Feel Great Weight

Criminal Minds actress AJ Cook is trying to shed her baby weight. Check back here each month to see how she’s putting Health’s Feel Great Weight plan to work.
Her story: “I gained 40 pounds during a difficult pregnancy on national TV! That was tough—it’s hard to see your body change and have no control over it. But now I want people to see that I have to work just as hard as anyone else to take it off. And I really feel strongly that it’s important to do it the healthy way.
Now that I’m back on the show, I have crazy hours, which makes things tricky. (That, and staying away from baked goods—I love a good vanilla or red velvet cupcake!)
But my goal is to get back to a toned and healthy body, even if I don’t get all the way back to my prepregnancy weight. And, honestly, I’m OK with that now because when I come home after a long day and see Mekhai smile at me it’s all worth it!”

Smarter Choices, Healthier You

When I look in the mirror, I see my mother—the cheekbones (good), the nascent lip wrinkles (not so good). But we have more than just facial structure in common. In fact, my PMS symptoms resemble the ones she experienced in her 30s, and my first pregnancy (I’m expecting my own daughter) is almost a carbon copy of what my mom went through when she had me 35 years ago. So, I have to wonder: As I age, can I expect to inherit her hot flashes, too?
Mother’s Day Alert: 7 Low-Cost Gifts Good for Mom’s Health
Experts say it’s wise to know both your parents’ health histories, but ask your mom the right questions and you may be able to avoid a struggle to get pregnant or bothersome menopause symptoms later on. “Knowing your mother’s gynecological history can really arm you with what you need to know to take proactive steps in the future,” says Tracy Gaudet, MD, executive director of Duke Integrative Medicine at Duke University and author of Consciously Female. Here, questions to help you start talking.When did you enter perimenopause and/or menopause?Margaret Moxley, 46, of Nashville, Tennessee, expects to enter menopause any minute now. After all, she and her mom started their periods at the same age, and they both had their kids on a similar schedule—three, all between 30 and 36. Since her mother entered full menopause at 46, the odds of Moxley doing so around that time are good, says JoAnn Pinkerton, MD, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Virginia and president-elect for the North American Menopause Society.
How knowing helps: If your mom suffered killer menopausal symptoms, don’t panic about following her into hot flash hell. Her struggle may suggest an increased risk for you, but “it in no way sentences you to her experience,” Dr. Gaudet points out. To lessen your risk, make lifestyle changes in your 30s and 40s to keep your nervous system in balance: Gradually cut back on caffeine, build regular exercise and stress-reduction techniques into your routine, and add more soy to your diet. Research shows that the plant estrogens in soy products may ease symptoms, especially when incorporated prior to menopause. Hormone therapy is another option to discuss with your doctor. Recent studies suggest that low doses are effective and safe for short-term use in many women, particularly when started in early menopause.
A word of caution: If your mom hit menopause in her early 40s (the average age is 52), you might want to start a family sooner rather than later. Dr. Pinkerton says you can also look into freezing eggs—a technology that’s advancing rapidly—though your insurance probably won’t cover it. Check with the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (www.asrm.org) for more info.
Did you have trouble getting pregnant?“Fertility is like menopause,” Dr. Gaudet says. If your mom had a hard time conceiving, it doesn’t predict that you will, but your risks may be higher. Problems with egg production or endometriosis (two typical causes of female infertility) tend to run in families, says Robert Greene, MD, an infertility specialist and author of Perfect Hormone Balance for Fertility. Nearly 20% of women with premature ovarian failure have a family history of the disorder, and the risk of endometriosis doubles in women with relatives who’ve had it, he says.
How knowing helps: If your mother had trouble and you know you want kids, it’s not wise to postpone trying. Consider being tested for any fertility problems early on, Dr. Greene says, rather than waiting until you’ve tried to conceive for a while and been unsuccessful. (Check with your insurance company about coverage for such tests.)

