All of our cells can talk to each other though the junctions of “windows” and “doors” (receptor junctions) that exist between them.  When communities of billions of cells are all connected integrally together, unified and united by the integrated signaling networks branching through all of the junctions between them, not only are the cells balanced, alive, and happy but they are amazingly powerful.

   To give you just a small idea at the vast potential of cells in a network of connecting junctions, let us briefly consider the most complex and powerful cell network we know: our own human brain.  The brain consists of an enormous network of interconnected brain cells.  Each brain cell comes into contact with several of its neighboring brain cells through a series of interconnecting “wires” (called axons).  There are junctions that exist between the axons of the brain cells (called synapses) where the signals from one brain cell hop over to the next one.  It turns out that our memories, our associative powers, our cognitive abilities, and mostly all of the functions in our brain are actually found in the tiny synaptic junctions that connect our brain cells.  Is this not incredible?

   Scientists have found that synaptic junctions between brain cells can be “programmed”.  The brain cells determine how many “trigger” molecules to put in each of the synaptic junctions.  Depending on the number of trigger molecules in the junctions, the strength of the electrical signal that makes it across the junction to the next brain cell is determined.  While traveling across the various junctions, the signals can be stopped, passed along, or even amplified, as determined by this trigger programming.  Our thoughts and memories are most likely stored in the pattern of pathways that electrical messengers follow through the brain. And these signal pathways are determined by the programming in the junctions.

     If you were to allow your mind to wander back to your childhood home for a moment, you might remember what your house looked like; patterns of the porch, the yard, familiar rooms, and surroundings might flood into your head, accompanied perhaps by memories of the sights and smells of home.  Images of these familiar patterns are almost always associated with the way we felt; feelings of safety, warmth, or anxiety related to events that took place there.  At every moment, the endless variety of patterns that pervade our surroundings are almost instantly associated in our mind to our current location in our mind’s map and our current emotional condition.  Without this ability, we would literally be lost and clueless.

     Perhaps the very secret to our intelligence lies in the amazing power that our mind has of building associations to the limitless variety patterns that surround us.  At this moment, your mind is associating the patterns of letters in the words you are reading on this page with the concepts they represent.  Different shapes and patterns almost naturally are associated with each other.  The written symbol “Tree” invokes a certain pattern in our mind.   We can hardly help it.  It is just the way it is.  Our language, both written and verbal, depends on this power of association.

     If such an amazing organ as our brain–capable of embodying almost unlimited powers of association– is built by a network of electrical and chemical messenger pathways connected together by programmable junctions, then can you imagine the possibilities when all of the trillions of cells in your body are connected together by similar networks of signaling pathways? Just like your brain cells, all the cells in your body have similar junctions where signals are passed between them.  The real “brain power” of all our cells is found in the programming of these junctions.  These signaling junctions exist between every cell.  Understanding the programming options available at the “doors” and “windows” of the cells leads us to discover the real software that determines how the whole of our body functions.  Can you imagine the complexity and power when trillions of cells connected together in a huge signaling network?  Actually, yes, you can imagine it.  You live in it.  It is your body!

As we have begun to consider what it must be like to live in the enormous communities of cells that make up the tissues and systems of our body, and all of the marvelous amounts of interactions that are taking place inside and between the cells, let us pause for a minute and think of how good life can be.

Life is good when…

    There is integrity – everything is functioning the way it needs to make it work

    There is understanding – all of the individual members hear and respond to the needs of the others

    There is abundance – all individuals have everything they need at the time they need it

    There is balance – there is a way to efficiently resolve stress and regain balance when things go wrong

    There is unity – a clear vision of what needs to be accomplished for it all to work out

If you can recall a time when life was wonderful, there might be a few other items that come to your mind.  You might have had a time when you were able to be heard and you were able to hear and respond to someone, a time when communications were clear and just a glance conveyed volumes, a time when meaningful connections made a difference, a time when you were the best you could be.  You might have said, at such a time, that you felt “alive”.

     Isn’t it interesting that in the moments of life that make you feel the most alive you are surrounded by others that are interacting with you in a meaningful way.  There is expression, communication, interaction.  These elements are always present in the good life.  They seem to be at the very essence of life.

