - video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r34AIo-xBh8 Why No One (Can) Believe Atheism/Naturalism to be True - video Excerpt: "Since we are creatures of natural selection, we cannot totally trust our senses. Evolution only passes on traits that help a species survive, and not concerned with preserving traits that tell a species what is actually true about life." Richard Dawkins - quoted from "The God Delusion" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4QFsKevTXs

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