BİOLOGY AND THE PLENATARY ENGİNEERİNG OF MARS

I. Introduction
From the perspective of biology, planetary engineering is the ability to alter the environment of a planet so that terrestrial organisms can survive and grow (McKay, 1982). The feasibility of altering planetary environments is clearly demonstrated by mankind's activities on the Earth (Levine, 1991; Fogg, 1995a) and it is increasingly apparent that in the near term future mankind will gain the technological capability to engineer the climate of Mars. Current thought experiments/proposals for the planetary engineering of Mars differ in their methodology, technical requirements, practicality, goals and environmental impact (reviewed and discussed by Fogg, 1995b).
The planetary engineering of Mars may be divided into two distinct mechanistic steps, ecopoiesis followed by terraforming. Ecopoiesis, a term derived by Haynes (1990) which, when applied to Mars, can be viewed as the creation of a self-regulating anaerobic biosphere. On the other hand, terraforming refers to the creation of a human habitable climate (discussed in Fogg 1995b). Whether the creation of such biospheres are possible is not known (Fogg, 1989; Pollack and Sagan, 1993; Fogg, 1995b). However, the majority of these planetary engineering models invoke the use of biological organisms, both during alteration of the planetary environment and in the regulation of the resulting biosphere. This article will briefly review the implications of the current Martian environment and assets for biology and then discuss the relationship between biology and planetary engineering.
II. Current Martian environment and implications for biology
At present the Martian surface environment is effectively sterilizing for all forms of terrestrial organisms (Rothschild, 1990; Mancinelli and Banin, 1995; Dose et al. 1995), although some protected niches may exist above and below the surface of Mars (Friedmann, 1986; Thomas and Schimel, 1991; Boston et al. 1992; Rothschild, 1990, 1995). The properties of the Martian environment that would preclude the survival and growth of terrestrial organisms are as follows (but see also McKay (1982); Rothschild (1990); Banin and Mancinelli, (1995); Mancinelli and Banin (1995)):
1. Low pressure. The atmospheric pressure on Mars (Table 1), mostly due to carbon dioxide, varies from approximately 7.4 to 10 millibar (mbar) (Hess et al. 1980). Extremely low pressure damages organisms and can affect efficient DNA repair (Ito, 1991; Koike et al. 1991).
2. Low temperature. The average diurnal temperature ranges from approximately 170 K to 268 K. During the Martian summer the temperature perhaps rises above the freezing point of water at some equatorial latitudes. From temperature requirements alone, organisms would not be able to survive on present day Mars for a number of reasons: First, the temperatures would completely freeze any organism and depending on the freezing process would cause cellular damage through the formation of ice crystals. Second, such low temperatures would raise the activation energy for enzyme catalyzed processes and thus inhibit biochemical/metabolic reactions. Third, biochemical reactions occur in solution and the transport of metabolites would not occur efficiently in a ice crystals.
3. Water. Liquid water which is a prerequisite for life (McKay, 1991; McKay and Stoker, 1989), under the current Martian atmospheric pressure is unstable. Such extreme dry conditions would cause dehydration, for example damaging DNA (Dose et al. 1995) and leading to mutation and cell/organism death.
4. Radiation. The main source of radiation at the Martian surface is ultraviolet (UV) radiation between the wavelengths of 190 and 300 nm. UV-radiation can be lethal. It is absorbed by nucleic acids (i.e. DNA) and activates the chemical formation of various adjuncts that inhibit replication and transcription of DNA. In the absence of an ozone layer, organisms can only escape the lethal affects of UV-radiation by living in protected habitats. Even those surface organisms which have efficient DNA and cellular repair enzymes would probably perish.
5. Oxidants. Due to the continuous bombardment of the Martian surface with UV-radiation the topmost layer of the regolith is thought to contain strong oxidants which are damaging for cellular components.
6. Carbon dioxide. As mentioned previously the major atmospheric component is carbon dioxide (Table 1). In organisms the relatively high concentration of carbon dioxide would probably cause a low intracellular pH. i.e. acidosis which may be damaging for cellular proteins, cellular components and metabolism (Hiscox and Thomas, 1995).
7. No organic material. Because of the continuous bombardment of UV-radiation and oxidizing conditions, no organic material will be present on the Martian surface (Bullock et al. 1994 and references there in).
8. Table 1. Mars-atmospheric composition and partial pressure of the most abundant gases. (Data from Fogg 1995c, Hiscox 1995 and references therein).
Species
Abundance by Volume
Partial Pressure
CO2
0.9532
7 mbar
N2
0.027
0.2 mbar
Ar
0.016
minor
O2
0.0013
minor
CO
0.0007
minor
H2O
0.0003
minor
Ne
2.5 ppm
very minor
Kr
0.3 ppm
very minor
Xe
0.8 ppm
very minor
O3
0.04 to 0.2 ppm
extremely minor
III. Biologically useful Martian resources
Undoubtedly the current Martian environment is extremely hostile for terrestrial life. However, Mars does contain sufficient volatiles to enable some form of colonization and perhaps planetary engineering to render environmental conditions more clement for terrestrial life to survive and grow (Meyer and McKay, 1984, 1989; McKay et al. 1991a; Fogg, 1995c; Zubrin, 1995). Analysis of Martian soil and shergottites, nakhlites and chassignittes (SNC) meteorites (believed to have been ejected from Mars (Mustard and Sunshine, 1995 and references therein)) has shown that all of the elements necessary for carbon based life on Earth are present on Mars (Dreibus and Wanke, 1987; Gooding, 1992; Banin and Mancinelli, 1995).
It is evident that Mars once possessed a more clement climate and many observable surface features have been attributed to the presence of liquid water and a dense carbon dioxide atmosphere (Carr, 1986; 1987). Many planetary engineering scenarios (see Fogg, 1995c and references there in) propose that it may be possible to return Mars to an earlier such climate using planetary engineering techniques (with the proviso that such volatiles are still present). Fogg (1995c) suggests that unless impact erosion (Melosh and Vickery, 1989) "blasted" the atmosphere into space then huge quantities of volatiles are still likely to reside on the planet. Over geological history Mars may have lost more volatiles than it gained. For example, water may also have been lost by hydrodynamic escape, atmospheric spluttering and other mechanisms (refer to Carr, 1987; Jakosky, 1991; Kass and Yung, 1995). Therefore returning Mars to a past climatic state may not be possible, and clearly given the climatic history of Mars such a climate maybe geologically unstable and undesirable for the extreme long term habitability of the planet.
A number of compounds and elements are absolutely required for life; liquid water, the so called CHNOPS (carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorous and sulfur) are the main elements which constitute amino acids (which make up proteins) and nucleotides (which make up DNA and RNA) and various minerals are also required. All of these elements/compounds are believed to be present on Mars (Banin and Mancinelli, 1995). The amount and location of these resources on Mars is briefly reviewed below. For a more in depth reviews refer to Fogg (1995b,c); Meyer and McKay, 1989, 1991a; and Banin and Mancincelli (1995).
1. Water. Currently, the surface of Mars is devoid of liquid water and the atmosphere only contains minute amounts of water vapor (Table 1)(Carr, 1987). The two main sources of remaining water on Mars are thought to be the north polar cap and the regolith. The quantity of water on Mars is uncertain, and estimates range in order of magnitudes, equivalent to a layer of water over the planet 13 meters (m) to 100 m (Squyres and Carr, 1986).
The north polar cap is composed mainly of water ice (Kieffer et al. 1976). The equatorial regions of Mars appear to be ice poor whereas the heavily cratered terrain pole-ward of ± 30° latitude appears to be ice rich (Squyres and Carr, 1986), with perhaps a conservative estimate of the equivalent of 17 m of ice spread over the surface of Mars (Jankowski and Squyres, 1993). How much liquid water would be necessary, or indeed liberated by either ecopoiesis and/or terraforming has not been determined. However, based on current data, a detailed model for the hydrological cycle on Mars has been proposed (Clifford, 1993) and perhaps this could be adapted for modeling the hydrological cycle during ecopoiesis/terraforming.
Mars will probably never be a wet planet as it might have been in the past (Carr, 1986; 1987), although the view that Mars was "warm and wet" is uncertain and perhaps "cold and icy" may be more appropriate (Kasting, 1991; Squyres and Kasting, 1994). However, there will probably be sufficient water for some type of a biosphere to be established. For certain, the water requirement for ecopoiesis will be several orders of magnitude less than that for a terraformed biosphere. Ultimately, it may be possible to import water onto Mars, for example by the redirection of ice asteroids into the Martian atmosphere to release their volatile components (see Fogg, 1995b). However, although such proposition might be technically feasible, the number of asteroids needed to be diverted is very large.
2. Buried organic material. Bullock et al. (1994) estimate that organic material, either deposited by meteorites and/or remains from an earlier biosphere, maybe between 3 and 40 meters from the surface or perhaps be present in polar regions (Bada and McDonald, 1995). These deposits could therefore be utilized by plants that have long root systems and/or by subsurface microorganisms. However, such scenarios depend on how long it would take thermal waves to penetrate through the ground during planetary engineering.
3. Carbon. On first inspection the two main sources of "trapped" carbon dioxide are as a solid in the polar caps and adsorbed in the regolith. These sources are thought to exchange between 10 and 100 times the current atmospheric pressure of CO2 via the atmosphere and are thus thought to regulate climate change on Mars (Fanale et al. 1982). The permanent cap at the south pole is thought to contain at the most around 10 mbar of CO2 (Fanale and Cannon, 1979) (however this figure is uncertain). Due to the uncertainty in the extent of the Martian regolith, the total mineral surface area exposed to the Martian atmosphere is not known. However, laboratory simulations of the simultaneous adsorption of H2O and CO2 (Zent and Quinn, 1995), where palagonite is used as an analogue of the Martian regolith (Zent et al. 1987), would appear to confirm that the current absorbed inventory of CO2 is 30-40 mbar.
An even greater source of CO2 may be combined in the form of carbonate. Carbonates would have been formed by CO2, present in the early Martian atmosphere, dissolving in water and combining with cations such as Ca2+, Fe2+ and Mg2+ and subsequent precipitates forming carbonates (refer to McKay and Nedell, 1988 and references there in). Warren (1987) suggests that the regolith's low Ca/Si ratio is due to the fact that Ca was removed from the regolith as calcium carbonate. Warren (1987) estimates that perhaps a global shell 20m thick would suffice to remove 1000 mbar of CO2 from the Martian atmosphere. Whether this amount of carbonate is present is not known. However, the layered deposits observed in the Valles Marineris (Nedell et al. 1987) (believed to be an ancient water system) are thought to be derived from the precipitation of 30 mbar of atmospheric CO2 as carbonate in lakes (McKay and Nedell, 1988).
4. Nitrogen. One of the main limiting factors for the growth of "Martian" organisms could be the low abundance of nitrogen (Table 1). No direct analysis of the nitrogen content on the surface of Mars has yet been conducted, the proportion of nitrogen in the Martian atmosphere is shown in Table 1. The abundance of nitrogen on the surface of Mars has been estimated from analysis of SNC data (for example Grady et al. 1995) and it would appear that there is proportionally less nitrogen on Mars than on the Earth (Banin and Mancinelli, 1995). Therefore, from the planetary engineer's perspective it is crucial that forth coming Mars missions investigate the abundance (and perhaps distribution) of nitrogen containing compounds.
5. Minerals. Minerals are also essential for biological process, for example as co-factors in enzyme catalyzed reactions and components of vitamins. All of the elements necessary to support terrestrial life are thought to be present on Mars, although as with the CHNOPS elements their concentration compared to Earth are either slightly higher, lower or the same (Banin and Mancinelli, 1995).
Mineral deposits, carbonates and nitrates etc. may be located in ancient evaporate basins (Forsythe and Zimbelman, 1995) and given suitable locations, i.e. at equatorial latitudes (maximum surface temperature), low point (maximum atmospheric pressure), these may be ideal areas for establishing pioneer ecosystems. Indeed, locations where ancient Martian life may have flourished would contain subsurface organics that have been buried sufficiently deep enough to be protected from oxidation (Zent and McKay, 1994). However, as mentioned above, depending on their depth, these deposits may remain in deep freeze and thus inaccessible for a long periods of time. Locations for ancient Martian life include old oceans along northern planes (Helfer, 1990), ancient ice-covered lakes (Scott et al. 1991; Andersen et al. 1995) and evaporites (Rothschild, 1990). Therefore, site selection to establish these ecosystems may closely resemble site selection for Martian exobiology (Rothschild, 1990; Farmer et al. 1995).
IV. Initial planetary engineering-a biological perspective
For Mars to be less hostile for pioneer organisms initial planetary engineering will be required to increase the atmospheric pressure. This will have a number of effects, including an increase in surface temperature, liquid water will be stable (at least at equatorial latitudes) and an increase in ozone abundance that will reduce the amount of UV-radiation reaching the surface. Perhaps the simplest way to do this, as discussed below, will be to liberate CO2 deposits using a runaway greenhouse mechanism.
1. Runaway greenhouse mechanisms and greenhouse gases. To initiate the runaway greenhouse mechanism for warming Mars, an initial warming is required to release CO2, this will act as a greenhouse gas increasing the global temperature leading to the release of more CO2 and so on (Haynes, 1990; McKay et al. 1991b; Zubrin and McKay, 1993). A number of mechanisms have been proposed to provide this initial warming step. Two techniques being orbiting mirrors to reflect sunlight onto polar regions acting alone or in conjunction with the in situ production of the greenhouse gases such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) (McKay et al. 1991b; Zubrin and McKay, 1993).
Estimates of the lifetime of CFCs in the Martian atmosphere vary from a few days (Levine, 1991-quoted in Fogg, 1992) to 100 years (Zubrin and McKay, 1993). Therefore, if the half-life of CFCs in the Martian atmosphere is small, the production of such quantities of CFCs to warm Mars may be impractical (Fogg, 1992). The Levine estimate of CFC lifetimes maybe an under estimate as this was based on a current Martian environment in which the O3 layer is very small and thus more UV-radiation is available to degrade the CFCs. If solar mirrors could be used to produce an increase in the pCO2 then a greater ozone layer would form (via the photodissociation of CO2) thus increasing the lifetime of the CFCs. However, as Fogg (1992) points out, such CFCs may not co-exist with an ozone layer in a planetary engineered atmosphere, as the photodissociation products of CFCs are thought to react with O3 and therefore reduce ozone coverage. As discussed below, ozone will be important in reducing the amount of UV radiation on the surface of Mars so that terrestrial organisms may exist unprotected on the surface. Instead of using CFCs as a greenhouse gas it maybe possible to use alternative greenhouse agents such as perfluorocarbons (see Fogg, 1995b). However, the toxicity of perfluorocarbons at the concentrations required for warming Mars would have to be determined.
An alternative greenhouse gas for warming Mars could be ammonia (NH3) (Pollack and Sagan, 1991). Ammonia rich asteroids could be diverted towards the Martian atmosphere to release their quantity of NH3 (Pollack and Sagan, 1991; Zubrin and McKay, 1993). However, the probability of locating asteroids that are composed of 100% NH3 is unlikely. The composition of any comet is unlikely to contain more than 10% NH3, therefore the problem is again a matter of scale. Also, NH3 has been shown to be very photochemically unstable in primitive terrestrial atmospheres (which may resemble Martian planetary engineered environments) and NH3 life times are estimated to be from 10 (Kasting, 1982) to 40 years (Kuhn and Atreya, 1979). Therefore the economic cost of importing NH3 containing asteroids might be more than the in situ production of some type of halocarbon to produce an equivalent greenhouse warming. However, as discussed in section six, there maybe a biological solution to this problem.
