Intelligent learner

We are amidst a war between two nations currently. And we all are apprehensive about the results. Wars are always ...always a terrible business with all the lives lost, all the properties being damaged, all the destruction that ensues. But apart from all these bad stuffs, do you know that war can have an adverse effect on our height as well? Historically speaking, the average height of an European got reduced during the two world wars in the twentieth century. So, what’s exactly the relationship? Why does it happen?   Height of a human being, like any other biological processes, depends upon mainly two things- 1) The genes that you get from your parents and 2) the environment that you was brought up in. It’s almost like a game of cards. Genes are basically the cards that you got and the environment can be thought as the way you play your cards. Any biological process is the combination of them. You also might’ve heard about the nature vs nurture debate? More on that later...

We are attacked; continuously and relentlessly. I am not talking about political or ideological attacks. What I want to discuss might even seem a bit ridiculous. But it’s true. And we are at a constant war with the environment. Our immune system is the barrier from us being consumed. And who are attacking us? They are numerous in numbers. There are billions and trillions of bacteria, virus, parasites, microbes and whole lot of things trying to get to us. Every breath we take, every surface you may touch every drop of seawater you might want to bathe in during vacation- all have this one thing in common.  The constant battle our immune system fights may not seem obvious in normal time, but it becomes super apparent when we are without it. If you ever have the chance to be involved or to have knowledge about bone marrow transplants (like for people with leukaemia etc.), you would know that the old bone marrow cells need to be destroyed- essentially shutting down the immune system. ...

What we see of human civilization today is not achieved in a day or two. If we think ourselves as reformed, evolved, transformed and much more progressive version of what Homo Sapiens used to be 200,000 - 300,000 years ago (which we do!), then we also need to believe that we have really come a long way ahead in this time duration (which is not insignificant). Once, we were scavengers. We could only eat what was left off after big predators have their meals. Gradually, we became gatherers. We started gathering stuffs- mainly started with foods but time to time other things as well. And we understood, the only advantage we have compared to other animals of this planet is our brain. We became smarter and smarter. We learned things quickly. And then, we understood agriculture. We became producers (I know...we are really not ‘producers’ since it’s plants who still actually produce, but let’s not try to be complicated and technical here! 😝😝). Now, we have the ability to genetically enginee...

We humans are pretty proud about our intelligence. We think that we are a superior species just because we are capable of complex things like art, poetry, calculus and what not. Have you ever thought that what exactly is behind all our complex activities? Even simple activities like walking, eating, talking etc. which might seem very easy far off, are not that easy at all. So, what is behind all these? Well, there are many things, but primarily I am talking about brains here. So, brain is the squishy organ, weighing around 3 pound or about 1.5-2 kilogram sitting inside all of our head. If you are reading my blog, a lot of parts in your brain are actively working to make it happen. Some are working in tandem with your eyes to read this stuff off your phone or laptop or desktop screens. But hold on. Even a simple act of reading is not that easy at all. If you think carefully, our eye is just a modern camera made up of biological stuff. It can do only what your normal camera is able to do...