Most of us have taken, or at least interacted with, medicine at some point or another in our lives. This can range from more “simple” over-the-counter drugs to more complex medicines specifically designed for exact illnesses. Considering the Covid-19 era we are going through and as search for a vaccine is at the highest possible speed, it is important to have at least a general idea on how medicines are developed for our use. This article aims to explore how a complicated mix of chemical compounds in a laboratory end up as pills on a shelf in your local pharmacy. We will also explore a brief history of pharmacology, where drugs get their names, how drugs come into fruition, the various affects that drugs can have on our bodies, along with the discrepancies that exist between them in regard to when, how, and why they should be taken.

Pharmacology is the study of the interactions that occur between a living organism and the chemicals that affect normal or abnormal biochemical functions. It includes the study of how a drugs can affect our biological systems, such as individual organs or an entire part of the body, and how the body overall responds to the drug. The discipline encompasses the sources, chemical properties, biological effects and, therapeutic uses of drugs. Substances with medicinal properties are considered pharmaceuticals, whereas drugs given for therapeutic purposes are usually called medications. Drug therapy, which is also called pharmacotherapy, is the use of drugs to prevent, diagnose, and treat signs, symptoms, and disease processes. When prevention or cure is not a reasonable goal, relief of symptoms can greatly improve quality of life and the ability to function properly on a day-to-day basis. Developing an understanding of this craft can allow us to better appreciate how molecules interact to form the drugs and medicines that can change our lives, and perhaps even allow us to contemplate their complex creation and existence.

In its most simplistic definition, a medication is a substance that is ingested or placed onto the body in order to cure a disease or condition (antibiotics are given to cure an infection), treat a medical condition (anti-depressants are given to treat depression), relieve symptoms of an illness (pain relievers are given to reduce pain), given to prevent diseases (flu vaccine helps to prevent the person from complications of having the flu).

Source of drugs

Historically, drugs were mainly derived from plants, animals, and minerals. Morphine, insulin, and iron are all commonly used examples of their respective sources. Belief in the curative powers of plants and certain substances rested exclusively upon traditional knowledge. But empirical information was not subjected to critical examination. Until the end of the 19th century, medicines were made by natural organic or inorganic products including mostly dried or fresh plants and their parts. These compounds might contain substances that possess healing properties or reactions that exert a toxic effect. It is important to remember that many fruits, vegetables, and plants still possess great power despite not having a “modern” origin.

Most drugs used nowadays are synthetic chemical compounds manufactured in laboratories which are synthesized by altering the chemical structure of an existing drug. The first drug of a particular group of drugs are called prototypes. For example, morphine is the prototype of opioid analgesics, and penicillin is the prototype of antibacterial drugs. Drug classifications and prototypes are defined and most new drugs can be assigned to a group. We must be hopeful and continue to search far and wide for cures for all  diseases, whether they be organic or synthetic, since our world is full of an infinite amount of possibilities and discoveries.

Drug names

The systematic naming of pharmaceutical drugs is called “drug nomenclature.” Drugs primarily have three types of names: chemical names, generic names, and trade names. The chemical names are the scientific names that often sound complex and are based upon the molecular structure of a drug. During development, the company will apply for regulatory approval of the drug by the relevant national regulatory agency, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and will be granted a generic name for it. Generic names usually indicate, via their stems, what drug class the drug belongs to. For example, oseltamivir is an antiviral drug because its name ends in the -vir suffix.

After development, testing, and regulatory acceptance of a drug, the pharmaceutical company gives the drug a trade name, which is a standard term in the pharmaceutical industry for a brand name or trademark name. Many drugs have multiple trade names which can reflect separate marketing strategies in different countries, manufactured by different companies, or both.

Drug investigation

A new drug investigation is the beginning of the journey of a chemical compound to a drug that will be used in clinics. The testing process of a chemical compound begins with animal studies to determine potential beneficial uses and also potential toxic side effects of the candidate compound.  The results from these animal studies are reviewed, and if the results are satisfactory, the compound then undergoes clinical trials in humans that people can voluntarily sign up for. Most clinical trials use a randomized, controlled experimental design that involves selection of subjects according to established criteria, random assignment of subjects to experimental groups, and administration of the test drug to one group and a control substance to another group.

Patent protection

New drugs that are developed by pharmaceutical companies will be covered under patent protection. This means that only the pharmaceutical company that holds the patent is allowed to manufacture, market, and eventually profit from the drug. This is seen as a return on the company’s investment that it took to develop the drug, which may require years of work and millions of dollars, along with an incentive for developing other drugs. Other pharmaceutical companies cannot manufacture and market the drug during the patent period.

Usually, the drug patent is awarded for around twenty years in the United States, however the number of years varies across countries and drugs. Pharmaceutical companies apply for a patent long before the clinical trial period even begins. The effective patent period after the drug has finally received approval is often around seven to twelve years. After the patented period expires the drug can be manufactured and sold by other companies. The drug is referred to as a generic drug at this point, and they are required to be therapeutically equivalent and much less expensive than trade name drugs.

Pharmacoeconomics

Pharmacoeconomics involves all of the costs that are accrued due to drug therapy and experimentation including those related to purchasing supplies, dispensing the drug, storing it, administrative fees, laboratory and other tests that are used to monitor patient responses, and losses from expiration. The length of a patient’s illness or hospitalization is also considered. While the most important factor is the health of the patient the costs for treatment are increasingly being considered as a major factor when choosing medications, and research projects that compare costs have greatly increased in recent years. The goal is to make it easier for patients to choose the most cost-effective drugs that combine high quality treatment at an affordable price. For drugs or regimens of similar efficacy and toxicity, there is considerable pressure upon doctors and pharmacies to prescribe less costly drugs for shorter duration.

Prescription and non-prescription drugs

In many countries, consumers have two legal routes of access to therapeutic drugs. One route involves a prescription or order from a licensed health care provider, such as a physician, dentist, or nurse practitioner. The other route is by over-the-counter (OTC) purchase of drugs that do not require a prescription. Both of these routes are regulated by various drug laws that change from country to country. Acquiring and using prescription drugs for non-therapeutic purposes, by persons who are not authorized to have the drugs or for whom they are not prescribed, is illegal.

The rejection of drugs in modern society

Nowadays, there are some people who deny various kinds of treatments because of their religious beliefs. This category of people is only a minority, as the majority of religions advocate for people to be healthy and to take care of their health as much as they can. In almost all belief traditions, the human body is believed to be a trust, and in case of any disease, the most appropriate and fastest treatment methods should be used. Even substances that are not normally permitted are allowed by scholars to be used if the person’s safety is concerned. For believers, the most important goal in life is to worship God, and for this to be possible the body must be healthy.

One day, people asked Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him:

“Should we make use of medical treatment?”

He replied: “Make use of medical treatment, for God has not made a disease without appointing a remedy for it, with the exception of one disease, namely old age.”

People are encouraged to seek out those remedies and to use them with skill and kindness. Let us also remember that Jesus, peace be upon him, too, was very active in his ministry of healing. He showed by God’s permission miracles like curing the blind and the deaf, and bringing the dead back to life. Thus, religions do not refuse treatment with any available methods, and they even strongly encourage treatment and prevention of diseases.

Religions are also well known to treat stress, which wreaks havoc on the mind and body. It is still not known exactly how stress harms our health, but researchers have found that chronic psychological stress is associated with body’s losing its ability to regulate the inflammatory response. It has been shown that the effects of psychological stress on the body’s ability to regulate inflammation can promote the development and progression of disease. We know that religions and beliefs give people hope and significantly decrease the stress.

Human beings are the most precious creation, and health is necessary for us to achieve the purpose of our existence. Using scientific medicine together with faith and religion can help people to protect their health. Being the science of drugs and by investigating new drug therapies, pharmacology helps us exactly with that.

History of Pharmacology

Claudius Galen (129–200 A.D.) was the first person who attempted to consider the theoretical background of pharmacology.

