Dreams are some of the most odd, and sometimes most uncomfortable, experiences for us. They can sometimes also be so realistic that we do not even know if we are awake or still dreaming. One can feel the same after a false awakening, where one dreams of having been awakened. In a false awakening, the room in which a person becomes awake is commonly similar to the room in which he fell asleep. This feeling may end with a sign during a dream and then it suddenly dawns on the person that he is experiencing a dream instead of reality. This is called lucid dreaming, which can be described as being aware that you are dreaming and are in control of your dreams. A person can also enter the dream state while he is conscious and can control the dream. Before exploring the endless possibilities of lucid dreaming, we will start with the physical nature of dreams. The spiritual nature and interpretation of dreams from a metaphysical standpoint are discussed in previous articles [1-4] of The Fountain Magazine.

Dreaming is a state of consciousness in which one can experience anything imaginable [5]. What you can do or experience in dreams is usually not limited to physical boundaries. We walk, run, fly, and even pass through walls. We see many symbols that may represent multiple meanings. Dreams can relate to the past, present, and the future of a person. They can help us to remember our pasts, understand the present, and shed light upon the future. Dreaming is an interesting part of our lives and the contents of our dreams are usually fed from our daily experiences.

Dreams are defined as a succession of thoughts, images, sounds, or emotions which the mind experiences during sleep [6]. It is also described differently in many areas: physiologically as a response to neural processes during sleep; psychologically as reflections of the subconscious; and spiritually as messages from God, the deceased, or predictions of the future [7]. Dreaming is not only unique to humans. Studies show that some animals, and even plants, have high brain activity while they sleep which could mean that they dream. However, remembering dreams is unique to humans. It enables communication with the inner mind, helps self-knowledge, and advances an individual and society [8].

Dreams are also an important source of inspirations in history. We know many examples of inventions that were inspired by, and problems that were solved with, the help of dreams. Niels Bohr, famous Danish physicist, got the Nobel Prize in physics in 1922 due to a dream that enlightened him to figure out the structure of an atom. George Frideric Handel, German-English Baroque composer, heard the last pieces of his most popular work, The Messiah, in a dream he had. Elias Howe was inspired with a dream for his famous needle design that was required for a lock-stitch sewing machine. Famous chemist, Friedreick Kekule’s (1829–1896) dream helped him to make one of the amazing discoveries of his time [9], the discovery of benzene ring. After spending so much time on scientific problems, they become a part of their subconscious and feed their dreams.

There are mental blocks that prevent us from thinking creatively such as “a problem can’t be solved by using a specific method” or “a scientific approach against our current understanding of the theory”. Ray Kurzweil, one of the world’s leading inventors, thinks that these assumptions and limitations are relaxed in our dream state and so we can think about new ways of solving problems without limiting ourselves with these constraints [10]. Also, during dreaming our rational faculties are not evaluating whether an idea is reasonable or not, which helps us to think outside-of-the-box and produce creative solutions. Another constraint with these scientific problems is time. Repetitive experiments take quite some time with many unfruitful results. Thomas Edison, the inventor of the practical electric light bulb, literally tested thousands of different substances as filaments that would work in his experiments. Dreams can provide an opportunity to rapidly work on time consuming problems within a relatively short time span.

A common misconception regarding dreams is that we experience hours’ worth of events and activities  in a matter of seconds. Despite this common belief about the expansion of time in dreams, they seem to flow at the same rate as time does in the real world [11]. Five minutes of activity in our dreams probably would take about five minutes in our daily life. In that case, how can we explain that some of our dreams seem to last hours, days or even longer? The answer to this perception of time seems to be that dreams are cinematic. Movies generally cover a longer time period than the two hours that we spent in front of the screen. Just like these movies, we concentrate on the interesting parts of the dreams and leave out the rest. If you are trying to solve a scientific problem in your dream, wouldn’t it be nice to skip all the repetitive, unproductive, and time-consuming parts such as planning, research, experiment design, decision making, and analysis of the results?

All of these advantages of dreams for solving problems requires being awake and even in control of your dreams as is the case with lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming is not a new term, as it was coined by the Dutch psychiatrist and writer Frederik van Eeden (1860–1932). The existence of lucid dreaming is well established and has been researched scientifically [12]. During a lucid dream, a person can actively be in control and change experiences in the dream environment. Lucid dreams can start as a normal dream when the person realizes that he or she is dreaming (DILD, Dream-Initiated Lucid Dream), or a person can go from a normal state to dream state while preserving the consciousness (WILD, Wake Induced Lucid Dream). There are many techniques to induce lucid dreaming such as dream-recall, reality testing, identifying dream-signs, mnemonic induction, and napping.  Many people experience lucid dreaming, but it is a skill one can develop. With proper training and exercise, one can increase lucid dreaming frequency from once per month to once per night.

A common method to determine if you are in a dream is called reality testing. The test simply includes performing an action and checking whether the expected results are consistent with real life. An unexpected result of the test lets the person realize that they are in a dream. When the person is lucid and aware in a dream, then he can exercise control and practice basic tasks, even the actions that contradict with known physical rules. A new world opens its doors to endless possibilities where all the actions are bound only with imagination. Flying, jumping from a plane without a parachute and landing safely, walking on water, teleportation between distant locations, transforming scenes, and telekinesis would be your everyday activities. You may feel how limiting our daily life is and that you are meant to live in a world where you can use your unlimited imagination.

An obvious benefit of lucid dreaming is being the basis of the most effective therapy for nightmares [13]. If you are aware that you are dreaming then there is no need to fear anything, including even the most horrifying monsters, because nothing can cause you physical harm. This may encourage you to face the threat rather than avoiding it. Lucid dreams feel extremely realistic and it is not easy to differentiate from real life. Many people use lucid dreaming for rehearsals. It can be used to improve public speaking, artistic performance, athletic activities, and courage for competitions. Realistic features of lucid dreaming can be used to fulfill one’s longing for his loved ones, relatives living abroad, or even for ones passed away. Lucid dreaming can be used as a meeting place for the ones living apart and do not have a chance to meet regularly. This will be a virtual meeting not only in the sense of telepresence but also the ones you meet will be a construct of your brain.

The brain is highly active during dreaming and not constrained by physical senses. This contributes to creative thinking and novel combinations of events and objects in our dreams. When combined with the cinematic behavior of dreams, lucid dreams can provide a platform for creative thinking and ideas for scientific issues by skipping the repetitive and time-consuming steps. There are other ways to use lucid dreaming for educational purposes. A quickly scanned book can be recalled from memory and read thoroughly. One can practice memorization of scriptures or even dictionaries. It can be used for learning and practicing a foreign language and all other repetitive learning processes.

Another area of application for lucid dreaming is healing. Patients can use dreams to enhance waking performance, improve physical health, alleviate and soothe pain, overcome phobias, achieve self-confidence, practice physical skills, recover neuromuscular functions, recover from injuries, and an increased sense of freedom for the disabled. Our last example but maybe the most exciting application area of lucid dreaming is entertainment. The movies and computer games cannot provide the experience as realistic as you can get in your dreams including even movies with a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars and the latest projection technologies. You can create your own big budget movie and be the main actor in your lucid dream. How would you design your new Jurassic Park or Matrix movie?