At a conservative estimate, perhaps only 500 mbar of CO2 is available for release using the runaway greenhouse mechanisms. Based on the work of Kasting (1989; 1991), this would result in a surface warming of approximately 240 K, perhaps bringing temperatures at the equator (during the Martian summer) above the freezing point of water. (Note: Kasting (1989) is based upon a model of the climate of early Earth and assumes a 0.8-bar N2 background atmosphere and a 30% reduction in stellar luminosity- the insulation on Mars is approximately 50% that of Earth). Pollack (1991) estimates that CO2 pressures on the order of several bars were required to raise the annually averaged temperature at low latitudes on an early Mars to values in excess of 273 K and this is also in agreement with the calculations of McKay et al. (1991b) for planetary engineering. Thus using the runaway greenhouse mechanisms of planetary engineering, the climate of Mars would probably be cold and icy rather than warm and wet.
2. Nanotechnology. Alternatively, in concert with the previous techniques or alone, nanotechnology may be employed for planetary engineering (Morgan, 1994; Nussinov et al. 1994) . For example in the liberation of carbon dioxide from carbonate deposits (Nussinov et al. 1994). Great claims are made to the potential exponential growth of nano-robots (Freitas, 1983; Morgan, 1994). Morgan (1994) has suggested that nano-robots could contain structures similar to those found in biological organisms. In common with microorganisms, nano-robots may have a huge growth capacity, i.e. doubling time, which for some bacteria, growing under ideal conditions, can be as little as 20 minutes. Ideal growth conditions for nano-robots are therefore likely to resemble those found for microorganisms (see Figure 1.). However, conditions on Mars will not be ideal for grow of either microorganisms or nano-robots. Nutrients/substrates may vary in abundance, there may be competition for resources etc. Therefore, growth is likely to be linear rather than exponential (Figure 1). Also, unlike biotechnology, nanotechnology has not been demonstrated.
Figure 1. Growth curves of "organisms" (either microorganisms or nano-robots) on Mars. (A) Is the lag phase in which the "organisms" are growing at a slow rate. In microorganisms this caused by the "turn on" of genes to make new proteins etc. If conditions are optimal, i.e. abundant substrate/nutrients, and remain optimal, then growth rate becomes exponential (E). However, if ecological climax is reached, e.g. the substrate pool becomes limiting, then the population crashes (D1). A far more likely scenario is that the initial number of "organisms" grows slowly (B) as the distribution of substrates will not be uniform. Eventually, the number of organisms "living" will equal the number of organisms "dying" (C). If the substrate becomes limiting or environmental conditions worsen (i.e. drop in temperature) then the number of organisms will drop (D2). As conditions become more favourable then growth resumes (A). For Mars, the ideal growth curve for any organism should follow (A to C or D2). This idea of keeping growth rates below climax has been rightly argued by Fogg (1995b).
3. Nuclear mining and alternative planetary engineering mechanisms. There are a number of mechanisms available for liberating the carbon dioxide "trapped" as carbonates, including cometary impact (Fogg, 1989 and references there in) and nuclear mining (Fogg, 1989; 1992; Pollack and Sagan, 1991). Such anthropogenic mechanisms of planetary engineering become attractive if there is insufficient volatile inventory for a runaway greenhouse mechanism. The environmental consequences of radioactive fall out associated with certain forms of nuclear mining could be quite severe (Haynes and McKay, 1992), leading perhaps to widespread mutation and death of organisms. Given an advanced technology (more than that required for ecopoiesis) it may be possible to release carbon dioxide in carbonate deposits by volcanic means. The thermal erosion of carbonates has been hypothesised as a mechanism for the recycling of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere of early Mars (Schaefer, 1993).
4. Ozone. One of the main functions of initial planetary engineering would be to increase the ozone layer thus providing shielding of organisms from UV-radiation (Hiscox and Lindner, 1996). Based on O3 estimates in a Precambrian atmosphere, the minimum ozone column being tolerable by unprotected bacteria would fall between 1x1018 and 4x1018 cm2 depending on the bacterial species being considered (Francois and Gerard, 1988). Fortuitously, oxygen is not required to generate an ozone layer, instead the photodissociation of CO2 might be used to generate sufficient ozone to provide an ozone layer (Hiscox and Lindner, 1996). Such a scenario may be self-regulating (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Diagrammatic representation of an ozone "cycle" during planetary engineering. (Interactions at the poles are complex and thus for simplicity are not represented). Ozone is created by the photodissociation of carbon dioxide. Through vertical mixing this reaches the lower atmosphere where it is destroyed by water, which has been released from the regolith by heating either with solettas (Birch, 1992) and/or greenhouse gases (McKay et al. 1991b). (Note: the hypothetical greenhouse gases used in this scenario do not chemically react with ozone. More carbon dioxide is released leading to the formation of new ozone and so on.
If only a minimum ozone coverage is created by planetary engineering (sufficient to provide shielding against lethal UV-radiation for most organisms), on some occasions the ozone level may drop below a threshold level. Thus exposed organisms may be exposed to lethal levels of UV-radiation on Mars. Seasonal and latitudinal variations in dust and cloud opacities have induced as much as a 40% variation in ozone on a seasonal and latitudinal basis (Lindner, 1988). In addition, the asymmetry in dust and cloud opacities at late winter in each hemisphere could also cause a 10-20% hemispherical asymmetry in ozone (Lindner, 1988). Therefore a mechanism of preventing this drop in ozone would be preferable. The current dust concentration in the Martian atmosphere can induce a 10-50% increase in ozone abundances because photodissociation rates are greatly reduced by dust absorption (Lindner, 1988) and this phenomena has been observed in the polar regions of Mars, where dust absorbs or scatters to space most UV-radiation before it strikes the cap (Lindner, 1990).
Therefore a planetary engineering mechanism that can create such a dust storm would be useful in providing additional protection to organisms by reducing the amount of UV-radiation reaching the surface. First by providing direct shielding against UV-radiation and second by inducing localised increases in the production of ozone, thus restoring an ozone layer. One mechanism to generate a global dust storm may be heating of the polar regions with space based sunlight reflectors (Zubrin and McKay, 1993) (abbreviated to SBR). Similar to what occurs on Mars at the moment, the asymmetric heating of one pole would cause a pressure differential i.e. wind, and this would carry dust. However, if the polar reserves of carbon dioxide and water are liberated early in planetary engineering then an alternative mechanism is required. Such a mechanism could be the heating of a near by dusty area on Mars by a SBR (Hiscox and Lindner, 1996). This may cause a localised dust storm which would provide local UV-radiation coverage by plugging the nearby ozone hole. Satellites could be used to monitor atmospheric ozone abundances and warn of impending ozone "holes".
5. Temperature/humidity. Different microbial species vary widely in their optimal temperatures for growth. The upper end of temperature range tolerated by any given species correlates well with the general thermal stability of that species' proteins. Microorganisms share with plants and animals the heat shock response, a transient synthesis of a set of "heat shock proteins" when exposed to a sudden rise in temperature above the growth optimum. These proteins appear to be unusually heat resistant and act to stabilise the heat sensitive proteins of the cell. However, beyond a certain temperature proteins will irreversibly denature and therefore enzymes (which are mostly composed of proteins) will become non-functional. Some bacteria can also exhibit cold shock, the killing of cells by rapid as opposed to slow cooling. For example, rapid cooling of Escherichia coli from 310 to 278 K will kill 90% of the cells. Early stages of planetary engineering will probably require psychrophilic forms, i.e. those that grow best at low temperatures (normally 288-293 K).
In order to define a minimum temperature and humidity for pioneer microorganisms to grow during ecopoiesis one can study microorganisms that inhabit regions on the Earth that best approximate regions on Mars. Apart from the greater pressure and less UV-radiation, the cold dry Ross Desert regions of Antarctica best approximate Mars (Friedmann and Weed, 1987; McKay, 1993). Yet these regions are host to a variety of microorganisms which live just under the surface of rocks and these are called endolithic microorganisms (Friedmann, 1982). In these regions air temperatures range between 258 K and 273 K in the summer and may drop to near 213 K in the winter, with relative humidities ranging from 16 to 75 percent (Friedmann, 1982 and references there in). Before planetary engineering, Mars will be colder than Antarctica, however, as discussed above, using the greenhouse mechanism it may be possible to raise the surface temperature of Mars to conditions resembling Antartica.
Microbial activity in the Antarctic cryptoendolithic habitat is regulated by temperature (Nienow et al. 1988a) and metabolic activity is possible only when solar radiation raises the temperature of the rock above 263 K (Nienow et al. 1988b). Therefore the minimum Martian surface temperature required for ecopoiesis, should 263 K or greater (at least in regions were organisms will be seeded).
Cryptoendolithic lichens begin photosynthesis when the matric water potential is -46.4 megaPascals (MPa) which corresponds to a relative humidity of 70% at 281 K, whereas cryptoendolithic cyanobacteria photosynthesize at high matric water potentials of -6.9 (and greater) (a relative humidity of 90% at 281 K) (Palmer Jr. and Friedmann, 1990). Alternatively, both may use melt-water as a source of water rather than water vapour which is used in times of environmental stress. Therefore, if melt water is unavailable for pioneer microorganisms, the relative humidity should be at least 70%, perhaps lower if genetic engineering (see below) can be used to increase tolerance to desiccation. Alternatively, pioneer microorganisms could be adapted to tolerate desication (Friedmann, 1995-personal communication in Hiscox and Thomas, 1995), and this is perhaps a more feasible mechanism than genetic engineering.
6. Growth and diversity. After the introduction of microorganisms into a partially altered Martian environment the growth rate will exceed the death rate and therefore there should be a net accumulation of microorganisms. However, once the new biosphere becomes established the population of microorganisms in a stable biosphere will be roughly constant, i.e. growth is balanced by death. The survival of any microbial group within its niche is determined in large part by successful competition for nutrients and by maintenance of a pool of living cells (or dormant cells) during nutritional deprivation. In a constantly changing environment, as will occur during planetary engineering, the proportion of living bacteria to dead bacteria may vary dramatically (Figure 1).
V. Candidate biological methods and mechanisms for adapting terrestrial organisms to grow on Mars
A number of pioneer microorganisms and plants have been proposed for introduction onto a partially altered Mars (Averner and MacElroy, 1976; Friedmann and Ocampo-Friedmann, 1994; Hiscox, 1995; Hiscox and Thomas, 1995; Fogg, 1995d). The first organisms will of necessity be photoautotrophic (Haynes and McKay, 1992), which means that they utilise sunlight as an energy source and do not require complex organic material for metabolism (which would be absent on the surface of the planet prior to the introduction of terrestrial microorganisms-see section two). In order to aid organisms to survive and more importantly grow as soon as physically possibly on a partially altered Mars, two main mechanisms of adaptation can be utilised either individually or in concert, that of genetic manipulation and/or directed selection under simulated Martian conditions (Hiscox, 1995; Hiscox and Thomas, 1995) (Figure 3):
Figure 3. Schematic representation of selecting organisms for growth on Mars. Candidate organisms could perhaps be isolated from extremes of environments on the Earth that in some respects resemble the partially altered environment on Mars. The organisms could be further adapted to Mars by either genetic engineering and/or selection in Marsjars. Once environmental conditions become more clement on Mars, organisms could be directly introduced from the Earth with minimum adaptation. (The stage at which organisms could be introduced onto Mars is indicated by the right-hand path). (Taken from Hiscox, 1996).
1. Genetic engineering. Genetic engineering is now common place and the ability to manipulate organisms for Mars, especially prokaryotes and also eukaryotes is entirely feasible (Hiscox, 1995). For example, a pioneer microorganisms's tolerance to lower intracellular pH could be increased by engineering in a gene(s) from another organism that confers tolerance to low pH (Hiscox and Thomas, 1995). Such an organism would then be termed recombinant, or in this case a genetically engineered Mars organism (GEMO; Hiscox, 1995). One danger in introducing new genes into an organism is that the over expression of such a gene may lead to deficiencies in other key metabolites, therefore the inter-conversion of biosynthetic components has to be tightly regulated (Hiscox, 1995; Hiscox and Thomas, 1995).
2. Genetic selection. Alternatively, organisms could be adapted for growth on a partially altered Mars by growing them under simulated environmental conditions that increasingly resembles the climate on Mars at the proposed time of their introduction. In genetic terms, this process is called directed selection and is a well known Darwinian concept. In which adaptation results from the systematic relationships between genotype and phenotype and between phenotype and reproductive success in a given environment. There are limits to increases in both physiological and metabolic processes using selection, and thus genetic engineering could be used to increase some of these. Because of their fairly rapid generation time, microorganisms would best lead themselves to this type of adaptation.
A number of studies have grown various terrestrial microorganisms under different combinations of Martian or extreme terrestrial/non-terrestrial environmental conditions (for example see: Ito, 1991; Koike et al. 1991; Moll and Vestal, 1992) and the growth on Mars of a blue-green algae has been modelled (Kuhn et al. 1979). It is certainly feasible to conduct Marsjar simulations using terrestrial microorganisms and such experiments would provide data for the growth of terrestrial organisms in Martian greenhouses and planetary protection issues. Indeed many of these types of experiments have already been proposed for planetary protection issues (Lindberg and Horneck, 1994). The only factor of a Martian environment that would be difficult to simulate is the effect of gravity.
A fine balance between survival and evolutionary potential has to be struck by organisms that have the efficient ability to remove most errors in DNA replication. In general, an organism with perfect replication will never evolve, although genetic recombination (gene swapping) may still occur and act as a mechanism for evolution (and is perhaps the major driving force!). Whereas an organism with a highly error-prone mechanism would not survive. The error repair mechanism in bacteria is so accurate that an error is generated only once in 108 to 109 bases (a base is a unit of a chromosome). Because the genomes of bacteria are about 4.5 million bases long, only about 1% of the progeny have alterations in their base sequence. This error level can be easily tolerated, it also continuously generates variants that can be selected under specialised conditions. One must bear in mind that selection is always for survival, a given species has no advantage in evolving into a different species. Natural selection tends to promote the divergence of populations living in different environments. Radical changes in the habitat, as will occur during planetary engineering, will often exterminate a species, therefore organisms will have to be able to adapt to these changing circumstances.
It is increasingly evident that many microorganisms exist in consortia formed by representatives of different genera. Other microorganisms often characterised as single cells in the laboratory form cohesive colonies in the natural environment. This property of organisms will be important during Marsjar simulations and subsequent introduction onto Mars.