Ali al-Tabari (838 A.D.) Medieval Islamic physicians used natural substances such as Papaver somniferum Linnaeus, poppy, and Cannabis sativa Linnaeus, hemp as a source of medicinal drugs. Although poppy had medicinal benefits, Ali al-Tabari explained that the extract of poppy leaves was lethal, and the extracts and opium should be considered poisons (4).

Theophrastus von Hohenheim (1493–1541), also known as “Paracelsus”, began to question doctrines from antiquity. He prescribed chemically defined substances with such success that professional enemies had him prosecuted as a poisoner. Against such accusations, he defended himself with the thesis that has become an axiom of pharmacology:

“If you want to explain any poison properly, what then isn‘t a poison? All things are poison, nothing is without poison; the dose alone causes a thing not to be poison.”

Johann Jakob Wepfer (1620–1695) was the first to use animal experimentation for pharmacological or toxicological actions.

Rudolf Buchheim (1820–1879) founded the first institute of pharmacology at the University of Dorpat (Tartu, Estonia) in 1847, which firstly made pharmacology as an independent scientific discipline. In addition to a description of effects, he strove to explain the chemical properties of drugs.

Oswald Schmiedeberg (1838–1921), together with his many disciples, helped to establish the high  reputation of pharmacology. He partnered with pathologist Bernhard Naunyn (1839–1925) to found the first journal of pharmacology, which has since been published without interruption.

After 1920, the pharmacological industry had their own pharmacology laboratories outside established university institutes. After 1960, departments of clinical pharmacology were set up at many universities and in industry.

References

1. Clinical Drug Therapy: Rationales for Nursing Practice – Seventh 7th Edition, Lippincott Williams &Wilkins.
2. Basic&Clinical Pharmacology, 12^th Edition, McGrawHill Lange.
3. Modern Pharmacology with Clinical Applications, Sixth Edition, Charles R. Craig and Robert E. Stitzel, Lippincott Williams &Wilkins.

We live in a magnificent world inhabited by approximately 8,700,000 species. This number includes only general species, not subspecies. Scientists discover around 2,500 new species every year, and the number is soon estimated to reach 10 million.

All living organisms are blessed with unique bodies, systems, and organs, defense and protection mechanisms to survive and protect themselves, and special features to help them forage for food.

When people get ill due to environmental effects or malnutrition they usually consult a doctor. They try to find a cure by using the medicine prescribed by doctors. However, animals living in the wild don’t have this option. When animals living in nature or on the street get ill what can they do if nobody takes them to a vet? How do millions of species get well and find cures for their ailments?

You might think that animals who become sick in the wild must simply live with their symptoms, but this is not the case. In fact, we have given a clue at the introduction: each organism is equipped with features to lead a self-sustaining life. Either their bodily functions perfectly enable them to live in their habitat or their unique metabolisms protect them from harmful external factors. Animals also can use some plants whose health benefits have only recently been discovered by humans.

In recent decades, there has been a growing interest for herbal products such as walnut leaf, cherry stalk tangerine rind, grenadine red, and celery root to find cure for diseases.

Animals perform amazing tasks with mind-blowing adroitness as if each were an expert chemist. Wondrous mechanisms are activated when a need arises to protect animals from harm.

Some plants with healing properties:

Lupine, quassia, bitter wood, hemlock, fishberry, roselle, henbane, giant fennel root, pistachio, resin, pine turpentine, mistletoe, cumin, hibiscus, hibiscus flower, alkanet, flos elaeagni, camphor, cardamom, St John’s wort, French lavender, Flaxseed, linseed oil, henna tree, quillaia, wall germander, cranberry, aspand, daffodil, water lily, common balm and eucalyptus.

Animals have been consuming and finding cures in these plants since the dawn of time. They are also equipped with many surviving capabilities under extremely severe conditions. Here are a few examples:

Antibiotics expert

With a height of up to five meters, the giraffe is the tallest land animal. Scientists who investigated the scent emitted by the giraffe found 11 separate chemical substances in its fur. The chemicals turned out to have antibiotic properties, having an increased efficiency when combined. Only after a series of experiments can these incredibly complex chemicals be extracted in the laboratory. The giraffe has been using these chemicals to prevent fungi and bacteria, repel ticks, and stop the growth of germs. Where did these tall creatures study chemistry to know how to produce antibiotics such as indole?

The stubborn doctor

The bezoar ibex is a type of mountain goat native to Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan and Pakistan. It has a motley coat of black, brown, grey, reddish-gold, and white. Both the male and female have horns and a goatee. The name means “cure” in Persian, and the locals must have noticed its habit of eating spurge whenever bitten by a snake. Scientists have identified the substance called euphorbone in the spurge plant. Amazingly, an analysis of this substance reveals that certain chemical reactions triggered by euphorbone neutralize the effects of venom. The poisoned creature looks for splurge from among the vegetation, self-medicates, and treats itself free of charge. It sure is no wonder when one realizes that the goat, the snake, and the plant are all created by the same hand.

The master of diving

Divers who ascend too quickly to the surface run the high risk of experiencing the bends, an intense pain that is likely to kill because of the gasses coming out of the bloodstream. But how do billions of creatures that lack oxygen tubes lead their entire lives in the sea without experiencing the bends?

Dolphins and whales, for example, descend to depths humans can’t reach on their own and then rise like it is no big deal. Human lungs cannot endure the pressure under such depths, but the bronchi and air sacs in the lungs of dolphins, however, are placed inside a protective cover of special cartilage. To avoid suffering the bends, dolphins release all the air in their lungs before diving deep. But how then do they breathe? The answer is hidden in their muscles, or rather in the myoglobin protein that is available in much higher amounts than in humans. These proteins have the ability to hold in high amounts of oxygen molecules. The much needed oxygen is provided from this source, enabling dolphins and whales to dive as deep as possible.

Poison for one, food for another

The macaw is an inhabitant of American tropical regions with an average wing span of 80 cm. It is known to be a tough creature that lives as long as 60 years. The macaw feeds on plants that produce a chemical called strychnine (C₂₁H₂₂N₂O₂), a powerful poison intended to ward off enemies. How can a substance that kills some living things nourish others? Immediately after eating the nutritious but poisonous seeds, the macaw flies to the rocky cliffs in a certain area. When they get there, they gnaw at and swallow some clay-based rock pieces. The fact that the bird ingests clay without any apparent reason is quite an interesting behavior. The reason was revealed only after research into the origins of the behavior. It turns out that the rocks that have clay in them include a substance called kaolinite (Al₂O₃.2SiO₂.2H₂O) that can absorb the poison in the seeds. The macaw can digest the normally poisonous seeds thanks to this absorption and live on with its life safely. There is no way the macaw can know about the substances present in the clay, so how does it know to eat the clay that can eliminate toxins?

The antifreeze expert

The arctic beetle survives against the inhospitable cold of the arctic thanks to a type of alcohol produced in its body that works as antifreeze. The glycerol (C₃H₈O₃), also called glycerin, produced by the insect prevents the blood and other fluid molecules from freezing and thus ice crystals from killing the cells and destroying cellular bonds. Furthermore, the shorter the days and the colder the weather, the more resistant the bodily mechanisms of the arctic beetle become. As the temperature drops, the volume of water in their body is reduced and antifreeze substances such as glycerol and sorbitol are produced in greater amounts. Research on this amazing creature has revealed that it can survive in temperatures as low as -87 degrees Celsius due to glycerol. It is beyond reason to expect an insect to know how to produce an organic compound with the complex formula of C₃H₈O₃ and thus protect itself from extreme cold.

The radiation expert

Scientists analyzed a surviving scorpion after an atomic bomb test, yet they couldn’t find a satisfying answer to how this animal survived the radiation shower that exterminated all other living organisms. Note that scorpions which came into existence millions of years ago are basically living fossils. Thanks to the protective system they are blessed with, in the past they have survived more powerful solar explosions and harmful radiation from outer space and the sun, and handed down these features to future generations.