The realistic experience in dreams leads us to the question, “If this is not real, what is?” What if the world we think and live in is another construct and that we are waiting to wake up into another “real” world? We need to look beyond our daily lives and question the nature of reality and our purpose in this life. Are we living in this world to be a small actor in a dream or to take back the control and get ready to wake up into the “real” world? Maybe it is time for a reality check…

Acknowledgment: This article was produced by using MERGEOUS [14], an online article and project development platform for authors and publishers dedicated to the advancement of technologies in the merging realm of science and religion.

References

1. John Young, “Interpreting Dreams,” The Fountain, Issue 29, January–March, 2000.
2. John Young, “Dreams: A Spiritual Approach Part II,” The Fountain, Issue 30, April–June, 2000.
3. Muhammed Toprak, “A Historical Review of Dreams,” The Fountain, Issue 65, September–October, 2008.
4. Stephen LaBerge, “Lucidity Research, Past and Future”,
5. http://www.lucidity.com/NL53.ResearchPastFuture.html
6. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. 2000. Retrieved 2009-05-07.
7. Wikipedia, “Dream”, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream
8. School of Metaphysics, “The Intuitive Nature of our Dreams”, Retrieved 2010-06-05.
9. Halil I. Demir, “Forbidden Inspirations”, Mergeous Pre-print Articles.
10. http://www.mergeous.com/articlepreprintins.asp?aid=57&type=fulltext
11. Association for Computing Machinery, “Singularity: Ubiquity Interviews – Ray Kurzweil”.
12. Daniel Erlacher and Michael Schredl, “Time required for motor activity in lucid dreams”, Perceptual and Motor Skills, 2004. 99, 1239-1242.
13. Watanabe Tsuneo, “Lucid Dreaming: Its Experimental Proof and Psychological Conditions”. Journal of International Society of Life Information Science (Japan), 2003. 21 (1): 159–162.
14. The Lucidity Institute, “Frequently asked questions about lucid dreaming”, Version 2.3, July 16, 2004.
15. Mergeous, online article and project development platform. http://www.mergeous.com

The Coronavirus Pandemic has shaken much of the world to its core and caused many disruptions. Economies have been crippled, millions have been laid off, quarantine has forced us to stay at home for an extended period of time, and thousands have died. Control over our lives and society, it seems, has been lost for most of us.

Perhaps it is possible to, ironically, use what takes control away from us as a means to regain it. One should ponder this coronavirus disaster, why it has come to us, what we can learn from it, and how we can prevent it from happening again. This way, we can regain control through reflection, faith, and science in order to learn from our past mistakes to help ensure that such a crisis does not happen again. Otherwise, we could continue to lose control of our societies.

Our brains have a finite amount of resources but must be taken care of in order to ensure that our bodies can perform all of our necessary daily functions. We can strengthen our brains through long-term potentiation (LTP), which essentially means using it regularly in order to keep it fresh, strong, and up to date. It also explains how our brains change and adapt to different situations and scenarios we encounter, thus serve as a means for us to learn from our hardships and develop new strategies for survival and growth. How can we maintain control of our minds and bodies if we do not learn from our mistakes and continue to grow?

We can continue to find control and peace in anything that speaks to us on a personal or spiritual level. This can range from simple scraps of paper to eloquent forms of art, such as Ebru. Our authors delve into a wide range of topics that they are passionate about. Their arts and crafts, whether a canvas for art or a sheet of paper for writing, is their field where they are in complete control. Surely, we can maintain control in these hobbies or actions even when it seems that everything else around us is falling apart.

“The Orientalists” piece in this issue is providing an alternative perspective on some of the travelers to the East. The perception of the East in the Western mind has been much shaped by the extensive chronicles of these travelers who endured long and strenuous journeys across North Africa and all the way to India. Lawrence Brazier shares with us a panorama of some of the leading Orientalists many of whom, according to him, “were travelers who found the East, indeed, ‘other’ than what they experienced at home. Their quest was a personal enthusiasm for the Orient.”

Only he can be a leader who never loses hope.
Bapu Ke Ashirwad
February 12, 1946

What could be a more accurate, and simpler, definition of a leader than this? Bapu – more commonly known as Mohandas Gandhi – both believed in, and embodied, this statement. His hope to bring about change in society never waned, even after he was thrown out of a train at Peitermaritzburg Station in South Africa. He did not give up hope after the outbreak of violence by Satyagrahis in Chauri Chaura, during the first Civil Disobedience movement in 1920, which he suspended despite the fact that most of his colleagues felt they were on the verge of victory. Only Bapu was confident that he could suspend the movement and revive it later, when he was more assured about the readiness of his people and their discipline.

It is all too easy for leaders to become hostages to their followers, especially if they are fearful of possible backlash that could result from admonishing or criticizing them. Movements and protests can spiral out of a leader’s control and further devolve into chaos and violence. This lack of control, and discipline, is the opposite of leadership. A leader is one who has the ability to navigate the actions of his or her followers, ensuring they do not violate their principles: he or she should not succumb to populism. Bapu exhibited this ability throughout his entire life, both as a public entity and in his Ashram (religious) life.

Bapu founded one ashram in Ahmedabad, India, in 1915. He performed many Ashram rituals himself, and made these into a daily practice, which the Ashramites saw and emulated. He eventually went on to develop a system of virtues which he called the “11 Vows” (Ekadashi Vrat):

1. Ahimsa (Non-violence)
2. Satya (Truth)
3. Asteya (Not stealing)
4. Bhramhcharya (Celibacy or Fidelity)
5. Aparigraha (Non-possession)
6. Sharira-Shrama (Physical labor)
7. Aswada (Control of the Palate)
8. Sarvatra Bhayavarjana (Fearlessness)
9. Sarva Dharma Samanatva (Respect for all religions)
10. Swadeshi (Using local produce)
11. Sparshabhavana (Abolishing practice of untouchability)

He lived by these principles without preaching them or making a show of doing so. “An ounce of practice is of more significance than a ton of preaching,” Bapu believed, and so it was easy for his followers to believe him and follow suit. Today, leaders thrive on preaching and confusing their adherents. They also frown upon and discourage the habit of asking questions or allowing their followers to express discontent or dissent.

When Bapu announced the next Non-Cooperation Movement, he declared that he would march from Sabarmati to Dandi, which was a distance of 341 miles, and that he would pick up a fist full of salt from the sea shore and declare that he had broken the draconian Salt Monopoly that so hurt India. The British Imperial Regime had imposed a barbaric 3500% tax on the production and consumption of domestic salt. This act of defiance was meant to help declare India to be independent; however, many senior leaders of the Indian National Congress (INC) were not convinced and were opposed to his proposal. Sardar Patel, a senior leader of the INC, was one of the people who disagreed and argued about the foolishness of the proposal. Bapu gave him a patient hearing and finally convinced Sardar, who then took responsibility for organizing the protest. It was Sardar who actually finalized the route of the march and spread the message of the Salt Satyagraha (form of nonviolence resistance). Sardar was the first Indian leader who was arrested and imprisoned, even before Bapu began the Salt March, which explains why Sardar Saheb was absent while Bapu marched to Dandi.