3. Safety issues of genetic engineering. Almost certainly GEMOs/selected organisms will be released on the surface of Mars, either through contamination associated with manned exploration, colonist's greenhouses or the deliberate release during a planetary engineering effort. These organisms will be growing under conditions that do not occur on the Earth, and therefore their evolution may proceed in a completely novel manner compared to their counterparts on the Earth (Haynes, 1990). For example, non- pathogenic bacteria may become pathogenic. Such considerations are especially important if terraforming is realised and the human population will inhabit the surface of Mars, although many genetic safeguards can be built into such organisms (Hiscox, 1995).
VI. Uses of terrestrial organisms on Mars
Terrestrial organisms will serve a number of purposes, both during and after planetary engineering:
1. Increase in atmospheric pressure and change in chemical composition. For example, microorganisms could be used to release carbon dioxide from carbonate deposits (Friedmann et al. 1993) and nitrogen from nitrate deposits (Thomas, 1995; Hiscox and Thomas, 1995) and appropriate deposits could be determined from orbit (Hiscox, 1995). In order to terraform Mars, McKay (1982) and McKay et al. (1991b) proposed that plants could be used to convert the mainly carbon dioxide atmosphere formed during ecopoiesis into an oxygen atmosphere. For example, Fogg (1992) estimates that 5.7x1017 kg of biomass would have to be sequestered as part of the biological production of 158 mbar of oxygen. Also, Fogg (1995d) has addressed some of the issues and suggests a number of solutions for growing plants in low oxygen concentrations that would be present during early stages of ecopoiesis i.e. below an oxygen pressure of 20 mbar.
It should be noted that previous estimates of the time taken to convert a mainly carbon dioxide atmosphere into an oxygen atmosphere may be underestimates as these calculations did not take into account the possible increase in respiring aerobic organisms (i.e. lichen, bacteria etc.) that may concomitantly increase in numbers with more oxygen availability and result in the production of more carbon dioxide. Therefore, biology on Mars must be actively held away from ecological climax in order to maximise oxygen production and minimise its uptake (Fogg, 1995e).
One should note that if plants are to be used to convert the mainly carbon dioxide atmosphere into an atmosphere suitable for human habitation, then in the early stages of this process all such plants should be either self or wind pollinating. Self pollination would probably be the preferred option as wind pollination may be extremely inefficient if the population density of plants is too low. These two mechanisms of pollination are required because the carbon dioxide atmosphere will be too toxic for insects that pollinate plants.
2. Climate regulation and control. Organisms will help maintain the gaseous composition of the Martian atmosphere and thus regulate climate. After planetary engineering, organisms such as plants will also affect climate by cycling vast amounts of water. An example is provided by Amazonia, which contains two-thirds of all above ground freshwater on Earth. At least half of Amazonia's moisture is retained within the forest ecosystem, being constantly transpired by plants before being precipitated back into the forest, with a mean cycling time of 5.5 days (Salati and Nobre, 1992).
3. Control of albedo. Sagan (1973; 1980) proposed that plant growth could be used to lower the albedo of the Martian polar caps thus increasing their absorption of solar radiation and heating them, thus hopefully triggering a runaway greenhouse effect. (This scenario has one main problem in that metabolic reactions do not occur at the temperatures found on the Martian polar caps). However, the idea does have great merit for stabilising the albedo on Mars. For example Amazonia and Zaire forests stabilise the albedo on Earth (Gash and Shuttleworth, 1992).
4. Replace biogeochemical cycles. The Earth's biotas are pumps for the major bio-geochemical cycles (Schlesinger, 1991). From a longer term perspective, because Mars is believed to lack tectonic activity and therefore organisms such as microbes (Thomas, 1995) and plants (Fogg, 1995d) may play an essential role in the regulation of global nitrogen, carbon and other mineral cycles (McKay, 1982; Fogg; 1993; Thomas 1995). Whether purely biological cycles could replace bio-geochemical ones is a large problem facing "biological" planetary engineering (McKay, 1982; Fogg, 1995b; Thomas, 1995).
5. Hydrological functions. Plants play a part in hydrological cycles in addition to those discussed in (i), by controlling water runoff. Vegetation permits a slower and more regulated run-off, allowing water supplies to make a steadier and more substantive contribution to their ecosystems, instead of quickly running off into streams and rivers- possibly resulting in flood and drought regimes downstream. As the hydrosphere is gradually activated on Mars so these hydrological cycle becomes more important. It will be important to ensure that water is cycled by transpiration and rainfall.
6. Production of greenhouse gases. Microorganisms could be used to metabolise nitrate deposits to NH3. As discussed in section four, NH3 is a powerful greenhouse gas, so not only would this process contribute to the warming of the planet, but at low levels NH3 would be photochemically broken down into N2, a further greenhouse gas (H2O) and H2 (Kasting, 1982). (However, this pathway maybe undesirable as the H2 produced would probably be lost to space (Fox, 1993 and references therein). Another green house gas that could be produced by biological mechanisms is methane, CH4. Methane may have been a constituent of the Martian paleoatmosphere (Kasting, 1991). However, methane is rapidly photodissociated by UV-radiation, but an increase in ozone and efficient/abundant production of CH4 by biological organisms may partially mitigate this problem and lead to a net accumulation of CH4.
7. Biomass production and soil protection. On early Earth reduced organic material formed by fixation of carbon dioxide and carbonates was ultimately utilised by other organisms scouring the debris of destroyed cells. Thus pioneer microorganisms and subsequent generations will provide a pyramid of biomass for successive generations of organisms. (During initial planetary engineering the Martian surface will rarely be refreshed by rainfall and will be unable to retain moisture. Therefore hardy microorganisms which were able to utilise water vapour could be used to build up a "top soil").
The spread and settlement of vegetation protects soil cover. On Earth soil erosion is a major problem in many areas of the world, for example, it leads to declines in soil fertility. Although no soil is present on Mars with the growth of appropriate microorganisms gradually a biomass will begin to build up and the planting of trees, grasses and long rooted plants could, as on Earth, could be used to prevent large scale erosion (Figure 4).
8. Production of materials for colonists. Provided the relevant organisms can grow on Mars, these would include trees to provide wood for construction, food and medicines, antibiotics from fungi etc.
Figure 4. Photograph of plants on Mars. Once the oxygen level is around 20 mbar then plants can be introduced onto Mars. These will serve a number of functions including the production of more oxygen and stabilising geological features. A drainage channel caused by the recent flow of water can be observed in the background. In the foreground plants are growing and spreading toward the drainage channel preventing further erosion. (Photograph J. A. Hiscox and M. W. Parnell).
VII. The importance of biodiversity in planetary engineering
Also a key question is how many species are required to establish a stable ecosystem, either leading to Vitanova or Terranova? This concept is known as biodiversity and encompasses all life forms from the planetary species to populations of species together with their ecosystems and ecological processes. On Earth biodiversity plays two critical roles. (i) Biodiversity provides the biosphere with a medium for energy and material flows, which in turm provide ecosystems with their functional properties. (ii) It supports and creates ecosystem resilience, which will be absolutely crucial on Mars. Resilience can be defined as the ability of ecosystems to resist stresses and shocks, to absorb disturbance and to recover from disruptive change. All of these processes will be occurring during planetary engineering and indeed occur on Earth. The concept can be expressed more formally, it connotes an equilibrium-theory idea to the effect that ecosystems with their cybernetic mechanisms display homeostatic attributes that allow them to maintain function in the face of stress induced structural changes (Cairns and Pratt, 1995).
Biodiversity will be important during and after planetary engineering on Mars, one useful definition is of environmental/ecosystems services which reflect environmental functions and ecological processes and can be defined as any functional attributes of natural ecosystems that are demonstrably beneficial to mankind (Cairns and Pratt, 1995). Although, it is difficult to speculate on the composition of Martian ecosystems and to draw extrapolate from terrestrial ecosystems, on Earth the values provided by such systems include generating and maintaining soils, converting solar energy into plant tissue, sustaining hydrological cycles, running bio-geochemical cycles (including the elements carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur), controlling the gaseous mixture of the atmosphere (which helps to determine climate-i.e. through the CO2/H2O greenhouse effect) and regulating weather and climate at both macro and micro-levels. Thus they basically include three forms of processing, namely of minerals, energy and water (Perrings, 1987).
Ecological services at first inspection often depend to appear not so much on biodiversity but on biomass. For example, when a patch of forest is replaced by a monoculture, the new vegetation can supply certain of the same ecological functions (and perhaps more efficiently), including photosynthesis, protection of soil cover, atmospheric processing and hydrological functions. However, on closer inspection biodiversity is extremely important, a monoculture may provide less cycling of nutrients and other soil nutrients and be more prone to disease.
VIII. Ramifications for the Martian environment of planetary engineering
During planetary engineering geological features will change, for example if the global temperature raises above 273 K then water in the form of ice will gradually begin to melt in the regolith. This has a number of consequences, for example, if rivers begin to form, the associated erosion may bring to the surface any buried organic material. Another important point to emphasise is that biology on Mars, at least during the initial stages of planetary engineering must always be used to add CO2/O2 /N2 /greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. It would be undesirable to reach a point where microorganisms initiate a global freezing because all of the CO2 has been re-sequestered as organic carbon.
The introduction of terrestrial microorganisms into the Martian environment, whether in greenhouses or for planetary engineering will obviously affect the search for any extinct, but especially extant Martian life. Before planetary engineering commences and during the initial stages the very surface of Mars will be sterilising for all forms of terrestrial life, whether genetically modified/adapted or not. However, if oasis of life do exist, then such enclaves may be over run by terrestrial organisms. Or perhaps if environmental conditions become more clement during planetary engineering such organisms will compete with terrestrial organisms. Therefore, a thorough search for "life" on Mars will perhaps be necessary before the wide spread introduction of terrestrial organisms.
IX. The dynamics of Martian environmental change versus the capabilities of a biological engine
For the "biological engine" to facilitate any planetary engineering effort certain environmental conditions discussed in section two will have to modified by non-biological means before organisms can be introduced. Most importantly a decrease in UV radiation and an increase in surface temperature above the freezing point of water. As discussed in section four, these conditions could both be accomplished by an increase in the atmospheric pressure. Undoubtedly the biological engine is very powerful, witness the conversion of the anaerobic environment on the early Earth to an aerobic biosphere via photosynthesis, a biological mechanism. Although, as Thomas (1995) points out, concrete data in the area of the biological engine is lacking and comparisons with terrestrial equivalents may be difficult to draw. Such predictions as to the effectiveness of a biological engine on Mars are hampered by four main factors; the composition, state and distribution of the volatile inventory and the performance of organisms under Martian conditions (Haynes, 1990). The forth coming Mars Pathfinder and Surveyor missions may provide some answers to the former three points and Marsjar simulations to the later.
X. Colonists/greenhouses and planetary engineering
Colonists and planetary engineering are very interrelated. The presence of colonists on the Martian surface has been proposed to be the main driving force behind the ultimate terraforming of Mars (Fogg, 1993). However, colonists and colonies on Mars will provide an integral role in assessing the feasibility of a planetary engineering scenario in a number of ways:
1. Simulating biological systems and planetary engineering in greenhouses. In order to become less dependent on supplies from Earth, such colonies are likely to utilize greenhouses for a number of purposes including food production and waste processing/recycling. Such greenhouses could be viewed as giant Marsjars as the atmosphere inside the vessels might, in part, resemble the atmosphere at some point during planetary engineering, such as the Terrariums proposed by the Obayashi Corporation (Ishikawa et al. 1990; 1993). For example, the spread of organisms throughout the Martian soil, biomass production and plant growth e.g. respiration versus photosynthesis in a high CO2 environment could be simulated and modeled.
The composition of a planetary engineered atmosphere has not been modeled in detail and colonist's greenhouses would probably contain more water than would be liberated by near term planetary engineering scenarios. One point to note is that H2O2 release by the Martian "top soil" may be toxic for organisms in the greenhouse (Zent and McKay, 1994). To overcome this problem efficient venting may be used, at least until the H2O2 production decreases to more tolerable levels. Alternatively, deeper soil deposits that do not contain oxides (Bullock et al. 1995) could be used.
2. Detailed volatile inventory. Colonists/explorers will be best able to assess the volatile inventory and distribution of materials essential for planetary engineering on Mars (Haynes, 1990; Haynes and McKay, 1992; Fogg, 1995c) and Antarctic research outposts may provide a useful model for this process (Andersen et al. 1990).
XI. From Vitanova to Terranova
Almost certainly, given near term technology, some form of ecopoiesis can be accomplished on Mars and Haynes (1990) suggested such a planet may be named Vitanova. Terraforming is more dependent on sufficient volatile inventory and is thus more uncertain than ecopoiesis. However, if terraforming is possible, i.e. to create Terranova (Haynes, 1990), then one of the main biological problems to be faced may be the environmental change from an anaerobic to an aerobic biosphere.
On the early Earth a stepwise improvement in anaerobic metabolism allowed cells to survive and multiply wherever they could find simple nutrients in solution. A similar process may occur during ecopoiesis. However, after several billion years on the early Earth, the accumulation of free oxygen in the atmosphere brought about a radical change in the biosphere. The anaerobes retreated to unaerated environments and newly evolved aerobes took over the surface. Bacteria that could survive the toxic effects of oxygen could also capitalize on the more efficient metabolism it supported. This luxury may not be afforded to organisms that have prospered during ecopoiesis. McKay et al. (1991b) calculated an oxygen biosphere may be obtained in 21,000 to 100,000 years via photosynthesis. This is considerably less time than the switch from an anaerobic to an aerobic biosphere in the history of the Earth. Therefore, anaerobic organisms may perish and ecosystems and the biosphere disrupted. The remains of these organisms may provide biomass for the organisms that remain or those that are to come. However, the consequences and benefits of such a decision to proceed with terraforming Vitanova must be carefully weighed with the risk of failure (Haynes, 1990).
XII. Conclusions
In conclusion, in full agreement with McKay (1982), Haynes (1990) and Fogg (1995d) the relationship between biology and the planetary engineering of Mars can only be more accurately investigated when the volatile inventory, chemical state and geological distribution is determined. Also, extensive analysis of the performance of GEMOs and terrestrial microorganisms using Marsjars will be required. However, given the suitable abundance of such volatiles and moderate advances in technology, there is no biological reason why the goal of at least Vitanova cannot be realized.
Acknowledgments
I wish to extend my thanks to the following people for providing both valuable discussions, suggestions and advice: Martyn Fogg, Imre Friedmann, Bob Haynes, Lee Lindner, Chris McKay and Tom Meyer.

