PHI in Virus ? Rhinovirus 3 This virus causes most common colds, with no known cure. The name comes from the Greek rhin- which means nose. The three surface viral proteins are differentiated by color:  blue, yellow, pink. This special rendering is along the 5-fold or pentagonal icosahedral symmetry axis. The small spheres are the…

Infections  An infection is the colonization of a host organism by a foreign organism. The infecting organism seeks to utilize the host’s resources to multiply. The infecting organism, or pathogen, interferes with the normal functioning of the host. The host’s response to infection is inflammation. Rhinovirus 3 Many individuals develop a variety of infections but…

The Basic Elements Is the Universe’s dark energy expanding time/space from zero? Atoms are the smallest parts of an element that still contain their particular chemical properties. Their nucleus consists of protons which have a positive electrical charge and neutrons that have no charge. Seven million atoms joined together in a straight line would be…

Ultimate Alchemy ? However, the highest layers of each society depend for their smooth functioning upon the smooth functioning of the lowest layers of society. The “most positive” cannot function well without a well-functioning “most negative”. Those living in the social strata in between, have very little appreciation for this world, and fear it, because…

Hommie in Alchemy In alchemy, homunculi are sometime seen as Pain-catchers, entities created in moments of overwhelming or painful experiences in this or past lives, and deliberately created within the R-brain for the protection of the human being. These entities cultivate a crappy attitude and gutter language in order to protect themselves and their creator….

Hommie in Medicine? somato-sensory cortex The cortical homunculus is used to describe "the body within the brain", a distorted human drawn or sculpted to reflect the relative space certain body parts occupy on the somato-sensory cortex (sensory homunculus) and the motor cortex (motor homunculus). The left hemisphere receives input from the body’s right side. The…

Homunculus ? A mini-man in the brain? Life Science Information coming through our eyes is sent to the visual cortex in the back of our head. There, the image is inverted. Then the data is sent to various areas in our brains, that filter it according to their functional programming. Then these areas create perceptions…

Any common senses ? Polarized light direction/detection This is used by bees to orient themselves, especially on cloudy days. Humans can learn to roughly detect large areas of polarization by an effect called Haidinger’s brush. Other internal senses An internal sense is "any sense that is stimulated from within the body". This involves numerous sensory…

Special senses ? Direction Magneto-ception or direction is the ability to detect the direction one is facing based on the Earth’s magnetic field. Directional awareness is most commonly observed in birds and bees, but also present in humans. Magneto-tactic bacteria build miniature magnets inside them, so as to orient themselves relative to the Earth’s magnetic…

Any other senses? Temperature Thermo-ception is the sense of heat and its absence (cold) by the skin and its internal passages. There are specialized receptors for declining temperature and heat. Heat receptors are sensitive to infrared radiation. The thermo-ceptors in the skin are quite different from the homeostatic thermo-ceptors in the hypothalamus which provide feedback…