Pons

Our brain controls more than just our thoughts. Like a central computer,a minute aspect of our brain called the pons is computing simultaneous calculations that control our sleep, respiration, swallowing, bladder control, equilibrium, taste, eye movement, facial expressions, posture, and facial sensation. The pons is located at the top of the brainstem acting as a mediator between the brain and the body. Its location is key to its purpose in the brain.

Just as birds are imitated by planes, the pons is imitated by computers. A brain contains various areas that carry out different functions. The pons is analagous to one computer controlling several aspects human body's system. For example, a car's carburetor which controls the gasoline and air mixture to produce a optimal solution to fill the volume of a piston is something the driver never notices. Computers in planes, cars, and many other systems simultaneously control certain factors in each respective system to maintain equilibrium performing like the pons.

Mental diseases which occur in the pons contain the potential to disrupt a human's basic vital functions and daily life. A pons that does not fully carry out it's job can be replaced by a computer that can monitor its responsibility like respitory rate and bladder control. If a central processing unit can control several processes on a computer, then it sure can be manipulated to control basic bodily functions. There are two barriers to this solution. First, a connection between the neurons and electric signals from a computer chip needs to be established in order for this work. Secondly, a source of energy for this chip would be necessary . A battery that constantly needs to be changed would not be a viable source of energy due to its need to be changed with time.

Neurons transmit information between each other through electrical impulses called synapses. With the discussion of electricity, there must also be discussion of a potential difference to allow a flow of electrons amongst two different neurons. If the location of this potential difference can be pinpointed then its establishment will enable access to a foreign object with charge. This will finally allow the transmission of electrons and therefore communication can be established. This missing piece of the puzzle of neuroscience is an extremely important part of the picture that will solve many of the diseases associated with the brain.

The only option for the energy source of a CPU ingrained as the pons would be from surrounding cells. Cells utilize ATP to maintain homeostasis. A bridge would have to be constructed between the cell and the CPU to transfer the ATP from the cell to the CPU. This bridge would either utilize osmosis or diffusion to transport the ATP. After moving from the cell to the CPU, the adenosine triphosphate(ATP) would have to somehow be converted into the energy used by a CPU. ATP is not the only source of energy from a cell that could be diffused across the bridge. There could also be the utilization of glucose for energy. Again, glucose would need to be transported through a bridge that would convert it from its base molecular state to a state that would fulfill a potential difference for energy for a CPU.

Cell Division

In our bodies there are cells which are constantly dying and and multiplying. Cells do not merely appear from thin air, instead dividing themselves through a complex process called mitosis. Mitosis consists of various step by step stages that occur from within the cell. The six stages are called the interphase, prophase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase, and cytokinesis.

The interphase is a preliminary stage for mitosis where chromosomes inside the nucleus duplicate. The duplication of chromosomes inside the nucleus is accompanied by two pairs of centrioles outside of the nucleus which are surrounded by an aster.

In the prophase there are multiple forms of development occurring in the cell. First inside of the nucleus the chromatin becomes bundled into chromosomes. These chromosomes are bundled in two's for the preparation of the final split to form two cells. The second change that occurs in this phase is the separation of the centrioles which are connected by a mitotic spindle made of protein and microtubules. After these two processes occur, a final stage completes the prophase by ridding the nucleus and attaching the sister chromosomes to the mitotic spindle. They are attached to the spindle by a structure called the kinetochore fibers.

The metaphase solely organizes the chromosomes from being scattered throughout the cell to being a perfectly perpendicular to the opposite spindle poles. The chromosomes appear as a dashed horizontal line after the completion of the this stage.

Next, the anaphase separates the sister chromosomes through the motion of the spindle apparatus. Each separated sister chromosome contains an identical chromosome on the opposite side of this cell. The poles of the cells move farther apart displaying two distinct and ready cells still unified but ready for separation.

Technology in the Brain

Technology adapts just by fixing the faults of its predecessor to create a near perfect successor. As we all know nothing is perfect and it is impossible to not find faults in a piece of technology therefore making it an entity. Like evolution, technology follows the guidelines of the rule of "survival of the fittest". A specific organism with a mutation survives due to its advantage over other organisms. The best and most efficient form of technology to facilitate a given situation is the one that society chooses and therefore buys. The advantage in a mutated organism runs analogous to technology's constant improvements.

