Month: September 2021

Science begins with questions, and if science is done well, the answers to those questions, once discovered, lead to even more questions.  Where would we be if scientific thinkers from ancient times to today had not looked around and asked questions?  From the Ancient Greek Democritus asking what everything is made of, to Stephen Hawking asking what creates black holes, science is an infinite feedback loop of human curiosity. 

Sept. 28 is Ask a Stupid Question Day, but we at High Touch High Tech believe the same as your third grade teacher when we say… there are no stupid questions!  So instead, to celebrate the humble question and all it does for us, please accept this fascinating list some of science’s greatest unanswered questions, written entirely as questions.

WHERE IS EVERYBODY?

Why, in all the vastness of space and its infinite possibilities for life, have we not yet been contacted by any alien species?  Are they all just very tiny?  Are they trapped under Ice, as on Jupiter’s moon Europa?  Is there a “great filter,”  a crucial point of survival that most Alien Civilizations do not pass?  Could Fermi’s paradox be true, and we ARE alone in this universe?

WHAT IS CONSCIOUSNESS?

Is consciousness something that happens as a biochemical process, or is it something living organisms are built to receive?  Why is consciousness so incredibly difficult to explain?  What explains the “placebo effect,”  where people experience powerful physical healing just through belief?  Could the placebo effect indicate that consciousness is not a quality of the brain but a fundamental universal quality, like mass or gravity?

HOW WILL THE UNIVERSE END?

Will it be “The Big Crunch,” where everything collapses in on itself?  Will it be the “Big Chill” where everything freezes?  Perhaps it will burn up in the “Heat Death of the Universe?”  If none of those sound appealing, how about the “Big Rip” where everything tears apart?

HOW DID LIFE ARISE?

Did it arise out of natural conditions on earth, and if so, how?  Was it perhaps delivered from space, and if it was, where did that life originate?  And while we’re at it, what is up with RNA and how it acts as both a catalyst and a mini hard drive of bio-information?  Was RNA truly the precursor to DNA?

HOW DID A RECTANGULAR GALAXY OCCUR?

Isn’t it incredible that out there in the aforementioned vastness of space, there is a galaxy called LEDA (pictured above) that is shaped like a perfect rectangle?  Perhaps it was the result of two perfectly triangular galaxies colliding? 

WHAT IS GRAVITY?

We know a lot about how it acts, and its obvious role in the universe, but what IS this force?  Why is it so weak in comparison to say, nuclear force or magnetism?  If other known forces have opposites, than what is the opposite of gravity, and why does gravity only pull?

WHAT ARE TARDIGRADES?

How can they live so long without water?  How do they survive temperatures from -328 to 304 F?  Even with our most elaborate gene sequencing, how is it that we still don’t know which phylum they belong to?  What’s your guess – are they insects, worms, or crustaceans?  Or did they come from the vastness of space?  Could THEY be the aliens we’ve been missing all along, trying to contact us? 

And with that question, we’re back where we began.  Science begins with questions, and if science is done well, the answers to those questions, once discovered, lead to even more questions. 

SOURCES:

Top 10 scientific mysteries for the 21st century

https://futurism.com/2018-unsolved-scientific-mysteries

https://www.iflscience.com/physics/top-10-unsolved-mysteries-science/

Here at High Touch High Tech we’re huge fans of The Lord of The Rings AND Paleoanthropology.  So, in celebration of Hobbit Day on September 22nd, we invite you, a human of the Race of Men, and all good citizens of the Shire, Tooks, Brandybucks, and Bagginses alike, to meet your new cousin, the other Hobbit.  Her name is Flo, The Little Lady of Flores. She’s about 18,000 years old. Flo is the most complete skeleton ever found of the tiny hominin known to science as Homo Floresiensis, a mysterious, child-sized human relative that had big feet and a clever brain (predilection for second breakfast not yet confirmed).

Discovered in 2003 on the Island of Flores in Indonesia and immediately nicknamed “Hobbits,” the tiny hominins represent a jaw-dropping twist in the already thrilling tale of human evolution.  Showing behaviors found in other hominins such as Homo Erectus, perhaps their closest relative, these other Hobbits did what many of the human family were known to do – use tools, exhibit complex hunting behaviors, and possibly even use fire.  Except they did it all at only 3 feet tall, on an island populated with deadly Komodo Dragons that would have made Smaug jealous! 

This is just the beginning of the tale of these brave hobbits. Even more mysterious than the Elves sailing to the West, somehow H. Floresiensis undertook their own impossible journey to reside on Flores.  It was thought that H. Erectus was the first hominin to leave Africa about 1.5 million years ago, heading north towards East Asia and south through Indonesia over a series of land bridges.  However, the Island of Flores is on the other side of a major geographic barrier to migration known as “Wallace’s Line.” Wallace’s Line is large stretch of open ocean once thought too wide for human ancestors to cross, and was believed to have only been crossed by the more sophisticated Homo Sapiens about 50,000 years ago.  The Hobbits provided yet another twist to the story of human evolution when they were found living comfortably on the other side of Wallace’s Line.  How did they get there?  It remains, and perhaps will stay, a huge mystery. 