Another senior leader of the INC to voice his dissent, was Motilal Nehru. He wrote a twenty-two-page letter to Bapu, with a point by point explanation of why Bapu’s proposed move would fail and put his future leadership in danger; he also explained how the INC would lose the people’s trust and support. In his reply, Bapu wrote:

“Adarniya Motilalji, Kar Ke Dekhien – Respected Motilalji, please give it a try.”

Any other leader would have taken such a short reply as an insult and rejected Bapu’s leadership; however, Motilalji accepted Bapu’s decision. After Bapu had symbolically broken the Salt Law at Dandi and asked the people to follow, Motilalji declared that he would help break the Salt Law by leading his own satyagraha in the city of Allhabad.

By then, the Viceroy had ordered that all satyagrahas must be crushed by any means and its leaders must be immediately arrested, so that the movement would become leaderless and flounder. After announcing his intention to perform satyagraha, when Motilalji reached his home, the Police Commissioner was waiting for him with an arrest warrant. The last thing Motilalji did before going to prison was to send a telegram to Bapu stating the following:

“Adarniya Gandhiji, Karne se Pehle hi Dekhliya! – Respected Gandhiji, I have realized its power even before trying it out!”

This was the confidence of a true leader and such was his honesty and humility that his subordinates and contemporaries had the freedom to question his decisions and seek that he convince them before they obeyed. This also illustrates the fact that a great leader had the resolve and confidence to go it alone without becoming a hostage to the opposition of those who disagreed with him or defied his decision. As Gurudev wrote:

“Joki tor haak shunee koi na aashe tomi ekla Chalo Re…: When no one heeds your call, oh unfortunate one, walk alone.”

Bapu had the courage to tread a lonely path.  This is a hallmark of a great leader.

Bapu never aspired to become a leader. His ambition was always to serve the people and the cause to the best of his ability, and the honesty of his method was always of paramount importance, even more so than his desired objective. This sets him apart from the majority of other leaders.

Smart prosthetic hand combines both human and robot control

Zhuang et al. Shared human–robot proportional control of a dexterous myoelectric prosthesis. Nature Machine Intelligence, September 2019.

Holding an object in your hand might seem easy, but it’s actually a very complicated and challenging task; if, for instance, an object starts to slip, you typically have a couple of milliseconds to react. Scientists have been trying new approaches for improved control of robotic hands, particularly for use by amputees. A recent technology was able to combine individual finger control and automation for improved grasping and manipulation by successfully merging the fields of neuroengineering and robotics. This interdisciplinary approach was tested on three amputees and seven non-amputee subjects. The neuroengineers achieved the intended finger movement from muscular activity on the amputee’s stump, allowing for individual finger control of a prosthetic hand, which had never been done before. The robotics team enabled the robotic hand to take hold of objects and maintain contact with them for robust grasping. The amputee first performed a series of hand movements in order to train the algorithm through a machine learning paradigm. This taught the algorithm to decode user intention and translate it into finger movements of the prosthetic hand. Concurrently, sensors placed on the amputee’s stump detected muscular activity, which trained the algorithm to learn which hand movements corresponded to which patterns of muscular activity. Once the user’s intended finger movements were acquired, this information could then be used to control individual fingers on the prosthetic hand. When the user tried to grasp an object, the robotic automation initiated. The algorithm told the prosthetic hand to close its fingers when an object was in contact with sensors on the hand’s surface. This automatic grasping was designed to infer the shape of objects and grasp them based on tactile information alone, without any help of visual signals. The robotic hand has the ability to react within 400 milliseconds, and it is equipped with pressure sensors all along the fingers: it can react and stabilize the object before the brain can actually perceive that the object is slipping. While this promising technology can be used in in several neuro-prosthetic applications such as bionic hand prostheses and brain-to-machine interfaces, there are still many challenges remaining to implement this technology in a commercially available prosthetic hand for amputees. It is currently being tested and improved.

Cats securely bond with people, too

Vitale et al. Attachment bonds between domestic cats and humans. Current Biology, September 2019.

Dogs have long been regarded as man’s best friend. They’re sociable, faithful, and obedient. Cats, on the other hand, are often described as more aloof, mysterious, and independent. But a new study suggests that cats actually bond with their owners in similar ways to how humans and dogs bond with companions. The most established way to study human attachment behavior is to observe an infant’s response to a reunion with their caregiver following a brief absence in a novel environment. When a caregiver returns, secure infants quickly return to relaxed exploration while insecure individuals engage in excessive clinging or avoidance behavior. These tests had been previously run with humans, primates, and dogs; researchers decided to run the same test with cats. 79 kittens and 38 adult cats and their caregivers were recruited. During the test, an adult cat or kitten spent two minutes in a novel room with their caregiver followed by two minutes alone. Then, they had a two-minute reunion. The cats’ responses to seeing their owners again were classified into attachment styles. The results show that cats bond in a way that’s surprisingly similar to infants. In humans, 65% of infants are securely attached to their caregiver and domestic cats and kittens mirrored this, as about 65% of them securely bonded to their people. After the first round of tests, the researchers enrolled half the kittens used in the study in a training and socialization course. The other half served as a control group. Researchers then found the same results, suggesting the training did not have an effect on kittens’ attachment behavior toward their owners. This indicates that once a cat forms a bond, it seems to remain stable over time. This social flexibility may have helped facilitate the success of the species in human homes. It is still not clear what the factors are that shape the caretaker relationship, but it’s likely a miraculous complex mix of genetics, personality, and experience.

An efficient and green way to convert heat into electricity

Zheng et al. Paramagnon drag in high thermoelectric figure of merit Li-doped MnTe. Science Advances, September 2019.

A recent discovery could help scientists to develop more efficient ways to generate electricity from heat that would have been otherwise wasted, such as heat coming from car exhaust, industrial processes, and interplanetary space probes. In principle, magnetic fields can be used to generate electricity. If we move a magnet through a coil or wire, the magnet pushes and pulls electrons that create an electrical current. Magnets themselves don’t have energy, but they can control energy currents through the created magnetic field. The main problem with magnets is that when a magnet is heated up, it loses most of its magnetic properties and becomes a so-called paramagnet. Until this discovery, scientists believed that paramagnets couldn’t be used for generating electricity. In the new study, researchers found a way of designing thermoelectric semiconductors that can convert heat to electricity. The tiny particles in paramagnets, so called paramagnons, ended up producing enough spin to push an electron, for only a billionth of a millionth of a second – apparently long enough to make paramagnets viable energy-harvesters. This breakthrough in the conventional understanding of magnetic properties could lead to more research into how magnets and energy interact to potentially facilitate electricity production from heat that is otherwise wasted and oftentimes harmful to the environment.

For nearly a century, chlorine has been used to disinfect drinking water. The use of chlorine in water started when John Snow used to purify the cholera-causing water of the Broad Street Pump, in London. After seeing that chlorine curbed deaths from cholera, Great Britain started chlorinating their public drinking water. Then chlorination began in New Jersey, and after that it was soon used throughout the United States. Measuring the benefits and risks, it’s clear that the advantages of adding chlorine to drinking water outweigh the potential dangers. Scientific research also shows that the benefits of chlorinated water are more than the risks from THM’s and other by-products (Health Canada, 2004).

There continue to be many people in developing countries who do not have access to clean water. In some parts of the world, people collect water from available sources and store it in containers without treatment and further protection from contamination (Sobsey, Handzal & Venczel, 2003).