Our brain is constantly adapting to its surroundings by creating new connections. Connections are made by the brain cell's neurons making new connections through its dendrites. The site of a connection to another neuron is called a synapse and there are billions of synapses in a human brain. When we learn a new concept or relate two things to one another there are a plethora of neurons connecting to one another. Unique concepts that are understood in a brain are represented by unique connections between neurons. When we mentally adapt to a routine or situation I believe that through repetition and time new connections between neurons are made.

The engineer for the BMW M3 took the previously made model, found its flaws, and fixed them. What does this look like in the brain? My theory is the following. As previously stated, certain concepts in the brain contain a unique collection of neurons connected through synapses. The must be at least a million in the amount of neurons connected through synapses. These millions of neurons that represent the knowledge of a model like the 1990s M3 are given and then through processes like work and time(drawing boards, testing, finding the best fit pieces for improvement on the new M3) are then rearranged to form a new design such as the 2000s M3 model. After this, the new M3 model like the one created in the twenty first century has its own set of unique synapses.

Strokes

Strokes are a major and very prevalent problem in medicine today and many mental disorders occur from the effects of strokes. A stroke refers to a problem with the oxygen flow to the brain. Oxygen is brought to the brain by blood flow through arteries that become smaller as they get farther from the heart. There are two types of strokes, ischemic and hemorragic.

An ischemic stroke is one that directly halts the flow of oxygen to the brain due to a clot in an artery that stops the flow of blood. Eighty three percent of strokes are ischemic. Neurons (brain cells) die when a stroke occurs because their oxygen source has become dissipated. Brain cells cannot regenerate after death causing stroke victims to lose certain brain functions after enduring a stroke. Causes of an ischemic stroke can be due to blood clotting in an artery, lack of sufficient blood supply, and an embolus somewhere in the blood supply. The following is what a ischemic stroke looks like.
The second type of stroke is a hemorrhagic stroke. This is caused by an aneurysm in the wall of the blood vessel which causes blood to come in contact with neurons. Blood is extremely toxic to neurons therefore causing them to die within seconds of contact. The following is a visual representation of a hemorrhagic stroke along with a ischemic stroke.

Absorbed Light in Photosynthesis

Photosynthesis consists of two simultaneous processes that produce food for an organism like a plant. There is a process involved with light reactions and there is a process called the Calvin Cycle. The light reaction converts solar energy to chemical energy that a plant uses to maintain homeostasis. Chloroplasts are the regions in the mesophyl cells that contain thylakoids transform light energy to the energy of ATP. The following is a Chloroplast's thylakoid:

The sun is powered by four hydrogen atoms that bond to form a helium atom. When these four atoms fuse together the mass of the helium atom is slightly less than the mass of merely four hydrogen atoms added together. Therefore, this lost mass has been converted to energy which follows the equation founded by Einstein E=mc^2. On the sun there are about 120 million tons of solar matter converted into energy every minute and only a fraction of this energy travels to the Earth.

Light behaves as a wave and as a particle. Its wavelike properties are described by the electromagnetic spectrum. The electromagnetic spectrum is described by all the colors in the rainbow and also invisible radiation such as gamma rays and x rays. The following is the electromagnetic spectrum. They vary in due to their wavelength. The atmosphere acts as a filter to eradicate certain forms of radiation by the sun allowing life to survive on Earth. Radiation in the visible light, mainly blue and red contribute in the photosynthesis of plants.

Light also behaves as if it consists of individual particles called photons. Wavelength is inversely related to the amount of energy in photons. When a molecule absorbs a photon, one of it's electron's is elevated to an orbital where it contains more potential energy(elevated state from a ground state). The electron temporarily is in this high state of potential energy and due to instability this potential energy is converted into heat. This is why cars become hot in the sun because their individual electrons are elevated from photons and then returned to a ground state finally releasing heat.