Swine Flu Brings Rearing Techniques into Question

The highly contagious swine flu, which usually affects pigs, has killed at least 100 people in Mexico and spread to Europe. The real question is, could this virus have been a pandemic waiting to happen? Ozge Ibrahim finds out. As governments around the world move swiftly to contain the spread of a flu virus that combines swine, avian and human influenza, the US Department of Agriculture is monitoring the health of its livestock but has yet to ban the movement of pork produce at its borders. Other countries, however, have been fast to enforce a ban. Today, China announced it had banned imports of live pigs and pork products from Mexico and three US states. Shipments starting from 26 April from Mexico and Texas, California and Kansas will be returned or destroyed, China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said. "); //]]>--> Indonesia has also suspended pork imports together with other measures to help control the movement of people in and out of the country’s borders. And the Philippines announced on the the 26 April that it had temporarily banned the import of hogs and pork products from Mexico and the US. More than just swine flu There are many different types of swine flu. The current cases involve the H1N1 strain of the type A influenza virus. The human strain has been confirmed in laboratory tests to be from the H1N1 virus. The US Agriculture Department (USDA), which has the power to shut down the movement of food produce, has said there is no evidence that swine have been infected with the virus. In a separate statement, the US Department of Agriculture said: "USDA has in place, and did so before the last week's events, a surveillance system to monitor animal health." As an additional precautionary measure, the USDA said it will "reach out to agriculture officials in every state to affirm that they have no signs of this virus type in their state". The department is also keen to stress that swine flu viruses are not transmitted by food, which means the virus cannot be contracted from eating pork or pork products. Cooking pork to an internal temperature of 160°F usually kills all viruses and other food-borne pathogens. While people do not normally catch it, humans can contract the virus, usually if they have been in close contact with pigs. Poor pig health The pig industry has been under scrutiny for many years with farming and agriculture practises a source of controversy and debate around the world. According to analyst estimates, pig diseases in costs British pig producers at least £50m a year. Earlier this month, New Zealand’s pork chairman Chris Trengrove warned the NZ Ministry of Agriculture's release of provisional import health standards would allow pig meat containing the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) virus to be widely distributed in NZ, putting the country's pork industry at unnecessary risk. The virus leads to sows aborting and a slow and painful death for piglets. The disease, which does not affect humans, is rated as the main enemy of the pork industry worldwide. Critics of farming practises argue that the widespread policy of treating pigs and other farm animals in close proximity before outbreaks of diseases can lead to antibiotic-resistant strains of disease forming. Coupled with the sheer amount of diseases pigs can develop, pig farmers are faced with a challenge to keep their produce healthy. An outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Britain in 2001 led to the slaughter of thousands of infected animals to contain the virus. British laws aimed at preventing the spread of foot and mouth disease were relaxed in 2003 although global agriculture organisations and governments are still quick to move to contain any minor outbreaks. While experts are yet to confirm whether swine flu has spread to humans from Mexican pig farms, agricultural practises and hygiene methods may come under fire once more information is known. Although devastating for the farming and food processing industries, viruses such as PRRS and foot and mouth rarely affect humans. With further information and warnings on the spread of the disease expected from the World Health Organisation over the coming days, every step of the food supply chain will be affected by this deadly flu outbreak.

Solar Distillation

IntroductionSolar distillation is a relatively simple treatment of brackish (i.e. contain dissolved salts) water supplies. Distillation is one of many processes that can be used for water purification and can use any heating source. Solar energy is a low tech option. In this process, water is evaporated, using the energy of the sun then the vapour condenses as pure water.This process removes salts and other impurities.
Solar distillation is used to produce drinking water or to produce pure water for lead acid batteries, laboratories, hospitals and in producing commercial products such as rose water. It is recommended that drinking water has 100 to 1000 mg/l of salt to maintain electrolyte levels and for taste. Some saline water may need to be added to the distilled water for acceptable drinking water.
Solar water distillation is a very old technology. An early large-scale solar still was built in 1872 to supply a mining community in Chile with drinking water. It has been used for emergency situations including navy introduction of inflatable stills for life boats.
There are a number of other approaches to desalination, such as photovoltaic powered reverse-osmosis, for which small-scale commercially available equipment is available; solar distillation has to be compared with these options to determine its appropriateness to any situation. If treatment of polluted water is required rather than desalination, slow sand filtration is a low cost option.
Energy requirements for water distillationThe energy required to evaporate water, called the latent heat of vaporisation of water, is 2260 kilojoules per kilogram (kJ/kg). This means that to produce 1 litre (i.e. 1kg as the density of water is 1kg/litre) of pure water by distilling brackish water requires a heat input of 2260kJ. This does not allow for the efficiency of the system sued which will be less than 100%, or for any recovery of latent heat that is rejected when the water vapour is condensed.
It should be noted that, although 2260kJ/kg is required to evaporate water, to pump a kg of water through 20m head requires only 0.2kJ/kg. Distillation is therefore normally considered only where there is no local source of fresh water that can be easily pumped or lifted.
How a simple solar still works

Figure 1 shows a single-basin still. The main features are the same for all solar stills. The solar radiation is transmitted through the glass or plastic cover and captured by a black surface at the bottom of the still. A shallow layer of water absorbs the heat which then produces vapour within the chamber of the still. This layer should be 20mm deep for best performance.
The vapour condenses on the glass cover, which is at a lower temperature because it is in contact with the ambient air, and runs down into a gutter from where it is fed to a storage tank.
Design objectives for an efficient solar still
For high efficiency the solar still should maintain* a high feed (undistilled) water temperature* a large temperature difference between feed water and condensing surface* low vapour leakage.
A high feed water temperature can be achieved if:* a high proportion of incoming radiation is absorbed by the feed water as heat. Hence low absorption glazing and a good radiation absorbing surface are required* heat losses from the floor and walls are kept low* the water is shallow so there is not so much to heat.
A large temperature difference can be achieved if:* the condensing surface absorbs little or none of the incoming radiation* condensing water dissipates heat which must be removed rapidly from the condensing surface by, for example, a second flow of water or air, or by condensing at night.
Stills Single-basin stills have been much studied and their behaviour is well understood. The efficiency of solar stills which are well-constructed and maintained is about 50% although typical efficiencies can be 25%. Daily output as a function of solar irradiation is greatest in the early evening when the feed water is still hot but when outside temperatures are falling. At very high air temperatures such as over 45ºC, the plate can become too warm and condensation on it can become problematic, leading to loss of efficiency.Some problems with solar stills which would reduce their efficiency include:-* Poor fitting and joints, which increase colder air flow from outside into the stillCracking, breakage or scratches on glass, which reduce solar transmission or let in air* Growth of algae and deposition of dust, bird droppings, etc. To avoid this the stills need to be cleaned regularly every few days* Damage over time to the blackened absorbing surface.* Accumulation of salt on the bottom, which needs to be removed periodically* The saline water in the still is too deep, or dries out. The depth needs to be maintained at around 20mm
The cover can be either glass or plastic. Glass is preferable to plastic because most plastic degrades in the long term due to ultra violet light from sunlight and because it is more difficult for water to condense onto it. Tempered low-iron glass is the best material to use because it is highly transparent and not easily damaged (Scharl & Harrs, 1993). However, if this is too expensive or unavailable, normal window glass can be used. This has to be 4mm think or more to reduce breakages. Plastic (such as polyethylene) can be used for short-term use.
Stills with a single sloping cover with the back made from an insulating material do not suffer from a very low angle cover plate at the back reflecting sunlight and thus reducing efficiency.
It is important for greater efficiency that the water condenses on the plate as a film rather than as droplets, which tend to drop back into the saline water. For this reason the plate is set at an angle of 10 to 20º. The condensate film is then likely to run down the plate and into the run off channel.
Brick, sand concrete or waterproofed concrete can be used for the basin of a long-life still if it is to be manufactured on-site, but for factory-manufactured stills, prefabricated ferro-concrete can be used. Moulding of stills from fibreglass was tried in Botswana (Yates, Woto & Tlhage, 1990) but in this case was more expensive than a brick still and more difficult to insulate sufficiently, but has the advantage of the stills being transportable.
By placing a fan in the still it is possible to increase evaporation rates. However, the increase is not large and there is also the extra cost and complication of including and powering a fan in what is essentially quite a simple piece of equipment. Fan assisted solar desalination would only really be useful if a particular level of output is needed but the area occupied by the stills is restricted, as fan assistance can enable the area occupied by a still to be reduced for a given output.
The Mexican stillIn the Mexican still two stills such as the above are fixed together to form a triangular tent shape. The glass plates can be supported from below at the apex where they join, but if they are not and just lean against each other, fixed with sealant, this increases the fragility of the still and limits the area even further of each of the glass plates.
The Brace Research Institute stillThis is essentially a still as shown in the above drawing. However the stills are placed next to each other over the width of say 10 metres of the distillation plant. Lengthwise, the unit such as shown is built over a considerable distance, such as 15 metres. Glass plates are placed along the length of the still and simply joined with sealant. Units of this size also have two small weirs lengthwise to encourage saline water to flow along the full length of the still. A project of this type was set up by the Brace Research Institute, McGill University, Canada in Haiti. The scale of the unit requires caretakers to be trained in the maintenance of it, and maintenance requirements are quite considerable.
Multiple-effect basin stills have two or more compartments. The condensing surface of the lower compartment is the floor of the upper compartment. The heat given off by the condensing vapour provides energy to vaporize the feed water above. Efficiency is therefore greater than for a single-basin still typically being 35% or more but the cost and complexity are correspondingly higher.
Wick stills - In a wick still, the feed water flows slowly through a porous, radiation-absorbing pad (the wick). Two advantages are claimed over basin stills. First, the wick can be tilted so that the feed water presents a better angle to the sun (reducing reflection and presenting a large effective area). Second, less feed water is in the still at any time and so the water is heated more quickly and to a higher temperature. Simple wick stills are more efficient than basin stills and some designs are claimed to cost less than a basin still of the same output.
Some designs have been developed which incorporate absorbent or film-type materials to increase the surface area of evaporation – e.g. an article on the design developed by G.N. Tiwari of the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, was published in the New Scientist.
Use of ReflectorThe inside walls of the still can incorporate a reflective coating, such as aluminium foil, to increase the reflection of heat energy onto the evaporating water. It is not known how far this has helped to improve the efficiency of the still.
Inverted Absorber Solar StillsHeat is absorbed from the underside of the still to improve efficiency. This allows that condenser plate and the collector plate to be separate. There are several designs of inverted absorber from the fairly simple to more complex designs.