Sobsey, Handzal & Venczel (2003) conducted an experiment to see the effects of chlorine when added to a container with contaminated water. These experiments were conducted in Bangladesh and Bolivia. Community families were divided into two groups: intervention (household water chlorination and storage in special container) and control (no intervention). The results in Bangladesh were: in the intervention households, only 12.9% of the containers were E.coli positive; in the control households, 55.2% of containers were E.coli positive. The results were equally stark in Bolivia: only 33.7% of intervention households were contaminated by E.coli, whereas 93.8% of control households were contaminated.

There was also a decrease in the diarrhoeal illness in the experimental findings for samples in both countries’ households where the water was treated with chlorine. During the eight-month trial period, the mean diarrhea incidence rates of children younger than five years old in Bangladesh was 20.8 episodes/1000 days in the intervention group and 24.3 episodes/1000 days in the control group. In Bolivia, where the experiment lasted for six months, the mean diarrhea episodes/person for all age groups was 0.21 for the intervention group 0.38 for the control group. 43% of all cases of diarrhea were preventable by the intervention (Sobsey et al., 2003).

The study noted other successes. In some countries, like Saudi Arabia, chlorine was used in household tanks, which resulted in a 48% reduction of diarrhea; and in India, chlorine was used in earthenware, which resulted in a decrease of cholera cases, from 17% to 7.3%. (Sobsey et al., 2003).

In another study, Coulliette, Enger, Weir & Rose (2013), evaluated the effect of chlorinated HaloPure beads on the reduction of bacterial pathogens with concurrent sewage contamination. They estimated the risk reduction of waterborne typhoid fever and cholera within a hypothetical community of 1000 people treating their water with the chlorinated HaloPure beads. Seeded well water resulted in log10 reductions of 5.44 for S. Typhi and 6.07 for V. cholera (Coulliette et al., 2013). In well water with 10% sewage and seeded bacteria, the log10 reductions were 6.06 for S. Typhi and 7.78 for V. cholera (Coulliette et al., 2013). If an individual drinks from the contaminated water that was taken from the water source that had fecal material leaked into it, the risk of disease according to the Monte Carlo analysis would be a median of 0.21 for typhoid fever and a median of 0.11 for cholera (Coulliette et al., 2013). If that same water was treated, then the result would be: median of 4.1*10^-7 for typhoid and a median of 3.5*10^-9 for cholera (Coulliette et al., 2013).

These are important results: in developing counties, diarrhea is one of the greatest health issues. Arnold & Colford JR. (2007) conducted a systematic review of all studies that measured diarrheal health impacts in children and the impact on water quality of point-of-use chlorine drinking water treatment. Of the 10 studies that were analysed, nine of them showed a reduction of diarrhea in children. Across the 10 studies, the intervention led to an 80% reduction in the proportion of stored water samples with detectable E. coli (Arnold & Colford JR, 2007).

Water chlorination has been a very useful strategy for treating contaminated water for years. Currently, chlorination is the only method that disinfects the pathogens from the point of treatment to the point of consumption. As the scientific research above indicates, the benefits of chlorinating water supplies, particularly in the developing part of the world, is essential for disease prevention and reduction. Water is an essential element for life, and clean water is what keeps us alive. Although chlorine in large doses can be harmful for our health, it can also be a lifesaver. Nothing on earth is created without reason. Chlorine has obviously been created to directly benefit humanity.

References

• Arnold, B. F., & Colford JR., J. M. (2007). Treating water with chlorine at point-of-use to improve water quality and reduce child diarrhoea in developing countries: A systemic review and meta-analysis.The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 76 (2), 354-364.
• Coulliette, A. D., Enger, K. S., Weir, M. H., & Rose, J. B. (2013). Risk reduction assessment of waterborne Salmonella and Vibrio by a chlorine contact disinfectant point-of-use device.International journal of hygiene and environmental health,216(3), 355-361.
• Sobsey, M. D., Handzel, T., & Venczel, L. (2003). Chlorination and safe storage of household drinking water in developing countries to reduce waterborne disease.Water science and technology : a journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research, 47 (3), 221-228.
• It’s Your Health – Drinking Water Chlorination [Health Canada, 2004]. (n.d.). Retrieved June 5, 2013, from http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/iyh-vsv/environ/chlor-eng.php

Hizmet Movement (aka Gülen Movement) has always been given different names, which rely on and point to divergent underlying ontologies and understandings. Cemaat (Community), Hizmet (Service), Gonulluler Hareketi, (A movement of volunteers), and Gülenciler (Gülenists) are just a selection of terms often used to refer to the movement. Nowadays, people have come to view the movement in diametrically opposing ways, due to the recent political history of Turkey. On one hand, some praise it for its virtues, claiming that it is a movement promoting and prioritizing democratic values and standards and standing against a corrupt government, at a very high cost. On the other hand, those who criticize it accuse the movement of interfering in politics and even plotting coups against democratically elected governments, and they try to label it as a cult – especially when they cannot prove their accusations. Therefore, a great discrepancy is very likely to emerge between how a sympathizer of the movement sees and defines it and how an outsider sees and defines it, as current developments in Turkey have pushed the public to the edges and have led to increased polarization. Thus, in order to see whether the Hizmet Movement is a cult or not, one has to remove himself or herself from political polemics and try to be critical and strike a balance between how the movement perceives itself and how it is perceived by the outside world. In order to do so, let us first consider how “cult” is defined in the literature and then see whether these definitions match with the Hizmet Movement.

Even though the meaning of cult has changed, the term acquiring differing meanings over time, it is generally and publicly used in a derogatory way to refer to movements that are regarded as socially deviant due to their unorthodox beliefs and practices. During the 1930s, anti-cult movements usually viewed cults as a disparate form of heresy. Similarly, Christian scholar Walter Martin defined a cult as a movement that applies, and relies solely on, personal interpretations of the Bible, in denial of mainstream beliefs such as the Trinity, the Second Coming of Christ, the ministry and personality of Jesus, and the like. Accordingly, new religious movements that were not a part of, or splintered from, pre-existing sects—these include movements such as Jehovah’s Witnesses and Christian Scientists—have been considered cults. From a sociological point of view, Max Weber ascribed the emergence of a cult to the routinization of the charisma of a self-proclaimed religious leader. A great variety of cults exist today—doomsday cults, political cults, destructive cults, racist cults, polygamist cults, and terrorist cults. Cults have also long been accused of applying unorthodox measures, such as mind control and abusive sex, to govern their members and of having secretive organizational structures to accomplish their objectives.

Any attempt to draw a distinction between a cult and a mainstream religious movement is an utterly value-laden endeavor, as it requires one to assume a position of authority and judge what is an orthodox or unorthodox practice or interpretation of a religion. Also, it is analytically impossible to determine how much deviation or what sorts of differences render a movement deviant and get it labeled as a cult, because even sects of the very same religion sometimes are predicated upon utterly distinct theological positions. For example, consider the God conceptualizations of two Christian traditions, Unitarians and Catholics. Whereas the former believe in the physical and spiritual unity of God and reject the idea of the incarnation of God in human form, the latter hold to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, which states that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are divine manifestations of God. Or, in a similar vein, consider the example of the Alawites and Sunni Muslims; some groups of the former consider Ali, the cousin of Muhammad, to be the incarnation of God, while the latter view him only as the third rightly guided Caliph and as totally human in nature.