Emotiv EPOC Software Development Kit

Here is the first generation computer-mind interface created for the public. This allows anyone to sync their minds to a basic interface that gives the user the ability to think of something to get a reaction from the software. The software works by the detection of unique electric impulses of a unique thought from the brain.

The mere fact that there can be a connection established to a computer from electrical impulses from the brain is the basis for computer brain interfaces. This technology is in its infancy due to its lack of consistency and acuteness of the detection of impulses. You can view a preview of this invention at http://www.ted.com/talks/tan_le_a_headset_that_reads_your_brainwaves.html. I am a firm believer that this technology will be improved and it's purposes will have great influence on the future of technology.

A batter has .4 seconds to act to a 90 mile an hour fastball. Any normal person could easily comprehend the fact that the pitcher has the upper hand in this battle. This means that the batter's electrical impulse of a decision to swing the bat + energy transferred from the muscle to the swing of the bat has to be done in a time less than .4 seconds. Now that is an amazingly fast reaction time for the man at the plate. A batter could merely practice his decision making by a computer simulated pitcher to tell him when he should have swung the bat due to the location of a pitched ball during practice. This is a decent way to practice, but an exceptional way to practice would be to integrate this Emotiv Software kit into this situation. Instead of a computer only telling the batter that the pitch was appropriate for a hit, this headset could also program what a home swing decision would look like in the brain therefore reminding the batter when he should have used his home run swing pinpointing the sweet spot for a solid hit(Every batter is different and contains a different pattern of electrical impulses). A good batter is a good decision maker, and software like this would allow a batter to monitor when to make that "home run decision" swing.

This is only one form of application of this device and software. Once a thought and the computer interface are synced, there are unlimited possibilities for this device. Think about the possibilities that can be accomplished in terms of control and the perfection of skilled activities.

Reference

Today I was sitting and studying the physics of electricity and I noticed a pattern. Everything I have learned so far in electricity up to resistance has been reliant of potential difference. Potential difference is an electric force that drives an electric current between two points. Every other concept I have learned so far in electricity including previous topics are based on this fact. Potential difference is a kind of a reference point to learning new ideas in electricity.

Reference and relative points are everywhere around us. It gives us a perceivable way of understanding our surroundings. For example, when I am sitting in my family room at home I see a table with an elephant, a candle, and a ceramic bowl all around similar size and color. As a matter of fact, everything in this room around me is of similar size, shape, and color giving each a viable reference point to one another.

This made me think. If I were to sit in a room with absolutely nothing and infinitely white in all directions than I would have no reference point at all and it would be the same exact thing as being blind. On the other hand, if there was a black dot in a certain distance from me in this infinitely white room then it would act as a reference point that our memory would constantly revert to when lost. This is why I believe that we remember landmarks instead of street names when we drive in foreign places because they act as reference points to our relative base point(where we spend most of our time). This also gives me an vague understanding of our visual intuition and the way we perceive objects. If I were to draw a cube with lines then it would look like this:
It appears as though is box is a three dimensional object but in reality it is two dimensional. There are certain points in this object that are eyes perceive in reference to other points that cause this object to trick our brains to be three dimensional. Our brains automatically see this third dimension due to the accurate relativity of the lines.

Objects that are out of proportion are hard for our brain to perceive. We are somewhat of learned creatures. Whenever we walk into an office with a abnormally large pencil, our brains are immediately shocked about its size. Most objects we observe are already hardwired into our memory and fast conclusions are made by our brain to make a decision on what they are. Hence the quote "Its a bird, a plane, superman!" Our brain at first immediately looks up into the sky and comes to the conclusion of a bird then a plane.

Blood

The average human body contains about four to six liters of blood. All vertebrates contain blood which is in our bodies for many vital functions. There are four constituents that blood is composed of: plasma, red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.

If you were to take a centrifuge ( a tool that spins mixtures to separate its components) with blood as the sample, two layers would form as the ending result. The top layer which would appear to be a clear and yellow fluid which is called plasma. Plasma consists of many solutes dissolved in water which are inorganic salts, plasma proteins which sometimes act as escorts for lipids(commonly known as fats) which are insoluble in water but only travel when bound to a protein, nutrients, waste products, and gases.

