Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Morphogens, Brownian Motion, Koch Snowflakes, and such...

A text only post, and about history, afield from fauna and flora, sort of...and grim, so dear readers, a caution to read on...

"Every cell, every particle of matter in the world requires a Captain to steer it into place."

John Muir
p64
in book: John Muir and the Ice that started the Fire....
by Kim Heacox
https://books.google.com/books?id=d0ckAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA65&lpg=PA65&dq=natural+selection+john+muir+darwin&source=bl&ots=7vTQh87fcj&sig=Ze4HihpKrk5UcfImLg5HZtQ0iXs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCoQ6AEwA2oVChMIotL1kevXyAIVDMhjCh0GOQY8#v=onepage&q=natural%20selection%20john%20muir%20darwin&f=false

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I tried to acquire a part time job once delivering morning newspaper in the hill community of De Luz, which is between Temecula and Fallbrook, CA...my route instructor was annoyed when I turned the job down, as she had put much effort into driving me about in the before dawn hours, but after doing the job on my own, I considered the costs to my vehicle, and there was no profit in it for me...I felt bad saying no, she had been sympathetic to my getting car sick, and spending much of the training time stretched out in the car's back seat bemoaning my circumstance...the twists and turns, and visually bouncing my eyes around trying to note this and that, had been too much for my equilibrium!...but I learned something from the adventure...when I went out on my own, I was given a left right map...

My left right map wasn't really a map...I had with a road map...the left right map was a list...turn left at....turn right at...turn...and so on...since, I write down directions this way, when I write down directions!...
 
So, so, I was charmed when looking into cell growth, Morphogens, Brownian motion, Koch snowflakes, and such, when I happened on L-systems...
 
quote
 
A variant of the Koch curve which uses only right angles.
variables : F
constants : + −
start  : F
rules  : (F → F+F−F−F+F)
Here, F means "draw forward", + means "turn left 90°", and − means "turn right 90°" (see turtle graphics).

L-system

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
 
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L-system is a kind of math notation turned into language like notation...there was a computer language that did this, Macintosh's HyperCard...it took computer code and made it into familiar words...
 
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HyperTalk is verbose, hence its ease of use and readability. HyperTalk code segments are referred to as "scripts", a term that was considered less daunting to beginning programmers.
 
 
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Comparing L-system to my right and left map is over simplification...L-system is daunting!...but I get the idea of it...a right and left map is scripted, and run, and makes things like fractal Koch snowflakes...
 
Watching a clip of the fly egg cell growth, things immediately come to mind...it looks like a choreographed dance act...so there's something like music, a score with notes and time...I'm looking about for more on this, remembering the efforts to play music to plants and help them grow!, and  find that cells do make a noise...vibrations...
 
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Do Cells Make Noise?
 
You have to listen very, very closely, but yes, cells produce a symphony of sounds. Although they won't win a Grammy anytime soon, the various audio blips produced by cells are giving scientists insight into cellular biomechanics and could even be used to help detect cancer.
 
... ... ...
 
Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles studying baker's yeast cells discovered that the cell walls vibrate 1,000 times per second. These motions are too slight and fast to be caught on video, but when converted into sound, they create what the scientists describe as a high-pitched scream. (It's about the same frequency as two octaves above middle C on a piano, but not loud enough to hear with the naked ear.) "I think if you listened to it for too long, you would go mad,"
 
 
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I have this suspicion that cells have a full array of senses...even those 360 super ones!...but I don't know, or if they can hear one another's vibrations...
 
And in reading, I learn of Brownian motion...in gases and liquids the atoms are all vibrating, the frequency according to the temperature, and this was discovered by Brown when he noticed that dust inside pollen voids was jittering about...it took Einstien to explain atoms were pushing the dust about...and this had been seen, but not explained, before both Brown and Einstein...
 
quote
 
The Roman Lucretius's scientific poem "On the Nature of Things" (c. 60 BC) has a remarkable description of Brownian motion of dust particles in verses 113 - 140 from Book II. He uses this as a proof of the existence of atoms:
"Observe what happens when sunbeams are admitted into a building and shed light on its shadowy places. You will see a multitude of tiny particles mingling in a multitude of ways... their dancing is an actual indication of underlying movements of matter that are hidden from our sight...

Brownian motion

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 
 
 
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In its way, Brownian motion is a 'left right map' too...it is completely random, and if one records the track a dust mote travels being bounced about, it does so in a self similar way to every dust mote being bounced about...experimenters are able to mimic Brownian motion, and with much the same L-system like scripting, make fractals that look like roots, algaes, dendric branchings, and such...and even mountains...
 
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A Brownian tree is built with these steps: first, a "seed" is placed somewhere on the screen. Then, a particle is placed in a random position of the screen, and moved randomly until it bumps against the seed. The particle is left there, and another particle is placed in a random position and moved until it bumps against the seed or any previous particle, and so on.
 

Brownian tree

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
 
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Many natural phenomena exhibit some form of statistical self-similarity that can be modeled by fractal surfaces.[2] Moreover, variations in surface texture provide important visual cues to the orientation and slopes of surfaces, and the use of almost self-similar fractal patterns can help create natural looking visual effects.[3] The modeling of the Earth's rough surfaces via fractional Brownian motion was first proposed by Benoît Mandelbrot.
 

Fractal landscape

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractal_landscape
 
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Well, one can't help wonder here, if a yeast cell is vibrating, screaming, what is the Brownian motion jittering doing?
 
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The graphic representation of the sound signal mimics a Brownian pattern. Its spectral density is inversely proportional to f², meaning it has more energy at lower frequencies, even more so than pink noise. It decreases in power by 6 dB per octave (20 dB per decade) and, when heard, has a "damped" or "soft" quality compared to white and pink noise. The sound is a low roar resembling a waterfall or heavy rainfall. See also violet noise, which is a 6 dB increase per octave.
 

Brownian noise

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
 
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Oh, a remarkable curio...the Falls self similarity to the sound of surf, Huntington Beach surf in particular, I noted in posts, and I think speculated the sound of falling water was the famous universal "Om" chant...
 
There's a lot on the web about 'om'...here's one:
 
I'd leave off the 'm', and that about has it!
 
The Sun has an atmosphere, and within this atmosphere there is sound...there are ways to interpret what these sounds are like...spectral colors of the gasses I think help...here's clip with the Sun's sound...
 
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Fiery Looping Plasma Rain - Sound of the the Sun
 
 
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and this:
 
10 Hours of Brown Noise (Brownian Noise) for Relaxation, Meditation, Tinnitus Relief, Sound Therapy
 
 
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One of the best night's sleeps I ever had was on a sandy beach along the Tuolumne River just down trail from Glen Aulin, last night of my long hike from Lake Tahoe...this in 1973 or so, when one could still pitch camp next to Sierra streams, rivers, and lakes, and such!
one can still camp close enough to hear, of course...I could hear the Falls from Tree in the Door much of the year...
 
The Brownian atomic motion is affecting the molecules of the fly egg cells...I don't know if they just ignore it, or incorporate it in their growth, 'Brownian motion dna' a place to start!...a lookabout search for tomorrowmorrow!
 
DavidDavid
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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