Biochemistry Week 2: Cell Biology and Radioactivity

The class discussion that sat heaviest with me was that regarding the disproportionate effect of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant meltdown on women and children. It's disturbing how careless corporations and government officials are when it comes to stewarding the health of our ecosystems, our ancestral lands, our homes - all for short-term profit for a select few. How do we let this happen? As Elokin spoke of in class, there are tsunami stones all over Japan, set there as a warning for future generations the highest places that a tsunami will reach. What arrogance to think that walls can keep a tsunami, or any other natural event, from touching human-made structures settlements. What disrespect to our ancestors, and disregard for our communities, to build nuclear power plants in places we know have been washed away before. In this country we talk of building pipelines that will defy nature's movements. This is lunacy. The deep level of denial of our inability to control this world and invent order and rules for nature becomes more evident in the actions of the Japanese government, attempting to force families to return to unsafe areas, as is simply saying that it is safe will make it so. Like saying that a power plant will not meltdown will make it so. Like saying a pipeline won't break will make it so.  I am glad these women are suing the Japanese government in the thousands.

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/21/world/asia/21stones.html

Shout out to Yaminah for sharing this lovely story on how sunflowers are being used to decontaminate soil in Fukushima!  https://yamssciencesummer.blogspot.com/2018/07/biochemistry-23-july-cell-biology-and.html?showComment=1532900696822#c426118813064458981

I really enjoyed reading the cell structure articles. I learned something new about viruses! My mental image of viruses was more like that of a bacteriophage. Animal viruses are more compact than I thought.
I tried to post the pictures but blogger got mad at me: http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/cells/virus.html

Biochemistry: Week 1 Reflections

The placebo effect always makes for an interesting discussion. The definition itself speaks strongly to the paradigm in which it was created, one in which medicine will reduce a person to a chemistry problem, to be solved accordingly:

The placebo effect - when the patient feels better despite taking a medicine with no active 

ingredient.

Patient X has symptoms A, B and C? 

Give pill D! 

(...)

And/or hug. 
And/or a flower essence.

And/or take the time to be present and listen to their story.

And/or let them know that their body/being has an incredible capacity for healing.

And/or pray.

And/or ... (the list can go on indefinitely)

The beauty of the placebo effect is that is demonstrates that healers are not technicians and people are not passive recipients of treatment. Even fake acupuncture has a healing effect. I do not believe that this invalidates a modality of our medicine, but rather highlights how critical intention is to healing. 
We posses an innate power to heal ourselves. When healing occurs, does it matter if it was a pill, a needle or a swim in the sea? Can we really ever know what action or substance has produced a healing effect? I don't think we can know. The more faith we have in ourselves and our patients to heal, the more transformation we will see.

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The definition of biochemistry that speaks to me is:

Biochemistry is the study of the fundamental mechanisms of life at the molecular level.

I am intrigued by this. I'm looking forward to this class and learning more about what we are able to observe on a molecular level of the mechanisms of life.