If the Mayans knew so much...

...why did they lose their civilization to an environmental

--not supernatural--

disaster?

Maybe we should ask ourselves the same question.

Happy Warmer (and hopefully smarter) New Year!

The secret of life

Gas exchange!

Oxygen (green) out of the blood into the tissues;

Carbon dioxide (blue) OUT of tissues into blood;

INTERNAL RESPIRATION!

Carbon dioxide (purple) out of the blood into the alveoli;

Oxygen (red) into the blood out of the alveoli.

EXTERNAL RESPIRATION!

I'll take my Nobel, now!

You gotta have...OXYGEN!!

If the cell doesn't do it, the body doesn't either.

The cell's mitochondria produce energy through respiration (glycolysis, Kreb's cycle, oxidative phosphorylation), which requires oxygen. It's no coincidence that the "macro-process" of breathing is also called respiration. 

Most people think that the most essential substance for life is water. Not so! Water is actually a "waste" product of respiration.

The most essential substance for life is OXYGEN. Without it cells begin to die in seconds. Glucose is next in importance but it takes much longer for cells to starve than to suffocate. Breathing is job #1!!!

So, be good to your lungs and they'll never let you down. Or out!

Weak in the knees!

One of the many pieces of odd but important evidence that supports evolution, and particularly "non-directed" evolution, is the fact that humans are simply not "designed" to stand upright. 

The knee is barely able to support us, and, as athletes can attest, is easily damaged and even destroyed.Simple aging wears its components down rapidly. Had we been "meant" to walk on two legs the knee and hip would be much bigger, bulkier, and stronger.

Evolutionary biologists suggest that the first "step" in humans branching off from our ancestor common with the apes was, in fact, standing on two legs. This "freed" our brains and hands to develop as they have.

I'd rather have a big brain and exquisitely fine-tuned hands (not to mention speech!) than strong knees. Wouldn't we all? If you can't "do it all", do what counts. Unfortunately that big brain has convinced us that we can do things with our knees we were never "designed" to do. 

There is no free lunch!