What is the mystery of living nature? Mysteries of living nature

Modern science finds answers to questions that for centuries were considered unexplained mysteries of nature and frightened many people around the world. The most amazing secrets revealed by scientists await you further.

Crawling stones

Self-propelled stones that literally “crawl” across a dry lake in Death Valley, a US national park, have been under the close attention of scientists since the late 1940s. During this time, a lot of hypotheses were put forward to explain the geological phenomenon: about hurricane winds, the influence of magnetic fields, anomalous zone, there was even an assumption that the stones were being moved by park workers. There were always more questions than answers. Can wind move a boulder weighing up to 350 kg over a distance of 200 m? Why do stones move chaotically, without a general direction? Why do some of them remain motionless? And where do the boulders finally disappear, leaving only traces?
In 2011, a team of researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography launched an experiment. Scientists installed a weather station in Death Valley and brought 15 boulders equipped with GPS receivers to the lake - the management of the national park prohibited experimenting with primordial stones in Death Valley. Three years of observations made it possible to confirm one of the previously expressed hypotheses: stones roll under the influence of the wind, and this happens only in winter, when on frosty nights ice crusts form on the boulders, acting as sails. At the same time, scientists managed to whitewash tourists in the eyes of park rangers - they believed that the empty paths of stones proved that visitors were stealing valuable “exhibits.” The researchers convinced them that these were just traces of melted ice floes.

Living and colored rains

Rains of shrimp, fish, frogs, spiders, worms or birds - rare a natural phenomenon, which frightened people in ancient times and continues to confuse people today. For example, in May of this year, precipitation in the form of a million small spiders “fell” in the Australian city of Goulburn in New South Wales and was regarded by some residents as a sign of the imminent end of the world.
Fortunately, people of science have found an explanation for the “living” rains - most scientists agree that the culprit is waterspouts and tornadoes, which snatch animals from their habitat and carry them over vast distances. As for fish, they do not always fall from above: some species can crawl on land and even breathe with their lungs - for example, the lungfish protoptera. Probability of precipitation from dead birds rises during New Year's holidays when thousands of firecrackers and fireworks fly into the sky.
Another natural phenomenon - colored precipitation - still causes panic in cities around the world. In India in 2001, it rained blood for two months. IN Saratov region orange snow fell. Scientists quickly respond to such anomalies and find explanations for them: for example, particles of African sand from the Sahara Desert were found in Russian snow, and spores of local lichen were found in the rain.

Bird Murmuration

The incredibly spectacular flight of flocks of starlings is scientifically called murmuration. This phenomenon, more like a dance or an air show due to the amazing celestial figures appearing in the sky, has been one of the main mysteries for ornithologists. Scientists had several hypotheses about how and why thousands of birds gather in huge flocks and put on a show in the sky. Some experts believed that such flights were necessary for birds to exchange information about where to fly and where places with food were located. Others believed that dancing helped starlings protect themselves from enemies by misleading and intimidating them. Even complex algorithmic models did not help explain this natural phenomenon. However, last year scientists from the University of Warwick in the UK made important discovery: They explained the phenomenon of starling murmuration using the dynamics of dark and light spots in a flying flock. It was noticed that each starling in a giant flock takes a position so that light falls on it from all sides - this makes it possible to glean maximum information while flying. All figures and changes in the mass “dance” occur due to the fact that starlings maintain this state of extreme transparency, changing position depending on the sunlight.

Scientists built a computer model of murmuration and made sure that the movements and figures of the flock resemble the natural movements of starlings in nature, which confirms the correctness of the new algorithm.

Permian mass extinction

The greatest catastrophe on the planet occurred at the end of the Paleozoic era: about 252 million years ago. Then 96% died out marine species animals, 83% of insect species and 70% of terrestrial fauna. Until recently, scientists could only build hypotheses about why this happened: versions were put forward about the fall of a meteorite, the collision of the Earth with an asteroid, the release of methane, sudden climate change, etc. Many scientists agreed that the cause of the disaster was the outpouring of the Siberian traps as a result powerful eruption in the history of the Earth. The most complete evidence of this version was presented in April of this year by an international team of geophysicists and geochemists. Scientists have found that 252 million years ago, Siberian traps released trillions of tons into the atmosphere. carbon dioxide, which led to the acidification of water in the world's oceans and made it unsuitable for life. The scientists' conclusions are based on a study of two types of boron isotopes contained in limestone off the coast of the United Arab Emirates. Measurements showed that over 10,000 years, the pH level of the ocean dropped by 0.7. "This is such a rapid change that the ocean simply could not protect itself from such increased levels of CO2," said study leader Matthew Clarkson, a geochemist at the University of Otago in New Zealand. There is one less mystery on Earth.