The creature that never feels cold

The tardigrade, or water bear, is one of the most resistant organisms in nature.

The size of a pinhead, these microorganisms have pin-shaped hoses in their mouth.  These microorganisms have a brain, a pair of eyes, and a digestion system, but they do not have a heart or lungs.  600 different subspecies of the animal have been discovered so far. They feed mostly on moss and lichens and can survive in any environment including space.

They have been observed to survive a temperature of 120 ⁰C and a pressure of 1000 atm. In dry environments they contract, causing the water in their tissues to evaporate. During this process, the oxygen consumption of the tardigrade virtually stops. The wind carries the dried tardigrades to other places and when they find a suitable environment (wet moss or humid places) they can come back to life again.

According to Ingemar Jönsson from Kristianstadt University in Sweden who participated in studies on this organism, it is a mystery how these animals survive even when they are subjected to conditions in outer space.

Animals perform amazing tasks with mind-blowing adroitness as if each were an expert chemist. Wondrous mechanisms are activated when a need arises to protect animals from harm. It is wondrous to see how animals can carry out these complex chemical procedures as if they have been instructed at birth.

Fuel cells are very promising chemical energy conversion devices. Though the first fuel cell was made by William Grove in 1839, they’re just now being explored as a real energy alternative (1). Let’s take a look at how they work: in a fuel cell, electricity is generated by the reaction of hydrogen and oxygen, which forms water. They are similar to batteries and internal combustion engines (ICEs): just as in a combustion engine, where fuel is oxidized, the oxidization of hydrogen generates energy. They’ll work as long as fuel is provided.

Despite these similarities there are some differences that make fuel cells more attractive than batteries and ICEs. A fuel cell works more efficiently and quietly than engines do. When hydrogen is used as fuel, power and drinking water are produced as by-products (2). Having safe by-products answers our concerns regarding older power sources. A battery is dead if it is not re-chargeable; however a fuel cell can be continually reused.

Fuel cells are generally defined by the type of electrolyte used in the cell, and they operate at different temperatures. Alkaline fuel cells (AFCs), proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), and direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) are called low-temperature fuel cells. Phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFCs) are an intermediate-temperature fuel cell. Molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFCs) and solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are called high-temperature fuel cells (3, 4).

They have been mainly used for stationary, transportation, and portable applications. Since the need for electricity in daily life has dramatically increased, reliable and efficient power supplies have become necessary. Over 2,000 stationary fuel cell systems have been built in hotels, schools, and hospitals. Stationary power generation is considered more commercialized among the other fuel cell applications. Today, these systems have reached an efficiency of 40% when a hydrocarbon is used as fuel. Fuel cell systems are also used in telecommunication systems, and these cells provide power between 1 and 5 kW (5).

Fuel cells have been identified as the most probable alternative power source for transportation applications in place of internal combustion engines (ICEs). There are two distinct features of fuel cells that make them a better choice than ICEs. First, their carbon dioxide gas emissions are nearly zero. Second, fuel cells are much more efficient than ICEs – about two to three times (6). Ballard Power Systems have been developing zero-emission-vehicles by using PEMFCs, which have low operating temperatures and a higher power density.

NASA decided to use fuel cells on American spacecrafts in the 1960s. The advantage of using them in spacecraft was that while they were generating electric power, they produced drinkable water for the astronauts. A fuel cell was used as an integral part of the power supply PEMFCs (1kW) in the Gemini crafts and AFCs (1kW) in the Apollo crafts, both of which were a part of NASA’s human spaceflight programs (6).

Portable applications of fuel cells offer electrical power when reaching the electrical grid is not possible. When they are used as power sources outdoors, they help to avoid air and noise pollution (4). Because these portable fuel cells are lighter and more durable than batteries, they have been considered as alternative power sources for mobile phones, laptop computers, and some electronic devices (5). They are also used by the military in battle. A 4 kW PEM generator was built for the U.S. military by Intelligent Energy Ltd., out of Europe (7). Since direct methanol fuel cell systems are much lighter than the indirect systems, they are mostly used as portable power systems.

Although fuel cells have benefits when compared to other power sources, they are not widely used because of their high cost. In 2010, the Energy Information Administration released that the cost of fuel cells is $6.83 per installed watt, which is almost 7 times more expensive than a natural-gas turbine generator plant (8). In 2008, the Honda Clarity produced one of the first hydrogen-powered automobiles; these require very expensive catalysts: platinum (9). A catalyst makes the chemical reactions occur faster. Platinum is still the best catalyst, so this explains the prohibitive cost. A cheaper substitute for platinum is needed for use in automobiles. Another problem is that hydrogen is widely used as fuel for transportation applications. Until there is a sufficient hydrogen infrastructure, car manufacturers will find it hard to mass produce cars that use fuel cells.

Cetin is a freelance science writer.

References

1. Grove, W. R. (1839). On voltaic series and the combination of gases by platinum. Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, Series 3,14, 127-130.
2. Hoogers, G. (2003). Fuel Cell Technology Handbook. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
3. Mekhilef, S., Saidur, R., Safari, A. (2012). Comparative study of different fuel cell technologies. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16, 981-989.
4. Gencoglu, M. T., Ural, Z. (2009). Design of a PEM fuel cell system for residential application. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 34, 5242-5248.
5. Andujar, J., Segura, F. (2009). Fuel cells: History and updating. A walk along two centuries. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 13, 2309-2322.
6. Iovine, John. “Fuel Cells.(composition, energy-generating processes and industry developments and innovations).” Poptronics. Poptronix, Inc. 2001. Retrieved May 17, 2012 from High Beam Research: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-69015426.html
7. Cowey, K., Green, K., Mepsted, G., Reeve, R. (2004). Portable and military fuel cells. Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science 8, 367-371.
8. Administration, U. E. (2010, November). Updated Capital Cost Estimates for Electricity Generation Plants. Retrieved from http://205.254.135.24/oiaf/beck_plantcosts.
9. Muller, R. A. (2012). Energy for Future Presidents: The Science Behind The Headlines. New York: W.W. Norton Company, Inc.

The dispersal of scent takes place via the thermal and light-like behavior of the fragrant particles in the air. Thousands of points, letters, and words are positioned in each and every air particle. Each molecule is created in a form to carry sounds, sights, and odor. Millions of sound waves, scents and images are being transported and translocated into each of the trillions of air particles without deforming or mixing. As our knowledge pertaining to this transport grows, new technological products that will enable the transport of odors will be offered to the service of mankind.

Our sense of smell occurs in the brain. The chemical molecules exiting a lemon peel stimulate the odor receptors in the nose, which are then transmitted to brain to be interpreted as electric signals. Our olfactory system can easily distinguish more than ten thousand scents. This has inspired scientists to design similar devices. These models are called “electronic noses.”

A series of chemical receptors are utilized in the electronic nose instead of the receptor proteins of the human nose. Each of these is designed to sense various scents. These devices are difficult to produce, as the cost grows for a more sensitive device. The signals that sensors collect from the environment are converted into binary codes via electronic systems and then sent to a computer. The role of human nerve cells in charge of sensing odor is replaced by the electronic systems of a computer.

Mostly in their early phases, electronic noses are beginning to be used in various sectors, primarily those involving foods and perfumes, as well as the medical and chemical industries.

How does odor transportation take place?

As I already mentioned, the aromatic molecules transported via air particles in their gaseous state are detected by the smell sensor system and converted into electric signals. Quite a few different materials are used as conductors: conductive polymers, semi-conductive metal oxides, a quartz-crystal micro-balance (QMB), surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors, pellistors, and infrared sensors.

Once the electric signals are converted into binary, the odor information is determined via a software program in which algorithms such as artificial nerve networks and support vector machines are employed. This information is then transmitted to a remote medium via lines of communication, such as a computer network, the internet, or another form of mobile communication. The odor type is received in the target computer. This detection stage can be completed in the target PC when necessary.