     Your cells also feel the same way you do.  When they have the good life, they are smiling at us when we look at them through the microscope.  Expression, communication, interaction have the same importance and effect on cells as they do on us.  The signaling pathways that allow cells to talk to one another make all the difference.  The way that your cells interact make them part of YOU, and give them the role they play inside you.  If our cells are happy, we are healthy.  The better and clearer the signals are between cells, the better chance they have to keep happy and healthy. 

       If we are to have the good life, it would be wise to learn a few lessons from our cells. 

For 50 years, we brutishly held onto the belief that the oxidants served absolutely no good purpose and were unnecessary harmful byproducts of our metabolism.  Based on brilliant work done by Dr. Britton Chance (a renowned biophysicist, pioneer in medical instrumentation, and Olympic gold medalist), we first started to realize that oxidants and free radicals are not all inherently harmful and perform fundamental signaling roles in the body that are essential to sustaining life. Now, some 30 years later, it is patently clear that these types of oxidants play an absolutely essential role in the redox signaling networks that initiate healing throughout all of our cells and tissues.  We now see that redox signaling originates where there is cellular damage, creating a disturbance in the balance of oxidants and reductants (sending smoke signals) and such signals cascade through various pathways that deliver the messages to the necessary responders that can fix the damage and reestablish the needed redox balance.  Without these redox signaling networks, healing would literally be impossible.

As the field of redox signaling advances, we have found that up to about the age of 10-years-old these healing pathways work extremely well; healing and immune response is quick and accurate, and redox signaling pathways are at peak efficiency.  We have also realized that over the years, the mitochondria– the hubs of the redox signaling networks– gradually degrade over time.  Mitochondrial furnaces are the origin and source of oxidants in the redox signaling networks. As such, they take the brunt of the oxidative damage (for much the same reason that the “fireplaces” in our homes incur the most damage from “smoke”).  This process of gradual mitochondrial degradation in our cells can occur over decades and is now recognized as one of the major causes of aging.

As the mitochondria fail to function optimally, there is less ATP fuel available to carry on the orchestration of life and to make necessary repairs.  To add insult to injury, the production and regulation of the redox signaling molecules are also diminished. The redox signals that mark the cellular problems are not as persistent or strong (it is difficult to locate a forest fire in a “burnt out forest”).  As a result, healing is slower and less accurate, and immune response is also more sluggish and less accurate.  By the time we are 80-years-old, average mitochondrial efficiency has decreased by 70%.  There comes a time when the cells and tissues are simply not able to repair and replace themselves as fast as they are becoming damaged by buildup of oxidative stress and garbage.  At this point, damage propagates quickly; we age rapidly and eventually die.  Accumulated, unresolved cellular damage is the basis behind all of the current theories on aging.  In fact, unresolved cellular damage is at the core of every known disease.  If we could only find a way to facilitate more efficient repair of cellular damage; then cell damage could be repaired faster than it occurs and we would be able to have eternal health and youth.  It is not clear if this is even possible, but any possible fountain of youth would certainly involve making the redox signaling pathways more efficient.

The field of redox signaling is destined to become the field of science that will fuel the greatest medical discoveries in this next century and beyond.  The universal signaling systems that exist in the fluids of life, inside every living cell and tissue, the signaling systems that have existed from the inception of life and in all forms of life that have existed or will exist on earth constitute the most fundamental signaling systems in biology.  They reveal to us what makes life work on the smallest, most universal level.  Redox signaling describes the molecular signaling mechanisms that modify the structure of water, that transmit messages throughout the fundamental fluids of life.  The simple, common molecules that initiate and transmit these messages through living fluids are mostly manufactured from water (hydrogen and oxygen) and salt (chloride and sodium), and also include a few of most common elements of life (carbon and sulfur).  These are the molecules that initiate and mediate the life-sustaining redox signaling pathways throughout all of the cells and tissues of our body.