Not only was H. Floresiensis clocking in at 3 feet tall, and on the other side of an impossible geographical barrier, incredible archaeological evidence found in the region of Flores indicates that some type of hominin was making stone tools there as far back as 890,000 years!  Yet little Lady Flo’s skeleton dates to only 18,000 years ago, introducing a possibility that these tiny Hobbits, much like their cousins in Middle-Earth, may have coexisted with other groups of hominins, and could possibly even have had passing encounters with Homo Sapiens.  People indigenous to Flores Island have long told tales of a tiny race of hairy people with flat foreheads. Could it be that there are actual folk memories of an early human ancestor? 

There is so much yet to discover about Homo Floresiensis, and their place in the tale of human evolution.  What we do know for sure is that because of their miniature stature, unbelievable location, and mysterious time frame, these Hobbits are full of surprises, indeed.

An overview of H. Floresiensis: https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/homo-floresiensis

A Paleoanthropologist discusses the uniqueness and mystery of the Hobbits: https://humanorigins.si.edu/multimedia/videos/hobbits-flores-indonesia

Could modern Pygmy people living on Flores actually be related to H. Floresiensis? https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/news-homo-floresiensis-hobbit-genetics-dna-pygmy-flores-island?loggedin=true

Why is Southeast Asian Paleoanthropology so full of surprises? https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ancient-dna-skeleton-woman-indonesia-peopling-southeast-asian-islands

You.  Yeah YOU.  Guess what?  You are positively crawling with microbes.  Bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa.   An average-sized human is host to approximately 38 trillion microbes, which is slightly more than the number of actual cells in the human body.  The vast majority of them, up to 90%, reside in your gut.  Microbes are on every patch of your skin.  They’re on your eyeballs. In your ears.  In your lungs.  Wait!   Before you reach for the soap, consider what science has to say about your own personal microbiome.  The field of Microbiome Science is a new one, just 15 years old, but its findings reveal that the bugs you are carrying around are not usually pests or invaders.  They are symbiotes living in harmony with you, and they just might play a bigger role than you think in making you who you are.

In (and on) your body there is an entire ecosystem that you will never see.  According to scientist Richard Losick, there are thousands of different species of bacteria in the human body.  It appears that our own microbiomes are completely unique, too – it’s possible for two people to have absolutely no overlap in the microbes that inhabit their body.  There is evidence that our personal microbiomes have a surprising level of influence over us – from how much we eat, to how well we perform athletically, to perhaps even influencing our moods.  The new field of Microbiome Science has only begun and so far studies are small, usually involving studying stool samples from humans and then transplanting them into mice to study the effects.  If the idea of a fecal transplant turns your stomach, it might help to know that ingesting another person’s gut microbiome has been a proven therapy in humans to cure a severe antibiotic-resistant intestinal infection known as Clostridium Dificile.

How much influence do microbes really have over us?  And how do they do it? Gut microbiota have been the best studied so far.  It appears that different kinds of intestinal flora can release different kinds of chemical signals that, via nerve cells, immune cells, or the bloodstream, can signal directly to the brain.  For example, we get our sensation of fullness after a meal from our hypothalamus region in the brain.  The hypothalamus gets its signal from chemicals released by enteroendocrine cells in the intestinal wall.  But the enteroendocrine cells themselves are triggered by chemical signals from gut bacteria.  If there is an overgrowth of dangerous bacteria in the gut, other bacteria can send chemical signals to the dendritic cells of the immune system, beginning an immune response.  Some evidence even indicates that certain gut microbes can trigger enterochromaffin cells, the cells that contain the “happy chemical” serotonin.

Can the tiny hitchhikers in your gut really influence mood and overall quality of life?  At the University of Turku in Finland, Dr. Anna Katariina Aatsinki and her colleagues took stool samples from 301 babies.  Babies with the highest proportion of Bifidobacterium were also most likely to exhibit a trait the researchers called “positive emotionality,” a.k.a, happy babies.  In one of the more extensive studies, researchers at Harvard took samples from marathon runners before and after they ran Boston Marathon, and compared them with samples from non-runners.  The marathon runners had a much higher proportion of a bacteria called Veilonella Atypica, which was quite an interesting discovery for the researchers.  Veilonella is a microbe that metabolizes lactate, the same kind of lactate that is produced by muscles as a byproduct of a vigorous workout.  In turn, Veilonella releases propionate, which helps with oxygen metabolism and heart rate.  When mice received a transplant of the runners’ stool, and were given tiny treadmills to run on, the mice who received it ran 13% percent longer than the control group! 

