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Evolutionary systems theorist David Loye wrote many pioneering and engaging books throughout his lifetime; one of the best-known is Darwin’s Lost Theory: Bridge to a Better World (2007), a book that explores and overturns the longstanding notions of distinct Darwinism based upon a ‘survival of the fittest’ human mentality. Instead, Loye discovered and sought to bring to light Darwin’s long-ignored insights and a complete theory into the evolution of human morality as guided by moral action and love. In this article, colleagues of David Loye comment on this important book.

The quantum electrodynamics theory of water put forward by Del Giudice and colleagues provides a useful foundation for a new science of water for life. The interaction of light with liquid water generates quantum coherent domains in which the water molecules oscillate between the ground state and an excited state close to the ionizing potential of water. This produces a plasma of almost free electrons favoring redox reactions, the basis of energy metabolism in living organisms. Coherent domains stabilized by surfaces, such as membranes and macromolecules, provide the excited interfacial water that enables photosynthesis to take place, on which most of life on Earth depends. Excited water is the source of superconducting protons for rapid intercommunication within the body. Coherent domains can also trap electromagnetic frequencies from the environment to orchestrate and activate specific biochemical reactions through resonance, a mechanism for the most precise regulation of gene function.

New evidence indicates that hydrogen is quantum delocalized between neighboring water molecules even in the liquid state, predisposing water to proton conduction, especially in confined nanospaces; water nanotubes aligned by collagen fibers fulfill all the criteria for proton superconduction, making them excellent candidates for the meridians of traditional Chinese medicine, as first proposed 15 years ago.

It has been 18 years since the discovery in my laboratory suggesting that living organisms are dynamic liquid crystalline phases in which all the molecules in the cells and tissues of the body are aligned and moving coherently together, including especi- ally the water molecules that are intrinsic to the liquid crystalline matrix and essential to the function of macromolecules. In effect, the organism depends on a macroscopic quantum co- herence of individual molecular energy machines. Recent investigations using a range of sophisticated spectroscopic techniques have indeed revealed that the liquid crystalline (hydration) water forms dynamically coherent units with proteins and nucleic acids, and enables the macromolecules to function cohe- rently together. The same investigations also reveal that ions play their pivotal role in cellular meta- bolism and signalling through interactions with hydration water. Despite these major advances, the ultimate mystery of life remains tantalizingly beyond our grasp. Keywords: liquid crystalline organism, quantum coherence, molecular energy mac- hines, hydration water, two-states water, kosmotrope and chaotrope, Law of matching water affinities, microdomains.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has infected 50 million people worldwide and killed 16 million so far, and the epidemic is still spreading with 16,000 new cases of HIV infection daily and a projection of 100million infected individuals by the end of the next decade. There is no question that a safe and effective acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) vaccine is urgently needed to bring the current AIDS pandemic under control. But, is preventive AIDS vaccine an attainable goat? Unfortunately, the results of many laboratory and clinical studies over the past two decades are not encouraging. We comment on the efficacy, safety and ethics of AIDS vaccine, and the urgent need for a new strategy for AIDS vaccine development. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All. rights reserved. 1st International Symposium on Genetic and Immune Correlates of HIV Infection and Vaccine-Induced Immunity, Jun 10-13, 2007, Budapest, Hungary

A culture of denial over the horizontal spread of genetically modified nucleic acids prevails in the face of direct evidence that it has occurred widely when appropriate methods and molecular probes are used for detection. (Published: 25 September 2014) Citation: Microbial Ecology in Health & Disease 2014, 25 : 25919 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/mehd.v25.25919

(We are ignoring the comments of P. Christou, as they bear little relationship to the actual article that we submitted, and was published in your Journal. Our remarks are directed to the critiques from Hull, R., Covey, S. N. and Dale, P. of The John Innes Centre, and from Oliver Rautenberg of Biolinx.)

New evidence raises the possibility that the CaMV 35S promoter in practically all transgenic crops grown commercially may enhance multiplication of disease-associated viruses including HIV through induction of proteins required for their transcription.Key words: Caulifl ower mosaic virus, transgenic crops, GM crops

Concerns have been raised over the spread of transgenic DNA by horizontal gene transfer. One main factor determining the success of horizontal gene transfer is its tendency to recombine. This paper examines the safety implication of recent revelations on the recombination hotspot of the cauliflower mosaic viral (CaMV) promoter, which is in practically all current transgenic crops released commercially or undergoing field trials. As a precautionary measure, we strongly recommend that all transgenic crops containing CaMV 35S or similar promoters which are recombinogenic should be immediately withdrawn from commercial production or open field trials. All products derived from such crops containing transgenic DNA should also be immediately withdrawn from sale and from use for human consumption or animal feed.

Acid extracts of rat tail tendon were subjected to reverse dialysis against 0.5% PEG at 4°C in an attempt to induce liquid crystallization. After 48 h, gel and fibril formation were initiated by continuing dialysis at 20°C against the same PEG solution adjusted to pH 7.4. The inclusion of calcium- or magnesium chloride (final concentration 0.3–33 mM) in the collagen solution before dialysis resulted in strongly birefringent gels that showed a progressive rotation of the slow axis of birefringence with increasing distance from the lateral margin of the gel. The gels contained fibers running predominantly in the plane of the flattened gel and crossing at angles of between 55° and 90°. We suggest that liquid crystallization is responsible for this phenomenon and that it might be possible to exploit this to produce materials for tissue engineering. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res, 41, 185–191, 1998.