Here is a current listing of these molecules for reference:

If you are interested in looking up scientific literature in the field of redox signaling, you probably will not find any direct reference under the name of “redox signaling molecules”.  I have taken some literary license to create descriptive names– such as “semaphores”, “reductants” and “redox signaling molecules”– that are not commonly used in scientific literature to describe such classifications of molecules. I have attempted to define these literary terms and place the scientific names in parenthesis as much as possible.  In order to do literature searches on this group of “redox signaling molecules”, try looking up:  Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), referring to the species of molecules containing oxygen (hydrogen peroxide, superoxide free radical, hypochlorite ion, singlet oxygen).  Reactive Nitrogen Species (RNS) refers to species containing nitrogen (Nitric Oxide free radicals and other downstream nitrogen radical cascades).  Of course, you can refer to each by its chemical name to get information. For example, google/scholar: “redox signaling hydrogen peroxide”.  If you wish to get information on “reductants”, it would be best to search under “electron donors” or “reduced species”.  The reduction pathways, often involving electron carriers, are difficult to find in the literature, mostly because they are not nearly as well documented as the oxidative pathways.  Following all the papers written by a specific author also can be instructive.  As usual, when dealing with a new emerging field of science, the names given new concepts are at times vague, non-unique, and are based on historical development, much like the terms oxidation and reduction themselves.  Finding descriptive, widely-adopted names for these new concepts is all just part of the challenges we encounter while traveling along the journey of discovery.  Much is to be gained by reading about the research on redox signaling. There are literally hundreds of scientific articles being written on this subject every month, representing thousands of months of scientific effort across the world.  It is truly marvelous to be living in this day and age where knowledge gained from everywhere in the world is almost instantaneously accessible by anyone with a true desire to know.

      We are now traveling directly through the middle of the beautiful flowing seascape of redox signaling country.  This country extends in all directions for miles, far beyond what it is possible for the eye to see.  We are just starting to see how far it goes.  We get the sense that redox signaling is a fundamental part of the communication networks that hold all of the cells inside our body into unified and thriving communities; communities of trillions of cells that comprise all the tissues that form all of the organs and systems of our body.  As we have traveled a while down the rivers of life (blood vessels) that supply these vast communities of cells, we have watched with fascination everywhere around us as cells are constantly becoming damaged, being repaired or taken down, dividing, and being rebuilt from the supplies found in the blood.  Messenger molecules are running around coordinating all of these construction efforts.  As we watch all the activity, we venture to enter into one of the cells along the way to explore a bit deeper what is going on inside.  We follow a sugar molecule (glucose) into one of the glucose doors (GLUT receptors) of one of the cells.  It really doesn’t matter which cell we pick, any cell will do.

     It is cozy inside the living cell, there are hundreds of fire places (mitochondria) where the sugar molecules are being burned (oxidized) to produce fuel.  About 90% of the oxygen we breathe goes into these mitochondria fireplaces.  We notice, as we have seen before, that redox signaling molecules (ROS such as hydrogen peroxide, superoxides, hypochlorites, etc.) are also billowing out of these fireplaces just like smoke comes out of fire.  As you can imagine, with hundreds of fireplaces in the cell there are quite a lot of these redox signaling ROS (smoke) being produced in the cell.  Recall that we explored this part before also.  We can see that the excess ROS molecules building up inside the cell are activating messengers (smoke detectors) that rush off to push genetic buttons that produce the cell’s master antioxidants [Glutathione Peroxidase (GPx), Superoxide Dismutase (SOD), and Catalase].  This super team of antioxidants is perfectly built by the cell to eliminate the ROS (smoke) in the cell.  They are stationed around the areas in the cell that can be damaged by ROS, such as the DNA databases and the mitochondria.  This super team of antioxidants are super effective in eliminating the ROS smoke in the cell.  Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) eliminates Superoxides, Catalase eliminates Hydrogen Peroxide and Glutathione Peroxidase (GPx) pretty much eliminates everything at the rate of about 70 million oxidant molecules per second.