Today’s technology can only permit the transmission of odor data. In order to perceive the transmitted information at the target location as smell, the scents must be present as stored in containers and must be triggered via received odor data to be dispersed. The research in this field is limited, with ongoing pilot studies.

How can diseases be diagnosed with odors?

The natural functions of the human body, such as sweat, blood, urine, and feces, can be used to help diagnose diseases. The odor of the gases in human breath holds significant information regarding body health. There are between two hundred and four hundred different gases found in human breath. Furthermore, the number of gas types detected and described in the breath can exceed three thousand. While blood gets cleaned in the lungs, the gases of the used blood pass to the breath via the alveoli. Therefore, many critical pieces of bodily information are present in the breath.

The gases exhaled through our breath are composed of various alkaline and aromatic compounds. Each of these is a potential indicator that provides information about a disease. The gases and their ratio in the breath of a healthy person are well established. Since the ratio of the gases in the breath gets altered depending on the cause of an illness – such as diabetes (Type I and II), cancer of the ear-nose-throat, tuberculosis, and women’s reproductive diseases – can be diagnosed by utilizing the electronic nose.

There are other uses for the technology, too. NASA is developing a highly sensitive artificial nose for space research. This device will almost be able to distinguish every type of chemical compound, making more sensitive measurements than a human nose. With this device, the detection of harmful substances in the space station will be possible.

Google has announced that significant progress has been made regarding the “Google nose” which helped revolutionize searching for aromas. The Google Aroma database (http://www.google.com.tr/intl/tr/landing/nose/) stores more than 15 million kinds of scent. The days when we will be able to smell the scent of any product through our internet based devices do not seem to be too distant. To make this possible, sound waves would be converted into odor signals. There is a partially-imaginary video prepared to show how this can feel.

New technologies will change our relationship with smell, which has always been deeply important to humanity. Reference is made of this in the Qur’an, especially when the Prophet Jacob of Canaan sensed the fragrance of his son, Joseph, who was hundreds of miles away. The verse, from the chapter of Joseph, reads, “Surely, I sense the fragrance of Joseph, unless you would consider me a dotard. “It shows how valuable scent is to us, as anyone who has had a long lost memory triggered by an unexpected smell understands. As the verse suggests, losing our sense of smell is akin to losing our minds. Research has borne this out, as one of the first symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease is the loss of smell. In fact, monitoring loss of scent has helped with the early detection and prevention of Alzheimer’s. This is yet another way that our body has been perfectly calibrated to cue us in to its messages. In this regard, as with many, technology is still trying to catch up to nature.

Termites are 1-2 cm in size, but they live in mud towers that can grow to five meters tall. The scale, between termite and tower, is comparable to that between a human and a skyscraper. When their life style, which seems chaotic from the outside, is investigated, one finds that termites maintain social lives within perfect urban communities. These wondrous mini cities feature air conditioning and ventilation systems, in addition to a queen chamber, and rooms for incubation and juveniles.

An instinctual sense of solidarity that has been ingrained among living organisms also plays an important role among termites. They display an amazing form of cooperation in matters like foraging and defense. As termites live in colonies, they follow a particular arrangement of duties. The queen is in charge of new generations; workers meet the nest’s needs, and soldiers are responsible for its defense. When necessary, workers also participate in defensive tasks. One of the termite’s defense mechanisms, which amazed scientists, was recently discovered in June 2012.

Jan Sobotnik, with the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, and Thomas Bourguignon, of Université Libre de Bruxelles at French Guiana, discovered an unseen feature of the termite species Neocapritermes taracua. The workers of this species are, in a sense, enlisted to military duty when they “retire” due to old age and an inability to forage due to weakened mouths. They serve the defense of the nest as something of a chemical weapon specialist. When the colony is under attack, these veterans blow up a droplet-size balloon filled with a type of chemical generated in between segments of their neck and dorsal region.

When worker termites get older, blue crystal chambers, which resemble backpacks, grow on their two shoulder blades on their back. These crystals are a kind of protein called hemocyanin that contains copper, and they join together with saliva when under threat. This fusion causes a chemical reaction. The end product is a sticky liquid, like a gel, that is compressed to expand and then burst. This can fatally injure a predator. The poisonous substance that is dispersed causes rotting upon contact. The chemical formula of this blue crystal substance, along with its reactions, are still unknown.

Researchers from Oregon University (USA) reported that the mouth of an ant is worn down by age. When this occurs, these senior individuals, which used to cut leaves, now take on different jobs, like carrying the leaves. Leaf cutter ants, which are also known as the ranchers of the animal kingdom for their ability to cultivate fungi in their nests, can cut and carry leaves whose weight can be up to 50 times their body weight.

The leaves that are transported to the nest comprise the main ingredient required for the growth of fungi in a suitable environment regulated for the right temperature and humidity. This fungi is ultimately used to feed the colony. This is a fine example of senior members of a community staying active in a new role. And this is not just unique to termites: research shows that members of animal societies adapt to changes in their lives, and continue serving their colonies even if they lose some dexterity.

Our universe seems to be set up this way. As mentioned in the above examples, there is a change of occupation instead of just retirement. Just as there is no termite that stops working, there is no bird that says “I do not want to fly anymore because I am old,” or no tree that says, “I will retire and stop giving fruit because of my old age.” Organisms adapt to new conditions and find new ways to provide for our planet.

Our aging planet will continue rotating and the sun will keep smiling on us with its heat and light until the end of such organism’s lifetimes.

When it comes to humans, continuing with occupation and business as much as they can should be the desired effort. Especially for charity work, no one should mention retirement or leave of a duty, and receding to one’s quarters. Let us renew our intentions now, and review our senior living plans.

The fascinating aspect of these materials stems from the fact that when certain particles or devices are manufactured on the nanometer size region by means of special chemical and physical methods, they start showing distinct properties dependent on size, shape, and elemental compositions (such as huge amount of light absorption/emission, plasmonic resonance, high surface area, ability to convert light into heat, desirable magnetic properties, etc). Each of these features have found many applications in technology and they provide superior properties when compared to conventional materials. This article will not cover each technology based on nanomaterials but rather focus on the medical aspects and applications of nanotechnology and the direction it is heading.

Nano-medicine is a novel branch of nanotechnology seeking to deliver medically relevant drugs and imaging agents to the desired sites of the body. Biomedical imaging and drug delivery fields are benefitting from nanotechnology to a greater extent because not only do nanomaterials provide unprecedented results in diagnosis and therapies, considerable amounts of incentives in the form of governmental and private funding also drive topnotch institutions and scientists to study these materials around globe. For instance, iron oxide—when designed and manufactured on the nanometer order—can compete with, if not replace, most of the commercial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents due to some of its attributes, (i.e., being much more sensitive) requiring a less amount compared to other contrast agents, non-toxic to humans, and easy to manipulate in terms of its chemistry (1). Nanometer-sized spherical and rod-shaped Cadmium/Tellerium/Lead sulfides and selenides, also known as “Quantum Dots,” can absorb and emit light from ultra-violet (UV) to infrared region (IR) and this phenomenon could be utilized to construct biomedical sensors capable of detecting biologically relevant species (such as blood glucose, tumor markers, hormones, and etc.) with great accuracy and speed (2). Even by using multiple colors emitting “Quantum Dots,” one can, in principle, detect more than one biological entity simultaneously. Furthermore, their superior emissive properties could be harnessed to develop sensitive and selective fluorescence imaging techniques and assays which can lead to simple and early diagnosis of diseases. Gold nanorods, if irradiated with IR lasers, can generate extreme local temperatures in the surrounding medium owing to “plasmonic resonance of surface electrons,” and this feature could be directed to killing of localized tumor tissues known as “Photothermal Theraphy” (3).

Another class of nanomaterial called liposomes (4) can actually mimic lipid bilayer of the cell membrane which gives rise to a protective layer around organelles and nucleus, and maintains the transport of ions and molecules in and out of the cell. Synthetic liposomes, strikingly, can accommodate various cargoes extending from drugs to imaging agents in their inner cavity and render controlled release of its cargo as it circulates in the body, thereby providing longer bio-availability.