Animal migration

Migration itself is a miracle. For a long time, scientists have not been able to find out exactly how many generations of animals accurately find the wintering place that their ancestors once chose. The latest mystery to be revealed is the migration of monarch butterflies. Each of them lives about two months, but at the same time short life individuals do not become an obstacle to great trip throughout the colony: hordes of butterflies travel thousands of kilometers every year, moving from Canada to Mexico in the fall and returning to North America in the spring. For 30 years, scientists could not determine the wintering location of monarchs. It turned out to be a small area in the inaccessible mountains of Mexico. It was found in 1975 and has since become a place of pilgrimage for nature lovers: the area is located within the boundaries of the Mariposa Monarca Biosphere Reserve. Only recently have biologists been able to explain exactly how traveler butterflies find their way to their wintering grounds and back. It turned out that they have two natural navigators at once: a solar “sensor” that allows them to navigate by the light, and a “magnetic compass” that helps them navigate by the light. magnetic field Earth. A 2014 study found that magnetoreception is a redundant system for monarchs, only triggered when there is a lack of sunlight.

Human growth phenomenon

With each generation people become taller. This natural phenomenon was recently studied in detail and described by scientists using the example of the Dutch, the highest nation on Earth. Over the past 200 years, the inhabitants of the Netherlands have grown by about 20 cm: the average height of a man was 1.84 m, a woman - 1.71 m. Trying to understand the reasons for such a rapid growth of the nation, a team of specialists analyzed a database of 94,516 residents of the three northern provinces of the country. The scientists took into account only people over 45 years of age who were born in the Netherlands to Dutch parents. It turned out that in the period from 1935 to 1967, the most children were born to tall men. Women chose taller partners because height was associated with better health, good level of education and income. The Dutch growth spurt may be a clear example of human evolution in action and proof that it is not over yet, scientists say. “This study proves that the human population is still a subject natural selection", said a biologist from Yale University Stephen Stearns.

Life after death

People who have experienced clinical death often report the same vision: as if they are in a dark tunnel and see a light at its end. Many believers take this evidence as direct evidence of the existence afterlife. Recently, American doctors investigated the phenomenon of “light at the end of the tunnel”: using an encephalogram, they discovered an increase in electrical activity in one of the brain regions in dying patients. The conclusion from doctors from the USA seems very rational: when blood supply to the brain slows down and oxygen levels drop, brain cells produce a final electrical impulse. Having arisen in one part of the brain, it spreads like an avalanche throughout its entire area - this is what can cause unusual visions. The discovery, however, does not in any way refute the possibility of the existence of life on the other side of death.

Is there life on Mars?

“Martian fever” began back in late XIX century, when Nikola Tesla reported on mysterious signals that the inhabitants of another planet allegedly sent to earthlings - they were received by the inventor while studying atmospheric radio interference using receivers at the Colorado Observatory. Since then, scientists and the whole world have not lost hope of finding evidence of the existence of life on the Red Planet. This task has been approached in our days thanks to NASA's Mars missions: in 2014, the Curiosity rover recorded a surge of methane in the Martian atmosphere and discovered organic molecules in samples extracted during drilling of the Cumberland Rock, and at the end of September 2015 announced the main sensation of the century - availability of water on the Red Planet. NASA scientists have seen streams of liquid water flowing down hillsides in images from Mars taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Due to the increased salinity, Martian rivers and streams do not freeze even at a temperature of –70 °C. The agency is currently actively working to create a colony of earthlings on Mars and seriously intends to find alien life forms by 2025.

The human body is one of greatest mysteries, because today we cannot say exactly how the brain works or how the circulatory system works. Only theoretically understanding the principle of action, a person is not able to cure diseases, despite a lot of medications and devices, and even more so we cannot give an explanation for some anomalies that occur quite often. Why do some people have an elongated skull shape or what affects the process of fetal formation after fertilization and why do some people have significant anthropological differences from others?

The image of a tall creature, or vice versa, no taller than a ten-year-old child, but always with an elongated skull and huge eye sockets, without brow ridges, is probably familiar to everyone. It is often used by directors in science fiction films, and it also appears in newsreels of the famous Roswell incident, when the military allegedly managed to shoot down an alien flying saucer. However, how did such things end up in graves that, according to the most conservative estimates, are up to ten thousand years old? Modern humanity arose about five thousand years ago, therefore, when such remains are found, official science immediately classifies them as anomalies, that is, a person was born with abnormalities, but if there is a whole cemetery of such remains, how can this be explained? The version about aliens does not really fit here either, because it is unlikely that the aliens, who are technically ahead of earthlings, will bury their dead on an alien planet, while dressing them in some kind of rags.

But the fact that the owners of elongated skulls could be the result of relationships between aliens and female terrestrial individuals has been confirmed by research. Scientists conducted a series of experiments and found that their DNA chain is significantly different from the human one and has a more complex structure. Already today, researchers say that in fact, this is a prehistoric race that existed long before the appearance of the current Homo sapiens. This is also indicated by the presence of remains throughout the planet, and not just in one region. How can burials located in North America and Africa? Of course, one of the explanations may be the custom of deliberately lengthening the skull, which still exists among some peoples. Similar to how in some tribes they lengthen the necks of girls using metal rings, increasing their number with age, and the skull is deformed by pressing it into boards and wearing such a structure for a long time on the head.

