I think we were mistaken.  I think we were wrong.  I think bacteria not only will inherit the earth, they already have.  It is an illusion that we are the masters of this planet.

We are in the process of "discovering" that we cannot live without the many species of bacteria that inhabit our bodies.  This burgeoning discovery is on a par with the discovery of DNA.  The sub-discoveries promise to be in the bazillions.  Even The New Yorker (Oct. 22) is interested, with an article called "Germs Are Us."

Now NewScientist has an article, "Electrical Bacteria," about bacteria that transfer electrons from one individual to another.  That is, they establish electrical currents.  These bacteria line up to form a continuous filament, and pass electrons over distances that are enormous relative to the size of the actual individual cells.  This may be a method of communication, much like the purposes of neurons in animals.

This is just one more wonder to stack up with all the other wonders.  More on this later; please stay tuned!

Before we answered even a fraction of those questions, we discovered epigenetics, the system of molecules that mark and control DNA.  Here came another multitude of questions and discoveries.  Some of those epigenetic markers are methyl groups (a carbon and three hydrogens).

Now John R Bracht has reported on a ciliated protozoan, Oxytricha trifallax, which uses the same methyl groups to mark junk DNA for the trash. 

According to an article in TheScientist, this organism  reproduces asexually when food is plentiful. 

However, it has an astonishingly complex reproductive cycle for times when food is scarce.  During this cycle, the cell has up to 8 nuclei.  Some of these are used exclusively for preserving the entire genome for reproduction, while others shed over 90% of the genome by getting rid of methylated "junk" sections and keeping only what is currently useful.

And this is all happening in a single-celled creature!  What an awe-inspiring result of evolution. 

The franchise business model is one that has been successful for over a hundred years.  So why shouldn't it work as well in Africa as anywhere else in the world?

The latest one covered in the Times is "Living Goods," which provides low-cost health items, such as sanitary pads, soap, de-worming pills, iodized salt, condoms, nutritionally fortified foods, kits for clean delivery of babies, malaria treatments, bed nets, high-efficiency cookstoves, solar lamps and cellphone chargers.

The delivery model works just as well for Living Goods franchisees and customers in Uganda as Avon does in the US and all over the world.  Everyone benefits.  Living Goods trains the women it franchises to educate customers and sell the health goods, thus providing them with good incomes. Customers gain access to low-priced health supplies that improve the lives of their families.

This is spirituality at its best: spreading a better life from person-to-person.

     This seems to be true no matter whether we are interested in concrete, exterior facts, or interior facts, such as school or social skills.

     According to an article by Anne Murphy Paul in the October 6 New York Times "Sunday Review," how we perform on tests or how people see us, depends on the circumstances.

     Gender differences appear on an academic test, if test-takers are first told that they are being tested to check on such gender differences.  And not, if there is no such introduction.

     Racial differences appear on academic tests, if test-takers first hear about such differences, whether they exist or not.  And not, if there is no such introduction.

     The same person strikes different social audiences as clever and entertaining or dull and uninteresting, depending on how that person is feeling about himself or herself on a particular occasion.

     Antidote to such mental poisons might be to research the facts about false stereotypes or to spend time in situations that leave us feeling self-confident right before an important interview.

Apparently seven women were ordained as priests by some adventurous Roman Catholic Bishops in Germany in 2002.  Then these seven went on to ordain more women as priests.

I couldn't get over was how priestly the women in the Times photo display look.  I am not a Catholic, but if I were, I'd have no trouble at all accepting the women in the photos as priests.

What I love about this new movement is that it adheres completely to the Serenity Prayer:  God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, (the Catholic, male hierarchy up to and including the Pope), courage to change the things I can (find like-minded bishops and go ahead and produce a body of women priests anyway, and the wisdom to know the difference (these women priests look plenty wise and at peace with God.

     But the reason it seems that way is because that's what my brain tells me.  In other words, if I am, essentially, my brain, my brain is constructing my reality.

     An example is color: There is nothing inherently red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet about the wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation in the visible spectrum.  Those wonderful colors are constructed by the brain out of electric impulses it receives from my retinas. 

     So I have to wonder what the world is "really" like.  I wouldn't be surprised to find out it's a lot the way we think it is.  If it weren't, it would be hard to be successful at living.  Yet it might be enough different to surprise us, if only there were a way to find out!

There’s so much exciting press about brain research recently, it makes me “think.” 

         My brain is up there in my skull:  In the dark.  In silence.  No touch, no taste, no smell.  It receives information about the outside world via neurons, in the form of electrical signals, from my eyes, ears, skin, tongue, and nose.  It uses these electrical signals to build pictures of my world, both immediate and long-term. 

         This makes my brain seem to be a remote pilot, somewhat like a space explorer, sending probes here and there in the universe.

         But that’s not how I feel.  I feel entirely immersed in my environment.  I see, hear, feel, taste, smell an immediate, integrated world.  So somehow, along with all its other miraculous capabilities, my brain makes me feel right at home amidst all my sensations. 

     It's an election year, not only for Akin, but for the entire Republican Party.  Not only are all seats in the House of Representatives up for election, and a third of those in the Senate, but this year we have a presidential election too.  If ever a candidate should want to connect spiritually with voters, this is the time. 

     Yet Akin chose this very time to make this particular mistake.  Now possibly he will lose his Senate election bid, even have to drop out of the race.  Possibly one more Democrat will arrive in the Senate.  Possibly more women will flee to the Democratic Party and vote for Barack Obama.

     What's going on?

     This brings to mind Jonah Lehrer's recent, sad untruths.  I was broken hearted when I learned that Lehrer had finally, after 3 weeks of skeptical questions directed to him, admitted to making up quotes from none other than Bob Dylan for Jonah's new book, Imagine.

     Jonah, what could you have been thinking?  Just when you were really becoming a well-respected science writer, just when you moved to the New Yorker.  Exactly when all eyes were upon you and upon your book.  Exactly when you needed to connect spiritually with the reading public.

     What's going on?

But I heard this from writer Tena Russ about a treatment program that is just the opposite, attentive, caring, serious:

          "I volunteer with my therapy dog at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Facility in North Chicago.  My dog Cami and I visit active duty soldiers and veterans who are in the the locked wards at the mental hospital.  Many of them have PTSD and are being treated for it.  In addition, on the campus there is a residential program for soldiers who have been in battle and have PTSD.  From what I gather, this particular VA (at least) is doing the right thing by the wounded warriors.  They are not denying that PTSD exists."

Thanks, Tena, this is wonderful news!  I'd be happy to hear more from anyone out there who has had similar experiences.

     In 1976, I lived in Santa Barbara from January through March, just when southern California was being deluged with torrential daily rains.  The TV news showed film of these downpours while "It never rains in southern California..." played in the background. 

     But an article in a Los Angeles newspaper at the time revealed that actually the last couple of centuries had been equally soaked.  In fact, the driest period on record had stretched from the 1930's until the 1970's, exactly when the most recent migration to California had occurred.  All those unsuspecting sun-seekers had put down roots in California just when the rains were holding off for forty years.

     Now the West and Midwest are in the midst of a severe, record-setting drought, and those of us who live here or farm here, are looking forward to live-giving, wetter years ahead.  But in fact, recent climate research shows that for the past 100 and even the past 2000 years, the country has been drying out more and more severely.

     Our problem is that we live such a short time compared to climate trends, it's easy to make the mistake of judging climate by a few decades of experience.  Instead, we need to do more climate research.  And we need our elected officials to start believing that research as if their, and our, lives depend on it.