     So far, inside the living cell, we have seen the mitochondrial fire places burning sugar to produce energy along with billowing clouds of redox signaling molecules (the ROS smoke) that contain oxidants.  We have also seen antioxidants stationed around the cell that effectively eliminate the ROS smoke, especially around sensitive parts of the cell.  This is the scene that scientists discovered 30 years ago.  Their assessment of the scene was that the oxidant smoke produced by the mitochondria is bad and the antioxidants that clean it up are good.  It seemed pretty obvious, “oxidants are bad, the antioxidants cleaning them up are good”.  The only problem with this viewpoint is that it is not entirely true.  In recent years it has been well established that these ROS oxidants are not only good, they are absolutely essential.  The reason for this becomes obvious when you consider what happens when the cell is damaged.

      Our tour of the inside of the cell is interrupted by a bacterium that attaches itself to the outside of the cell.  We can see that the bacterium starts to attack the cell by injecting digestive juices into the cell that begin wreaking havoc with the machinery inside the cell, including some of the fireplaces.  These damaged fire places don’t work very well, the fires go out and allow a large excess of ROS smoke to pour into the cell.  The “smoke detector” messengers now relay this condition to the DNA database.  The cell takes this signal very seriously and starts to flood the cell with repair molecules in order to fix the damage and to send distress messengers to the immune system.  In this scene, the ROS smoke plays a very important role.  It starts the signaling process necessary to repair the damaged cell and to call the immune system.  Without the ROS smoke, cells cannot activate the processes needed to repair themselves.  If there is too much damage done to the cell, this redox signaling process will eventually result in the cell dying, taking itself apart and recycling its parts.  These parts will be used as supplies to build a new cell when a healthy neighboring cell divides to take the place of the previously damaged cell.

     It now becomes clear to us that these redox signaling molecules (the ROS smoke) have been the signaling molecules all along that have been instrumental in ordering the repairs, instigating demolition of damaged cells, and causing the replacement of damaged cells – a process that we have seen all around us throughout our journey.  These redox signaling molecules stimulated the cells to detect internal damage, to order repairs, or cause the damaged cells to die and be replaced.  They are responsible for maintaining all of the healthy beautiful rows of well-maintained healthy cells we have seen everywhere around us on our journey. We can now see why these redox signaling molecules, ROS oxidants (smoke), are so important in our cell communities.

     Imagine what would happen in our body without these redox signaling molecules.  If the redox signaling molecules did not exist, if our mitochondria stopped producing them, then cell damage could not be detected, repairs would not be ordered, and damaged cells would not die or be replaced.  If a bacteria landed on a cell and started injecting digestive fluids, the cell could not order repair molecules, it could not send out a distress call to the immune system.  It would just sit there and “take it” and become more and more damaged over time.  If the damaged cell could not die and be replaced, then it would just sit there and become more and more beat-up over time until it stops functioning as it should.  Can you imagine what our cell communities would look like if that were to happen.

     Cancer cells and pre-cancerous cells, in fact, are our own damaged cells that cannot be detected.  They cannot repair themselves or be replaced and they certainly do not function as they should.  It is not surprising, then, that we found that in cancer cells the mitochondrial fire places have been shut down and thus their production of redox signaling molecules has been shut down.  Without redox signaling processes, cancer cells cannot be detected, they cannot order repairs, and they cannot die.  If they lose their ability to interpret the signal to stop dividing and continue to multiply then they become malignant tumors that can grow without restraints.  Scientists have given rats mega-doses of Intravenous vitamin C (an antioxidant) to see what would happen if they removed much of the oxidants (ROS smoke) from the cells of the animals.  With high doses of antioxidants, these animals developed cancers, infections, diabetes, and died early in morbid conditions.  This was a clue that started the scientists on the journey to discover the importance of this ROS smoke (later known as redox signaling molecules).  We now know that ROS is universally and fundamentally important for all types of cells in all forms of life on earth.

      We emerge from the cell much better informed and look around.  We see beautiful rows of well-maintained cells stretching outward in all directions.  We see constant construction projects, cells being taken down, repaired, cells being duplicated and rebuilt all around us.  In the back of our mind we think, thank heavens for redox signaling.

While we are in the underwater world of living cells inside us, it becomes obvious that there is quite a bit of construction going on all around us.  Communities of billions of cells houses are being taken down and rebuilt every day;  equivalent in scope to the demolition and rebuilding of every building on earth, every day.  What does our body need to build and rebuild our cells?

