The heart is composed of four compartments: two atriums and two ventricles. The blood that reaches the heart first accumulates in the atriums. From here, it is sent to the ventricles. Afterwards, it is redistributed to the body by the contractions of the ventricles. The harmony of this process depends on the electrical currents in our hearts.

How is the electrical current formed?

There is a particular region in the heart called the sinus node. The sinus node is strip of a muscle that is 15 mm in length, 3 mm in width, and 1 mm in thickness, and is located in the right atrium of the heart. The cells of this strip are responsible for producing electrical currents, and are created in a different fashion from the rest of the cells that are responsible for producing contractions. This is where the electrical currents in our hearts are periodically produced. Every cell in the body contains elements such as sodium, calcium, potassium and chlorine that are electrically charged. The elements which are electrically charged are called ions. These ions also exist in the extracellular environment. The intra cellular and extra cellular concentrations of these ions are different from each other. This situation causes a difference in the electrical potential between the interior and exterior of a cell. This difference is called a membrane potential. Periodically, the membrane potentials of the sinus cells show sudden jumps – meaning they suddenly increase and then suddenly decrease. Since the cells are in close contact with each other, such a jump in the membrane potential of one cell triggers a jump in the membrane potential of another cell. The electrical currency that enables the contraction of the heart is produced by this continuous triggering of cells. On average, 70 electrical currents per minute are produced in the sinus node. These currents start being produced while a person is in the womb of their mother and continues their whole lifetime. The heart of an embryo starts beating while it is only 22 days old. However, the height of the embryo at this point has not even reached 1 cm. Isn’t it an amazing force that creates the beating heart of such a small embryo and keeps it going a lifetime?

How is the electrical current distributed?

Another node called the atrio ventricular node was created in between the atriums and ventricles in our heart. While the current coming from the sinus node is spread to the whole of the atrium, it is by this node that the current is sent to particular fibers. The task of this node is to hang on to the current coming from the sinus node for a while. Why does the current need to be held on to? Because blood can only enter the ventricles while it is resting and by holding on to it, the contraction of the ventricles is disabled while the contraction of the atriums is taking place. By this process, the blood coming from the atrium can enter the ventricle. Therefore, the blood fills in the ventricles and can be distributed throughout the body. The blood circulation is enabled in a flawless manner by allowing the atriums to do their duty while the ventricles wait.

After passing through the atrio ventricular node, the electrical currency eventually goes through the purkinje fibers. These fibers surround the ventricles like a web and are composed of cells that can conduct electrical current in a very fast manner. Compared to the atrio ventricular node, the electrical current can be conducted 150 times faster in the purkinje fibers. Therefore, the current reaches every point of the ventricles in a very short period of time. Every muscle in the ventricles contracts in a time shorter than one tenth of a second.

The muscles in the ventricles rapidly contract, one by one, depending on when the current reaches them. The contraction starts at the end of the ventricles and carries on towards the main veins exiting the heart. By this orderly and harmonious contraction, the blood is pumped from the end of the heart towards the main veins exiting the heart to be distributed among the body. Because all the ventricle muscles are stimulated very fast, the contraction also happens very fast, resulting in a strong pumping effect. The design of this system is incredibly wise, right down to its most minute detail.

Movement in heart muscle potential

As all cells in our body, the cells in the heart also have a membrane potential. We had stated before that this membrane potential is the result of the difference in intra and extra cellular ion concentrations. The charges of these ions are different from each other. For example, sodium and potassium have plus one (+1) charges, calcium has a plus two (+2) charge, and chlorine has a negative one (-1) charge. The resting potential of a cell is negative. This means that there are more negative ions within the cell when compared to its environment. Sodium, calcium, and potassium ions are mobile through the membrane. While sodium and calcium have a higher concentration outside the cell, potassium has a higher intra cellular concentration compared to its environment. There are channels created on the cell membrane that allow ions to pass through the membrane. The sudden increase in the membrane potential that was explained before causes a sudden rush of sodium ions inside the cell. This is such a rapid movement that it is concluded in a tenth of a second. Right after the entrance of the sodium ions, calcium ions also enter. Because these ions are positively charged, the membrane potential becomes positive.

With the entering of calcium ions into the cell, calcium ions are also released from the storages within the cell. By triggering the protein necessary for these contractions, the calcium ions become a means for the contraction of the heart muscles. Meanwhile, the potassium channels open and these ions within the cell pass to the extra cellular environment. The loss of positive ions results in the membrane potential being negative again. Therefore, the sudden jump in membrane potential that is the basis for the electrical current is created.

However, at this point there are extra amounts sodium and calcium within the cell and extra amounts of potassium outside the cell. The concentrations need to be returned to their original values for the next jump in the membrane to be possible. This task is given to a protein called the sodium-potassium pump that pumps out sodium from the cell and pumps in potassium. If this pump had not been created, the ion balance in any of the cells within the body would be impossible to re-establish. As a result, the life of the cells would come to an end. However, because of the remarkable intricacy of our cells, life is made possible for us.