Spherical StillIn a design developed by the Thermal and Solar Laboratory at Claude Bernard University, Lyons, France, a trough, where the saline water is placed, is positioned in the centre of a hollow transparent plastic sphere. Distillate water condenses on the inside surface of the sphere and is collected by a mechanical windscreen type wiper blade which forces the condensed water to fall to the bottom of the sphere to be collected. There seems to be a small improvement in efficiency compared with a conventional solar still, but the greater cost of this still might cancel out this advantage. [World Water]
Inclined StillsThe aim of inclining a still is to increase the solar radiation, by catching it head on, rather than at an angle as with stills which lie flat. To do this constantly, as the sun rises and sets, would need someone to monitor the sun and turn the unit regularly, or a sophisticated automatic tracking and turning mechanism.
Condensate Heat RecoveryHeat recovery from the energy given out when water vapour condenses has generally not been attempted with small-scale solar distillation, unlike with larger-scale systems. It is known that the Ben Gurion Institute, and more latterly the Technion Institute in Israel has undertaken some experiments with heat recovery. In the simplest system, saline water is made to flow over the outside of the condensation plate before entering the still, but then this would reduce the amount of solar radiation passing through the plate. There may be scope for further research to overcome current difficulties with attempting heat recovery from solar distillation.
Emergency still - To provide emergency drinking water on land, a very simple still can be made. It makes use of the moisture in the earth. All that is required is a plastic cover, a bowl or bucket, and a pebble.
Hybrid designs - There are a number of ways in which solar stills can usefully be combined with another function of technology. Three examples are given:
* Rainwater collection. By adding an external gutter, the still cover can be used for rainwater collection to supplement the solar still output.* Greenhouse-solar still. The roof of a greenhouse can be used as the cover of a still.* Supplementary heating. Waste heat from an engine or the condenser of a refrigerator can be used as an additional energy input.
Output of a solar stillAn approximate method of estimating the output of a solar still is given by:
Q =
E x G x A

2.3where:Q = daily output of distilled water (litres/day)E = overall efficiencyG = daily global solar irradiation (MJ/m²)A = aperture area of the still ie, the plan areas for a simple basin still (²)
In a typical country the average, daily, global solar irradiation is typically 18.0 MJ/m² (5 kWh/m²). A simple basin still operates at an overall efficiency of about 30%. Hence the output per square metre of area is:
daily output =
0.30 x 18.0 x 1

2.3
= 2.3 litres (per square metre)
Performance varies between tropical locations but not significantly. An average output of 2.3 to 3.0 litres/m²/day is typical, the yearly output of a solar still is often therefore referred to as approximately one cubic metre per square metre, 1m³/m²/year.
ExperienceDespite a proliferation of more sophisticated designs such as TERI’s solar desalination unit with offset collectors, the single-basin still has the best track record in the field. Hundreds of smaller stills are operating, in Africa and India.
The cost of pure water produced depends on:the cost of making the still
the cost of the land
the life of the still
operating costs
cost of the feed water
the discount rate adopted
the amount of water produced.
An example of costs of a solar still in India is Rs. 28000 for 15 m² approximately $575.00 for 15m², or $38.3 per m². The price of land will normally be a small proportion of this in rural areas, but may be prohibitive in towns and cities. (See the TNAU website for details)
The life of a glass still is usually taken as 20 to 30 years but operating costs can be large especially to replace broken glass.
It is important that stills are regularly inspected and maintained to retain their efficiency and reduce deterioration. Damage, such as breakage of the collector plate, needs to be rectified.
Some companies, e.g. in the United States, Russia, India and South Africa, sell solar stills, largely for household use to produce up to about 50 litres per day.
Would a solar still suit your needs?People need 1 or 2 litres of drinking water a day to live. The minimum requirement for normal life in developing countries (which includes cooking, cleaning and washing clothes) is 20 litres per day (in the industrialised countries 200 to 400 litres per day is typical). Yet some functions can be performed with salty water and a typical requirement for distilled water is 5 litres per person per day. Therefore 2m² of still are needed for each person.
Solar stills should normally only be considered for removing dissolved salts from water. If there is a choice between brackish ground water or polluted surface water, it will usually be cheaper to use a slow sand filter or other treatment device. If there is no fresh water then the main alternatives are desalination, transportation and rainwater collection.
Unlike other techniques of desalination, solar stills are more attractive, the smaller the required output. The initial capital cost of stills is roughly proportional to capacity, whereas other methods have significant economies of scale. For the individual household, therefore, the solar still is most economic.
For outputs of 1m³/day or more, reverse osmosis or electrodialysis should be considered as an alternative to solar stills. Much will depend on the availability and price of electrical power.
For outputs of 200m³/day or more, vapour compression or flash evaporation will normally be least cost. The latter technology can have part of its energy requirement met by solar water heaters.
In many parts of the world, fresh water is transported from another region or location by boat, train, truck or pipeline. The cost of water transported by vehicles is typically of the same order of magnitude as that produced by solar stills. A pipeline may be less expensive for very large quantities.
Rainwater collection is an even simpler technique than solar distillation and is preferable in areas with 400mm of rain annually, but requires a greater area and usually a larger storage tank. If ready-made collection surfaces exist (such as house roofs) these may provide a less expensive source for obtaining clean water (see the Rainwater Harvesting Technical Brief).
Which solar still?The single-basin still is the only design proven in the field. Multi-effect stills have the potential to be more economic but it would be as well to gain experience first with a single-basin still

Solar Water Purification Project

Solar Water Purification Project

In 1995, EPSEA received funding through the State of Texas, State Energy Conservation Office (SECO), for a solar demonstration project. EPSEA's project demonstrated the feasibility of using solar energy to purify water. The target audience (end users) are the people who reside in colonias along the Texas/Mexico Border. A colonia is an unincorporated settlement, lacking a safe water supply and waste water treatment. EPSEA's work in solar water purification continued in colonias in Dona Ana County, New Mexico through a collaborative effort with the Southwest Technology Development Institute (SWTDI) at New Mexico State University. In 2000, EPSEA was able to install stills in Juarez, Mexico through a grant from "Border Pact". EPSEA has since received funding through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to continue it's work in solar water distillation.
EPSEA has presented papers and hosted workshops at the American Solar Energy Society's (ASES) national conferences and the Mexico National Solar Energy Conferences.
The problems faced by many colonia residents include contaminated water, as well as water with very high salt content. The sources of contamination include septic systems, industrial pollution, and run off of fertilizers and pesticides. These problems are seen on both sides of the border and like the resulting sickness and diseases, know no borders. These problems are not confined to only colonias, but it is the conditions that exist in colonias which allows for the proliferation of sickness and disease. The causes of these problems can be traced to pollution, poverty, ignorance and greed.
The Marcos family, Juarez, Mexico

Solar Solutions
EPSEA's demonstration project is only a small example of the potential role for solar energy in water treatment, and disease prevention. Solar distillation is a proven technology for water disinfection. Systems can be sized for one person, up to community sized systems. They have no moving parts, relying only on the sun for energy, and should last 20 years or more. Larger disinfecting systems which generate chlorine and other gases can be operated in remote locations, using solar energy. It is hoped that through the success of our local project, these technologies will be replicated in other regions currently facing similar conditions.

click to see full photo (77k)

The heart of EPSEA's project is a basin solar still. EPSEA's research resulted in a basin still, with emphasis on ease of replication and readily available materials. The still utilizes standard patio replacement glass (34"X76"), and during the summer months produces over 3 gallons/day. Winter production is about 1/2 that amount. The still has no moving parts, uses only solar energy to operate, and is self cleaning.
Project Update
The El Paso Solar Energy Association's (EPSEA) solar water distiller projects (under an EPA grant for TX & NM, and Borderpact/Conahec for Mexico are progressing successfully. Only two more stills need to ben installed in the colonia areas of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico to complete the Borderpact project. The EPA project is just beginning Phase II which includes public community meetings and further education via energy fairs, etc., and a hands-on stills construction workshop that will be taught by Mike Cormier at the Water Festival in Columbus, NM in March. Applications are already being accepted by EPSEA from potential still recipients in the Luna, Dona Ana, and El Paso Counties of southern NM and west TX.
A selection process will be used to decide who will receive a still. A cost-share amount of $50-$100 per still (small or large, respectively) will be paid by the recipients who are chosen. A sponsorship and payment plan program is available for individuals who cannot afford the cost-share amount. A recent fundraising breakfast was held at St. Pius Church by the St. Pius Colonia Ministry to aid in achieving funds for such sponsorships.
Border Pact Presentation - PDF Document (327k)
For more information about these projects contact us at 915-772-SOLR email: webmaster@epsea.org
Final UpdateHaving completed this project, we presented a final paper to the Solar World Summit for the International Solar Energy Society in Orlando, Florida in 2005.
OPERATION
Solar energy is allowed into the collector to heat the water. The water evaporates only to condense on the underside of the glass. When water evaporates, only the water vapor rises, leaving contaminants behind. The gentle slope of the glass directs the condensate to a collection trough, which in turn delivers the water to the collection bottle.
EPSEA Still Cutaway (39k)
The still is filled each day with twice as much water as was produced. The still is fitted with overflow outlets, which allows the excess water to flush the still every day. A major advantage of the basin still is that it does not require a pressurized water supply. Colonia residents often have their drinking water delivered by truck and it is then stored in 55 gallon drums. Still recipients report that the water tastes very good and their children now drink more water than before.