Building Materials — Micronutrients (vitamins and minerals, molecules taken from our food), fuel (sugars and fats), amino acids (the building blocks for proteins).  All of these molecular materials are found in plants, you can build an elephant from just the materials found in plants.

Water and electrolytes [salts] — A nice high water table helps everything work smoother, a low water table slows everything down.

Oxygen — This hardly needs mentioning.  Let’s point out, however, that oxygen is only one of the many oxidants that are essential to the function of our cells.

Building Plans — The building plans for the cell are found in the DNA.  In the DNA there is a repository of all the plans needed to build the micro machines, workers, and structures in the cell.

Messengers — These are the signaling molecules that run back and forth delivering messages to the workers.  They read the DNA plans, push the genetic buttons that create the workers and machines, and deliver the messages that tell the workers what to do.

Is there anything else needed?  I think we have listed everything we need to build a cell.  Out of these components, which one do you find most interesting?

In the last 15 years almost all of the groundbreaking work in cellular microbiology has been done on the messenger components of the cell, affording the scientists several Nobel Prizes.  Redox signaling messengers (made from the most abundant elements in nature) are perhaps the most fundamental of all the messengers in the cell.  They pass the messages needed to build and maintain all the types of cells that exist in nature.  There is no doubt that understanding the messenger systems of the cell will bring us the next greatest discoveries in life sciences.

We are finally descending into the heart of redox signaling country, we come to a place where there are many different pathways branching off in many different directions.  And it looks like we are going to get wet.  All of these redox signaling pathways are going directly into a huge ocean of salt water.  We put on our scuba gear and tread in.  There is no other way.  All molecular activities in all forms of life on earth take place in salt water, it is the vital fluid of all life.  All our cells and tissues are submersed in this ocean of fluids.

Under the salt water we find great currents of vital elements moving past in living rivers coursing throughout the extensive communities of living cells.  Each cell is like a submerged house in this vast ocean, all of the cells are stacked in neighborhoods closely surrounded by these flowing rivers of currents; like houses along streets.  These communities of cells are connected and fed by the currents that flow past them. Every living cell is alongside these moving rivers of life; each cell is connected by it.

Now imagine, if you can, this underwater community extends to fill all the oceans on earth, some 70 trillion houses; equivalent to every man, woman and child on earth today, each building 10,000 houses along these river currents.  This represents the vast extent of the community of cells that exists inside just one living human being.

Of course, the rivers of life are mostly the networks of blood vessels–literally miles of them–feeding all the cells in our body.  Our heart pumps this river of life though this vast network of blood vessels that connects and supplies our cells with all of the elements of life that they need.  This river travels in only one direction, nothing much travels upstream.  Along with oxygen, all of the fuel, building materials, chemical signals–everything needed to sustain life–travel along these rivers.  The things that cannot be transported directly through the plasma fluid in the veins (for whatever reason) have little specialized “submarines” built for them to transport them down this river of life.

The cells have access to these currents of life through the receptor windows, chimneys, vents and doors.  We can imagine the little molecular inhabitants of these cell houses floating in these fluids, swimming around inside their houses and between their houses under the water.  The fluid that exists inside and around our cells in our body is somewhat similar to the seawater that is in our oceans.  Blood plasma contains 0.9% salt, with a mixture of minerals; the ocean contains 1.9% salt, with similar types of minerals.  We are now getting a better idea of what it really must be like to live in a community of cells.

With this picture in mind, it is easy to see that the fluid pathways that exist in, around and between our cells (individually and collectively) allow the molecules that are needed to sustain life (fuel, material, supplies or signals) to be available to all of our cells.  It is also important to know that each living cell controls access to the “doors” and “windows”, and will not allow entry to just any molecule that happens to be floating by.  In our cell communities, the doors and windows are called receptors and co-receptors and they selectively allow in only the fuels, materials supplies, and signals that are needed and used by the cells at any particular moment. Very few things can “seep through the cracks”.  In this way, the cells have control over what is allowed to come in and what is allowed to go out.  This selective behavior of the cells makes sense as we consider the complex logistics necessary for sharing resources among the trillions of cells in this thriving underwater community.  Collectively, all of the fluid pathways constitute a vital one-way river of life that connects, surrounds, and passes through all of the cells, tissues, organs and systems of our body.