One of the most alluring uses of nanoparticle formulations in cancer therapy is their dimension. Certain sizes of nanoparticles can permeate into tumoral sites and be retained in that region longer than small particles or molecules. This extraordinary feature of nanoparticles, called “enhanced permeability and retention effect” (5), was utilized with liposomes to deliver chemotherapeutics to cancerous tissues effectively in a slow and controlled manner. In addition, chemical malleability of nanoparticles give rise to smart formulations which could respond to external stimuli in drug delivery applications. For example, the fact that cancer cells have lower pH values as compared to normal cells has been used to trigger release and delivery of drugs on site (6).

An alternative approach to conventional treatments is gene therapy in which the malfunctioning or mutant gene has been reintroduced into cells with a properly functioning one in order to restore the malady (7). Nanoparticles, especially polymeric counterparts, have shown promising results in encapsulating, carrying and delivering the gene of interest into desired cells.

Apart from synthetic nanoparticles, naturally occurring nanoparticles, have lately received great attention due to their unique structures and properties such as biocompatibility, uniform size, as well as suitability to chemical and genetic engineering. Plant and bacterial viruses, known as viral nanoparticles (8), have been tested for imaging and drug delivery applications, and because they infect only plants and bacteria, they are considered to be benign towards mammalians. Their inner and outer amino acids could be chemically modified with drugs and imaging modalities and cleverly engineered drug release mechanism could be invoked to operate upon external or internal stimulus.

Nanomaterials are, furthermore, suitable candidates for vaccine development. The immune system normally recognizes certain chemical groups on the surface of antigens (pathogens) and develops its defense mechanism based on this recognition. Multiple copies of these chemical groups could be chemically tailored around the surface of nanomaterial, and thereby could trigger the same immune response more efficiently (9).

The future of medicine will be shaped and enhanced through a targeted delivery of drugs and imaging contrasts into desired sites. Promisingly, nanoparticles will be able to assist in this regard to a considerable extent. Today’s cancer chemotherapy rely mostly on administering a variety of cancer drugs via intravenous (injecting through the vein) or oral means which delivers drugs to cancer cells as well as a considerable amount to healthy tissues which causes major side effects. In order to accumulate higher doses of drugs in tumor cells selectively and minimize nonspecific delivery, nanoparticles loaded with drugs and chemically decorated with “smart molecules” which have the ability to recognize cancer cells and specifically bind to them have been designed and tested successfully (10). These smart groups (organic molecules, antibodies, peptides and small molecules), surprisingly, have higher binding affinities toward some receptors over-expressed in cancer cells. Furthermore, encapsulation of drugs by nanomaterials provides a protective shell which prevents leakage of drugs to other sites.

An important drawback of cancer therapy is drug resistance in which cancer cells develop mechanisms to pump chemotherapeutics out of cells and decreases the efficacy of drugs. Nanoparticles, however, invalidate these resistance mechanisms by encapsulating drugs and should therefore not be exposed directly to surrounding cell environment. When nanoparticles reach the desired destination in the cell, an engineered mechanism or stimulus augment the release and drugs are expected to show their activity without any compromise (11).

It is fascinating to see how these small nanoparticles behave cleverly and orderly even though they look like inanimate and unconscious clusters of atoms. The extraordinary art, design and engineering witnessed in macro dimensions can also be seen in nano dimensions which means that a conscious and purposeful Hand of Power is present and visible in this nanoworld.

To sum up, nanomaterials could be ideal platforms for drug delivery and imaging applications and could complement the deficiencies in conventional therapies. Loading multiple copies of these entities into nanoparticles and devising clever mechanisms to target and deliver them into desired sites would be key elements in the nanomedicine of the future. We are living in a world where each of us has someone in our families or among our friends who are going through painful cancer treatments, which is a heart-rending and traumatic experience. Hopefully, nanomaterial-based therapies would give rise to solutions and success in battling against cancer. For in one prophetic tradition the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, says: “O servants of God! Search for ways for treatment of illnesses. If God gives you ailments, for sure He bestows upon you cures for those.”

And why can’t this bestowal be in the nano form?

References

• Qiao RR, Yang CH, Gao MY. “Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles: from preparations to in vivo MRI applications” (vol 19, pg 6274, 2009). J Mater Chem 2009;19:9286-9286.
• Raymo FM, Yildiz I. “Luminescent chemosensors based on semiconductor quantum dots.” Phys Chem Chem Phys 2007;9:2036-2043.
• Giljohann DA, Seferos DS, Daniel WL, Massich MD, Patel PC, Mirkin CA. “Gold Nanoparticles for Biology and Medicine.” Angew Chem Int Edit 2010;49:3280-3294.
• Jesorka A, Orwar O. “Liposomes: Technologies and Analytical Applications.” Annu Rev Anal Chem 2008;1:801-832.
• Sancey L, Barbier E, Hirsjarvi S et al. “Enhanced Permeability and Retention (EPR) effect in tumors: characterization by MRI and fluorescence imaging.” B Cancer 2011;98:S67-S67.
• Hruby M, Konak C, Ulbrich K. “Polymeric micellar pH-sensitive drug delivery system for doxorubicin.” J Control Release 2005;103:137-148.
• Waehler R, Russell SJ, Curiel DT. “Engineering targeted viral vectors for gene therapy.” Nat Rev Genet 2007;8:573-587.
• Yildiz I, Shukla S, Steinmetz NF. “Applications of viral nanoparticles in medicine.” Curr Opin Biotech 2011;22:901-908.
• Peek LJ, Middaugh CR, Berkland C. “Nanotechnology in vaccine delivery.” Adv Drug Deliver Rev 2008;60:915-928.
• Ruoslahti E, Bhatia SN, Sailor MJ. “Targeting of drugs and nanoparticles to tumors.” J Cell Biol 2010;188:759-768.
• Liang XJ, Chen C, Zhao Y, Wang PC. “Circumventing tumor resistance to chemotherapy by nanotechnology.” Methods Mol Biol 2010;596:467-88.

Today, more than 1 billion people are suffering from the lack of potable water. About 2.3 billion people (41 percent of the earth’s population) live in regions with water scarcity; this number is estimated to be 3.5 billion by 2025.1

96.5 percent of the world’s water is found in seas and oceans, and the remainder is found as ice caps, brackish water, and fresh water sources (e.g. lakes, rivers, and ground waters). To overcome water shortage problems, methods such as water conservation and dam construction have been applied for several years, but they are not enough against increasing water demand and decreasing fresh water sources.2

Water is also very important for generating energy, and vice versa. The largest portion of U.S. electric production is provided by thermoelectric power generation, where steam-driven turbine generators are used to generate electricity. In 2000, thermoelectric power plants used 39 percent of all fresh water sources in the United States.3 All these reasons make the production of drinking water a worldwide issue.

Desalination

Since most of world’s water supply is found in oceans and seas, desalination is the process of removing salts and minerals from either ocean or brackish water to make it safe for human consumption and use. The most widely applied desalination processes are divided into two main categories, thermal distillation processes and membrane processes.

