francene--blog. Year 2013
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Oct 4th

10/4/2013

 
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Japanese scientists have almost solved the way to adjust the body clock for those who suffer from jet lag and the pains of shift work. The team at Kyoto University has found the clock's reset button inside the brain. There are clocks throughout the body and a master clock in the brain, keeping the body in sync with the world around it to make people sleepy at night.

People doing shift work or those who have arrived after a long-haul flight have experienced the disrupted sleep and hunger patterns of a body clock which is out of tune with the rising and setting of the sun.

I must admit, this has never troubled me. In my past travels, when I arrived in a new time-zone, I adjusted straight away. The trip from England to Australia is one of the longest hauls. Once, I travelled for over 24 hours, stopping off at Abu Dhabi if I remember rightly. When I arrived in Melbourne, my brother-in-law drove me to Sandringham along the coast to see my father. I'd read somewhere that if you wade in the sea after a long flight, the effects are reduced. My father indulged me. Of course, it worked.

The body clock uses light to help keep track of time, but it is naturally stubborn and adjusts slowly.


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The rough rule is that for every time zone crossed it takes a full day for the body to catch up. Fly from London to Beijing and it would take a week for the body clock to fully adapt. A group of 10,000 brain cells - about the same size as a grain of rice - constantly talk to each other to keep a strict control over the time.

The scientists used mice in their experiments. They found that interfering with the vasopressin receptors, essentially a brain cell's ears that allow it to keep in touch with its neighbors, let the clock shift rapidly. Read how they scientists constructed their experiments here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24387491

My husband has a problem with sleeping. He can't fall asleep until about 4am and then wakes at around midday. This stems from working at night in his early years. Even before that, he would stay awake as a child to wait for his father to arrive home. Then, he could expect his father to take him to pubs and clubs in London, where his father would play the piano. These were the most exciting times of his life. But that was seventy years ago and times have changed rapidly since then.

A renowned writer has predicted the future one hundred years from now. Watch the fascinating three minute video here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24331106

Essentially, James Burke predicts a very different life in the year 2100, in which the proliferation of 3D nanofabricators mean poverty and scarcity have become things of the past. There is no reason why we can't construct anything we want by using water, soil and air. There will be no more pollution because we won't need to cut down trees or dredge the soil. We can live where we choose and produce whatever background we like—the Eiffel Tower, the Wailing Wall, or the ever changing sea.


Picturewww.mindcontrol.se
This reminds me of Edgar Cayce's talk about life in heaven. When the legendary seer was in the deeper levels of consciousness, he described nearly the same thing. When we reach one of the higher levels of Heaven, we can contact our friends whenever we want, travel without need for equipment and live in a place we construct with our imagination.

Maybe imagination and nanofabricators are one and the same thing. Just imagine a life without worry. That's my idea of Heaven on Earth.


Magical Mystical MiMi link
10/3/2013 06:58:30 pm

This is a very interesting post. I discuss our internal clocks quite often with family and friends and the ability to reset our clocks to our original settings. We had fires out here in Idaho recently and were without power for over a week. During that time we adjusted back to what I believe to be our original internal clocks. With no outside stimuli, i.e,. alarm clocks, t.v.'s, the inet,, etc. For the most part we slept when the sun set and woke with the sun rise but we did have moments of waking in between and would get up, chat for a bit and go back to bed to wake to the sun. It was a wonderful schedule and I was sad to see it end.
Nice visiting with you. Love your blog. :)
Stopping by from the UBC on FB..

Francene Stanley link
10/3/2013 11:29:43 pm

You've had first hand experience with a natural internal clock. So few of us do that. The circumstances that caused it are not desirable though. Thanks for sharing.

Sophie Bowns link
10/3/2013 07:11:38 pm

Wow! This is fascinating, science is amazing! I rarely feel tired before 11pm, but then I am often awake about 8am.

Francene Stanley link
10/3/2013 11:31:05 pm

Your schedule seems about perfect. I fall asleep at, or before, 10pm and wake at about 6am.

Adelien Tandian link
10/3/2013 07:33:53 pm

My goodness, this is an incredibly scientific advantages for the nanofabricators. Not only the concern about jet lag that can be resolved, but can be for other issues. Thank you for your sharing. I just stop from UBC. Nice to see you

Francene Stanley link
10/3/2013 11:32:05 pm

Hard to imagine the world in the future, isn't it?

Amy link
10/3/2013 11:39:07 pm

Of course now, Francene, I am imagining what I would fabricate with those nanofabricators. I'd love it if my children never have to experience pain, or want. But if we could have every single thing we ever wanted, and if we could live in exactly the spot we wanted (I'd be at the beach, natch) surrounded by only the people we (presumably) nano-fabricated, would we be any happier as a human race? I suspect not. I don't think we'll ever find heaven on earth, but I suppose we can always keep trying. Awesome post, as always, Francene!

Francene Stanley link
10/4/2013 03:12:16 am

Good observations, Amy. The human race will have to do some serious growing to achieve happiness. Hard to know what would happen to evil people. They'd probably try to corner the nano market.


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    Author

    Francene Stanley, author of many published novels. If you like my writing, why not consider purchasing one of my books? You'll see them on the sidebar below.
    Born in Australia, I moved to Britain half way through my long life.

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