Each cubic millimeter of blood contains about five million red cells(erythrocytes). For oxygen to be transported, it must diffuse through the plasma membranes of red blood cells. This transfusion occurs due to molecules of hemoglobin, a protein containing iron, located in the red blood cells. As oxygen passes through gills or lungs, oxygen passes through membranes and binds to the hemoglobin. Erythrocytes are produced in the red marrow of bones particularly in the ribs, vertebrae, breastbone, and pelvis. If tissues are not receiving the correct amount of oxygen, a hormone called erthropoitin stimulate s the production of red blood cells in red blood cells in bone marrow.

White blood cells (leukocytes) fight infections in our body. There are a great concentration of white blood cells in lymph nodes and other parts of the lymphatic system which include the spleen, thymus, tonsils, adenoids, and lymph nodes. One type of leukocytes fight infections by eating bacteria, and the other produce antibodies to react against foreign substances.

Computers to Diagnose Injuries and Sickness

Every year there are many mistakes made by physicians for the diagnosis of a patient's illness. In surgery, if this error is made the consequences can be extremely fatal. Making mistakes but limiting them to a small number is part of being a physician according to Atul Gawande in his book Complications. Inaccurate diagnosis is a problem that should be conquered by the availability of computers.

In his book Gawande states there are new machines made for anesthesiologists for the purpose of reducing an error that cause people to die due to an excess of amount of anesthesia. The error was brought out by two different types of anesthesia machines that were placed in a hospital. One machine contained a dial that countered the dial of the other machine meaning the dials were inconsistent in the way they distributed anesthesia. This was one issue in the technology in a hospital that caused many deaths To prevent this the dials on the anesthesia machines became consistent.

Personal opinion and learned knowledge is how physicians diagnose patients who complain about their body. Like a car our body contains various systems that work together to form a well oiled machine. The modern day mechanic diagnoses the problems of a system by syncing it to a computer. If this can be done to a car then why can't it be done to the human body? A bridge between our biological body and an electrical interface needs to be built so solutions like this one can be created.

With the consistency of machines, and the a perfection in practice error can be limited in medicine. Today, physicians and surgeons obtain their practice on actual patients who are underprivileged in their payment methods. Anesthesiologists can practice their jobs in computer simulators where they can be presented a number of different situations that can come across them in the field. Simulations like this where computers are involved is one way computers can make a dramatic impact of medicine.

Like problems experienced by anesthesiologists, doctors in every field experience problems in their daily jobs. Computer simulation to sharpen the skills of various physicians should have a more prominent role in the world of errors. The fact that residents train on actual patients to gain experience is not safe for either the patient or the resident's job security. A company that specializes in software to diagnose illness by scrutinizing the variables of the human body would be the perfect way to solidify accuracy in a diagnosis.

Cell Membranes

Cell membranes regulate what enters and exits a cell through its construents and their respective properties.They are constructed from lipids, proteins, and carbohydrates. These three complement eachother to give to the cell's function of semi permeability(allows what enters and exits). In cell membranes there are sides, a hydrophilic( ability to bond with water) and hydrophobic(inability to bond with water).

In a cell membrane there is a lipid layer and a protein layer as stated earlier. The lipid layer (phospholipids)symmetrically face eachother with the fatty acids lined up to create a hydrophobic zone. There are two models that describe membranes and they differ in where the proteins or hydrophilic zones are located.

The first model of the membrane is the Davson-Danielli model proposed in 1935. It is a sandwhiched phospholipid bilayer between two protein layers. This model was widely accepted until 1970. The following is the Davson-Danielli Model:

In 1972 S.Singer and Nicolson created a new model for the membrane proposing that proteins were dispersed and individually inserted into the phospholipid bilayer with only their hydrophilic portions being exposed to water. It is called the fluid Mosaic model.

This model gives to the reason why certain molecules enter the cell which are not permeable to the phospholipid bilayer.