Desalination via thermal distillation methods, which separate liquid mixtures based on their boiling points, mainly fall into three categories: multi-stage flash (MSF), multi-effect distillation (MED), and mechanical vapor compression (MVC). Thermal distillation processes require the evaporation of water while leaving the salt in a concentrated brine. Middle Eastern countries mainly use thermal-based desalination plants to produce fresh water because of their easily accessible fossil fuel sources.2, 4

Membrane-based separations are the main choice of producing potable water in countries outside the Middle East. More than 50 percent of the newly installed desalination plants have been using reverse osmosis (RO) membrane technology (since 2001).2

Membrane separations

A membrane is an interphase between two adjacent phases acting as a selective barrier, regulating the transport of substances between the two compartments. It is a very thin film that allows passage of some types of substances while preventing the passage of other substances, depending on their sizes. Membranes used for separation technology gave rise to an interdisciplinary area including many fields of science and engineering such as chemistry, chemical engineering, material science, process engineering, environmental science, ecology, and economics.5, 6 Today, the membrane industry is impressively large. The membrane separation technology market is quite diverse and ranges from medicine to the chemical industry, and the most important markets are medical devices and water treatment. There was a $2 billion sale of synthetic membranes worldwide in 2003.6

Water purification membranes

Water treatment processes employ several types of membranes. They include microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. They are designed to remove materials of increasing sizes. MF membranes have the largest pore size and typically reject large particles and various microorganisms. UF membranes have smaller pores than MF membranes and, therefore, in addition to large particles and microorganisms, they can reject bacteria and soluble macromolecules such as proteins. RO membranes are effectively nonporous and therefore exclude particles and even many low molar mass species such as salt ions, organic substances, etc.7 NF membranes are relatively new and are sometimes called “loose” RO membranes. They are porous membranes, but since the pores are ten of angstroms or less, they exhibit performance between that of RO and UF membranes.8 Of these membranes, NF and RO membranes constitute the dominant technology for desalination of water.9

2.1 Nanofiltration Membranes

Membranes for nanofiltration (NF) are usually comprised of cellulose acetate or aromatic polyamides. NF allows diffusion of organic compounds, and rejects some salts with low pressures being applied. NF itself cannot purify seawater to drinking water standards, but it is a process that can be used to produce mildly salty water, or as a water-softening technique.2, 4 When NF is coupled with RO, then it can be used to turn seawater into drinking water.10

Nanofiltration membranes usually have negative charges (e.g., carboxylate groups, sulfonate groups, etc.), and as a result, ion repulsion is a major factor in determining salt rejection. More highly charged ions, such as sulfate, are more highly rejected than monovalent ions, such as chloride, by a negatively charged nanofiltration membrane. In particular, NF membranes are used to remove divalent ions such as calcium and magnesium, which are mainly responsible for water hardness. These membranes also usually display good rejection of organic compounds with molecular weights above 200 to 500 grams.2,11,12

2.2 Reverse osmosis membranes

Osmosis is a natural process in which water molecules move across a semipermeable membrane from a lower solute concentration area to the higher solute concentration area. Water flows until a chemical potential equilibrium of water is established. When equilibrium is reached, the pressure difference between the two sides of the membrane is equal to the osmotic pressure of the solution.12

Reverse osmosis (RO) is the process of forcing water from a region of high solute concentration through a membrane to a region of low solute concentration by applying a pressure that is greater than the osmotic pressure. As a result, separation of water from the solution occurs as pure water from the high concentration side to the low concentration side. The RO process includes a feed water source, feed pre-treatment, a high-pressure pump, RO membrane modules and post-treatment steps.

RO membranes are capable of rejecting monovalent ions such as sodium and chloride, which makes the RO process a valuable method for desalination. Membranes used for RO processes have salt rejections of more than 99 percent. RO membranes do not have distinct pores, but rather rely on free volume within the polymer film.

RO membrane separations depend highly on the properties of the polymer film such as the chemical and physical structure of the membrane material. Desired RO membranes should be resistant to chemical substances and microbial organisms, stable over a long time both mechanically and structurally, and have ideal separation properties such as high water flux, high salt rejection, chlorine, and fouling (clogging of membrane pores) resistance.

Approximately one billion of six billion people in the world live in water-stressed areas, and RO membrane technology is the leading desalination technology to overcome the problem of insufficient clean water and estimated to continue its leadership in the near future.13 Scientists and engineers are extensively investigating the development of the most efficient membrane desalination technology to produce the cheapest potable water.

On the other hand, cells use membranes, though scientists do not try to further develop them, since they were already designed in a perfect manner. Cellular membranes have a phospholipid structure with embedded proteins. They control many different kinds of transportations of substances in and out of cells (e.g. sugar, drugs, ions). They are so well designed that they know which substances are helpful or harmful for the cell, and decide on the passage of substances based on that. Many researchers have tried countless times for many years to produce an equally wonderful membrane technology for making clean water. But cellular membranes, consisting of hundreds of functions in living organisms, do not form spontaneously.

REFERENCES

1) R.F. Service, Freshwater resources, desalination freshens up. Science, (2006). 313, 1088- 1090.

2) L.F. Greenlee, D.F.Lawler, B.D. Freeman, B. Marrot, P. Moulin, Reverse osmosis desalination: Water sources, technology and today’s challenges. Water Research (2009), 43, 2317-2348.

3) T.J. Feeley, T.J. Skone, G.J.Stiegel, A. McNemar, M.Nemeth, B. Schimmoller, J.T. Murphy, L. Manfredo, Water: A critical resource in the thermoelectric power industry.Energy (2008), 33, 1-11.

4) G. A. Tularam, M. Ilahee, Environmental concerns of desalinating seawater using reverse osmosis. J. Environ. Monit.(2007), 9, 805–813.

5) P. Vandezande, L. E. M. Gevers, I. F. J. Vankelecom, Solvent resistant nanofiltration: separating on a molecular level. Chem. Soc. Rev.(2008), 37, 365–405.

6) M. Ulbricht, Advanced functional polymer membranes. Polymer (2006), 47, 2217–2262.

7) R.H. Perry, D.W.Green, Eds., Perry’s Chemical Engineers’ Handbook, 7th ed., McGraw-Hill: New York, 1997.

8) Sagle, A., and B. Freeman, “Fundamentals of Membranes for Water Treatment,” in The Future of Desalination in Texas: Volume 2, Report Number 363, Texas Water Development Board, Austin, TX, pp. 137-154 (2004).

9) H.B.Park, B.D.Freeman, Z.Zhang, M.Sankir, J.E.McGrath, Highly Chlorine-Tolerant Polymers for Desalination, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. (2008), 47, 6019-6024.

10) N. Hilal, H. Al-Zoubi, N. A. Darwish, A. W. Mohammad, M. Abu Arabi, A comprehensive review of nanofiltration membranes: Treatment, pretreatment, modelling, and atomic force microscopy, Desalination (2004), 170, 281-308.

11) A. Gorenflo, D. Velazquez-Padron, F.H. Frimmel, Nanofiltration of a German groundwater of high hardness and NOM content: performance and costs. Desalination (2002), 151, 253-265.

12) M.E.Williams, A Brief Review of Reverse Osmosis Membrane Technology,EET Corporation and Williams Engineering Services Company, Inc., Harriman, TN, 2003.

13) K. P. Lee, T. C. Arnot, D. Mattia, A Review of Reverse Osmosis Membrane Materials for Desalination – Development to Date and Future Potential. J. Membr. Sci. 370 (2011) 1-22.

In our interview with Dr. Charles Townes from California, a Nobel laureate, the core message of the lead article is further developed; Townes notes “the most fundamental and human question is the meaning of life.” According to Townes, religion and science are much more consistent with one another than people think and questions like “why are we here and what should we do? How did life begin, why is the world the way it is?” can be answered by studying both.

In this issue we have two pieces on music. In our interview with Dr. Jeffrey Thompson he notes that sound is used in all cultures on earth “as a prominent technique in healing or religious rites or as a means of attaining a change of consciousness, one way or another.” Starting from being a fetus in our mother’s womb, human beings are first exposed to sound at a younger age and more predominantly than other senses, like sight. Sounds can provide a form of relaxation therapy when the right tones are found and played in a way that connects us to our primordial state, taking us away from the din of our daily activities.

Julie Ann Cunningham discusses the healing power of music in human history and today. She explains how healing was made possible in ancient civilizations from the priest-physicians of Egypt to musicologists and mystics of India to Abu Bakr Razi, who treated patients suffering from depression more than a thousand years ago. For Cunningham, “music is a language that crosses the barriers of human vocal languages.”

