responsive bio-mimetic tutorial

2 weeks ago, i had a conversation with my students talking about our final review's goal. along the hard working of this semester, we tried to articulate a view point about a responsive pattern, which is based on the mechanism of the target bio-creature each group is being asked to research. and then the knowledge is materialized into a proto-device, a mimetic prototype. the step followiong is the mutation of its variation and composition of its pattern. the final step is the artificial life formulation wuth the help of arduino and sensor to create a responsive pattern.

flowing rain trace as an adjustable formation

i took a bus the other day. it was raining and freezing in taipei. i looked outside through the window to see the cityscape. to some degree, a bus window is an excellent observing tool to experience the city life and culture. due to the rain fall and the uneven bus roof, so there came a continuing little "river" flowing vertically passing on the window surface. i am so attractive to this tiny urban spectacle, more charming than the taipei 101 fire work at the new year eve, that i was suddenly isolated from the other city events and focused on the changeable water trace i was witnessing. what is more graceful and astonishing is the story the rain and bus scriped together, sharing the same key structure to the generation of animated forms, vivid forms, or the forms with life. from an embryo in a womb to the landscape of earth, from the baking bread in the oven to the rushing stream of the boiled water demostrates the process of form making and its moveable nature in form. i have to say it is a tiny opening ocasionally happening in daily life, but also a deep insight that sees through the apprearance of the enormous structure that functions steadily in the universe.

【轉載】男性食指比無名指長 易是同性戀

2010年12月05日 壹蘋果

英國《每日郵報》報導，科學家自1980年代起進行手指長短的研究，發現食指和無名指的長短，會影響一個人的個性、性向和脾氣。研究認為手指長度受男性荷爾蒙影響，食指較無名指長的男性，容易過敏、罹患精神分裂症，且較女性化，成為同性戀的機率較高。無名指較食指長的男性，行為較有侵略性，幼時容易過動，長大容易為性愛冒險。


WHAT YOUR INDEX FINGER REVEALS ABOUT YOU
By Paul Robins from Daily Star Sunday

WOMEN with short fingers are more likely to be gay and succeed in their jobs.

And men with long index fingers tend to do better at school and have less chance of getting cancer.

Researchers say these are just some of the character traits determined by the size of a person’s index and ring fingers.

The length also determines what films you like, how sporty you are and even your skills on the stock market, according to scientists.

They found men whose index finger is shorter than their ring finger are more fertile, more aggressive and better at sport.

They are also far less likely to be struck down with heart disease and prostate cancer.

However, girls with short index fingers are at greater risk of breast cancer and prone to allergies and schizophrenia.

People with short fingers also make better soldiers, engineers and chess players, but have more chance of ending up behind bars. They are also more likely to experiment with drugs, watch violent films and become addicted to booze.

And they will probably also be poorer and find it harder to hold down a job.

But long index fingers are considered more feminine. Men who have them tend to be gay, while women with long digits are more likely to be lesbians.

Men whose ring finger is longer than their index finger are sexier, according to the scientists.

But women are more attractive as mates if their index fingers are longer.

The findings, by biologist Dr John Manning, are based on the digital ratio between the ring and index fingers.

In men, higher levels of pre-birth testosterone meant the ring finger was generally longer than the index finger.

In women, higher oestrogen levels led to the index finger being the same length or longer than the ring finger.

paul.robins@dailystar.co.uk


A long index finger means less risk of prostate cancer
December 1, 2010 by Rory Fitzgerald from NewsWHIP.ie

New research shows that the length of a man’s fingers can indicate his risk of prostate cancer. A just-published study found that men whose index finger is longer than their ring finger are less prone to the disease. Researchers at University of Warwick and the UK’s Institute of Cancer Research compared the hands of 1,500 prostate cancer patients with 3,000 healthy men. The length of our fingers is fixed before birth, and is largely determined by sex hormone levels in the womb. A long index finger indicates lower exposure to testosterone before birth, which may protect against prostate cancer later in life. The BBC reports that that the findings could offer a simple test for prostate cancer risk.