My Chosen Profession

As a world human beings have accomplished many astounding accomplishments. We have come from being hunter's and gatherers to partaking in organized monarchies, to organizing ourselves into governments driven by capitalism. Like various types of government changes through revolutions for the right and wrong reasons, technology has also improved. We have come from inaccurately navigating the seas with constellations to navigation through satellites in space. Adaptation is the common denominator and the reason of the breakthroughs amongst human beings.

It is now 2010 and as a society we have learned, created, and extensively explored the universe and placed our attention to many different fields defining us as an advanced society. One could look at Earth from the third person and say wow these humans are very intelligent animals who have come a long way from being single celled organisms. One could also look at the human race and say wow we have a long way to go in terms of efficiency, morals, politics, and science.

Earth would look like Jurassic Park without the unique brain of the human being, yet we still know so little about this three pound piece of jelly sitting in our head. Neurology is a subject that contains as many or even more questions as that of the cosmos and I personally believe that with a fundamental physiologically understanding of our brain, we will be able to understand our perception of the universe and how our perception has brought us to where we are today as a society.

Artificial Intelligence is a field that is younger than infancy, but the seed has definitely been planted and a more solid foundation will need to be set for AI. In order to mimic our brain through machines we will need to have a better understanding of it. This gain of knowledge will give into the fields of syncing our minds with various interfaces and AI. A breakthrough in any of these two fields will change the world and human society forever and most likely for the better.

Certain societies in the world are fortunate enough to have nutrition for their entire lives which causes them to live longer. An engine that lasts long also needs a transmission to partner it in it's longevity. Like a car's engine, the human body's heart's extended life also needs a brain to complement it in its elder years. This will be an extremely prevalent topic for our current young generation who will eventually become the elderly. Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease's presence will rise amongst people in the next sixty years. Just as we have adapted in the past, Neurologists and Neuroscientists will have to eclectically team up to cure these dreadful diseases for future of generations.

In my past I have bounced around and chosen a couple of majors to study in college. At first I chose computer engineering where I had no hope in passing after I contained absolutely no interest in it. I then realized that I want to be a Neurologist so I decided I would take the route of Economics/Pre-med(thinking it would be smart to have a "broad background for med school"). After intermediately studying Economics, another subject that did not interest me, I realized that the only way to get through college is to study a major of my interest. My final decision is cognitive science/Pre-med. I want to be a neurologist because I want to be a pioneer, I want to be a philanthropist, and because I simply love the human brain.

Healthy Diet Broken Down

These days society is all about being healthy and keeping our bodies fit. While the slow transition from inorganic hydrogenated food to natural and healthy foods become prevalent amongst people, a more fit brain will also become common amongst people. Face it, a healthy body equals a healthy brain.

The problem with food that contains an extra hydrogen atom is that it attempts to make unsaturated fat saturated. Saturated fat contains a glycerol molecule that is bonded to three different chains of fatty acids. There are no double bonds in these fatty acids therefore meaning they are completely straight. At room temperature, saturated fats are solids because of these straight fatty acids. Like saturated fats unsaturated fats contain the same glycerol molecule bonded to three separate fatty acids. Instead, one of these fatty acids contains a double bond that creates a bend in the molecule making it liquid at room temperature. When stores attempt to preserve foods, they add a hydrogen atom to unsaturated fats creating a double bond and a bend. This makes an unsaturated fat like corn oil a solid at room temperature. This preserves shelf life, but it does not support a healthy human life. Enzymes in our stomach are not programmed to break these molecules down, therefore giving them no nutritional value. The following is an unsaturated fat.


Everything in our body is composed of cells. These individual cells have individual systems that contribute to our overall body's homeostasis. Ribosomes create proteins which are sent to the Golgi Apparatus to only be sent to certain parts of the cell to carry out specific functions. The cytoskeleton maintains the shell shape, protects the cell, enables cellular motion, and allows intracellular transport. Cells obtain their energy from a molecule called adenosine triphosphate which is synthesized through breaking down lipids and carbohydrates (food we eat) by enzymes in our stomoch. This is why it is so important to eat a healthy diet which contains nutrition for cells to maintain a healthy homeostasis. The following is a ATP molecule or "the currency of life".