Scientists have suggested that in their desire to populate the lifeless Earth, aliens arriving from a distant galaxy created a hybrid, based on their DNA and that of a monkey, adapted to life in local conditions. The correctness of this version is also indicated by the fact that in many species great apes In gorillas in particular, the skull has a similar elongated shape. The resulting race quickly settled throughout the globe, and the knowledge acquired from alien creators allowed its representatives to take leading positions, although the Neanderthals that had just appeared at that time were unlikely to pose serious competition.

Even today, scientists are discovering quite a lot of artifacts indicating that people with elongated skulls used all the achievements of civilization that today’s humanity will only have in a few thousand years. The wheel, clay and even copper utensils, as well as writing on clay tablets - all this was easily accepted by the mysterious creatures. Despite the universal feature in the structure of the skull, scientists also discovered the main difference - this is height, and its height was characteristic of each tribe. This means that those who created such a race decided not to limit themselves to just one option and experiment to create the most suitable one.

Of course, the most interesting question for researchers is why did all these prehistoric tribes die out? Just like how suddenly all the dinosaurs disappeared, leaving behind only a few a large number of artifacts, dwarfs, and not only dwarfs also disappeared, and in the places of their settlements, it is impossible to find traces of a struggle, as is usually the case when a settlement is destroyed by an enemy. One gets the impression that at one point they simply packed up and left, leaving only their graves.

As you know, anthropologists are still looking for that very mysterious transitional link between the ape and homo sapiens, although today it is clear that humanity could not have descended entirely from the ape. But the genes of these mysterious creatures could very well be used by someone to create a new race, which would later completely replace its ancestors. Comparing DNA modern man With the obtained material, the researchers received such confirmation, but why did they, having a larger brain volume and a more complex structure of the DNA chain, still give way to us?

Humans have a lot in common with animals, and the behavior of most representatives of humanity is not very different from animals, no matter how much one would like to place oneself at the highest level of development. Researchers compared tens of thousands of people on different continents and found that many have the features of one or another animal copied in their face, figure, and gait. It was possible to identify several groups of similarities: monkeys, rodents, dogs, cats, reptiles and fish. At the same time, the character of these people could not at all correspond to the image that was suitable for them. Based on the data obtained, the researchers suggested that not only the monkey, as Darwinian theory states, could give rise to the human race, but also other species of creatures.

Among the creatures that constantly live in the water there are also mammals, for example, dolphins or whales. They also have a brain structure similar to that of humans, which means that the origin of some part of humanity from them or from some fish is quite possible. After all, alien creators could use not only material obtained from a monkey, but also other animals to connect with their genes. All this is strongly reminiscent of selection experiments aimed at identifying the most resistant species, which can subsequently produce strong offspring. The fact that this was most likely the case is also evidenced by the peculiarities of the maturation of the human fetus, because before it acquires the contours characteristic of a human being, transformations occur, during which the fetus alternately becomes similar to the embryos of each of the classes of animals.

This feature led scientists to think about different ancestors on the one hand, and at the same time common ones on the other. In the light of these discoveries, the worship of ancient tribes of any animal does not seem unnatural. The Celts and other peoples who lived on the territory of modern Europe always chose as their patron either a bear, or a wolf, or some other animal, making sacrifices to it and depicting it on shields or dwellings. This suggests that they were excellent at maintaining contact with their ancestors and, by the way, never hunted such animals.

During the Dark Middle Ages, when the authority of the church was above all and anything incomprehensible was immediately attributed dark forces, a woman in labor who gave birth to offspring with any minor anomaly, such as a missing toe or hand, was immediately sentenced to be burned. Naturally, the birth of a child with genetic defects, or even stillborn children with deformities reminiscent of some kind of animal, was a death sentence, both for the mother and often for the entire family. Today, of course, this is unacceptable, but scientists find it difficult to explain why such malfunctions occur in the body, but it is not uncommon for women to even give birth to offspring that look like a hybrid of fish and humans. Of course, it does not live long, and is often stillborn, but how can this happen, especially if both parents do not have any health problems?

Genetics suggest that the human reproductive system may periodically malfunction; as a result, for the reproduction of offspring, it is not the information stored in the chromosomes of the mother and father, but the information left over from the ancestors that is used. Every person has it, and as a result of the influence of some extraneous circumstances, even the healthiest people may have poor-quality offspring. The use of alcohol and tobacco has absolutely nothing to do with it, and so far scientists cannot determine the factors influencing this. One of the most probable is still radiation; its effect on DNA structure has been known for a long time, but since there are not so many open sources of radiation, it is strangely enough to blame sunlight. The fact is that what happened because of greenhouse effect the thinner ozone layer can no longer completely filter out hard radiation, and in some places it has completely disappeared. According to surveys, everyone who had offspring with genetic disorders constantly spent time in the open sun, whether on the beach or at work. Such research results did not become sensational for scientists, since the harmful effects have long been known sun rays on the skin, leading to cancer. It may well be that in the near future, due to climate change and rising temperatures on the planet, scientists will have to develop global methods of protection, otherwise the consequences may only get worse.

