Friday, August 28, 2009

Fishapods

With placoderm-like forebears in brackish shallows, perhaps Tiktaalik was a
primitive proto-salamander/reptile, Acanthostega a primitive pelagic
proto-ray-finned fish (with its duplicated digits for better hydrodynamic
propulsion), and Ichthyostega a primitive proto-frog, with its lack of
abdominal ribs allowing the gradually lengthening rear limbs with broad
paddled feet to come far forward to launch or lunge (and later to leap),
"differentiated vertebral column, with a short neck, weird tall neural spines
in the pelvic region, and a tail which is proportionally shorter" sounding a
lot like a short-legged frog, to eventually lose a few digits and fuse the
coccyx, but retain the primitive skin breathing ability and need to reproduce
in shallow later.

See pictures of fishapods
http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2008/04/functional_anatomy_part_i.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiktaalik
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/fishapod

Friday, August 21, 2009

Humboldt Natural History Museum closure




http://www.northcoastjournal.com/blogthing/2009/08/07/hsu-natural-history-museum-close/

Local (Humboldt county) North Coast Natural History Museum, associated with Humboldt State University, may be soon closing. They've had a good exhibit on ancient hominids, and always whale fossils and various coastal species.

Being right on the Pacific coast and Redwood forest and linked to HSU marine/envirinmental/forestry studies. A small museum, nothing fancy. This area is economically depressed but ecologically wealthy.

Sociopolitical economic freeze,
Priorities and opportunities,
Sparks blowing in a hot breeze,
Halt the growing of li'l trees.


http://www.humboldt.edu/~natmus/
Introduction

http://savethenorthcoastnhm.org/index.php?q=civicrm/contribute/transact&reset=1&id=3&widgetID=1
If you can and wish to donate some spare funding

[The ARC has no direct affiliation with the museum, but is considering a potential link via ARC-AID-A, a not-for-profit program being considered.]

http://redwoods.info/showrecord.asp?id=243
-
http://www.krisweb.com/krishumboldtbay/krisdb/html/krisweb/whats_new.htm

"So long as our relationship is defined by our differences,

we will empower those who sow hatred rather than peace".


Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Icosa + Octa + Tet = ICTET

Novel structure incorporating 3 simplest structural polyhedral forms:
" the ARC in =4D= " the tail as a rotating/fused/swiveling structure

I found 6 correlations. [Update: a 7th found, the Proxigean extreme spring tide occurs every 31 years, see bottom of post.] The last one was hard, the ictet has 31 sides, but what was the 12? I knew there must be a twelve. Then I remembered Bucky's 12 radial spokes supporting a tensional wheel. Just as a rotating tail (but not a swiveling tail) such as a propeller or a clock must balance outwards to avoid offset erosion of the prop axle, the wheel must have 12 contacts in balance, as the sphere in a matrix must have 12 contact points. The result is extraordinary. (I did not originally see the link of 31 GC & vertebral nerve prs and 12 cranial nerves, Rybo at Synergeo group did, a copy of his graphic is at the bottom of the ARC blog. Ken at AAT group noted the 31 equal temperment of an octave.)

1 growth-31 vert neural pairs, 12 cranial nerve pairs, pentameric
2 form-31 great circles in icosa, 12 vertices, pentagonal
3 energy-31 equal temperment in octave, 12 tones, pentatonic
4 time-31~ day/night cycles in month, 12 month, heptapent
5 triax-31=sum of 1st 7 factors, of 12 factors of 60, hexapent
6 ictet-31 triangular sides, 12 deg. of freedom of tail pentabase
7 orbit-31 year cycle extreme proxigean spring tide, 12 pt ellipsis
Bio video of helical propelled bacteria: Rhodobacter sphaeroides
http://www.rowland. harvard.edu/ labs/bacteria/ showmovie. php?mov=rsphe_ f_swim_1
http://tinyurl. com/qzdb4r
Good graphical explanation of flagella, cilia, rod:
http://lecturer. ukdw.ac.id/ dhira/BacterialS tructure/ Flagella. html

Note: (Flower petals/leaves often split as 2, 3, 5, which are prime)

The number 60, a highly composite number, has twelve factors:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, 60.