This paper examines the effect of cations in the culture medium on the critical parameters of delayed luminescence of Acetabularia acetabulum that are correlated with morphological changes. We show that Ca2+ has drastic effects on the cell, causing rapid, irreversible contraction of the cytoskeleton and chloroplasts; these effects are only counteracted by the presence of Mg2+. Simultaneous alterations in the critical parameters of delayed luminescence offer important clues as to the source and nature of delayed luminescence and its link to the whole structure of the system.

A simple method, using an ordinary light microscope, that gives marked anatomical colour-contrast in images of living organisms

A sustainable system has all the essential characteristics of an organism—an irreducible whole that develops, maintains and reproduces, or renews, itself by mobilizing material and energy captured from the environment. What is the nature of the material and energy mobilization that makes an organism? I begin with a brief description of a tentative theory of the organism—developed in detail elsewhere (Ho, 1993; 1994a; 1995a,b; 1996b,c)—as a dynamically and energetically closed domain of cyclic non‐dissipative processes coupled to irreversible dissipative processes, which effectively frees the organism from thermodynamic constraints so that it is poised for rapid, specific intercommunication, enabling it to function as a coherent whole. I shall then show how this novel theoretical framework may begin to provide normative criteria for sustainable economic systems, thereby also exposing some of the inadequacies of current models and assumptions.

A previously described optical technique for enhancing interference colour contrast in polarized light microscopy is adapted for quantitative image analysis. This is based on a linear relationship for colour intensity vs. molecular birefringence and degree of phase alignment, derived using nematic liquid crystal approximations, and verified experimentally. The image analysis is described and illustrated on a section of the marginal rib of the dogfish egg case.

Proposes that quantum coherence is the basis of living organization and can also account for key features of conscious experience: the “unity of intentionality”; our inner identity of the singular “I”; the simultaneous binding and segmentation of features in the perceptive act; the distributed, holographic nature of memory; and the distinctive quality of each experienced occasion.

Beneficial bacteria living in the human gut are now subject to extensive genetic modification that could turn them into pathogens. In view of our vast ignorance of gut ecology, we cannot allow genetically modified probiotic bacteria to be used.

Revolution is brewing belatedly within the heartlands of the genetic determinist establishment still in denial about the fluid genome that makes identifying genes even for common disease well-nigh impossible. The fruitless hunt for intelligence genes serves to expose the poverty of an obsolete paradigm that is obstructing knowledge and preventing fruitful policies from being widely implemented. Genome-wide scans using state-of-the art technologies on extensive databases have failed to find a single gene for intelligence; instead, environment and maternal effects may account for most, if not all correlation among relatives, while identical twins diverge genetically and epigenetically throughout life. Abundant evidence points to the enormous potential for improving intellectual abilities (and health) through simple environmental and social interventions.

Revolution is brewing belatedly within the heartlands of the genetic determinist establishment still in denial about the fluid genome that makes identifying genes even for common disease well-nigh impossible. The fruitless hunt for intelligence genes serves to expose the poverty of an obsolete paradigm that is obstructing knowledge and preventing fruitful policies from being widely implemented. Genome-wide scans using state-of-the art technologies on extensive databases have failed to find a single gene for intelligence; instead, environment and maternal effects may account for most, if not all correlation among relatives, while identical twins diverge genetically and epigenetically throughout life. Abundant evidence points to the enormous potential for improving intellectual abilities (and health) through simple environmental and social interventions.

The egg case of the dogfish, Scyliorhinus canicula is a composite material largely constructed from collagen fibrils. It is formed as a drawn extrusion from transverse rows of spinnerets within the lining of the nidamental gland. In the L 2 layer, which forms over 90% of the thickness of the marginal rib, each spinneret extrudes a flattened ribbon which runs the length of the rib and measures approximately 150 x 8.5 μm in cross section. The structure of these ribbons and the orientation of collagen molecules and fibrils within them has been investigated in a correlative study using: low angle x-ray diffraction; bright field microscopy of peeled preparations; transmission (TEM) and scanning (SEM) electron microscopy; confocal and quantitative polarizing microscopy. The way in which the molecular orientations are defined within the spinneret has been followed by SEM of fixed material from actively secreting nidamental glands. The extruded ribbon showed a predominantly biaxial fibril orientation in low angle x-ray diffraction patterns recorded with the beam passing horizontally through the marginal rib. This x-ray pattern is derived from a remarkably regular parabolic arrangement of fibrils superficially resembling that seen in biological twisted nematic liquid crystals. However, evidence is presented here that the arrangement in the marginal rib is novel, apparently arising from authentically curved fibres showing a splayed- or bent- rather than twisted-nematic construction. Evidence is also presented that the spinnerets are able to control molecular orientations in a nematic liquid crystal to produce this and the other arrangements seen in the egg case.

Summary A simple, but little known technique for producing marked colour contrast in images of weakly birefringent biological samples obtained with a polarized light microscope is investigated. The technique involves inserting a full wave plate at a small angle of horizontal rotation with respect to the analyser or polarizer, rather than at the conventional angle of 45° commonly employed in the field of mineralogy for examining strongly birefringent specimens. Inserting the full wave plate at a small angle (typically less than 10°) enhances the contrast between regions of tissue having different optical path differences and, in particular, different orientations of optic axes; improving the detection of structures of interest with the polarized light microscope.

In many organisms, a reliable number of segments is produced even though important properties of the region involved, especially its size at the time of pattern formation, are apparently not specified with sufficient precision. We show that this can be readily accomplished if segmentation occurs through a sequence of bifurcations rather than all at once, and we provide evidence from developmental studies that indicates that this is typically what actually occurs. Our results strongly suggest that where patterns are formed reliably, this generally happens in stages rather than by the setting up in advance of a complete prepattern.