Phytochemistry, Molecular Breeding, Nutrition and Metabolomics

People today are confronted with a vast amount of information. Knowledge is exploding and various points of view and theories are put forward. Teachers realize the need to teach critical thinking about what they are hearing on TV and in social media. Often we have to ponder long and hard about different points of views […]

Stretch, Tilt and Wobble – Recurring Cycles in the Earth’s Evolution

With the advance of modern science and our systematic transcending of magic, mysticism and religion as potential sources of reasonable and logical explanations for the phenomena of the natural world, our lives and cultures (note human sacrifice in various cultures designed to appease the gods,) we have enhanced our knowledge significantly. With these advances, we have devised better ways of understanding our world, our species, and its connection to the evolution of the universe and the major changes impacting life on earth.

Today, our collective attention is focused urgently on climate change and the impact of human civilization and economic production on global warming as a consequence of humans having destroyed forests, burned wood, coal, oil and gas, as well as destroying life forms that would have helped to mitigate our impact on the environment. Our more scientific approach to life provides an opportunity for us to examine the real factors that have led to our evolution to this point in time. The impact of extraordinary solar flares from the sun, cosmic radiation from deep space, asteroids and meteor showers, among other factors, have driven major changes in our climate and physical environment. Similarly, major volcanic eruptions due to tectonic shifts, regular reversals of our magnetic field, subduction and upwelling of continents caused in part by regular stretching, axis precession; the tilting and wobbling of the earth as it follows its elliptical orbit around the sun while rotating on its irregular axis are factors that have all played a part in creating the Shiva Dance of Ice ages and global warming. These influential phenomena have led to drastic changes in sea levels, the extinction of innumerable species and influenced the way life on earth has evolved, with some authors even linking major extra-terrestrial phenomenon to the rise and fall of entire cultures such as Egypt, the Mayans and Gobekli Tepe.