Games which cater to train specific functions of the brain like memory and speed are exceptional ways to keep a healthy brain. This gives into the quote " If you don't use it you lose it". Neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to compensate damaged areas of the brain through extensive therapy and training. These games are the foundation for the future of driving the power of neuroplasticity. We are only in the beginning stages of understanding how to drive this amazing aspect of the human brain and games that tune specific functions are hitting the wrong demographic. I believe that once these games are built for mentally ill or mentally damaged patients then they will solidify their existence in science.

The Diversity of Personalities

Unlike the ability to locate specific daily functions to certain areas of the brain, personality is a cognitive aspect that contains no set physiological definition.There are two ways neuroscientists delineate a brain and they are both contrary meaning one side sees the brain as being holistic whereas the other as segregated. The holistic side thinks the brain's amazing traits are explained by its size and the collaboration of neurons from different hemispheres. The segregated side believes that there designated areas for specific function and that these functions are limited to these areas. One's personality has much to do with a combination of his environment, genetics, and reoccurring patterns or thoughts in his brain. Two out of the three of these can be related to the brain's plasticity due at an early age as well as the combination of the two views of neuroscience.

Lewis Goldberg proposed a five dimension personality model:
1. Openness to Experience: the tendency to be imaginative, independent, and interested in variety vs. practical, conforming, and interested in routine.
2.Conscientiousness: the tendency to be organized, careful, and disciplined vs. disorganized, careless, and impulsive.
3.Extraversion: the tendency to be sociable, fun-loving, and affectionate vs. retiring, somber, and reserved
4.Agreeableness: the tendency to be softhearted, trusting, and helpful vs. ruthless, suspicious, and uncooperative.
5.Neuroticism: the tendency to be calm, secure, and self-satisfied vs. anxious, insecure, and self-pitying.

Sigmund Freud divided personality into three components which are id, ego, and super-ego. The id's demands are represented by the pleasure center demanding immediate gratification regardless of one's external environment. The ego then realistically meets this demand from the id by observing its environment's practicality. Finally, the super-ego practices moral judgment and implements societal rules on the id's demand. The super-ego is the last portion of a personality to develop and is the embodiment of the parent's ideals during childhood.


We physiologically are all the same, yet we differ so much in the way we act. Our emotional stability and experience have everything to do with our overall personality. Differentiation in our brain's reactions to certain situations defines our personalities which is correlated to our memory. Our memory is linked to our temporal lobe which is the portion of the our brain that retrieves vital memories from taste, sound, sight, and touch. An eclectic grouping of our memories is associated with our overall knowledge and experience which in turn leads to our unique reactions to certain situations. This is an example of the segregated view of the brain.

Connections between memories and certain emotional reactions must be made to define personality. Freud's three component description also states something relevant to that. This would physiologically be described as unique connections between the hypothalamus and our temporal lope giving reason to the holistic view of our brain. When we see something foreign or new, our initial reaction to it is a question. We attempt to gain knowledge of that foreign object only to make an opinion of it for future use which define our personality. For example, if you take one child and observed his every experience to detail(from birth), and simply placed another child into his situation where the second child experience the same exact as the stuff as the first(from birth), they would have identical personalities unless people are born with different personality. This idea gives to the idea of being the "product of one's environment".

Lightening

There is an abundant amount of potential energy associated with electricity. Electric field lines describe the direction and behavior of an objects charge. A visual way to understand this is imagining a machine constantly blowing out confetti in <---- direction and a vacuum sucking in air in -----> direction(imagine no gravitational force). The confetti will constantly will be entering the vacuum creating a field of confetti around both objects. This field of confetti is similar to magnetic field lines, and the positively charged object is the confetti blower and the negatively charged object is the vacuum. The following black lines with arrows are electric field lines of two oppositely charged objects.


Potential energy in electricity is imagined by placing a charge(d1 -) from infinity to another charge(P -). As charge d1 which is negative is brought from infinite closer to P which is also negative, work must be done in order to continuously bring this charge closer or even hold the charge at a certain point in the vicinity of the electric field of P. Therefore, wherever there is work there also must be potential energy. The potential difference is what we see everyday in our homes and it is described by the units of Volts or Joules/Coulomb. It is the energy required to move a charge to a particular place in a static electric field.