The human body still holds quite a lot of secrets and, unfortunately, work on studying them is hampered by the banal desire to get rich. Already today, a worldwide pharmaceutical conspiracy is quite clearly visible, when any research on the path to eliminating the disease is blocked, because once cured, the buyer will no longer purchase expensive drugs. When common sense If greed prevails, we will be able to not only eliminate common respiratory diseases, but also many that are considered incurable, including genetic ones.

The author of this statement raises the problem of individual individuality, which, undoubtedly, is relevant to this day. In his opinion, each person has a set of individual traits and qualities, which, moreover, change and develop throughout life. This is what makes him mysterious.

Those ideas and views that he previously supported may now seem absurd, and vice versa.

To prove my point, I propose to reflect on such important concepts as “individuality” and “personality”. Individuality is a unique set of social and biological qualities that make a person different from other individuals. Personality is an individual who has a set of socially significant traits, in other words, having undergone socialization, he has his own worldview and ideals. It is not for nothing that man is placed at the highest level of evolution, because he is the only one who has consciousness and thinking. Everyone goes through a long journey life path and makes many mistakes that shape his experience.

I can’t help but recall A. S. Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons,” which incredibly well shows how a personality can change. Evgeny Bazarov, main character, throughout the entire narrative he went from nihilism, that is, complete denial of everything, to the acceptance that the world is ruled by feelings, when he fell in love with Anna Odintsova. The hero is full of contradictions, and that is why it is so interesting to watch him, this is precisely his “mystery”.

Updated: 2018-03-11

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Living nature contains three ancient mysteries: the origin of life, evolution and death.

To unravel the first of them, intensive attempts are currently being made to reproduce the process of the emergence of life under artificial conditions. The second riddle is no less complex - the riddle of evolution, or the complication and improvement of living systems while maintaining the same structural elements living matter. Indeed, nature is both surprisingly uniform and amazingly diverse. The simplest living organisms - viruses - have the same structure as the carriers of heredity in higher organisms - genes. Proteins in bacteria and humans are made from the same building blocks - amino acids.

How is the stability of its basic elements ensured in nature and their amazing improvement in the process of evolution on the way from the simplest single-celled organisms to higher organisms? A lot depends on the answer to this question. Including the solution to death. We are accustomed to believe that all life ends in death, that “to live means to die.” But what makes death inevitable? Before considering this issue, let me remind you: in nature, as is known, there are two fundamentally various mechanisms death - from external and internal causes.

Theoretically, some of the simplest single-celled organisms are immortal, since after each division of such a creature, two completely identical daughter descendants appear, possessing all the properties of the original organism. Under favorable conditions, the process of successive divisions can continue indefinitely. A classic example: the division of a single-celled organism - paramecium - over 8400 generations. IN in this case it does not matter that in reality only specimens of some protozoa create generations capable of dividing vegetatively (without sexual reproduction) indefinitely. If this ability were observed only in one species of protozoa, or even in one branch, then this would be the basis for the assertion that, theoretically, life exists without internal causes of death in the presence of certain favorable conditions external environment.

The property of potential immortality can also be seen in the example of complex multicellular organisms if so-called malignant changes occur in their cells. Indeed, the normal cells from which a multicellular organism is built are in such interaction with each other that the sizes of the organs remain constant - site. For example, very intensive cell renewal occurs in the gastrointestinal tract. But new cells regularly replace dying ones, that is, exactly as many cells appear as are necessary to maintain their “planned” number. Moreover, normal cells, being in artificial conditions outside the body, in the so-called tissue culture, divide only a strictly defined number of times and then die. When a cell becomes cancerous, its descendants can live both in tissue culture and in the body indefinitely if they are successively transplanted or transplanted. The famous German scientist Paul Ehrlich isolated a tumor in a mouse back in 1906, which is now used in all countries in scientific research, although the maximum lifespan of a mouse does not exceed three years. In other words, paradoxically, cancer provides potential cell immortality.

And yet both single-celled organisms and cancer cells die. Indeed, it has long been calculated that if the death of unicellular organisms did not occur, then the descendants of one ciliate would soon occupy a volume exceeding the volume globe. What limits the lifespan of single-celled creatures? Such a limiter is, first of all, the state of their habitat.

A living organism is in a very close relationship with outside world. The presence or absence of food, the physical conditions of the environment, the degree of its pollution - these are the main factors with which the vital activity of the organism is inextricably linked. At the same time, any organism can exist only if the composition of its body is maintained within certain, usually quite narrow limits. The great French physiologist Claude Bernard formulated this position more than 100 years ago as follows: constancy internal environment is a necessary condition free life body. The law of constancy of the internal environment of the body is a fundamental law of biology. You can even designate it as the First Fundamental Biological Law (although the serial number in this case does not say much: all fundamental laws are characterized by the fact that none of them can be violated).