Many of you are frightened of us. You have even invented a disease called “Arachnophobia” (fear of spider). On the contrary, I do not inflict any harm on you, but rather help tidy up nature by catching harmful insects in my web. Particularly, when I remember the honorable task one of my ancestors took part in, my eyes get misty with emotion: In order to save the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, the Pride of the Universe and Humanity, from his enemies, our Lord commanded one of our ancestors to quickly make a web over the entrance of the cave they were hiding in, and this made the infidels stop searching for him there. This honor is enough for us until the Day of Judgment. And please, at least, remember this historical event and stop killing us wherever you see us.

Many of you mistake us for insects. We, the spiders, are different from the insects. The easiest way to differentiate us is to count the number of legs and the parts of our bodies. Insects have six legs, whereas we have eight; their bodies are made of three main parts, while our bodies consist of two parts, one being the head. Moreover, we are different with respect to the sizes and numbers of our eyes. The insects usually have two large compound eyes, whereas we have eight small simple eyes (the simplicity here does not mean ordinary, or lacking in art, it means uncomplicated, plain!).

Those who-in order to reject our Lord-seek a way out through the dead ends of the theory of evolution are stunned when they see the delicate embroidery art in my body and the trap strategy in my magnificent webs. Since they know that we do not have intelligence or conscience, they, helplessly, take refuge in a term called instinct. You can resemble these thinkers to the flies that fall into my trap; the more they struggle through reasoning, basing their theories on nature, or causality, or coincidence, the more entangled they become. In order to deny God, they give credit to some imaginative alternatives for the artwork that has been bestowed upon spiders and thus deceive themselves.

We can live in all continents, except Antarctica, and can survive in many climatic conditions, from deserts to rainforests. The reason that we are more common on oceanic islands than on continents is the special threads we use in our nets. We can use this thread like a parachute and can travel on the wind to far away lands.

One of our most important attributes, the merit of which is so valuable that it is mentioned in the Qur’an, is our silk thread gland that produces thread in various qualities. We use this silk-like substance, which is discharged from conical nipples on our abdomen, for numerous purposes. Most of us are granted with at least two kinds of silk glands, with different structures and secretions. And we are given the knowledge to use these threads for different tasks appropriate to their chemical composition. Since the flexibility, durability, thickness and adhesiveness of each type of thread is different, we use the right type for each task. We use some types of thread to build a web to trap prey, others for furnishing inside our homes, and still others to protect our egg or sperm sacks.

Although everyone knows about our thread, the bio-chemical process that takes place during its production is yet to be completely understood. Our thread, despite being thinner than one thousandth of a millimeter, is five times stronger than a steel string of the same thickness. And it can be stretched up to four times its length. Moreover, it is so light that, despite the great length required to go around the world, such a thread would only weigh 320 grams. My web occupies a large space in comparison to my size; but this appearance is deceptive. My real home is a small spot in the middle; the rest is a trap set up for flies. Now, despite being such a wonderful material, the Holy Qur’an, in the chapter named after me, states that “ The parable of those who take to them other than God for guardians is like a spider: it has made for itself a house, and surely the frailest of houses is the spider’s house. If they only knew this!” (Ankabut 29:41). Have you ever wonder about the inner meaning of this verse? If you have, you can see that it describes my house as being feeble and flimsy, but not the thread that made the house. That means, no matter how excellent is the material you have, if you do not use it in the right place, it is useless. My thread and my house that I build are adequate for me, working as traps for my prey. You might waste the highest quality materials if you use them to construct a building with poor foundations. That is to say, if a human being, equipped with the most wonderful qualities, chooses an invalid fallacious god for themselves, they waste the equipment bestowed upon them, such as intelligence, comprehension and conscience. What is worse, when they adopt a deity other than God, whatever they accomplish in terms of excellent scientific studies, discoveries, or inventions will all be wasted. The arguments of those who deny God might seem sound, but in reality they are fallacies, causing those who are not using their innate capabilities to fall into their traps. Of course, a miraculous book like the Qur’an can be read and understood from the perspectives of other sciences and thus can be understood in a variety of ways. Mine is just one. …

The production of my silk, which is stronger than either synthetic or natural fiber, is similar in part to the production process carried out in factories that manufacture thread. The protein called keratin that I use in silk production is a very common substance, found in human fingernails and hair, as well as in bird feathers, in horn, and in the scales of snakes. Even though the same amino acid is used by these creatures, our Lord, the Creator of all, has the knowledge and the omnipotence to turn the same protein found in your fingernail into silk in my glands.

The liquid silk material, discharged like a protein soup, passes through the ducts of a gland where the liquid is absorbed very rapidly and is then turned into acid by other cells via hydrogen atoms before being spurted out as silk. Once the densified proteins enter the acid pool they form links with one another and turn into thread. The bio-chemical reactions that take place in this process, which I have only explained very basically, vary, depending on the types of thread produced in the different glands; by using different processes different types of thread are produced.

My Lord, Whose mercy is endless, Who gave me all the things that I need to survive down to the smallest detail, has granted me six different manufacturing chambers. In each chamber the chemical substances, prepared as different formulas, are mixed in different proportions to suit my needs; in addition, the caliber of the orifices from which they are spurted and the pressure of the pumps are adjusted to the most appropriate levels to produce thread with different characteristics. Neither my knowledge, nor my ability is enough to comprehend the settings in the silk producing nipples located in my stomach. Nevertheless, the threads that I use for hunting are sticky, while others, by which I return to my home with my prey, are stronger and more flexible. Moreover, the other kinds of thread which I use to wrap my prey are straight and have the quality of becoming harder when movement occurs, while the other threads that I use for my egg sacks have an antibiotic to protect against germs, the ones that I use to go up and down are slippery, and finally the ones I use to lay the foundation of my house are thicker while the ones that I place within the nest are thinner. With graceful leg motions I bring all these threads to the right place and secure them there. I straighten some thread with a comb in my foot. The threads are coated with a liquid substance that protects against fractions in case of exposure to pressure.

A creature that is as small and helpless as I am would need to understand the order of the protein atom used, as well as the properties of pressure in order to protect against fractions, and comprehend the structure of the coating material and many other physio-chemical principles in order to produce these threads that have such excellent qualities. Since that is not the case (I do not have any such knowledge) and as the creation cannot be explained via some unconscious terms such as evolution, mutation, or natural selection, my Creator, the creator of all that I do, is Allah. Plastic surgeons have just started to use some types of spider threads in delicate operations on tendons and joints.

Although I do not have any architectural or engineering training that would help me to calculate where I have to secure my threads or to understand the angles between them, with Divine Guidance I am able to perform these tasks properly. Since I live mostly on insects, I am a very useful animal for you; by catching and destroying many insects I play an important role in the ecological balance. Otherwise, these insects would be overwhelming, not to mention the harm they cause to crops. In addition to this there are some interesting species of ours, which live on fish or even bird.

There are approximately thirty-five thousand species of spiders; of this only five hundred can be considered to be dangerous to humans. Even though all of us have poison glands, if we bite a human in general this only causes an itch. We do not deliberately come and bite humans. Even the most poisonous of us all, the black widow (Latrodectus mactans) is rarely fatal for human beings. This species, which builds a large web with a conical center, can hide around 250-750 eggs, wrapping them up with a silk cover. The females are three centimeters in size, while the males are only about one-fourth the size of the females. Once the females receive the sperm, they eat their males instantly before they can escape. Unlike many of us, the Tarantula (Lycosa tarentula), a spider that measures 2.5 centimeters and which belongs to the wolf spider family that is found in Europe, does not make webs; rather they catch their prey by chasing. They have strong venom as well, but contrary to the common exaggeration, this venom is not fatal. There is another species of tarantula in South America, but this spider belongs to a totally different family, the Theraphosa. The size of the main body of this spider is about 9-10 centimeters, and the distance between the legs is 25-30 centimeters. This large and hairy kind of spider is active at night. Some of them live in holes they have dug in the ground, while others build nests on trees. Even though they can be classified as harmless, their bites hurt. They kill small frogs, lizards, and even birds.