Another experience in this underwater world becomes very real to us.  We cannot communicate with each other except by finding a way to send messages through the salt water that surrounds us.  Since we have eyes, it may be easier for us to use lights or hand signals; but the molecular inhabitants of this world must have different, more interesting ways of communicating among themselves.  In order to send a signal through water, the inhabitants have a limited number of options. If they have excess electrons or protons, they can use “email” and send electrical signals along the cables that connect the cells (neuronal material).  If not, molecules can physically move with the currents between houses and travel like mail carriers to deliver the messages personally to the intended recipients (like hormones).  Or, more interestingly, they can modify the molecules in the surrounding water (by reducing or oxidizing them) to and send ripple-like messaging to other nearby molecules through the surrounding salt-water medium.

Let us try to understand how this last form of communication works.  How can life’s molecules modify the salt water molecules that surrounds them?  We discover that as with all molecules, salt-water molecules can be reduced and oxidized (redox’d) through exchanges of electrons.  Some biological molecules, like NADPH complexes, physically modify salt-water molecules (Na⁺, Cl^–, H₂O) and reorganize them into other molecules such as hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), super oxides (O₂^*-,HO₂), hyperchlorites (OCl-, HOCl, NaOCl), captured gasses (O₂, H₂), ions (H⁺,OH^–), and a variety of other molecules, ions and free radicals.  These molecules are part of the class of redox signaling molecules that can send messages through the salt water.  If you are curious to find a complete list, you can google Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and find all in this class of molecules.  ROS are part of the fundamental class of redox signaling molecules found in all living organisms.  There are other types of redox signaling molecules.  If you add nitrogen (N₂), which comprises 80% of the air we breathe, then nitric oxide (NO) can be formed, this is part of a class called Reactive Nitrogen Species (RNS).  Then adding sulfur, very abundant in sea water, we also get Reactive Sulfur Species (RSS).  ROS, RNS, and RSS comprise the class of redox signaling molecules that we are exploring.  Each one of these redox signaling molecules can carry clear messages through the salt-water medium inside us.  We simply could not live without them.

We have now become formally introduced to some of the ways that molecules can communicate among each other.  Redox signaling may be by far the most interesting way of them all.

Welcome to redox signaling country!

This week as I have been traveling, I will include the preface to my new book (to be published soon) before we get further into the concepts and science of redox signaling:

Preface – The Journey

I have always enjoyed exploring nature.  I grew up near the Rocky Mountains.  In my young years, whenever we had a chance, my brother and I would take off in any direction into the mountain trails and off-trails to explore the unknown.  These excursions into the unknown carry some of the most memorable experiences of my life.  There was the constant intense exertion of a tough climb followed by the thrill of a new discovery.  There are certain things that we soon learned along the way.  Following unexplored paths is difficult and often ends in the disappointment.  More times than not, we ran into insurmountable barriers, thick brush, loose sliding shale, sheer cliff faces, steep ravines, and so forth that forced us to back up and find another way around.  However, from time to time during our journey, the path opened up into a breathtaking panoramic view. We paused (and sometimes hooted and hollered) to enjoy the majesty of it all.  From these vantage points, we could see where we were, how far we had come, and where we were going, along with all of the incredible expansive terrain that we had yet to explore.  Along with this drive for discovery also came the realization that the true joy in exploration comes in discovering truths that already exist in nature but have not been seen before.  I remember being on a remote winding trail in virgin wilderness and finding a candy bar wrapper and felt let down that someone had been there before us.

In my career as a scientist, I have experienced the same pain and joy of exploration that I felt in those early days on mountain trails.  To the subject at hand, when I first started to explore the possibilities of redox signaling, my expectations were very small that it would lead to anywhere interesting.  After all, salt water is abundant and has been explored extensively already.  I went up this off-trail just wondering where it might lead.  As more and more opened to view, I became cautiously optimistic.  The data from credible studies was showing me that, despite having some of the most reactive molecules in nature, this composition was perfectly safe for many types of cells and tissues.  More data showed that this composition is very similar to the “bullets” used by the immune system to kill all types of microbes.  Further studies have shown that it is potently antimicrobial itself, killing many different types of resistant microbes on contact.  Perfectly safe and antimicrobial…could this be true?  If so, there could be many applications, including that of a nearly perfect disinfectant.  The first glimmers of possibility were starting to open to my view.