Metabolism, based on the intake of food, water and oxygen into the body, primarily ensures the constancy of the internal environment. In single-celled creatures, the reserves of energy materials in the body are very small and, accordingly, their dependence on food intake is, as a rule, extremely pronounced. Single-celled organisms depend even more on physical conditions environment. The delicate membrane of the cell - the cell membrane - cannot be reliable protection from damaging external factors. This is understandable: both the intake of food and the release of waste occurs through this membrane. Essentially, single-celled organisms are in equilibrium with their environment, and the constancy of their body composition, that is, the requirement corresponding to the First Biological Law, can be fulfilled only to the extent that the constancy of the external environment is maintained. Changes in the external environment, caused, for example, by the very activity of single-celled organisms, can cause their death.

Thus, in most cases, death in unicellular organisms is caused by the action of external factors, that is, it is death from external reasons. This gives grounds to assert that, theoretically, some protozoa may turn out to be immortal in conditions where the external environment is favorable for this.

If we talk about humans, then external causes of death are associated primarily with the so-called diseases of civilization. It is believed that excess or improper nutrition, insufficient physical activity, mental stress (emotional stress), toxic substances common in the external environment (for example, carcinogens - chemical substances, causing cancer) - all these are the causes of major human diseases: atherosclerosis and cancer. Thus, it is assumed that in humans it is external factors that determine the main causes of death. However, it is hardly worth proving that eliminating external causes of disease will not save higher organisms from death. Each type of organism is characterized by a certain limit of life span. A rat cannot live more than four years, an elephant cannot live more than 80, and no one has observed a rat living longer than is normal for an elephant. Elimination of external unfavorable factors can only lead to the fact that the life expectancy of an individual coincides with its species limit. So, if the average human lifespan is now about 70 years, then its species limit is considered to be 120 years. In the meantime, for most organisms, only individual representatives reach the species limits of life.

Today, it is most generally accepted that there are two independent phenomena that limit life expectancy: the physiological process of aging and diseases that increasingly affect a person with age. At the same time, it was calculated that if the main diseases of aging - atherosclerosis and cancer - are eliminated, then human life expectancy will increase by 18 years; if all diseases of old age are eliminated, this will give on average an additional 2-5 years of life. On this basis, it is assumed that in conditions of aging without disease, a person will die at an age close to 100 years. After all, the burden of disease often makes a person’s life very difficult even in middle age, not to mention in old age. However, this optimistic construction is, unfortunately, vulnerable. Mainly due to the division of natural causes of death into diseases and physiological aging. Indeed, how does physiological aging end life? Again due to the development of diseases. Another thing is that their likelihood increases over the years. Moreover, these are, as a rule, very specific diseases. We have already mentioned that in middle and old age, ten main diseases out of many hundreds of possible ones cause the death of every 85 people out of 100. They are: obesity, obese diabetes mellitus, atherosclerosis, hypertension, metabolic (metabolic) immunosuppression, autoimmune diseases, mental depression and cancer. For reasons that will become clear to you a little later, we refer to these diseases, as well as menopause and hyperadaptosis, as normal diseases of aging.

There are many arguments in favor of the fact that the occurrence of these diseases is very great importance have external factors. Thus, obesity, obese diabetes mellitus and atherosclerosis arise as a result of overeating and decreased physical activity. In turn, obesity causes metabolic immunosuppression, that is, a decrease in immunity due to excessive use of fat as an energy source. Metabolic immunosuppression promotes cancer development. Stress, mental overstrain and long-delayed negative emotions cause hypertension, mental depression and accelerate the course of cancer.

All this is true. But at the same time, it remains undoubted: although the elimination of unfavorable external factors can increase life expectancy, it cannot expand its species limit.

What's the matter here? Why is aging combined with a certain group of diseases, and not with any diseases from the many hundreds of known pathological processes? What determines the species limit of life - physiological aging, that is, wear and tear of the body associated with the cessation of renewal of its cells, or certain diseases that arise under the influence of internal causes? And if the latter is true, then what are these internal causes that act with such regularity?

In living nature, there are examples of the mechanism of death that is clearly not related to the influence of external causes. Everyone knows the type of death characteristic of the mayfly butterfly. Such a butterfly, emerging from a larva in the morning by the end of the first day, having completed the reproduction cycle, dies. Death occurs regardless of environmental conditions - as if the winding of a watch ends. Similar death from internal cause- not an exception. It can be observed even more clearly in a more complex organism—pink salmon. This fish lives in Pacific Ocean. During this period, maturation and increase in body size occur, and fat accumulates in the liver and body. But now the breeding season is approaching, and pink salmon begins its long journey, sometimes thousands of kilometers, to the mouth of the river in which it was born. From the very beginning of this journey, fish use mainly liver fat reserves as an energy source. The fat reserve decreases, but the concentration in the blood of cholesterol, which is synthesized from fat, increases. And within one to two months the fish “grows old.” Her jaws bend, her eyes sink, her skin becomes thinner. Very profound changes occur in the body of pink salmon - signs characteristic of diabetes mellitus and atherosclerosis, resistance to infection decreases. Finally, the female pink salmon lay eggs, which are inseminated by the male pink salmon. After one or two weeks, the parent fish die. The cause of death is multiple infarctions of the heart, brain, lungs, and kidneys. This is understandable, since the concentration of cholesterol in the blood of pink salmon during the spawning period increases approximately 10 times.