Creating this potential difference for uses of other energy is the challenge we face in 2010. We indirectly use techniques like burning fossil fuels, and harvesting wind and solar energy. What ever happened to using lightening as a means of energy?

Storm clouds are arranged like giant capacitors in the sky; the upper cloud being positively charged and the lower cloud being negatively charged. Due to large masses of clouds with opposite charge, an electric field of large proportion is produced. This electric field is so enormous that the lower negatively charged clouds cause the earth's electrons in its ground to move away and become positively charged at the surface(Earth contains charge). When the electric field is strong(tens of thousands of volts per inch), the molecules(air) between the clouds becomes ionized or separated into positive ions and electrons. This means that electrons can move more freely than they previously could before when the air was not ionized. The immensely complex electric fields of the two clouds cause the ionized air(plasma) to create step leaders or ionized air to create paths through the sky and into the ground. Objects on the Earth's surface, or the Earth's surface itself become attracted to the ionized air which causes an eventual meeting between the two. After the two meet, current flows from the ionized air into the Earth, and a discharge of current is exploited to neutralized the charge separation. The enormous amount of current in that flows in the charge separation causes the flash of light. The thunder is caused by the flash(which is hotter than the sun) exploding the air.


One lamp consumes 150 volts, while there is 100 million volts of potential difference in lightening. There are 16 million recorded lightening storms in the world every year. If we could harvest this energy for domestic use you could do the math on how much we could save.

Subtlety of Inventions

The problem of pinpointing longitude plagued ship captains for hundreds of years causing a steep death toll of ships, cargo, and men. The inability to access accurate navigation in longitude bounded travel and exploration due to ships only utilizing one route for known destinations. This problem of the past parallels our current problem of finding an alternate energy source for our high maintenance society.

Longitude is the imaginary lines drawn from North to South causing them to criss-cross each other at the North Pole and the South Pole. In the past when there was no form of communication via electromagnetic waves and satellites, a ship navigator used relativity to pinpoint his location. Relative positions of celestial patterns in the sky compared to the position of the moon or a planet like Jupiter was one way of figuring out one's longitude. Many famous astronomers and mathematicians like Galileo, Robert Hooke, and Isaac Newton formulated thousands of pages of data mapping out the positions of stars to seek an accurate mathematical way of finding position. In theory this method sounds impeccable, but when in use on a ship under the circumstances of weather, pressure, and the lack of a mathematical mind makes this method faulty. Another way of locating longitudinal position is keeping track of the respective time on a traveling ship and the ship's land of departure and the difference in the time is then converted into degrees. The issue with this method was finding a clock that was able to withstand the conditions of a ship at sea.

The prior method of accurate navigation through celestial patterns was the main focus of most qualified mathematicians and astronomers. They merely ignored the second method of keeping time at two locations, but this was not their fault. The challenges of the prior method was more applicable to their backgrounds and their expertise, and this reflected on the abundance in time that it took to solve this problem. The latter method was ignored by the abstract thinkers, but was kept in mind by a professional who was an expert with his hands. John Harrison, who was an exceptional handyman and clock maker constructed a a series of clocks that stood up to the challenges of the latter method of keeping track of time on a ship. His first design, the H-1 contained parts which did not expand to the rapid changes in temperature, causing the accuracy of time to be more acute. He submitted this design to the Committee Board(mathematicians, ship captains, astronomers, government officials) and to them this clock was flawless, but Harrison carried the characteristic of the perfectionist as every visionary does. After the submission of the H-1, the unknown handyman was now employed in research by the British. He received funding and for the next twenty years he constructed the H-2, H-3, and finally the H-4.
Some characteristics of the H-4 are still used in modern clocks today.

I have noticed a pattern in great innovations and ideas that drive the future. Subtlety. John Harrison came out of nowhere and stood amongst the greatest minds on the world because of the boldness in his product which was something completely different than the idea of celestial patterns. While society was surrounding the success of the primary method, John Harrison changed the world with a method which contained no support. Like the problem of Longitude, subtlety will also solve our problem of finite and inefficient energy.