In our modern world, it has come to a point where our very survival depends on the ability to utilize these newly discovered technologies for our benefit. We rely on them more and more in order to continue to thrive.  We rely on the transportation technologies that carry supplies, as in the plastics and new materials used to build our cars, containers and houses, the semi-conductor technologies that run our computers, cars, phones, TV’s etc.  We also rely on the energy, electricity, oil, nuclear, solar, etc. that is needed to carry on all the activities of life every day.  Along with the incredible benefits these technologies bring, there are also some liabilities. With solemn realization, we are finding that misuse of these same technologies can also serve toward our destruction.  In our pursuit of dominance, we have developed nuclear bombs that can destroy even our most modern and advanced cities in the blink of an eye.

In every sense, our journey of discovery is a human journey, embodying the principles of the human equation that we are learning along the way: human struggle and striving, the indomitable human spirit, mixed in with greed, strife and suffering.  As our knowledge increases, seemingly without bound, in true exponential fashion, in conjunction with the power it provides us to change our environment, there is a real concomitant need to master the human equation, for with great power comes great responsibility and the stakes are getting much too high to ignore.  With the knowledge that we presently have in agricultural sciences, for example, it is within the realm of possibility, given what we have on hand today, to adequately grow and distribute sufficient food to feed all of the people in the world.  If it is not lack of technology that prevents us from doing so, then what is it?  As knowledge increases past the point where we are able to understand the very nature of life itself, then the really difficult questions  begin to surface.  I yearn, with all that is human within me, to believe that we will be ready and willing to face our own humanity as we travel along the journey of life into a promising future.

We truly live in exciting times where the mysteries of the ages are finally being peeled back and revealed.  At present, the acquisition of knowledge is dizzying, quickly outdistancing our ability to assimilate it and apply it to real-world problems.  From 1650 through 1750, there was only one scientific journal published.  Ever since about 1785, about 10 generations ago, the number of scientific journals started doubling every 22.5 years consistently [ref: 21].  In the early 1900’s, there were only 250 journals with about 7,000 articles published per year, including articles by Albert Einstein and Max Plank that have changed the very world in which we live.  In 2009, there were over 12,000 journals and over 1 million articles.  Every month, over 100,000 scientific articles are being published, each representing months of laboratory work, amounting to millions of months of scientific work that is published and available to us each and every month.

In the upcoming century, one of the most worthy pursuits, almost to the point of being revered as sacred, is to unravel the mystery of what makes us live.  Can we really understand the physical principles upon which life is based well enough to grasp the very nature of life?  We are already on the pathway and, barring global calamity, we will amass enough knowledge in the next 50 years to get a good picture of the nature of our own being on a physical level.  What advantage is this knowledge going to give us?  When we have half of the picture, to what end will we use this knowledge?  Will it be utilized, even unknowingly, to promote destructive efforts?

I take some comfort in that the fact that the evolution of knowledge is based on principles that require constructive efforts, and that misery and destruction are based on ignorance.  Scientists must spend years acquiring the knowledge, which requires development of the strikingly human characteristics; the hunger to know the truth and more importantly, the dedication to study and research in unveiling the truth.  These same human elements that enable scientific development are those that will help us overcome differences and move toward a bright future.  The possession of such a desire leads to knowledge and self-actualization, whereas the lack of such proves self-destructive and must ultimately diminish.  These are the very principles and laws that allow for our existence, that allow us to adapt and live, the physical laws that govern how our body works and how we thrive.  As we discover these principles, let us not think that we are greater than them; let us not think that we can govern them; rather, let us reverence them and search for greater understanding; let us discover and conform to true principles and enjoy the life that has been given us and that which exists in such great harmony and abundance around us.