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 10 = 31 (sum of 1st 7 factors)

In spherically arranged tight-fit ball packing layers:
12, 42, 92, 162, 252, 362 (shell layer balls in VE, Icosa)
10, 40, 90, 160, 250, 360 (subtract 2)
1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36 (divide by 10)
f = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (sq root)

form: 1 tet = 4 sides (tetrahedron)
form: 1 octa = 8 sides (octahedron)
form: 1 octet = 11 sides (2 merge into 1 double pane = tube)
form: 1 icosa = 20 sides (icosahedron)
form: 1 ictet = 31 sides (icosa w/ pin-hinged octet "tail")

Ictet = icosa + tail, polar moment, mono-axis

So now we have a composite structure of all 3 structural elements, the overall shape is an icosa-spheroid with an octet tail which can rotate in any direction (or if reversely docked, swing-hinge in an arc), answering the question, from whence did the flagella and sperm arise. Also explains the persistence of the tail in all motile organisms. Also explains why humans have 31 vertebral neural pairs, 12 cranial neural pairs and no tail. At least it would seem so.

AFAIK no one has noted the significance of the combined 'Ictet' structure as a universal jointed spheric mobile entity, and its numerical parallel of 31 sides with the 31 equal temperment of the octave, the 31 vertebral neural pairs in humans, the 31 lunar days and 31 great circles of the icosahedron, the 31 sum of 1st 7 factors of 60.

http://www.tabletoptelephone.com/~hopspage/Fuller.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icosahedron
http://www.buckminster.info/Pics/Tetrahedra/Tet-Quark-Mite.gif
At the single open vertex of the tetrahedron (the far left blue point) of the octet is the universal 'pin joint' which is attached to one of the 12 pentagonal sutures (pore/window) of the (truncated/regular) icosahedron or hexapent buckyball, the octet tail allowed to swivel radially or horizontally on a favorable plane.

(The picture includes the internal electrostatic bonding forces referred to as a mite or quark, whose form is an irregular tetrahedron.)

Note that the icosa meets the octet at a pentagon window, the tet meets the octa with each of the tet base corners having 5 vectors. So there is a continuum of pentagonal adhesion/cohesion, aka pentabase. Synergetic.

DDeden, August 18, 2009

(ictet not abbreviation for interpenetrated icosa-tet, rather an abbreviation for attached icosa-octa-tet, in the manner of R.B. Fuller term octet to name attached octa-tet form in patent.)

(More information on ICTET 31-12 available at AAT & Synergeo Yahoo groups.)
-
background addendum:
The term harmony derives from the Greek (harmonía), meaning "joint", re. "to fit
together, to join". The harmonious major triad is composed of three tones in a
simple whole number ratio of 6:5:4. The major triad chord in music theory
consists of a root, a major third, and a perfect fifth.

In structural theory, the simplest closed structures, the Platonic triad, are
the tetrahedron, the octahedron and the icosahedron. It would seem to me that
these 2 triads or chords are the same relationship expressed in different form,
(sound) energy and physical matter. [Compare to diving/backfloating partners
with infant]

The relevance to the 'ictet' above is that the chordal form triad is
preserved, the icosa, tet and oct are securely joined, yet the pin joint allows
vibrational energy propulsion via propeller rotation equivalent to a wheel of 12 spokes tensionally held or 12 degrees of freedom. A dual pin hinge would produce lateral swiveling.

An alternative form, not considered here but perhaps relevant to echinoforms or
spongiforms, is a central icosa with an octet flagella (or spine) docked at each
of the 12 surface pentagons, resembling a stellated icosahedron.

Tetrahedron: triangular corner (3 lines converge)
Octahedron: square corner (4 lines converge)
Icosahedron: pentagon corner (5 lines converge)

Potentially supporting information as to the antiquity of the ictet tail structure, this time as a fused external structure: fused structural segments produce 'primary cilia' (flagella, filament) different from motile cilia and found in animal skin and brain cells. Not impossibly this 'primary cilia' became the source of the notochord & tail in pre/vertebrates.
-

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-08/uoc--ssc082109.php
"Unlike the more familiar motile cilia, primary cilia do not move, and only one pokes out of each cell. They have recently been discovered to play an essential role in assuring normal embryological development. May protect against skin cancer"

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-08/uoc--sbt082109.php
"UCSF scientists have discovered that a tiny filament extending from cells, until recently regarded as a remnant of evolution, may play a role in the most common malignant brain tumor in children. "In the last few years, primary cilia have been shown to be essential for the cell-signaling that drives both human development, including the differentiation of stem cells into neurons, and some diseases, including polycystic kidney disease. The fact that the two UCSF studies implicate primary cilia in two totally different tissues suggests the finding is likely to be very general."