Afterwards, some amount of the calcium ions are pumped out of the cell with a similar pump, while the rest are stored within the cell. The decrease in the concentration of calcium relaxes the muscle. Now the heart muscle has gone into relaxation and therefore is ready for the next contraction.

If the movement of the ions becomes unbalanced, the rhythm of our heart is disturbed. The unbalance in the ion movements or blockage in heart veins can be reasons for heart rhythm disorders. Even small heredity-based defects in the ions pumps affect the movement of these ions and can cause heart rhythm disorders. This situation shows that nothing is created by coincidence.

Movement in the sinus node

The jump in the membrane potential of a heart cell depends on the membrane potential jump of the previous cell. Through the gaps in between the cells that are in contact with each other, the positive ions that exit a cell reach the membrane of the cell next to it and trigger the opening of its ion pumps. As a result, the membrane potential of that cell starts changing. At this point, you may have this question: how does the electrical current start in one end of the sinus node that is not previously triggered by any cell?

This concept is explained by the ion transfer mechanism of the node cells being different than the muscle cells. Before explaining this, it should be noted that even while resting, a mechanism for allowing an ion exchange of the cell with its surrounding has been created. In the node cells, this exchange while at rest has been created in a way that the sodium and calcium exchange is larger and the potassium exchange is lower compared to the muscle cells during resting conditions. Therefore, the membrane potential of the node cells is less negative and slowly increases with time. As a result of this slow but steady increase, after a while it reaches a threshold. When it reaches it, the calcium channels in the membrane suddenly open and there is a rush of calcium ions into the cell. Thus, the jump in the membrane potential is created independently from another cell.

As it can be observed, even a single contraction of our heart depends on a very detailed, delicate, and complex system. Moreover, this system is repeated over a hundred thousand times within one day. After reflecting on this, how can we claim this system runs by coincidence or chance?

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.

Most, if not all, of water’s anomalous properties make life possible. To name a few of its many oddities, water is the only material that naturally exists in all possible forms (solid, liquid, and gas) on earth. Of all known chemical compounds, water has the second highest capacity to store heat, which is crucial for climate regulation and keeping living organisms’ body temperatures constant. Water is the second best heat-conducting liquid (after mercury), and this helps large masses of water to reach uniform temperatures quickly. Water has an astonishingly high heat of vaporization which eases body temperature regulation for humans and animals via providing a cooling system through sweating. This high heat of vaporization also prevents dehydration.

The absorption coefficient of water is a million times lower for the visible region of light than the rest of spectrum, a property which enables passage of the useful and prevention of the harmful rays from the sun, and makes the earth amenable to the accommodation of biological life. Furthermore, the greenhouse effect which keeps the Earth’s climate at moderation also stems from this aspect of water. Because the sunlight that is reflected from the Earth is mostly in the infrared region, it is effectively absorbed by the water vapor in the atmosphere due to water’s higher absorption of light within the non-visible regimes, and hence the heat does not escape from the earth.

Water is one if the best solvents, which is very important for cleansing. Finally (and thankfully), water does not display its peculiarity when it comes to taste. Such a “famously odd” molecule is somewhat ironically tasteless and odorless, and extremely easy to drink and consume.

“If We so willed, We would make it bitter and salty. Then should you not give thanks?” Waqi‘ah (56:70)

Although each of the aforementioned physical aspects of water deserves mentioning in its own right, from here on we will focus on water’s properties from a biological standpoint. To this end, we will first introduce some aspects of water, look at the interaction of water with bio-molecules, and finally elaborate on three particular biological examples (protein folding, cellular membranes and water channels), which demonstrate how such interactions provide the bases for life.

Life based on water

“We made every living thing from water.” Anbiya 21:30

Thanks to its abundance on earth, water is easily accessible and inexpensive. However, in the summer of 1986, Professor Michael Levitt of Stanford University spent almost half a million dollars on a tiny amount of water, that would hardly wet the point of a pin. Certainly, the money was not spent on the water itself, but the expenditure (it now costs about 50 cents to run such a simulation) reflected the cost of running a simulation on a cluster of supercomputers for two weeks to understand the interaction between water molecules and a particular protein. Eventually, the money turned out to be well spent. Although the same protein had been modeled before by a research group at Harvard University in 1977, the simulation had been carried out as if the protein were in a vacuum. Levitt and his co-workers realized that the previous attempt to model the proteins in the absence of water was a poor predictor of the real-life scenario. Likewise, earlier DNA simulations meant to model the double helical DNA in the absence of water had failed, Levitt and his colleagues also succeeded in simulating the DNA by adding water in the environment, and the water molecules were found to be interacting with nearly every part of the DNA. Levitt’s groundbreaking discoveries not only revealed the importance of the interaction between water and biological molecules, but also paved the way for computational biologists to simulate biological entities in the presence of their native watery media.

