Synesthesia

Synesthesia (n.): a concomitant sensation, especially a subjective sensation or image of a sense (as of color) other than the one (as of sound) being stimulated; the condition marked by the experience of such sensations.

Synesthesia comes from the Greek words syn, meaning "with, together," and aisthesis, meaning "sensation." Synesthesia is the medical condition of someone experiencing two sensations when most others experience one. Some synesthetes (a synesthete is someone with synesthesia) hear as well as feel a texture, or taste as well as see a color. Also, some synesthetes see color when they hear a certain consonant sound, or always see a letter in a certain color. Synesthesia is likely hereditary, but is not transmitted all of the time.

Synesthesia occurs when sensory regions in the brain have increased communications. When two areas of the brain that deal with the senses, e.g. hearing and seeing, have increased communications, if one of those areas is stimulated, then  it stimulates the other area. For example, if the area that deals with hearing is stimulated by say music, the area that deals with sight will also be stimulated and the synesthete will perceive a color going along with the music. As well as being hereditary, synesthesia can also be caused by drugs, sensory depredation  and/or brain damage.

Bibliography

Brang, David. "Survival of the Synesthesia Gene: Why Do People Hear Colors and Taste Words?" PLOS Biology. 22 November 2011. PLOS. 26 March 2013. <http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001205>

Day, Sean A. "Synesthesia." Daysyn.com. 20 March 2013. Day, Sean A. 26 March 2013. <http://www.daysyn.com/index.html>

Imagine. "Hearing in Color." Imagine March/April 2013: 4-5.

The Four Elements and the Four Humours

The Greek philosopher/scientist Empedocles (490-430 B.C.) was the person who first thought up the theory of the four elements. Empedocles said that the whole world was made up of four elements, or roots: earth, air, fire, and water. They were governed by two forces: love, which brought them together, and strife, which drove them apart. Later on, the elements aquired four qualities: moist, hot, dry, and cold. Water was moist and cold; air was most and hot; earth was dry and cold; fire was dry and hot.

Empedocles also applied the four elements to medicine. He said that normally, the body had a balance of the elements; disease was brought on by an unbalance of the elements. This was later expanded to be the four liquids, or humours: phlegm, blood, black bile, and yellow bile. Water was associated with phlegm, air with yellow bile, earth with black bile, and fire with blood.

The four humours were so widely accepted that we have many words derived from them today. Humour, in the sense of a disposition, comes from the humours. Phlegmatic means stolid and unemotional; sanguine (from the Latin word for blood) means cheerful and optimistic; melancholic (from black bile) means depressed; and choleric (from yellow bile) means angry. These words come from the supposed affects of the humours on someone's attitude.

Bibliography

Youngson, Robert. Scientific Blunders. New York: Carroll and Graf Publishers, Inc., 1998.

SV40

SV40 stands for Simian Virus 40, named because it was the 40th virus to be discovered in a simian (monkey) family of viruses. What makes it special is that it can transform regular cells into cancer cells. The official name for these kinds of viruses is an oncovirus. "Onco" is Greek for "a lump," which refers to a tumor. SV40 uses the perturbation of the retinoblastoma (pRB) and p53 tumor suppresent proteins to transform cells.

SV40 has been involved in a couple medical blunders. The first was when a polio vaccine produced between 1955 and 1961 by American Home Products was found to be contaminated with SV40, after having contaminated millions. The second was in 1971. Paul Berg, a Nobel Prizewinner, decided that if he cut up some of SV40's DNA and inserted some of the fragments into some E. coli bacteria DNA, he would be able to isolate the genes that caused cancer. His assistant, Janet Mertz, mentioned this experiment at a genetic engineering conference. Her colleagues were horrified. They told her that if the E. coli from the experiment escaped, the SV40 would be replicating with the E. coli. Paul Berg immediately called off the experiment.

An SV40 Virus

Bibliography

Wikipedia. "SV40." Wikipedia. 23 March 2013. Wikipedia. 23 March 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SV40>

Youngson, Robert. Scientific Blunders. New York: Carroll and Graf Publishers, Inc., 1998.