Construction Cost
EPSEA material costs, with bulk purchasing, are approximately $200 per still. The cost of materials to build a single still should be less than $300. Only basic tools are required.

THE EFFECT OF MEAN STRESS ON ENDURANCE STRENGTH

The Effect of Mean Stress on Endurance Strength

In general, the stresses acting on any component may be fluctuating i.e., The stress variation is such that it can have a mean-stress component and alternating stress component, as discussed before and shown below.

The presence of a mean-stress component has a significant effect on failure of the component. When a tensile mean stress is added to the alternating component, the material fail at lower alternating stress than it does under a fully reversed stress.

The figures shown below are the results of tests made on steels and aluminium alloys for various levels of mean and alternating stress combinations. The plots are normalised by dividing the alternating stress by fatigue endurance strength for fully reversed condition. The mean stress is divided by ultimate strength Su. There is a large scatter in the data.
(b)
(c)
(a)

A parabola drawn between the data points that intercept vertical axis and horizontal axis at unity fits the data with reasonable accuracy and this line is called Gerber line.

A straight line connecting the points on both axes whose values are unity is called Goodman line. Goodman line is a reasonable fit to the lower envelope of data.

The Gerber line is a measure of the average behaviour of these parameters for ductile materials and Goodman line is a measure of their minimum behaviour. The Goodman line is often used as a design criterion since it is safer than Gerber line.

Figure (c) shows the effect of mean stress (both compressive and tensile) on failure when combined with alternating tensile stress. One can see that compressive mean stress is beneficial in that a larger alternating stress can be applied. This fact provides an opportunity to mitigate the effect of alternate tensile stress by deliberate introduction of mean compressive stress.


The figure shown below depicts all the failure criteria for fatigue along with yield line plotted on sm - sa axes. Gerber parabola best fits the experimental failure data. Goodman line fits beneath the scatter in the data. A yield line connecting Sy on both axes serve as a limit on the first cycle stress (If the part yields, it has failed, regardless of its safety in the fatigue). Another line is shown connecting Sn on vertical axes to Sy on horizontal axis and is thus a more conservative which is called Soderberg line. Whichever line (failure criterion) is chosen to represent failure, safe combinations of sm and sa lie to the left and below the envelope. These failures are defined by

Gerber Parabola

Goodman line

Soderberg line

Goodman line is commonly used failure criterion when designed parts subjected to mean plus alternating stresses.