【轉載】控制基因

天生好手！ 建仔多一組運動基因
2010/11/18
【聯合晚報╱記者李樹人/台北報導】

台灣之光王建民站上美國大聯盟投手丘，這是天生注定！？王建民最近完成全基因體定序及檢測，結果發現，他果然與眾不同，與常人相較，他多了一組與動運肌肉表現有關的基因，這也讓他成為天生好手。


鴻海集團首次跨足國內生醫界，投資康聯生醫科技，著手進行一項名為「H-Gene」的基因計畫，將全基因體定序與個人健康管理結合，改寫全球健康產業模式。


康聯生醫總經理蔡政憲指出，「基因」對許多人來說，既熟悉卻又陌生，人體基因由四種鹼基排列組合成鹼基對，人體共有30億對鹼基對，數量相當於15套大英百科全書，120億個文字。


這項基因計畫將基因體定序首度被運用在個人健康管理，每個人只要抽5mL(毫升)的血液，大約兩個月就可得到全基因體定序資料。


蔡政憲指出，基因定序關乎在一輩子的健康，例如可預測罹患糖尿病、乳癌或心臟病等發生率機率，甚至是肥胖、老人癡呆的傾向，清楚自身潛藏的疾病危機。


例如「管理」脂肪的基因如果出現問題，罹患心臟病的機率則將高於正常人群；「負責」排毒的基因如出現缺陷，上了年齡後，患癌風險就大增。與維生素D代謝有關的基因，將直接對骨質產生影響。


蔡政憲進一步指出，經由專家團隊分析，可了解受檢者可能罹患特定疾病的風險、是否有潛在性家族遺傳疾、對藥物的反應、飲食營養的代謝情況，以及自身體質的優缺點。


以王建民為例，兩個月前抽血接受全基因體定序，結果發現他能成為一流投手，除了努力外，基因給予他的先天優點，也是主因之一。


蔡政憲表示，王建民基因定序報告中，出現一組與眾不同的基因，而這組基因表現與運動特質有關，醫界發現，在許多世界籍的優秀運動選手都帶有這個顯性基因。


【2010/11/18 聯合晚報】

蝴蝶、斑馬與胚胎之摘錄3

◎成功研究出動物形體如何正確發生的其中一個方法，便是研究身體部位數量變化或是長錯位置的怪胎...

◎所有的組織者在生物組織或細胞中都會影響樣式的形成，或作「形態發生」(morphogenesis)的性質。基本上，它們的特殊活動就是來自於組織者細胞會產生影響其他細胞發展的物質，這類物質被稱為「形態生長因子」(morphogen)。

◎組織者的作用取決於它們距離目標細胞的距離....

◎...組織者活性來自於一群細胞的活性，任何一種細胞都會產生上千種物質，而負責組織者活性的物質也可能不只一種。

◎移植雖然是一項利器，胚胎學家仍需要有其他方法，以便在複雜的細胞生化世界中找出形態生長因子...

◎貝特森將這些畸形分成兩種基本型，一種是重複部位的數量發生改變，另一種是身體某部位變形為另一個部位的相似物。他將後者稱之為「同源」(homeotic, 從希臘文homeos而來，意思是同樣或相似的變異)

◎...釐清這類形體究竟是遺傳性的，還是因為胚胎在成形時受到物理性損害而造成(如此一來便不會遺傳下去)...

◎同源突變能夠將一個結構完全轉變為另一個，...這並不是發育不良或失敗，而是整個構造的命運被轉換，造成一個部位的錯置，或是部位的數量錯誤。關鍵在於這是系列同源部位之間的轉變，一種部位變為其他的相似部位(觸角之於腿，後翅之於前翅)...

◎只有少數的「同源」基因會在發生突變時造成同源形體，這意味著有一小群的「主控」基因掌管著果蠅身體中系列同源部位的分化。

蝴蝶、斑馬與胚胎之摘錄2

◎相近的動物都是由十分類似的構造所組成

◎各類動物都是由類似建材的數量同樣的零件所構成的

◎演化在動物設計上普遍使用重複部位與模組結構

◎個別的身體部位也反映出這種模組設計的主題(比方說手跟腳)

◎「發生」這項大工程─從一個微小的細胞開始，建構出複雜的大型動物

◎動物設計的模組與部位重複，反映出動物形體的次序

◎考量一批特定動物時，會發現牠們之間最明顯的差異是來自重覆結構的「數量」與「種類」

◎「同源」(homologos)(如不同動物之間的同部位，如蠑螈、蜥腳類和老鼠的前肢與我們的手臂)、「系列同源」(serial homologos)(如同物種的不同部位，如前肢與後肢)

◎Samuel Williston 「這(也)是一種演化定律，有機體的各部位傾向減少數量，僅有較少的部位具有高度特化的功能」.....即一旦數量增加，系列同源構造便會出現功能特化、數量減少的情況

◎對稱性(symmetry)與極性(polarity)

蝴蝶、斑馬與胚胎之摘錄1

發生指的是由一顆卵成長為胚胎，最後轉變為成體的過程，而形體的演化是來自發生的改變。p22

基因時空模式表現的演化會造成形體改變，尤其是那些影響特定結構之數量、形狀或大小的基因。p28