this and that ...

An illustration of a new found quasar cluster is the universe's biggest known object.

Using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, an international team of researchers has discovered a record-breaking cluster of quasars—young active galaxies—stretching four billion light-years across.

"This discovery was very much a surprise, since it does break the cosmological record as the largest structure in the known universe," said study leader Roger Clowes, an astronomer at University of Central Lancashire in England.

For comparison, our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is just a hundred thousand light-years across, while the local supercluster of galaxies in which it's located, the Virgo Cluster, is only a hundred million light-years wide. ~National Geographic 

multi-layered images of zebrafish embryo brain

What looks like a tangle of Christmas lights is actually the brain of a zebrafish embryo, winningly photographed for the 2012 Small World Microphotography Competition.

Winners of the international contest were announced Tuesday. This shot—taken by Jennifer Peters and Michael Taylor of St. Jude Children's Research Hospitaland magnified 20 times—took first prize. It's believed to be the first image ever to show the formation of the blood-brain barrier in a live animal.

The barrier is a protective system of cells that filter the blood that flows to the brain. It allows nutrients and other necessities to pass but keeps out bacteria and other pollutants.

To create this shot, Peters and Taylor injected fluorescent proteins into a transparent zebrafish embryo. That let them see the brain's endothelial cells—which line the inner surface of blood and lymphatic vessels—and watch the development of a blood-brain barrier in real-time.

Their three-dimensional image was made with a confocal microscope, which colors blood vessels differently at different depths. (Confocal lenses capture light from a single plane of focus, rather than all available light.) Peters and Taylor stacked their colored images and compressed them into a single shot to show the complexity of the phenomenon they witnessed. ~National Geographic

Zebrafish, I see are widely used as lab specimens.  Not what I'm thinking about today, but it is interesting to me that "science" refers to them as "live animals" even in their embryonic form.  It seems so obvious to me that life begins at the point of conception, but this is an on going discussion in my closest circles.  I love that the Korean people count birthdays differently then Westerners ... they count the time in the womb room and ... I think it is a perspective that honors life.

As I read and think about Iian McGilchrist's work I can't help but recall how we've struck stone with our findings, on most every topic under the sun, only to re-figure those "facts".  The left brain/right brain stuff is so firmly planted that perceiving it differently then how we have most recently been instructed feels a bit like like the spin cycle in the brain washing process.  Not to say I don't "believe" the newest findings ... only that I've noticed that we, myself included, tend towards figuring things out wrong ... maybe even all wrong.  My husband has been working on "friction" stuff for almost as long as I've known him.  While just listening to him talk about the information that is "out there"  I see how difficult it is for "us" to re-trench on any of our deeply embedded perceptions ... the language for re-thinking binds us to erroneous thought.  
Well ... here's a quick peek at what McGilchrist has recently been up to.

In this new RSAnimate, renowned psychiatrist and writer Iain McGilchrist explains how our 'divided brain' has profoundly altered human behaviour, culture and society. Taken from a lecture given by Iain McGilchrist as part of the RSA's free public events programme. 

To view the full lecture, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbUHxC4wiWk

I have been interested in how our brains work for as long as I've known about brains ... and ... I am even more interested in how our thought processes affect the eternal structure of us ... what does the physical brain have to do with the soul?  That.

The fully grown zebrafish is, I guess, is less then half the size of my little finger ... hard to imagine how tiny even a single cell of this embryonic brain would be.  Probably a lot bigger and even more significant then my brain, full of half a century+ of etchings, would appear when set within the context of what we think  (today) is the largest "object".
It's super cool that we think.  It's super cool that we keep on trying.  I have loved observing especially my children figuring things out, experimenting, pushing boundaries ... exploring. 

I'm thinking about the people I know best.  I'm thinking about the "spot" I'm in ... like the zebrafish in his little aquarium (not that one with the fluorescent protein injections, just a plain ole little fish) with his other zebrafish buddies.

 When I was a little girl my mom had a terrarium full of small plants ... it was something like the water jug on an old water cooler.  I watched her set it up with the right dirt ... pebbles ... maybe charcoal, then carefully roll up the plant leaves working them through the top of the bottle and securing their roots in the soil.  She watered them with a mister.  It was one of her favorite things.  My brother told me that we were in a bottle, a really big bottle, just like like that, sitting on God's desk ... and not only that but, but proof of that could be seen because the opening at the top of our world's bottle was the moon (or the sun ... same thing to little girl me ... a round light in the sky).  I remember thinking about it ... and solemnly promising myself that I would immediately stop dropping marbles in to my mom's bottle.  I looked out and saw a quarter moon.  Nuh-uh, look, that's not a circle (and therefore obviously not a hole in a bottle).  My big brother said God was just sliding the lid partly closed for some reason ... .  It made perfect sense!  My brother said when he grew up he was going to build a ladder tall enough to reach the top of the bottle. 

 I guess he did.

And ... I guess that is exactly what a lot of folks are doing ... just trying to connect the pieces.  I particularly like the path McGilchrist is on.  It makes perfect sense that we have well integrated spheres, I see things much more clearly with both eyes.   Flying an airplane well insisted that both hands participate equally well ... the feet are expected to cooperate too.  We look at the pieces, put them back together, because they are not separate ... "logic + creativity, think + feel, collaborative effort ... we move about in our perceptions like a fish in a bowl just trying our best.  

Well ... I have housework to do today and looking forward to a little road trip this evening.