Despite this opaque and slippery conceptual ground, we can still systematically consider whether the Hizmet Movement is a cult and possesses any of the general characteristics and features attributed to cults. Let me rise above the dichotomies by considering the criteria for a cult, embodied in the definitions given below, in relation to the Hizmet Movement—namely, deviancy (unorthodox religious rituals), unorthodox means of control (mind control, abusive sex), and the presence of a charismatic leader—to determine whether it is a cult or not.

We’ll begin with deviancy. Even though the movement has often laid great emphasis on the spiritual resurrection of Muslims and humanity, it has not attempted to reject or change the pillars of Islamic faith and the essentials of the religion. It has not proposed theologically novel conceptions of divinity or prophecy. Quite the opposite—the movement intellectually and theologically associates itself with the earlier mainstream of Muslim scholars, thinkers, and movements and derives its legitimacy from its embeddedness in classical Islam. The criticisms leveled at the movement have mostly involved matters relating to the interpretation of religious texts. Accordingly, the movement has been criticized for its strong promotion of intimate relations with the members of other Abrahamic religions, for its willingness to engage in open dialogue, and for its support of democratization, which is often labeled as pro-Westernism by other religious movements in Turkey. Hence, the movement’s existing practices and theological dispositions do not suffice to qualify it as a cult, as they do not exhibit patterns of divergence and differentiation from mainstream Islamic rituals and practices.

Second, with respect to the employment of unorthodox means to achieve desired political objectives—even though the movement has been accused of interfering in politics and having a secret agenda, no proof has been presented thus far indicating the use of unorthodox means to control its members or accomplish its secret agenda. Even the recent purge in Turkey, which resulted in the removal of hundreds of thousands of people from their positions and the imprisonment of a large percentage of them, has not led to the disclosure of evidence verifying the use of unorthodox methods by the movement.

Finally, in regard to charismatic leadership, it is an actuality that Gülen’s charismatic and strong leadership has been very appealing to the masses. However, his leadership has not been grounded in any divine status claims, such as those of a prophetic or messianic character. His charisma has rather been derived from his expertise and erudition in respect to the religious sciences and his intuitive leadership skills. His leadership and charisma cannot be said to be premised upon any sort of divine claim, as has been the case with most cults. Ahmadiyya and Bahaism can be seen as cult-like Islamic movements; their leaders have made actual divine claims. For example, the leader of the former openly claimed messiahship and introduced unorthodox beliefs and organizational structures in the nineteenth century, and the leader of the latter identified himself as the last Prophet, which openly contradicted the mainstream belief of Muslims that the Prophet Muhammad was the last Prophet and Messenger of God. Gülen is neither seen as a supernatural human being by his followers nor does he claim prophecy or messiahship. His charisma is derived more from his spiritual personality deriving from the fact that he has acquired an immense amount of knowledge in the religious sciences and has combined that knowledge with successful practice.

By offering insight in relation to three aspects of cults, this article offers a framework within which the Hizmet Movement cannot be treated as a cult or cult-like organization. Unless there is concrete evidence and universal acceptance of deviant behavior, unorthodox means of control, and leader’s use of charisma to assert any supernatural or divine powers, no social movement can be categorized as a cult movement.

How good are we aware of the operations of systems and mechanisms that make us walk?

Costly research and development efforts are under way in centers throughout the world seeking to build walking robots by mimicking human mobility. After 14 years of research, automotive firms built Asimo, a robot which can walk bipedally and climb stairs like humans. Even though the moves Asimo could make matched those of a one year old baby, it was still considered a great success for the robot technology.

Hardships encountered during these research projects proved walking to be a great miracle, apart from normal habits of movement. We often become aware of how extraordinary movement is and that the moves we repeat hundreds of times, such as walking, running, bending, sitting and standing, are blessings granted to us only when we see someone who has lost some of their mobility.

That humans can walk bi-pedally is truly exceptional. Most organisms have a front leaning skeletal structure and walk on four extremities; they only stand upright when absolutely required to, since it is very difficult for them. Human ability to stand upright and walk on two legs truly signifies them as special amongst creatures, and sets them apart from all of creation. The lively, regal posture of dexterous bipedal humans constitutes very important evidence showing they are “the most superior of all creatures.”

The multifunctional, flexible nature of our skeletal system enables us to complete very simple moves automatically. Walking seems to be a very easy task, however, it occurs as a calculated outcome of many factors, such as determination of stepping distance, the toning of corresponding muscles of the same and opposite direction, relaxation and contraction levels, and relocation of the body’s gravity center.

Walking takes place via the coordinated works of the locomotor (musculoskeletal) system, motor control system, and balance-coordination system.

Locomotor (musculoskeletal) system

The framework of the human body is built together with 206 bones of variable hardness. With their strong nature and capacity to endure extra weights, bones takes up 20% of a body’s mass, and are the major load bearing part of the body’s structure.

The main part of our skeleton is the vertebral column. It consists of 33 small bones, known as vertebrae, positioned on top of each other. Wear-preventing discs are found in between vertebrae to protect against motion related wearing over time. As the vertebral column holds the weight of the upper body, it is created in a way to keep the body upright. The spinal cord inside the channel that is surrounded by the vertebral column is a very important signaling network providing coordination between the brain and other organs.

Joints and ligaments are among the moving parts of our body. The most important joints for walking are the hips, knees, and ankles. The curvy shape of the foot and its contact to the ground at three spots supports bones against body weight and helps with balance. This is why flat footed people struggle with walking and get tired easily. The curves of our spine at the neck, back and waist regions, and the hips, knee joints, and curvature of the foot, are perfectly shaped for standing upright and walking.

In order to move we need a muscle system along with the skeletal system. Muscles are made up of thousands of contractible muscle fibers. There are more than 6 billion muscle fiber motors in the human body. We walk, run, eat, breathe, talk and do many more moves by using ability granted to muscles. Approximately 35 muscles in each leg, and around 100 muscles in the whole body, function during walking.

Ligaments and tendons are links that secure bones and muscles together; they also help to stabilize joints, thus when standing, joints remain in place without muscles contracting.

Four different mechanisms are involved in walking:

1. Proper upright posture and maintenance of balance during walking
2. Forward motion of body via muscle power
3. Reduction of shock-impact effect while stepping
4. Maintenance of motion with the least amount of energy.

A series of movements is generated in the legs to provide a forward motion and these are constantly repeated. These constant repetitions are called the “walk cycle.” The “passing pose” is defined as the time frame when the leg is in the air, and the contact pose is the phase during ground contact. In the middle of the contact pose, even though body is in balance, because of the forward momentum of the body, balance is lost, thus the body leans forward. Balance is then restored by stepping on the ground with the leg in the air. As a result of this rhythmic loss and restoration of balance, the body moves forward.

In a person standing upright, the center of gravity is in front of the fifth vertebra. At the start of a walk, the body leans forward to carry the center of gravity towards the front; then the initiation of the motion via forward transfer of the power with toes and joints takes place, followed by the lifting of the heels, the bending of the knees, and the lifting of the foot, thus displacing the center of gravity of the forward leaning body towards the front.