Microbiome science is a growing field with tantalizing promise. Could the detectives of the future take “microbiome prints” to identify a suspect?  Could there be a future in which a dose of the right probiotics change a person’s life?  Science is indicating that even though our microbes are tiny, our microbiome is MIGHTY!

A true story of a fecal transplant, discussed by a doctor and patient at the Mayo Clinic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py3zJHeVGmk

Dr. Richard Losick on Human Microbiome Research: https://www.ibiology.org/microbiology/human-microbiome/

The Microbe Menagerie (Paywall): https://archive.nationalgeographic.com/national-geographic/2020-jan/flipbook/101/

Beer of Eternity.  Dark Beer. Friend’s Beer. Sweet Beer. Beer of the Protector.  Although these might sound like what you see on the menu of a local craft brewery, they are actually names the Ancient Egyptians gave to their beloved beers thousands of years ago.  In honor of Beer Lover’s Day, Sept. 7, let’s explore the scientific research that indicates fascinating links between not just beer and civilization, but between fermentation and human evolution itself! 

The traditional story of early human history (in a nutshell): about 5 million years ago, early human ancestors came down from the trees to hunt and gather new sources of food.  Then, about 5,000 years ago Hunting and Gathering humans needed more food. Hunting and Gathering Humans domesticated grain and invented agriculture.  Humans settled down to farm and BOOM! Civilization! Then came Beer. 

The beverage was likely discovered when someone tried to cook sprouting grain, not knowing it contained enzymes that liquify the starches in grain into sugars.  Add a little yeast from the air into the concoction, and yeast began to do what it does best: consume sugar and release ethanol alcohol as a byproduct.  No matter how it was discovered, beer was – and remains – a huge hit.  The oldest written recipe on earth is a Sumerian clay tablet praising the Goddess of Beer, Ninkasi, and describing how to make beer.

However, between the fields of Archaeology, Anthropology, Chemistry, Genetics, and Brewing Science, there is mounting evidence that indicates the human fixation on fermentation predates settled agricultural civilization by thousands, maybe even MILLIONS of years.  The chemical reaction by which yeast creates alcohol from sugar happens naturally in overripe fruit that falls from trees to the forest floor.  Steven Benner, a biologist at the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution in Alachua, Florida, helped discover a genetic mutation that occurred about 10 million years ago in the last shared ancestor between humans and apes.  This mutation produced an enzyme that allowed our distant forbears to digest alcohol 40 times faster than any other animal.  It is the reason that only humans and great apes experience such a multitude of pleasant psychoactive effects from alcohol. 

Benner and his team elucidated “The Drunken Monkey Hypothesis,” proposing that what actually nudged our ancient ancestors out of the trees and onto the forest floor was the search for delicious, nutrient rich, and pleasingly fermented fruit!  In Benner’s words, “You could say we came out of the trees to get a beer.”

Another challenge to traditional notions of early human history is the fact that archaeological and chemical evidence indicates humans may have been brewing up the good stuff long before Urban Civilization as we know it was a twinkle in anyone’s eye. An 11,000 year old site in Turkey called Gobekli Tepe is right in the area in which the first urban civilizations emerged thousands of years later.  The site is marked by several spectacular 16-ton pillars of mysterious origin, but it also contains many huge vats that contain a residue of calcium oxalate, which is released when beer is made.  Near the vats is also a hilltop covered with the bones of prime cuts of gazelle meat.  It’s unknown how the Hunting and Gathering people of the time were able to shape and lift the pillars, but German Archaeological Institute researcher Jens Notroff thinks the secret to gathering so many people for one muscular purpose was the beer. “If you need someone to help you move, you buy them pizza and a couple of beers.”

Bringing people together for beer and barbeque was – and remains – a huge hit.  Although it’s still not conclusive, evidence is gathering that it was beer, not bread that inspired our ancient ancestors to domesticate grains.  Harvesting wild plants simply couldn’t provide enough grain.  So our ancestors planted wild grains and over time bred them into higher yielding barley and wheat. This may explain why the earliest known domesticated grain, called einkorn, comes from a site only a few dozen miles from Gobekli Tepe.  Although the theory is not conclusively proven, there is a strong argument that humans did not settle down in large urban communities to farm for food.  They settled down to farm grain for BEER! 

The Oxford Companion to Beer: Definition of The History of  Beer: https://beerandbrewing.com/dictionary/UqfrcsPoAI/

An Anthropologist Ponders the Question of the Origins of Civilization while Brewing an Ancient Sumerian Recipe: https://www.morebeer.com/articles/Brewing_Ancient_Beer

The Drunken Monkey Hypothesis and Gobekli Tepe  (Paywall): https://archive.nationalgeographic.com/national-geographic/2017-feb/flipbook/30/