Most spiders live alone. A few of us make houses next to each other, and hunt together. Our hunting techniques are various. The Bolas spider (Cladomelea longipes) has incredible techniques for preparing and throwing bolas. Even though their sense of sight is poor, this species can feel the vibration of flying pigeons and they diffuse a special odor to attract their prey; once the prey has come close, the spider catches it with a sudden attack, paralyzing it with its poisonous bite and then wrapping it in special silk. This special silk has a quality that allows it to keep the wrapped prey fresh; thus, the food, which cannot be consumed in one meal, can be safely stored.

Species that live in the desert dig tunnels in the sand to protect themselves from the dreadful heat, and discharge a special excretion to stick the sand together. They also insulate the interior of the tunnel with silk threads to protect themselves from the heat outside. They make a special silk lid to the entrance of the tunnel and camouflage it with some sand. Then, by stretching their thin thread between some rocks and sticks nearby, they wait for their food. Since the daytime is so hot, they prey at night, waiting for insects to vibrate the threads they have placed.

There are other species, for example, the water spiders (Argyroneta aquatica). This species lives in the water and makes their nests in an air bubble on the water, from time to time traveling up to the surface and restocking the air under their stomach to pump it into their home underwater. Another species, called Dolomedes fimbriatus has legs that enables them to walk on the water and to live on fish. As it is the case with all kinds of Arthropoda (exoskeletal animals), we need to change our skins when we grow. Once the outer skeleton, made of ketone becomes hard, it impedes our growth. Because of that, from time to time, we shed this skin, and grow rapidly while our new skin is soft. Moreover, the legs, which are cut off due to various reasons, are renewed with the grace of God.

I could tell a lot more about my friends, but I think this is enough. I hope that from now on no one will attribute our artful of creation and behavior to evolution or coincidence. In fact, I do not expect such a thing from human beings, who have intelligence, conscience, and comprehension.

Blood is a highly specialized tissue circulating throughout the body to carry out essential functions for an organism. Some of the basic functions of blood can be listed as: warming or cooling the body, protecting it against infectious disease, supplying essential ingredients to the cells, getting rid of harmful and unwanted waste from cells, and carrying messengers to initiate physiochemical events at the cellular level.¹ An average adult has approximately five liters of blood which completes its cycle in several minutes.² Blood can be regarded as a flawless servant to human beings with a perfect design to fulfill delicate needs and tasks to maintain their lives. If blood stopped performing just one of these tasks in some way, the survival of humans would not be possible.

Plasma is one of the main components of human blood in which the red and white blood cells are suspended.³ These two “living cells” are responsible for the crucial job of maintaining the balance of the body. Blood cells have a definite life cycle, just as all living organisms do. The most generous and all-compassionate owner, God, even knows the needs of the tiniest creatures and for Him to recreate these two cells is as easy as resurrecting hundreds of thousands of fruits, vegetables and animals every spring. Interestingly, bone marrow acts as a factory to reproduce new blood cells in place of continuously dying cells.³

In order to generate energy required for all cellular processes, oxygen has to be carried into the cell and the resulting carbon dioxide should be carried away immediately. Red blood cells, known also as erythrocytes, contain an iron-rich protein called hemoglobin which performs this duty in an excellent way. Each red blood cell contains approximately 250 million hemoglobin molecules.⁴

Hemoglobin transports oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body and carries carbon dioxide away from the body to the lungs by consecutive chemical events in harmony. Hemoglobin can bind oxygen and/or carbon dioxide reversibly and the preference for binding to either oxygen or carbon dioxide depends solely on the environment. Upon inhaling the air, the amount of oxygen will increase in the lungs and oxygen will bind to hemoglobin’s iron unit preferentially. Later, the heart pumps oxygen-rich blood all over the body to deliver it to where it is required. As blood travels through the body in artery veins, oxygen will be exchanged with the carbon dioxide, since the amount of carbon dioxide inside cells is higher than oxygen. Then, the bound carbon dioxide will be sent back to the lungs and this process will be cycled over and over again during the course of life.⁵ During these processes a lot of complex chemical and biological changes occur in a systematic way to optimize the speed, effectiveness and quantity of oxygen transportation.

Surprisingly, one hemoglobin unit can carry four oxygen molecules at the same time. However binding of four oxygen molecules does not happen at the same time, they rather prefer binding one after another. One of the most striking discoveries about these processes is that when the oxygen attaches itself to the iron in the hemoglobin, the shape of the hemoglobin changes and this phenomenon facilitates binding other oxygen molecules.⁶

At higher altitudes air contains less oxygen as compared to lower altitudes. In people accustomed to living at higher altitudes the amount of a chemical known as 2,3-BPG in blood was found to be higher than in people living at lower altitudes.6 Researchers showed that this chemical actually binds to hemoglobin to result in easier oxygen delivery in lower oxygen atmospheres. Without this chemical, at high altitudes people would start suffering from oxygen deficiency and some of the vital organs would start dying slowly. It is obvious that this is a decisive and self-evident proof that there is an ultimate power in the universe and He is the one Who is the most Merciful.

Also the hemoglobin in the fetus has a greater affinity for oxygen than its counterpart in adults. Fetal hemoglobin uses maternal oxygen from the mother’s bloodstream and this ability gives the fetus more access to oxygen for better survival.⁷ Otherwise, no baby would be able to grow fully in its mother’s womb. Divine mercy is aware of the need of even an incapable baby in the mother’s womb and His wisdom and generosity provide appropriate tools, decorations and ornaments to whoever is in need of them.

The human body can be seen as a perfect machine equipped with state-of-art components that functions magnificently to sustain human life without any conflict. It is designed to such an extent that even its slightest needs are satisfied with an amazing design planned by great wisdom and engineering. This beauty, extreme skill, and utmost perfection testify to the existence of the All-Wise Maker and All-Knowing Inscriber. Claiming that this masterpiece is not the work of a purposeful artist is as foolish as claiming that a beautiful painting is not the art of a good painter. Even in one of the sub-structures of red blood cells (hemoglobin) the highest degree of mastery and the exquisiteness of administration for each process show an irrefutable wise Creator who has utmost knowledge and proficiency. His unique power for marvelous creation is even more visible on the surface of the earth.

“He Who has created seven heavens in harmony. You do not see any fault or incongruity in the creation of the All-Merciful. Look yet again: can you see any rifts?” (Mulk 67:3)

Mutations somehow alter the sequences of genes responsible for producing hemoglobin and as a result of inheriting these genes, some kinds of hereditary diseases may occur in future generations, such as thalassemia and sickle-cell.⁸ Since hemoglobin in these cases does not have the ability to carry oxygen properly, in some extreme cases blood transfusion is necessary to supply healthy hemoglobin for survival of patients. Instead of producing super quality hemoglobin, mutations lead to malfunctioning of the system. No observable mutation can generate meaningful and healthy changes in an organism. Trying to explain the formation of these beautiful, complex, harmonious, and utterly perfect cells by chance or coincidence and attributing the creation of these systems to unconscious nature as their creator is far beyond any reasonable scientific explanation.

“Was he not once a mere drop of semen poured forth? Then he became a clot clinging (to the womb wall), and He created and fashioned (him) in due proportions.” (Qiyama 75:37-38)

Ibrahim Yildiz is a graduate student of chemistry at the Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami.

Notes

1. Previte, J. J. Human Physiology McGraw-Hill, 1982.

2. Cecie, S., Taggart, R. Biology: The Unity and Diversity of Life. California: Wadsworth, 1989.

3. Jones, B. D. Delmar’s Comprehensive Medical Terminology. Thomson Delmar Learning, 2000.

4. Roberts, M. B. V. Biology: A Functional Approach Cheltenham: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1986.

5. Mehler, R. E. How the Circulatory System Works Blackwell , 2000.

6. Ganong, W. F. Review of Medical Physiology McGraw-Hill, 2005.

7. Champe, P. C., Richard, A. H. Biochemistry Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2005.

8. Steinberg, M. H. Disorders of Hemoglobin: Genetics, Pathophysiology, and Clinical Management. Cambridge University Press, 2001.