The mechanism of death of pink salmon is a typical example of death from internal causes, and an example that creates the impression of the existence of programmed death. The life of a fish, as it were, ends in accordance with the program stored in the genes, as if a “stop” signal is written in them, which abruptly ends life.

The description of the natural death of pink salmon is very often used as an example characterizing the presence genetic program aging and death. But is it?

Indeed, each species has its own specific limit on life span, therefore, a genetic limit, that is, a limit “recorded” in genes. The most common view on the origin of the limit that limits life expectancy is the theory of “cell death.” It is known that in tissue culture, that is, outside the body, some human fetal cells are capable of dividing 50±10 times and then die. If cells are taken from an older person or from persons with premature aging, then the number of divisions preceding cell death decreases proportionally. Based on these data, it has become fashionable to believe that a clock that measures life time is contained in every cell. It is assumed that cell death or weakening of functions in those cells that do not divide after the end of development ultimately leads to the weakening and death of the organism itself. Thus, the natural death of pink salmon is often seen as an illustration of this construct.

But there is an essential observation that does not fit into this framework. American scientists O. Robertson and B. Wexler removed the gonads from several specimens of a related pink salmon freshwater species fish and then kept them in special tanks. It seems incredible, but the lifespan of castrated fish has doubled and even tripled in some cases! The above example is instructive in a number of respects. Firstly, it demonstrates the presence of death from internal causes in such a fairly complex organism as pink salmon. Secondly, the castration effect shows that the species limits of life can be expanded, that is, that it is possible to interfere with a program that is reproduced from generation to generation, from year to year, so to speak, from century to century with an unshakable genetic pattern.. The basis of the mechanism The programmed death of pink salmon is due to regulatory shifts, namely such shifts in the regulation of metabolism that lead to a sharp increase in cholesterol levels in the blood. In this case, every individual, every pink salmon, dies, because not a single fish of this species ever returns to the ocean after spawning.

It is generally accepted that death is associated with exhaustion, wear and tear, self-poisoning of the body with the products of its vital activity, and the death of functionally important cells, for example cells nervous system- neurons, that is, it is associated with persistent and gross defects, or organic disorders. Using the example of the mechanism of death of pink salmon, it becomes obvious that the basis of death is dysregulation, that is, functional and therefore, in principle, reversible disorders. In other words, the programmed death of pink salmon is associated with a violation of the law of constancy of the internal environment of the body, or with a deviation from the basic biological law. As a result, excessive cholesterol levels almost directly lead to death.

Now let's ask two more questions. What causes the change in cholesterol production? And are the disorders observed in pink salmon a special case, or is the regulatory type of death observed in nature and in other species, including humans? It is clear that these issues are to some extent interrelated.

It is worth noting that if the example with pink salmon is instructive in many respects, it is precisely in relation to the search common reasons, causing regulatory violations, it can lead to a dead end. Indeed, the fact that removal of the gonads inhibits the execution of the “death program” shows that in pink salmon the gonads are the source of signals that turn on the mechanism of death from an internal cause. In other words, the maturation of the gonads “triggers” the mechanism of reproduction, and then the natural death of pink salmon. Based on such examples, many biologists come to the conclusion that the purpose of living nature is reproduction, the reproduction of their own kind; as soon as this goal is achieved, mechanisms are activated that end life. Externally, this construction looks very plausible. But let's think about it: recognizing the validity of this conclusion, we would thereby have to admit that nature has a goal and that this goal is the death of the individual after the end of reproduction. Meanwhile, it can be stated quite definitely: nature does not and cannot have such a goal (as, indeed, no other).

How can these mutually exclusive provisions be combined? What is actually recorded in genetic code organism is the reproduction of its own kind. This process must be financially supported. In pink salmon, probably due to a number of living conditions, most of the reproductive cells die after spawning without being fertilized. But the ability to produce a large number of germ cells mitigates the effect of this factor unfavorable for reproduction.

What is the point of accumulating fat in the liver and in the “hump” capacity, if pink salmon is destined to soon die after spawning? The one made from fat
cholesterol is formed, and each germ cell must contain a lot of cholesterol. This cholesterol is the material for building the membranes (membranes) of cells, which, after fertilization, must begin to develop into a complex organism. At the same time, an increase in cholesterol levels in the blood causes vascular damage in pink salmon and ultimately leads to the death of the body - site. Thus, in essence, excess cholesterol in the blood serves to ensure the reproduction process, and the death of pink salmon is only a side effect caused by a violation of the constancy of the internal environment of the body. The constancy of the internal environment in medicine is designated by the term “homeostasis” (“homeo” - similar, “stasis” - state). Therefore, we consider it correct to qualify the phenomenon that was just discussed as the law of deviation of homeostasis.

Homeostasis is a necessary condition of life. However, the difficulty lies in the fact that the law of deviation of homeostasis is written in the genetic code, that is, higher organisms themselves are simultaneously subject to both the law of conservation and the law of deviation of homeostasis.