Note: A skew icosahedron is inscribed within an octahedron in a 4 frequency tetrahedron.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/synergeo/message/54332

"In other words, you can't make a regular icosahedron out of regular tetrahedrons. In
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/synergeo/message/10326
I once said that, "The dihedral angle between the faces of a regular tetrahedron is 1.230959418 radians or 70.52877938 degrees. This is also the angle between alternating faces of a regular octahedron. Notice that it is not quite 72 degrees, so you can't put exactly five
tetrahedra around a common edge or five octahedra around a common vertex, as was attempted in the gapball or octaball Photos." AM
http://home.usit.net/~rybo6/rybo/id2.html
-

The number 31 pops up again, this time in regard to tidal cycles.
"During the last 400 years, there have been 39 instances or 'Extreme Proxigean Spring Tides' There were, in fact cases of extreme tidal flooding recorded during these particular spring tides which occur once every 31 years."

1800 yr ocean tidal cycle
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=18099

The gravitational force of the moon is one ten-millionth that of earth, but when you combine other forces such as the earth's centrifugal force created by its spin, you get tides.
When the moon is full or new, the gravitational pull of the moon and sun are combined. At these times, the high tides are very high and the low tides are very low. This is known as a spring tide. The net result of this is that the Earth gets deformed into a slightly squashed, ellipsoidal shape due to these tidal forces.

The tidal bulge of the Moon follows along the path on the earth's surface which intersects with the orbital plane of the Moon. This plane is tilted about 23 degrees with respect to the equatorial plane of the earth. The result is that near the equator, the difference between high tide and low tide is actually rather small, compared to other latitudes.

The Proxigean Spring Tide is a rare, unusually high tide. This very high tide occurs when the moon is both unusually close to the Earth (at its closest perigee, called the proxigee) and in the New Moon phase (when the Moon is between the Sun and the Earth). The proxigean spring tide occurs at most once every 1.5 years.

During the last 400 years, there have been 39 instances or 'Extreme Proxigean Spring Tides' where the tide-producing severity has been near the theoretical maximum. The last one of these was on March 7 1995 at 22:00 hours Greenwich Civil Time during a lunar Full Moon. There were, in fact cases of extreme tidal flooding recorded during these particular spring tides which occur once every 31 years."

If you see earths' orbit as a circle (slightly lopsided, ellipse) around the sun, imagine the sun as the center of a sunflower, and earth orbit as the edge of that center, then the moon could be seen as a set of 366 flower petals around it. In the last 400 years, the extreme proxigean spring tide occurred 39 times. Maybe at 366 it skipped the extreme tide.

Also note Rybo's picture at bottom of page showing the 31 spinal nerve pairs and 12 cranial nerve pairs.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

On Bagpipes and Blowguns: Respiration at waterside

On Bagpipes & Blowguns
[Updated as of Aug. 31, 09 with addition on mumps, omnivory & air sac transition to diving]

Respiration in surface float feeding vs deep benthic diving

Float/surface foragers have a bagpipe-like system of breathing & vocalizing
The lungs and/or the air sac are always aerated (buoyant), nostril-up or closed

Dive/benthic foragers have a blowgun-like system of breathing & vocalizing
The lungs and/or the blood/muscle are oxygenated, nostril-down or closed

This is parallel in: [surface vs benthic foraging]
lily pad sitting frogs vs deep sub aquatic frogs
surface foraging right whales vs benthic foraging sperm whales
nostril-up wading reindeer/caribou vs nostril-down moose/muntjac
nostril-up gorillas/chimps vs nostril-down humans

Nostril-up usually indicates laryngeal/throat air sac (frog/gorilla/chimp)
Nostril-down usually indicates lack of throat sac (human/sea otter/nasalis)
-
Allopatric speciation in humans and chimpanzees:
http://www.mailund.dk/index.php/2009/08/26/patterns-of-autosomal-divergence-between-the-human-and-chimpanzee-genomes-support-an-allopatric-model-of-speciation/
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090828/full/news.2009.870.html?s=news_rss

Hominoid to human: From sit-float to backfloat to boat
http://the-arc-ddeden.blogspot.com/2009/04/re-from-sit-float-feeding-to-backfloat.html

The link from laryngeal air sac inflated sit-floating hominoids 20ma to forage diving - backfloating humans 1ma, connecting mumps, milk, weaning, hydrodynamics.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/AAT/message/53637

I think human laryngocoeles indicate at least a small throat air sac ancestrally (like dolphins). I doubt they had very large air sacs equal to large adult male gorilla. Human females in some areas low in Iodine can develop goiters, there may be a link, since the thyroid cartilage is adjacent. Goiters are usually mild, but can become very large. I've never heard of any non-human hominoid having a goiter. Both male and female apes have air sacs, only males may have huge ones.