Balance should be maintained when one leg is lifted in order to let the other leg carry the load of the body’s weight. The gravitational center of the body is located in the distance between the two legs since each leg is located on the side. Body balance is maintained by the contractions of dorsal muscles located across the side of the stepping foot, working in parallel to support and transfer body weight to the foot via the hip and femoral muscles. These events happen so quickly that we often do not even notice all the complicated processes.

The great Sufi figure Abdul-Qadir Gilani was often asked questions such as, “Master, show us a miracle.” He would stand up to walk three to five steps and sit back down. Everybody was confused, looking at each other. One person among them was heard saying, “Master, excuse us but we can all do that as well.” Gilani replied then, “Is there a greater miracle than walking? You see it, but do not understand.”

Motor control of walking

Bodily motions are controlled via the primary motor centers that are located on the side and cortex region of the brain. These centers are created in a way to prepare and organize motor programs involving body movements, and to integrate them with the proprioceptive memory. This synthesis of information enables the adaptation of motor commands to the present posture of the legs and arms regarding intended moves.

A desire to make a move is a necessary prerequisite for the stimulation of muscles pertaining to it. If we want to hold something, we can easily do it; when we want to raise our arm, our elbows bend; to run or walk, our leg muscles start to move and work. How do all of those moves happen? Is our desire enough to do so? Can the guidance of all the bones and muscles, working together towards the same target, happen by itself or occur via coincidences?

In order for muscles to move, our thoughts must be relayed to them and this is provided by the nervous system and nerve network. There is an amazing communication network present in our body. In case of an intended move, an electric signal is sent by the brain. During this journey, which seems to be complicated, the signal arrives at the spinal cord and then quickly diverts to the corresponding organ. Millions of motors that make up the muscle are stimulated by the electric signal, contracting the fibers instantly upon reception of the signal. In order to do a coordinated move, it is necessary to know the related body organs’ positions and their relations to each other. Millions of transmitters that provide this information have been placed throughout the body. This data come from the eyes, the inner ear’s balance and sensory organs, muscles, joints, and skin. There are billions of micro receptors located in muscles and joints programmed to send instantaneous positions of the body to the central nervous system. In every stage of a move, the positions of the muscles are reported instantly to the command center by these micro receptors inside the muscles. New commands are given to the muscles based on the assessments made here. This way, each second, billions of bits of information can be processed and assessed.

The cerebellum is another center that is in charge of functions such as maintenance of balance during walking and standing, carrying out proper and coordinated moves with visual control, providing coordination among muscle groups, promptly starting and stopping movements, and the maintenance and organization of normal muscle toning. The cerebellum is tasked primarily with hastened muscle activities like running, typing, and talking. Thus, fast moves necessary for the balance system are sustained properly and successively without abnormal oscillations.

Specific motion templates have been programmed in the spinal cord for all muscle-covered regions of the body. Rhythmic movements, such as forward and backward motion of the legs and arms, and coordinated activities of other body parts in tandem with walking, are controlled here. The task to control repeated moves like walking is assigned to the nerve network consisting of the spinal cord, brainstem and cerebellum.

Balance and coordination system

One of the requirements to walk and move is to stay in balance. Despite our advanced musculoskeletal system, without balance, this system of ours would be useless, or even dangerous.. Our balance system, which is in charge of the instantaneous control and fine adjustments regarding our body, is granted to us as a blessing of Divine compassion.

There are three systems that provide data involving the positions of the head and body: vestibular system (the apparatus of the inner ear), visual senses, proprioceptive senses

The vestibular structures are an essential part of the balance system. They are found in the inner ear, and are small and complicated systems. This 6.5 mm diameter wide system is composed of semicircular channels that contain specific fluid and ciliated sensory cells that cover the inner linings of the channels. This system constantly reports information involving our status in the outer world and instantaneous changes to the balance system.

When we move, the fluid inside the semicircular inner ear channels get displaced; this motion vibrates the cilia. This vibration causes an electric signal to generate in the cells. This electrical signal is then transmitted to the cerebellum; received information gets evaluated instantly in the cerebellum. This system is created to function autonomously without our will and control. When this system is impaired, balance disorders occur, such as dizziness.

Information regarding our position in the environment and the relative status of the environment according to us is sent to the cerebellum and brainstem via our visual senses.

Proprioceptive senses are formed via the activities of tension receptors built in muscle fibers, tendons and joint capsules. These are sensitive to motions and positions. These receptors regularly provide information to the central nervous system. The cerebellum receives information from all the muscles and joints of the body, including the eyes. These inputs are analyzed very promptly at the cerebellum, and the relative gravitational position of the body is finely calculated, thus the proper motions of muscles are determined. The resulting response is relayed towards muscles by nerves. These events take place in a time frame that does not even last for a hundredth of a second. We easily walk, run, and do complicated moves without feeling any of these activities happening inside us. Yet the calculations taking place in our body even for a single moment of those movements can fill thousands of pages.

To understand the fascinating side of our ordinary movements, let’s consider a person climbing up the stairs. First, the eyes scan the surroundings, then the three dimensional information of positions acquired from the materials and belongings in the environment are transmitted to the brain. Once received, the information is analyzed and the necessary commands are sent to the target organ from the motor centers of the brain. Commands passing through related tracks and centers finally arrive at the musculoskeletal system. Many factors, like the height of stair steps, length and depth of the foot step, center of gravity and position of the body, are calculated and determined almost instantly.

Proprioceptive signals constantly report the positions of organs, like the arms and legs, to the command center. Inner ear receptors are in charge of the prompt transmission of information necessary for balance, like motion, speed, and direction of the body. These inputs are calculated in milliseconds at corresponding centers in order to maintain the coordination and harmony of the entire body. A person who is running up the stairs may think to jump a couple of stairs. This change of command is rerouted to the locomotor system as a new and different command from the brain. All of these processes are completed in centiseconds. In the mean time, the head, shoulders, and arms are employed for rhythmic oscillations in order to adapt to the overall body momentum.

In conclusion, standing and walking are miraculous and take place via thousands of interrelated activities. Nonetheless, we usually do not notice any of the thousands of processes that are constantly taking place. One hopes that every blessing we have is seen through the window of thanksgiving and appreciation.

Kemal Serce is a professor of veterinary medicine in Bursa, Turkey.

“There are numerous perfect mechanisms put to work by our Creator in a fashion that is impossible for us to know; it is equally impossible for us to control each of them.”

“This body is mine! Thus, I have a right to use it as I like!”

How do we own our body? How much of it belongs to us? Can we still stand behind the phrase “this body is mine!” when we explain “scientifically” that it is not? To what extent does that statement meet the truth?

First paragraphs of human biology textbooks strongly mention the phenomenon that the sustenance of life takes place outside our will. Does our first creation in our mother’s womb, when we become existent out of nowhere, happen by our will? Do we have a say in the creation of our body, which is the dress of our soul? Of course we don’t. Even our senses, which are involved in eating and drinking, exist outside of our will. The feeling of hunger, for instance, does not come forth from our control; it is dependent on the emptiness of the stomach, and low blood sugar. Hunger is not only a sense of alarm or warning, but also a feeling that forces one to eat; it disappears when one is full. If it was only a sense of alarm, one could get away with it. This situation shows that the human is not a machine composed of flesh only. If we refuse to respond to this feeling of hunger, it may eventually lead to serious, even fatal, consequences, such as patients suffering from Anorexia nervosa, a severe psychological disorder that can lead to self starvation.