But before we go into detail about this issue, you will have to overcome a little difficulty to become familiar with some basics of the structure and functions of the human body. This heavy word - hypothalamus - must be remembered. A hybrid of the nervous and endocrine systems, the junction of two worlds - the internal and external hypothalamus - is a miracle of nature.

What is a person?

Man and his vital needs.

Man and basic ordering his nature.

What is a person?

It would be more correct to pose the question not “What is a person?”, but “Who is a person?”, since a person is not a thing, and he cannot be defined in the same way, as is the case when defining products of nature or objects of production. However, a person is very often considered precisely as a thing when they say he is a worker, a doctor, a teacher, an engineer, etc., that is, a person is defined according to his social role, identified with his professional function in society.

But a person is not a thing, but a living being, which can only be understood in the long process of its development. At any moment of his life, he is not yet what he can become and what he may yet become. So a person is not a thing, but a certain process of life. Most main aspect in the definition of a person is that his thinking can be projected beyond the satisfaction of his needs. For a person, thinking is not the same as for an animal: it is not only a means of achieving the desired benefits, but also a means of discovering one’s own being in the world, regardless of attachments and aversions. In other words, a person not only has objective thinking, like an animal, but also the mind with which he can comprehend the truth. If a person is guided by reason, then he must do everything for the benefit of himself, society, his essence, both physical and spiritual.

Since a person is not a thing that can be described from the outside, he can only be defined from the standpoint of the personal experience of humanity itself. And posing the question “Who is man?” inevitably leads to the question “Who am I?” And if we do not want to treat a person as a thing, then to the question “Who am I?” there is only one answer - Man.

a) Each person is focused on certain values ​​- social, moral, psychological and others. How do you know that the path along which this or that person is moving has been chosen by him seriously and for a long time, and that he will not turn away from this path under the influence of any circumstances? Is there such a moment in the process of life that should be considered the pinnacle, the culmination in the formation of personality, about which one can rightfully say that at this moment a person is exactly what he is, and now he will never become different? From a statistical point of view, of course, such a statement is possible about many people. But can this be attributed to every person until his death, and can he himself say to himself that he would not have become different if the vital conditions were different or if he had lived longer in the world?

Religious teachings telling about the creation of the world and man bring to the world the idea of ​​the divine origin of man, the presence in him of traits characteristic of God, because God created man “in his own image and likeness.” This situation obliges us to do a lot, but, starting from the very first representative of the human race, people do not always correspond to the divine model, even in individual manifestations, not to mention in general, and often show a negative essence.

This may be why Darwin’s theory, which substantiates the natural emergence of the human species (such as man), is so actively in demand and generally accepted on a mass scale. After all, it is not so rare to find animal principles in people and their actions, despite their ability to think. Further evolution was ensured labor activity person.

But “man is a contradictory creature.” After all, even this recognized Darwinian doctrine is subject to serious doubts. Doubting scientists - non-idealists argue that it was not work that contributed to the transformation of a monkey into a human. Those areas on African continent, where traces of the first person were found, are unique, since it was in them that uranium deposits were discovered. Thus, radioactive effects on apes ensured, millions of years ago, rapid mutational processes and, accordingly, not an evolutionary, but a revolutionary transition from apes to a new biological species - humans.

Whether this hypothesis will ever be reliably more substantiated and confirmed - it is unknown whether it will become widespread - time will tell. In the meantime, the appearance of Man on Earth remains an unsolved mystery.

To determine the essence of a person, you can choose other criteria - two types of passions and drives. The first type of drives of biological origin applies almost equally to all people. This includes the need for survival, which is associated with the need for food and drink, the need for safety, some form of social security and, finally (to a much lesser extent) the need for sex.

Passions of another kind do not have biological roots, and therefore they are different for all people. Their occurrence is associated with various social structures. These include: love, joy, compassion, solidarity, envy, remorse, hatred, jealousy, rivalry, acquisitiveness, vanity, vindictiveness, etc.

In contrast to biologically determined passions, the so-called “socially” determined drives are the product of a certain era.

If a person wants his actions to be reasonable, he should not allow his irrational passions to run rampant. Intelligence remains so even when it is assigned a negative role. Reason makes us aware of reality as it is, and not as we want to see it in the interests of our cause, and therefore it turns out to be valid only to the extent that it triumphs over irrational passions, that is, to the extent that a person becomes truly human, and the blind passions cease to be the main driving force of his behavior.

The most amazing feature of human behavior is the incredible depth of passion and expression human strength.

There is a widespread belief that human capabilities are unlimited. The study of human behavior over the centuries shows that there is practically no task that would be beyond the power of a person - even the most ordinary people, not to mention the especially gifted. Since a person is endowed with reason, he is able, by critically analyzing his experience, to understand what contributes to his development and what hinders him. He strives for the most harmonious deployment of all his physical and spiritual forces in order to achieve a state of well-being. The opposite of prosperity is depression. Joy and happiness are a product of rationality, depression is a consequence of an incorrect lifestyle.