We know that 3 year old Selam (dikik-1) of about 3ma had a hyoid bone (tongue base bone) indicating a laryngeal air sac, we don't know her exact species, though similar to Lucy the Apith afarensis. The hyoid is a small weak bone, usually it breaks down long before the skull does. The air sac itself doesn't last long at all. All Genus Homo hyoids found lack air sac indications, which fits with diving/submerged crouching but not much arboreal-terrestrial-swamp mix. Human ancestors after gorilla, chimps split didn't stay in wetlands, they were somewhere else, no more upright sit-floating. Most likely seashore beaches and no more thick forest canopy.

The correlation of fused tail bone and enlarged throat air sac is strong in non-quadruped tetrapods. Waterside foragers which don't dive tend to have shortened tails, whether they have air sacs or long prehensile nose-lip tools. I think our ancestors changed from sit-floating in lukewarm brackish water to backfloating in sunwarmed saltwater with face submerged, so air sacs became disadvantageous and the male beard became fuller, possibly females had slight goiters, possibly post-weaned kids had mild mumps swellings before puberty (post-milk, chewing-salivation immuno-reaction, triggered by contagious mumps
virus which might otherwise be present but non-infectious?).

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/AAT/message/53638

More on mumps, milk, air sacs, goiter, saliva, defensins:

Gorillasw are herbivores, they get their protein from floating herbs. A mother gorilla and mother rabbit both feed their infants fecal pellets, I think deer also do this, to provide symbiotic gut bacteria and pre-digested plant material and probably some maternal hormone and immuno-defensins. Carnivores and omnivores don't do this. Instead they chew, partly swallow, then regurgitate the food for the infant (birds and wolves). Human mothers just chew and spit out some foods, Marc has noted that kissing may have begun this way ancestrally,
notably some tribes don't kiss but do alternatively rub noses, foreheads or cheeks.

Pre-birth, fetus gets food and defensins via blood.
Post-partum, newborn gets food and defensins via milk.
Human babies at weaning get food chewed by the mother, mixing her saliva containing defensins (anti-biotics & pro-biotics).

So I think that mumps and probably goiters only originated after the move from fresh-brackish wetland herbivory float-sit-foraging to increased upright submersed crouch-plucking lily seeds and invertebrates and early shallow diving.

So in Genus Homo (and maybe only partially in Genus Pan, see bushbaby spearing by female fertile chimps) there is a combined correlation of increased omnivorous nutrition, salivary defensin transmittance at weaning, improved submerged hydrodynamic form of throat area but male-only beards, reduced plant protein consumption but still Vit C dependence on fruits-plants so PTC gene still selected for, contagious but mild form of mumps after weaning but before puberty, mild form of goiter hypothyroidy in fertile females but not
pre-pubertal females or males, effect of osteoporosis in elder females(?), weaned children chewing more, activating salivary glands, but also suction feeding at puberty (raw oyster as aphrodisiac).

So, I think the early speculation that mumps correlates to the diving transition is further confirmed. The loss of the laryngeal air sac and AHV herbivory resulted in increased general diet including seafood high in Iodine and Omega 3 fatty acids, supplementing shore foods, with effects on jaw, dentition, tongue, larynx, facial hair, "childhood diseases". (Chicken pox may correlate to hair loss or sun UV or eccrine sweating protection in some way.)

(Marc V. had the idea about the goiter-hydrodynamic-diet-temperature link.)

-

Air sac & tidal lung breathing and buoyancy in dinosaurs, birds, crocs & snakes
http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2009/07/birds_cannot_be_dinosaurs.php#c2023608


"mauka to makai" Hawaiian for 'inland to oceanside' is a science/nature/marine blog
http://maukamakai.wordpress.com/

http://underwater-society.org/
http://www.usfreediving.org/freediving-gs-faq.htm
-

Laryngospasm & Shallow Water Blackout: When divers attempt long dives, they may run out of oxygen, which causes SWBO and associated laryngospasm (safety closure of larynx at glottis valve). The diving buddy needs to recover the unconscious diver, get them to the surface, and if the diver does not awaken within a few seconds, do the BTT: Blow (remove mask) across the eyelids, Tap the cheek, Talk to wake up the diver. The eyelids link to the trigeminal nerve, the cheeks to the facial nerve, the ears to the auditory nerve. The BTT informs the diver that oxygen conservation is completed and to breathe. Presumably in ancient human divers, sunlight in the eyes did the same thing.