If there were no such thing as hunger or appetite, humans would not be interested in working. The feeling of hunger is a remembrance to the One who provides. As a matter of fact, all our emotions are temporary belongings that provide for the sustenance of life, and for the continuation of generations. Sexual desires are provided so that we can have families and can continue the human race; an appetite for food is given so that we can maintain our lives, and the sense of cold is given so that we dress.

In our village, one of our neighbors suffered from a stroke. All of the senses of pain, hot or cold, and touch disappeared from his legs. A pathological sense urged the patient to ask care takers to warm the stroked leg. Upon the patient’s strong request, care takers tried to warm the underside of the foot with a hot iron over a piece of cloth. As a result, the patient suffered severe foot burns all the way to the bone, since neither the patient nor the care takers noticed the damage. The nerve endings embedded in our skin are in charge of sensing hot or cold; and nerves that are buried deep in our legs and arms are tasked with relaying those senses to our brain.

Despite feelings of cold or excess heat being connected to certain areas of the brain and nerve cells, these senses are not completely delivered to brain. That is to say that we are not simply machines made out of elements found in the earth. We do have emotions and a soul in charge of controlling those emotions, and a spiritual world connected to it. It is such that even senses of hot and cold do not belong to us and we cannot even generate or control them.

We cannot start our body just like we start a washing machine. We do not have a button to restart our heart in case it stops. How does a heart work? Have we ever thought about the number of nerves employed in sympathetic and parasympathetic autonomous nerve networks that make the heart work? All of the muscle cells of the heart contract with perfect timing. Do you know that special channels called “gap junctions” in between neighbor muscle cells are put to work wondrously in order to let electric signals pass from one cell to another? If millions of muscle cells in a heart did not have to work like that, how could all our cells get their nourishment, necessary substances, and oxygen in time? All of these processes happen outside our will.

How many red blood cells or white blood cells do you have, and how are they working? When the hemoglobin molecule reaches cells, it releases the oxygen molecule that is bound in lungs. Does the hemoglobin do this act of binding and releasing by its own discretion? Red blood cells get accelerated with proper speed so that cells get their nourishment on time. Is this something we do on our own? Our body is protected from diseases as white blood cells recognize and attack foreign microorganisms and substances. How can a white blood cell separate normal cells from harmful bacteria? There are numerous perfect mechanisms put to work by our Creator in a fashion that is impossible for us to know; it is equally impossible for us to control each of them. We do profit-loss calculations in every business of ours. Our body employs a great principle of economy; do we know how that is put to life or who makes that work?

Neurons, axons, dendrites, synapses, and neuro-transmitters exist and function in amazing numbers in our brains. Countless connections between neurons, and electric currents through synapses, happen without us even noticing them. How do neurotransmitters only bind with their own receptors and open ion channels? How does this relay of information occur in our brain when Na and Ca ions, existing in soil, rocks, and salt – which we use as a condiment – pass through these electrically controlled ion channels? Even if we know about these intricate works, it is still not up to our will to enable or control them.

How do nerve networks function? How many types of neuron circuitries exist, and how do they work? How does membrane potential form in nerve and muscle cells? How is action potential generated? When we touch a substance, which nerve tracks are utilized to transport the information? Do we have the option to pull the plug of pain and feel free of it? If this machine-like body belonged to us, then we could control and regulate it.

When we are purchasing a computer, we get the hardware according to our budget. We ask and order for the processing speed, memory, and the capacity of a computer to meet our needs. Do we get to arrange the capacity of our brain that we think we own?

Do we know that more than 75% of chewing is a reflex and happens outside our control and will? How good is it that we realize that only one of the three phases of swallowing is actually under our control and the rest of the process happens by our reflexes during eating and drinking? If swallowing was to be in our control, it would be highly likely that pieces of food and fluid droplets would easily choke our lungs and might cause death. How do our stomach and intestines work? At what speeds do secretions and movements take place? The content and amount of oral, gastro-intestinal, and pancreatic secretions are regulated according to the amount and type of food we intake. These regulations continue through our lifespan without any cessation.

Are we able to stop our heart beat when we are just a baby in our mother’s womb even for a minute? How does our heart work? How much blood is pumped in a minute? Approximately how long after the conception of egg and sperm does the heart start to beat: weeks, days? Do we know that our heart starts beating when we are as small as a tiny piece of flesh around week four?

How can we assert that we control our body, even when, to this day, scientists do not have a solid comprehension other than some assumptions of the rhythmic continuation of respiration during sleep or coma?

Since we own this heart and lungs, therefore can we manage to die whenever we want to stop them? Never!

We can conclude that the assertion of “this body is ours” is a deceptive, misleading perception. This body is given to us as a temporary belonging. It is very clear scientifically that all of the works, acts, and wondrous arts of the body do not belong to us, but to the One who created them. Our responsibility is to keep that in mind and be thankful for all the bountiful blessings.

Omer Arifagaoglu is a professor of medicine in Turkey.

It is perhaps not fair to expect a world with two faces to respond to this new atrocity with honor and honesty. This is why we should seek support and mercy from the One who is the ultimate source of all power and love. We are only as powerful as the length of our essays in this periodical. Thus, we call on the tyrants to stop their cruelties, for they should know that whatever the reasons they have committed them, it will not bring happiness. Happiness comes with virtuousness! We ask these leaders: who is your guide? Do not be mistaken by the fact that these tyrants happen to be in Muslim countries – this does not qualify them to be the rightful followers of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, for the Prophet, as described in the lead article “was utterly virtuous and contentedly happy. He … never, not even once, consented to anything that was not approved by the Exalted Creator. He was … never unfair and never acted unjustly to anyone. … he never preferred any worldly flavor to virtuousness. He … did not, not even once, fall into hesitation when distinguishing good from bad.” We hope these tyrants are brought to their senses as soon as possible, so that we are saved from our failure to fulfill our basic human responsibilities to stand up for life and dignity. In the meantime, we seek guidance and hope in the Almighty, because ultimately, He is the one with the power to bring these events under control. As we are so often reminded, our human capabilities are quite limited.

The so-called split between science and religion has led us to view life through a binocular with a rather short range. It’s a low definition, black & white range. We thought we were what our genes imposed on us; we believed that natural way would be to let that design unleash itself as genetically ordained. Is it truly so? Are we really nothing more than genetically engineered? Or are there other factors that are involved in making us who we are?

In this issue, “Are Genes the Source of Behavioral Disorders?” explores these questions in a cross-reading between what our biological structure prescribes, vis-à-vis other factors like our culture, parents, education, etc. According to this article “… each child is born with different inclinations and threshold values that are determined genetically and hormonally for each of his or her possible characters and behaviors. These potential inclinations and threshold values can surface depending on internal and external stimuli and educational styles.” So, we are not only what we eat or what we know; we become what we are as a result of a combination of things, some of which we can control, and others which we are born with.

“Why Do We Turn Over During Sleep?” is another article about a daily blessing that is out of our control but is for the good of our health. If we always stay in the same position, sleeping for a regular six to eight hours can cause a disruption in blood circulation, resulting in a pressure ulcer. Therefore, our body is blessed with a defense mechanism in which our position changes, consciously or subconsciously, so that skin integrity is not disrupted.