There are many people who have never experienced happiness in their lives, but there are no people who have never suffered. And no matter how people try to repress their experiences from their consciousness, it is unlikely that they will be able to find a person who would live life without suffering. Sympathy is inseparably linked with love for a person. Where there is no love, there can be no empathy. The opposite of empathy is indifference, which in many cases can be defined as pathological condition schizoid character. And what is called love for a single individual often turns out to be just addiction. “He who loves only one person loves no one” (E. Fromm).

Man is born as a freak of nature, being within nature and at the same time transcending it. Instead of instincts, he has to look for principles by which he will act and make decisions. He needs to have an orientation system that allows him to create a logical picture of the world as a condition for consistent actions. He is forced to fight not only against such dangers as death, hunger, pain, but also against another danger, specifically human: mental illness. In other words, he has to protect himself not only from the danger of losing his life, but also from the danger of losing his mind.

A human being born into the conditions described above would indeed go crazy if he did not find a reference system that allows him, in one form or another, to feel at home in the world and avoid the feeling of complete security, disorientation and isolation from origins. There are many ways in which a person can find a solution to the problem of how to stay alive and maintain mental health. Some of them are better, others are worse. The word “better” refers to a path that helps increase the power of clarity, joy, independence, and the word “worse” is the opposite. But finding any viable solution is more important than finding a better solution.

b) Some anthropologists and other human researchers have come to believe that man is infinitely malleable. At first glance it seems that this is so, just as he can eat either meat or vegetables, or both; he can be both a slave and a free man; to live in want or abundance; to live in a society that values ​​love, or one that values ​​destructiveness.

Indeed, a person can do almost everything, or, perhaps, it is better to say, the social order can do almost everything to a person. The important word here is “almost.” Even if the social order can do everything to a person: starve him, torture him, put him in prison or feed him - this cannot be done without certain consequences arising from the very conditions of human existence. Completely deprived of all incentives and pleasures, a person will be unable to engage in work, especially skilled work. When he is not completely deprived of them, then if you turn him into a slave, he will have a tendency to rebel; if his life is too boring, he will have a tendency to go wild; if you turn him into a machine, he will most likely lose all ability to create. In this respect, man is no different from animals. You can put some animals in a zoo, but they will not give birth, while others will become brutal, although they were not wild in freedom.

The history of human development shows with precision what can be done with a person and what is simultaneously impossible.

Any change in social model threatens a person with a loss of confidence, since quite often the entire range of his relationships with reality is mediated by fiction, presented to him as true reality. The higher his ability to comprehend reality independently, and not just in the form of the sum of information that society supplies him with, the more confident he feels; the less his dependence on consent with society, the less dangerous social changes are for him.

Man as a Man has an inherent tendency to expand his knowledge of reality, and therefore get closer to the truth.

A person has not only a mind and a need for a system of orientation that allows him to find some meaning in the world around him and arrange it. He also has a soul and a body that needs emotional attachment to the world - to man and nature. Animals are given connections with the world mediated by instincts. A person, unlike an animal, has several alternative ideas for establishing such connections. They may be different, but one of them, which a person especially needs to establish a connection with the world, to maintain his mental health, is any attachment to people close to him, to nature, etc., with which he will feel confident .

The “primary bond”, natural and necessary for a child, is the relationship with the mother. Being connected with nature, mother, father, a person really manages to feel at home in the world, but if these attachments are prolonged, then he pays an exorbitant price for this security with his subordination, dependence, inability to fully develop his mind and the ability to love other people and nature . He remains a child even when he should become an adult. If a person finds a better way to feel at home in the world, then not only his intellect will develop, but also his ability to experience affection without submission, intimacy without suppression, the ability to feel at home without being imprisoned.

In the second millennium, the solution to the problem of human existence was no longer sought in a return to nature, in blind obedience to the personality of the father, having discovered that a person can feel at home in the world and overcome the feeling of frightening loneliness through achieving the full development of his human powers, his ability to love, to use reason , create beauty and enjoy it, share your humanity with all your neighbors. Buddhism, Judaism and Christianity proclaimed this new vision.

The new bond that allows a person to feel at one with all people is fundamentally different from the subjugating tie to father and mother - it is a harmonious bond of brotherhood in which solidarity and human connections are neither emotionally nor intellectually overshadowed by restrictions on freedom. This is why brotherhood is not a matter of subjective preference. Only it can satisfy two basic human needs: to be closely connected and at the same time to be free; to be part of the whole and to be independent. This way of solving problems has been experienced by many individuals and groups, both religious and secular, who have been and remain able to develop bonds of solidarity together with the unlimited development of individuality and independence.

Freedom is the quality of a fully humanized existence. Love, tenderness, intelligence, interest, integrity and identity all provide freedom. Political freedom- these are the conditions of human freedom only to the extent that it contributes to the development of the specifically human. If a person is deprived of freedom, he will become either submissive and lifeless, or violent and aggressive. If he is bored, he will become passive and indifferent to life. If he is reduced to the level of a punched card, he will lose his originality, creativity, and interests. The eternal state of man is the desire for goodness, love, justice.