     For us humans, comprehension of homeostatic balance can bear much fruit and be of great value.  Look at our own bodies; enormously complex living organisms. Our body requires supplies in order to maintain optimal existence. To maintain homeostatic balance, it is very beneficial to understand what kind of supplies are needed by the body and how much of each.  What is the perfect diet?  In the past eons of time, our digestive system evolved to break down and assimilate the supplies that were found in our natural environment; vegetables found growing around us, and meats from the animals we could catch or raise.  Our life mechanisms are specifically designed to process the types of supplies in the living vegetables and meats we find around us.

At present we have evolved to a state where we have a choice about the things we put into our body, yet we cannot cheat physical laws.  For our 70 trillion living cells, there is nothing more important than the supplies we choose to give them.  We can see this even in very simple systems, like a car motor.  If we put sugar in the gas tank of a car, we will soon find that the motor is not designed to handle sugar and soon the sticky residues that build up will cause the motor to stop working.  Even though the sugar has ample energy, it cannot be utilized by the engine.  The same principle is true when dealing with the cells in our bodies.  If we were to drink gasoline, for example, then our cells would eventually stop working and our body would die.  Our cells are not built to utilize the energy in gasoline.  If we supply the body with things it cannot use, it must get rid of them somehow or store them. If we do not supply the cells in our body with the needed supplies or too many of these supplies, life processes slow down, healthy homeostatic balance is disturbed and eventually life ceases.  In other words, if we do not eat well, we will literally get sick and die.

One poignant feature of the Standard American Diet (SAD) is the excess of easily digestible calories and abundance of ingredients the body cannot use.  When scientists examined hundreds of factors that could correlate to a long life in the U.S., they found that there was only one aspect of our diet that correlates to a longer life; only a diet with caloric restriction (less calories) correlates to a longer life.  There is nothing else; they found no magic food or vitamin, no drug, no mineral, no antioxidant or exotic plant that helped prolong life. This means for us that if we wish to live longer, we simply need to eat less calories.

Over time, life will evolve and adapt to new types and quantities of foods, but it takes tens of thousands of years for any organism to adapt to a new environment it is not equipped to handle.  So one of the first things we learn about ourselves from the principle of homeostatic balance is that proper diet is the most important factor in recovering, maintaining and sustaining health. If we do not give the body the perfect balance of the supplies it requires, some of the processes of life will not be sustained and we will suffer.  There is no way to get around it.

After years of studies, using the best information we have available about micronutrient theories and in understanding the supplies made available to and needed by our cells, I have finally found the perfect combination and proportion of nutrients, vitamins, minerals, probiotics to exactly supply us with an optimal supply of nutrients. The perfect solution I found is … broccoli … also squash, carrots, kale, leafy greens, cucumbers, carrots, peppers, herbs…all the raw living foods that are found in the produce section of our markets. I have found that in living plants we find perfectly packaged bundles of the exact combination of nutrient supplies and probiotics that our body uses to sustain abundant life, ideal packages of nutrients found nowhere else.

Whole grains satisfy our demand for energy and meats and proteins for the building materials. The perfect diet is: Lots of veggies and some fruits every meal, a little meat once in a while; a bit of carbs in the mornings to get things going and a bit of protein at night to help repair muscle…nothing else.  Your body will tell you when you get it right. Pass up the chips and sodas, the convenience foods, processed sugar, bleached grains, processed foods, or fads.

Extending this to a larger view.  Our society must be set up to provide us with the supplies we require individually. Farmers get up every morning to grow the crops needed to supply nutrients needed for our bodies. Here is again a perfect example of the principle of homeostatic balance. A farmer takes the right amount of seeds and supplies, derived from nature: water, natural fertilizers, and relies on the energy from the sun to grow the seeds into the nutrients we use in our bodies.

With this, another factor comes into play, the farmer’s labor is an essential asset. In fact, if you think about it, our whole economic system is set up to motivate us to supply the required materials we all want and need. Every farm and business operates on the principle of homeostatic balance. We use acquired resources and work to provide supplies and/or resources for other people and organizations. By doing so living societies sustain themselves, all of their members have the required resources to sustain life. Ideally, governments and social norms are set up to detect and correct the imbalances that appear from time to time.  It is all about homeostatic balance.