“Who Owns This Body?” is another contribution on the same theme. The author challenges the belief that we control our bodies, and that no one, not even the One who created us, can impose on our bodies what to do and what not to do. The author gives plenty of examples to show that there is so much happening in our body without our noticing it, that it is nonsensical to claim full ownership over it.

In recent years scientists have taken huge steps towards the bio-hybrid architecture developed for exploring an alternate approach to the control of autonomous robots (1). The plant-robot interactions through cyborg plants have been investigated in an effort to apply lessons from plants to robots, which provided another role for these organisms other than being a food source or decoration items. There are several joint experimental, numerical and robotic studies conducted in this newly developed area. One of the examples includes a flower robot made by Korean engineers which has the appearance of a common flower with petals, stem and leaves (2). The flower robot has sensing ability, moving mechanism, and home appliance function. It can recognize environmental conditions such as room temperature, pressure, voice and light intensity and can imitate the blooming of a flower, the bending of the stem and the stirring of the leaves in the wind. Other than these, the flower robot functions as a humidifier, a vision/voice recording system and an illumination device. For example, when flower robot receives light, it senses the intensity of the light and blooms. On the contrary, when it is dark, as the flower robot starts fading away and its illumination device turns on to flash the room.

Plantas nomadas, made by Mexican artist Gilberto Espaza, is another example of cyborg plants. It uses dirty water to live. It is a miniature eco-system consisting of plants and micro-organisms within a robotic shell. Each of the components symbiotically relies on the others: the plant provides the perfect environment for the microbe, and the microbe (in a microbial fuel cell) transforms nutrients in dirty water into energy to power the robotic components, and the robotic components provide mobility (3).

A team from Switzerland has been working on a project that endows a robot with the ability to react in response to environmental stress of a plant in order to maintain the state of the plant. The robotic devices monitor the changes in morphology and electrical activity of the avocado plants. According to these parameters, it classifies the drought level and triggers irrigation when necessary (4).

Some of the artists like James Stone, who is a Media Artist specializing in digital technologies and fabrication, are interested in seeing if plants are prone to act in certain ways, show preference and possibly display other traits such as emotion. Artists are specifically curious as to what would happen when a plant is augmented with technology but also given full control over such technology to do with it whatever it chooses (5). To see the results of such systems that provides a means for the plant to interact with people or things will surely be fascinating. A study in this line of research is done by a group of researchers in mobile robotics at ETH Zürich, whose long-term research goal is also to bestow machines with the ability to gain and employ knowledge from the universe to improve their intelligence, by building a prototype called iRobot Create. This cyborg plant consists of a computer running Linux, a normal plant and additional sensors and lives its own life, following its internal needs of water, sunlight and electrical energy (6). The cyborg stays away from obstacles using ultrasonic sensors, finds the best light spot using light sensors and goes to a recharge and to a mock-up water station using iRobot’s infrared sensor. Moreover, its sensors pick up noise caused by people moving around nearby, allowing cyborg plant to react by moving out of the way, to prevent themselves from getting underfoot (7).

It is very important to improve the ability of robots to work successfully in a complex and harsh environment, which would increase their usages. In one of those efforts exploring the use of biological systems to control robots under changing environmental conditions, Dr. David Hu and his group from Georgia Institute of Technology (8) used the Mexican jumping bean, Laspeyresia saltitans, which consists of an empty seed housing a moth larva. Heating by the sun stimulates movements by the larva which rolls, jumps and flips by the bean. They explored this unique means of rolling locomotion and recorded bean trajectories across a series of terrain types, including one-dimensional channels and planar surfaces of varying inclination by Time-lapse videography. They found that the shell encumbers the larva’s locomotion, decreasing its speed on flat surfaces by three-fold. Interestingly, they also showed that the two-dimensional search algorithm of the bean resembles the run-and-tumble search of bacteria. When they tested this search algorithm using both an agent-based simulation and a wheeled Scribbler robot, they demonstrated that the algorithm succeeds in propelling the robot away from regions of high temperature. It is amazing that from a study that involves a plant seed, a moth larva and a robot, scientists may develop applications in biomimetic micro-scale navigation systems.

The hi-tech devices that have been inspired by biological systems are not limited by the ones stimulated with plants. The insect world also represents a huge and original database for future bio-inspired systems, vehicles, and micro-vehicles (9). For example, the process of motion detection system in the fly’s eye is a good example of a neural circuit that was used for robot automatic piloting. Recently, a novel bat-like unmanned aerial vehicle inspired by the morphing-wing mechanism of bats has been presented (10). Other than that, body undulation used by snakes and the physical structure of the body of a snake may offer major advantages over typical legged or wheeled locomotion designs in certain types of scenarios, therefore a large number of research groups have developed snake-inspired robots to make use of these benefits (11). Caenorhabditis elegans, a roundworm which has similar motions with snakes but with a simpler structure, was also selected to develop a small crawling robot with a thermal shape memory alloy, a homogeneous mixture or solid solution of two or more metal, as an actuator (a type of motor for moving or controlling a mechanism or system) due to the similarities of its properties to C. elegans muscles. (12).

Not only multicellular organisms but also unicellular (single-celled) organisms are utilized for generating cyborgs; for example, scientists used circuits prepared from Physarum polycephalum, amoeboid plasmodia of the slime mold, to control an omni-directional hexapod robot. Sensory signals from the macro-physical environment of the robot are transduced to cellular scale and processed using the unique micro-physical characteristics of intracellular information processing and the response from the cellular computation is amplified to yield a macroscopic output action in the environment mediated through the robot’s actuators(1).

In addition, a new biorobotic system using human neuroblastoma cultures was introduced in 2011 by a Spanish engineering group (13). Multielectrode Arrays Setups have been designed for direct culturing neural cells over silicon or glass substrates. The main objective of this work is to run a robot using this biological neuroprocessor and the final system could be used for many things such as testing how chemicals influence the behavior of the robot.

In summary, manipulation of robots that use living organisms as an interface to perceive the environment and transfer their responses into functions seem to have endless applications as well as challenges. Biologically-inspired technologies represent an emerging and promising field of interdisciplinary areas composed of engineering, computer sciences, chemistry, biology, physics and even art. In nature there are so many living and non-living elements designed by God to help us develop and improve robots to make our lives easier, better and more productive. Even a flower can offer us with something more than color and scent, and that is if we start thinking outside the box like so many people mentioned above have done.

Safiye Arslan is a Research fellow in the area of molecular biology in Nevada.

References

1. Tsuda, S., Zauner, K. P., & Gunji, Y. P. (2006). Robot Control: From Silicon Circuitry to Cells, Biologically Inspired Approaches to Advanced Information Technology (pp. 20-32). Osaka, Japan: Springer.

2. H. K. Park, S. H. Park, J. O. Park, (2007) “A study on the Moving Mechanism for Flower Robot,” International Conference on Control, Automation and Systems.

3. http://m.ammoth.us/blog/2010/09/a-cyborg-arboretum/

4. http://www.cyborgplant.com/

5. http://www.manofstone.com/cyborgplants/

6. Stocker, J., Veillat, A., Magnenat, S., Colas, F., Siegwart, R. (2011). Towards Adaptive Robotic Green Plants. TAROS 2011: 422-423

7. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128305.900-robotassisted-plants-find-their-place-in-the-sun.html

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