TRANSANDANTAL MEDİTASYON

MODERN YAŞAMIN BUNALIMI
Kainatın yaratılışıyla başlayan gizemli oyunun kahramanı olan ve aynı gezegeni paylastığı diğer canlılardan üstün sinir sistemiyle hemencecik ayrılan tuhaf bir varlık olan insan zaman yolculuğu sırasında hayal gücünün fethetme ve doyumluluk arzularıyla birleşmesi sonucu bilim ve tekniği keşfetmiş ve bunlara umutlar bağlamıştır.
Bilim ve teknik sayesinde insanlar etki alanlarını genişletmişler ve genişleteceklerdir. Ancak zaman içinde bir çelişki ortaya çıkmıştır. Sanayileşen ve gelişen toplumlar teknolojik genişleme gösteriyorlarsada teknoloji şimdiye kadar insanın kişisel olgunlaşması ya da sosyal uyuma kavuşmasında başarılı olamamıştır. Maddi refahın artmasına rağmen sorunların kaynağı olan huzursuzluk ve gerginlik azalmamıştır.
Çözüm önerileri arasında teknolojinin yeniden değerlendirilmesi varken alternatif olarak modern bilimin teknolojisini insanın olgunlaşması yönünde uygulamaktır. Bu amacı sağlamak için huzursuzluk,uyuşturucu madde düşkünlüğü akıl hastalıkları,iş değerinde düşüklük,belirsiz amaçlar peşinde koşma ve heyecan için çılgınca bir arayış gibi acı veren sorunların kurbanı olan Amerika’da tıbbi ve psikolojik araştırmalara milyonlarca dolar harcanmıştır. Bununla beraber psikoloji ve ilaçlar geçici ve genellikle zararlı etkilerinden başka insanlarda artmakta olan gerginliği giderici kolay bir çare ortaya koyamamışlardır.
Beden üzerindeki aşırı yıpranmanın tıbbi terimi “Gerginliktir”. Kişi sürekli değişikliğe maruz kaldığı zaman bedenide değişen koşullara yanıt verebilmelidir. Koşullara ayak uydururken,yeteneklerini ortaya koyan kişi ve fizyolojik olarak bio-şimik tepki gösterir. Bu ayak uydurma süreci vücudun ana kaynaklarını tüketir ve gücünü azaltır. Bedenin tükenen kaynaklarını yerine getirecek yeterli dinlenmeye sahip olmadan bu aşırı gerginlikle sürekli karşılaşmak sonunda kişinin yaşamının her evresinde kendini gösteren bir bozulma sürecine yol açar. Aynı zamanda kendilerinin açıklayamadıkları bir huzursuzluk,bezginlik,çöküntü yada genel bir doyumsuzluk ve amaçsızlıktan rahatsız olduklarını görürler.
Gerginliğin birikmesi zihinsel berraklığın ve duygusal içtenliğin azalmasına,dolayısıyla insanlar arasındaki ilişkilerin bozulmasına yol açar. Aşırı gerginlik aynı zamanda karar verememek,etkili planlama,ve iş yapamamak durumlarına götürür.
Maddi konfor ve başarı bir dereceye kadar doyum sağlar;fakat insanı vücut ve zihin sağlığı yaşamının niteliğini saptar. Eğer gerginlik bir insanın günlük uğraşılarını huzursuzluk ve doyumsuzlukla gölgeliyorsa,gerginliğin fizyolojik olarak karşıtı dinlenmiş ve etkili bir biçimde vazife gören sinir düzenidir.
İşte yaşadığımız bilim ve teknik çağında,insanın en temel değeri olan bilincini ele almak,tanığı olduğumuz teknolojik gelişmelerin doğal bir sonucudur. Bilim dev ilerlemekte yeni bulgular eskilerini çok gerilerde bırakmaktadır. Buna rağmen nesnel sorunları olmayan kişilerin yaşamlarında da acıların ve sağlıksızlıkların yer aldığına,tıp biliminin tüm bilgilerinin ve çağdaş tıp teknolojisinin seferber edilmesine karşın hastalık artışının önlenemediğine tanık olmaktayız. Uzmanlar,sorunların ve acıların kökenini,ilgi alanlarını tek tek ele alarak aramakta ve insan yaşamının bütününü kapsayan çözümler getirememektedirler. Bu da tüm sağlıksızlıkların nedenini daha temel ve ortak bir alanda aramak gerektiğini akla getirmektedir:Bu alan insan bilincidir!Transandantal meditasyon(T.M)gibi deneysel bir yönteme dayanan bilinç teknolojisi insanın tüm beyinsel potansiyelini kullanarak güçsüzlükten kurtulmasını sağlamaktadır.
Bu özet,gerginlik birikimini azaltarak gerginliğe karşı bedenin dayanıklılığını arttırarak ve psiko-fizyolojik bir bütünlük durumu sağlayarak bu gelişmeyi kazandıran bir yöntem önermektedir.
TM aşırı gerginliğin yıkıntısını gidererek kişiye derin bir dinlenme durumu sağlar. Araştırmacılar bu tekniğin düzenli uygulanmasıyla öğrenme yeteneğinin algılama gücünün ve tepki zamanının geliştiğini belirtmektedirler. Bilim adamları TM’nin üretkenliği ve yapılan işten hoşnut olmayı arttırdığını ayrıca yüksek tansiyonu indirdiğini astım durumlarını düzelttiğini ve akıl hastalıklarının tedavisinde yararlı olduğunu söylemektedirler.
Fizik biliminin madde ve enerji üzerindeki artan buluşları,evrenin temelindeki doğa yasalarının anlaşılmasına öncülük etmektedir.Biliyoruzki maddenin ve doğal olayların kökeni enerjidir;Biçim değiştirmekle beraber saf enerji hep aynı kalmaktadır.
Klasik fiziğin incelendiği “kapalı sistemler”de enerji değişmese de ,bu sistemler zamanla “entropi”(düzensizlik)artışına uğrarlar.Entropi,hareketin(ya da ısının)azaltılmasıyla giderilebilir ve düzenlilik yeniden sağlanabilir. Bu olgu termodinamiğin bilinen üç yasasıyla anlatılmaktadır:
1.yasa: Enerjinin devamlılığı,2.yasa:Kapalı sistemlerde zamanla artan entropi,3. Yasa:Isı azaltıldığında hareketin durulmasıyla artan düzen.3.yasaya dayanarak maddeyi mutlak sıfıra(-273 derece)yaklaştırmakla ortaya çıkan süper iletkenlik süper akışkanlık gibi maddenin elektron düzeyinde kazandığı niteliklerden günümüz teknolojisi yararlanmaktadır.
Modern fiziğin inceleme alanındaki “açık sistemler” sayesinde yaşam ve canlılık kavramlarına erişilmiştir. Bu sistemlerde düzensizlik artınca sistemlerin daha gelişmiş düzen durumlarına geçebilme nitelikleri saptanmıştır. Madde için geçerli olan temel enerji,canlı varlıklar ve insan bilinci içinde geçerlidir .enerji alabilen enerjiyi yaşama ve daha gelişmiş bir düzene çevirebilen canlı bir sistem olan insan bilincinin en önemli niteliği,kaynağının saf enerji oluşudur. İnsan bilincinde,kendi içindeki bir kaynaktan gün boyu sayısız düşünceler oluşmaktadır. Bu düşünceler enerji yüklüdür, çünkü harekete çevirebilirler. Bunlar ayrıca zeka yüklüdür,çünkü harekete yön verirler. Öyleyse düşüncelerin kaynağı,ancak saf enerji alanı, yaratıcı zeka alanı olabilir.
Yaşamda karşılaştığımız tüm güçlükler acı ve sağlıksızlıklar,düzensizlik ve doğaya uyumsuzluk belirtisi olup insan bilincinin açık sistem özelliğini tam olarak yerine getirememesinden ileri gelmektedir. Psikologların belirlediği gibi, beyin potansiyelimizin yalnızca %5-15’inin kullanılabilir olması ve bilinçli alanın bu oranda dar olması aynı nedene dayanmaktadır. Dr.Brian Josephson’un(nobel ödüllü) insan bilincinin yapısı fizik kuramlarıyla açıklayan çalışmalarında da değinildiği gibi,termodinamiğin üç yasasını bilince uyarladığımızda beynin potansiyelinin nasıl kullanılabilir duruma geçirilebileceğini ve bunun insan yaşamında ne denli önemli olduğunu görürüz:1.yasa:temelde saf enerji (yaratıcı zeka),2.yasa beyin kısıtlı çalıştığında yarı kapalı bir sistemin ortaya çıkışı;düzen korunsa da yaşlanma,yıpranma,acı ve hastalıkların ortaya çıkışı,3.yasa:beyin düşünme şeklinde beliren hareketini azaltarak kaynağındaki sonsuz enerji alanıyla doğrudan ilişki kurduğunda,yaşamın her yönüyle güçlenmesi ve gelişmesi,tüm doğa yasalarıyla uyum sağlaması.3.yasadaki olanakları insan yaşamına kazandıran TM tekniği beynin kendi içine dönerek düşüncelerin giderek daha ince düzeylere doğru artmasını ve sonunda kaynağına erişmesini sağlamaktadır.
Ne bir din ya da felsefe ne de yaşam görüşü olmayan TM gerginliği azaltma ve bilinç uyanıklığını genişletmek için doğal bir tekniktir.
İlk kez Birleşik Amerika da Hintli bir öğretmen olan Maharishi Mahesh Yogi tarafından tanıtıldı “transandantal”deyimi “öteye geçiş” anlamındadır. Bu deyim TM uygulayıcılarının alışık oldukları uyanık yaşantı düzeylerinden öteye çok derin bir dinlenme durumuna geçerlerken uyanıklıklarının iki kat artmasından dolayı seçilmiştir. Bu bir dalış tekniğidir. Dalış zihne doğru açıverildiğinde otomatik olarak ve kendiliğinden gerçekleşmektedir. Teknik bir kaç saatte öğrenilebilir,sonra her sabah ve akşam sistemli biçimde 15-20 dakika uygulandığında bilinçli zihin daha fazla yaratıcılık ve enerji kazanmaktadır. Teknik evde uygulanırsa da bir kimsenin rahatsız edilmeksizin rahatça oturabilececeği herhangi bir yerde de yapılabilir.
TM sırasında ne olur?İnsan dikkatini içine çeker gevşek ve rahatlık veren bir durumu izlemek için zihnini kullanır. Zihnin çok sakin fakat olağan üstü uyanıklıkta bir halini izler.”sakin uyanıklık.”,”uykuda değil fakat özellikle herhangi bir şeyle de ilgili değil” ,”iç uyanıklığa sahip fakat herhangi bir düşünceye sahip değil”biçimlerinde uygulayıcılar tarafından tanımlanmaktadır. Gündelik yaşantımız,bitmek tükenmek bilmeyen düşünceler,duygular,heyecanlar ve algılamalarla doludur. TM’nin en önemli özelliği olan doğallığı ve güç sarfı gerektirmemesi sayesinde bu sürekli izlenimlerden günde iki kez gayretsizce sıyrılma fırsatı sağlar. Bu özelliğin,fizikte kuvantum kuramında geliştirilen bilgilerle irdeleyebiliriz:Kuvantlar kuramında atomların temel durumu(vakum) ,atomun en az uyarımlı düzeninin en fazla düzensizliğinin en az olduğu durumdur. Bu kurama göre tüm atomlar bulundukları uyarım düzeyinden daha uyarımlı düzeyleri gitme eğilimlidirler. Çünkü daha az uyarımlı düzeylerde,düzen ve kararlılık artar. Beyin için de aynı eğilim söz konusudur:TM uygulaması sırasında da beyin,düşüncenin daha uyarımlı durumlarına doğal olarak akmakta ve bu süreçte çekiciliği ve mutluluğu denemektedir. Zihnin sakin düzeylerini izleyen uygulamacı nesnelerin yokluğunda kendi bilincinin sonsuz yapısının giderek artan bir biçimde farkına. Saf bilinç diye adlandırılan,iç uyanıklığa sahip olup uyanıklığın kendisinden başka bir şeyin farkında olmamak demektir. Bu alan bilincimizin en az uyarım düzeyidir ve sonsuz mutluluk niteliğine
sahiptir
Saf uyanıklık yaşantısı aslında çekici bir yapıya sahip olmasına rağmen insanlar, genellikle TM’yi zevk ya da başlı başına bir bilgi olarak uygulamazlar,aynı zamanda yaşamlarının niteliğinde belirli incelemeler için uygularlar .
Saf uyanıklığın düzenli yaşantısı fizyolojik sağlık ve psikolojik mutluluk bakımlarından olumlu etkiler doğmaktadır . İnsanın kendi kapasitesinin tümüyle değerlendimesini sağlamaktadır. Maharishi bu yararları şöyle açıklamaktadır: Saf uyanıklıkla meditasyon sırasında düşünceler olmaksızın bi iç uyanıklık yaşamakla,yaratıcı zeka ve kişisel bilincin altında yatan sonsuz zeka ve enerjinin ana kaynağı arasında bir özdeşlik vardır.
Eğer TM’nin insanın zeka ve enerji kaynaklarını ortaya çıkarmakta bu kadar etkili olması kanıtlanmış ve insanın gelişmesi yolunda bu basit yaklaşım kritik bir sorun olan gerginliğe kolay bir çözüm getirmesi ve insanın gelişme sürecine ayak uydurmaktaki bugünkü yetersizliği karşısında umut vericidir.
TRANSANDANTAL MEDİTASYONUN İŞLEMESİ
TM, bir fikir ya da teori değildir,fakat oldukça özel ve eşsiz bir pratiktir. TM’ye başlamak bu konuda yeterli bir öğretmenden kişisel öğretim gerektirir. TM’nin nasıl işlediğini anlamak için bir benzetme yapmak yararlıdır. Maharishi,zihni bir okyanusa benzetir. Okyanusunda yüzeyinde dalgaların haraketi fakat derinliklerinde mutlak bir sakinlik vardır. Bilincin hareketleri-düşünceler,duygular,algılamalar okyanusun yüzeyindeki dalgalara benzer. Zihnin sakin derinlikleri de okyanusun sakin derinliklerine benzer. Bir okyanusun tüm yüzeysel dalgalarının altında nasıl sakin akıntılar bulunuyorsa,bilinçli-zihnin bütün hareketleri de zihnin sakin derinliklerine dayanır.
Maharishi zihnin hareketli ve sakin bölümleri arasındaki ilişkiyi anlatabilmek için okyanus benzetimine başka bir öğede katar . Mutlak sakinlikteki bir okyanusun tabanından hava kabarcıkları çıkabileceği gibi düşüncenin de zihnin en sakin derinliklerinden kaynak bulunduğunu ileri sürer. Okyanusun dibindeki büyük basınç dolayısıyla gözle görülmeyecek kadar ufak olan kabarcık yüzeye yaklaşırken büyüklük kazanır. Düşünce uyarısı da zihnin sakin bölgelerinden doğarken varlığını ancak açık ve seçik yaşantı haline gelince farkına varırız.
Psikanalistler düşüncenin zihinde ilk başlamasıyla son durumda bilinçli bir yaşantı olarak ortaya çıkması arasında olanları açıklamak için “Bilinç Ötesindeki Hazırlanma” deyimini kullanırlar. Bilim yazarı Dean Woolridge bu sürecin fizyolojisini şöylece tanımlayarak bir sonuca varmaktadır:”biz düşüncelerimizin...farkındayız fakat oraya nerden geldiklerini bilmiyoruz.”
Bilinçaltındaki bu gibi hareketlerin karışık mantıksal düşüncelere uzandığı görülmektedir. Aksi halde güç bir problemin hiç beklemediğimiz bir zamanda birdenbire çözümünü yada içyüzünü kavrayışımızı nasıl açıklayabiliriz?
Maharıshı.:”Bir düşünce bilincin en derin düzeyinden başlar ve yüzeyde bilinçli bir düşünce olarak belirinceye kadar zihnin bütün derinliklerini aşar. Böylece biz her düşüncenin bilincin tüm derinliğini harekete getirtiğini fakat ancak bilinçli zihin düzeyine varınca bilinçli olarak fark edildiğini anlarız.
Düşünce gelişmesini daha önceki tüm aşamaları bilinemez bizim bilinç okyanusunun derin düzeylerinin sakin olduğunu söylememizdeki pratik amaç budur.”
A şekli TM tekniğinin temel olduğu zihnin,basit teorisini göstermektedir. Bir hava kabarcığı olarak gösterilen düşünce bir okyanus olarak gösterilen zihnin en derin noktasından(A)başlamaktadır. Bir süre sonra düşünce B düzeyinde zihin yüzeyine ulaşmış ve bir düşünce olarak yeterince kavrananak kadar gelişmiştir.
Biz B’ye bilinçli zihin diyoruz,çünkü biz düşünceyi burada farkederiz.Biz A’düzeyine düşüncenin kaynağı diyoruz ,çünkü düşünceler zihnin bu büyük derinliğinden kaynaklanırlar.
Genellikle düşünce sürecinin kendisi zihni hareketliliğin artması yönünde uyarırsa da TM düşünce sürecinden zihni aktiviteyi azaltmak için yararlanır. TM pratiğini uygulayan bir kimse zihnin yüzeyinde kalmak yerine düşüncenin daha az sakin ve belirli fakat giderek artan çekicilikte aşamalarını yaşamaya başalar. TM yapıldığı sırada zihinsel faaliyetin sakin düzeylerini yaşama süreci için zihin normal olarak tamamiyle kendisini dolduran gelişmiş düşüncelerden yavaşça sıyrılmalıdır.
TM tekniği dikkatin tek bir düşünce verilmek yoluyla kolayca içeri çevirmesini kapsar. Bu yolla zihin hareketli fakat yönsüzdür. Doğal olarak dikkat zihnin daha derin yüzeylerinden sağlanabilen giderek artan mutluluğu aramaya başlar sonunda uyanıklık bütünüyle sakinleşir, bir çaba harcamaksızın düşünce sürecini de aşar ve saf uyanıklılık durumunu kazanır .
Teorik olarak TM’ sürecine herhangi bir düşünce duygu heyecan ya da algıyı sürekli bir biçimde yaşayarak başlamak mümkün olabilir. Düşünce dikkatin içeri çevrilişini kolaylaştırmak
yönünden ideal ve etkili araçtır. Çünkü sübjektif yaşantının en içtenlikli ve kapsamlı yönüdür.
Fakat düşüncenin yapısı nedir? Hafıza ve dikkat üzerindeki çalışmalar bir kimsenin görme duygusu yoluyla edindiği bilgileri hatırlarken bile düşünce hareketlerinin çeşitli sesleri zihnen hatırlamak olduğunu ortaya koymuştur.Harvert üniversitesi psikologlarından George Sperling böyle” ses ötesi “provaların ,bilincin nesneleri kavramak için uyanıklığa yön verdiği temel mekanizma olduğunu iddia etmektedir.
Ses olarak kabul edilen düşünce zihni gündelik düşünce sürecinden ayırmak ve dikkati giderek sakinleşen zihinsel hareketlere çevirmek için en etken bir araç görevini görür. TM de kullanılan ses düşüncelere mantralar denir. Mantra Sanskritçi de anlam düzeyinde etkileri bilinmeyen bir düşünce demektir. Gerçekten TM de kullanılan mantraların hiçbir belirgin anlamları yoktur . Bunlar düzeyinde etkili olurlar .Seslerin niteliğine benzerler. MantralarTM öğrenimine başlayan her kişi için özellikle seçilirler Mantra bir kez öğrenildikten sonra gizli tutulur ve yalnız bir amaç için kullanılır:TM pratiği sırasında zihinsel hareket sürecini hafifletmekte...Her düşüncenin özellikle önem kazandığı zihnin sakin düzeylerini yaşamaya götürdüğünden dolayı doğru mantranın seçimi hayati bir önem taşır. Bir kimsenin rastlantı sonucu klasik eserlere baş vurarak yada sezgi yoluyla kendisi için bir mantra seçmesi uygun değildir.