When a drop of oil is placed in water, it does not mix with water. Hence, oil and water are said to be immiscible. In contrast, sugar easily dissolves in water and forms a homogenous mixture upon mixing. Although not as obvious at first sight, the underlying principles which govern this phenomenon can explain how water can interact with biological molecules.

Materials can be classified according to their “water tendency”: the ones that tend to avoid water (e.g. oil), are considered hydro-phobic (hydro: “water,” phobic: “fearing”), whereas materials that mix well with water (e.g. alcohol) are called hydro-philic (or water-loving). Water’s particular molecular structure turns out to yield a non-uniform electron distribution, and thus makes water molecule highly “polar” (see Figure 1.a). As a consequence, polar or charged molecules prefer being close to water molecules, whereas the apolar or neutral ones tend to avoid them.

Many curious aspects of water stem from another fact-that water molecules can interact with each other through “hydrogen bonding” (see Figure 1b). Although the molecules in a liquid are highly disordered, hydrogen bonding gives water molecules some order even in the liquid phase. A molecule’s ability to cooperate in hydrogen bonding is very important for breaking (or formation) of hydrogen bonds, and affect two parameters (i.e. the “order” and the “energy”) of the system which determine the feasibility of a certain chemical reaction.

Actually, most, if not all, of the oddities of water are due to these two properties (water-tendency and hydrogen bonding). Furthermore, these two aspects determine a great deal of how water interacts with other molecules, and the way water enables the proliferation of life. We will now elaborate on some biological phenomena and try to understand them in the light of these aspects of water.

Protein folding

Proteins are biological molecules that carry out the vital tasks of life. In the cell, proteins are initially synthesized as linear chains of amino acids ranging in size from a few to several thousand amino acids in length. Subsequent to synthesis, a linear chain spontaneously folds into a particular three-dimensional (3D) form (see Figure 2). This precise fold is essential for the execution of protein’s specific function (see Figure 3). As simple as it may sound, protein folding is currently one of the biggest questions in biophysics.

Researchers are working hard to be able to devise principles to estimate which 3D fold a certain linear amino acid sequence adopts, and what functions the eventual 3D structures execute. Although these questions related to the protein folding phenomenon are still far from being totally understood, some clues have been discovered.

In 1969 Cryus Levinthal stated that an average size protein would fold within about 1030 times longer than the expected lifetime of the universe if it were to fold via sampling all possible conformations even if the conformational sampling is very fast (e.g. a millionth of a millionth of a second for each conformation). This obviously is not what happens in reality, and the experimentally observed folding times are within milliseconds (a thousandth of a second) – second regime. This discrepancy between the estimated and the measured timescales is referred to as the “Levinthal Paradox.”

Consequently, proteins cannot rely on randomly sampling all the possible conformations to fold, but the folding must rather be a driven and directed process. Scientists hypothesize that water comes to the rescue at this point. As the linear protein chain is being synthesized, water-hating amino acids try to bury themselves away from water as soon as possible. This leads to the rapid collapse of the linear amino acid chain into a compact structure where hydrophobic regions are protected from water (see Figure 2c). This initial compaction which is provided by the interaction with the ambient aqueous medium is thought to be the key step in achieving folding within reasonable timescales. After the first rapid compaction, the protein adapts its final structure by sampling a much smaller number of possible conformations.

Simultaneously, hydrogen bonding helps the stabilization of certain folds with respect to other possible structures and contributes to the folding process. Eventually, the functional 3D fold is thus realized from the nascent linear protein chain.

Cellular compartmentalization

“He has let flow forth the two large bodies of water, they meet together, (but) between them is a barrier, which they do not transgress (and so they do not merge).” (Rahman 55:19-20)

Compartmentalization is an important feature of life. First of all, the boundary of a cell must be well-defined and well-controlled. Secondly, different tasks are carried out by specialized compartments (so called organelles) within most of the cells. The major design principle of the cellular boundaries depends on the immiscibility of water and oil. The subunits of cellular membranes are “lipids” which simply are oil-based molecules. A lipid molecule has two parts: A water-loving “headgroup” and two water-fearing “tails”. Because of the dual water-tendency of lipids, they can self assemble into bi-layers (see Figure 4 a and b), which eventually form enclosed structures. Thanks to the properties of water, this compartmentalization is readily achieved.

The cell membrane thus formed is impermeable to ions, and many chemical agents important for sustaining the cellular functions. Although such a barrier is essential for holding the cell contents as well as maintaining intracellular balance, material exchange between inside and outside of the cell is also an indispensible trait for carrying out the vast majority of vital processes (nerve impulse formation and transmission, cell signaling, nutrition, etc.). In order to achieve well-controlled material transport across the membrane, the cell membrane is decorated with various proteins that function as “channels” (see Figure 4c). These channel proteins come in different flavors and show specificity towards different chemicals. For instance, the channel protein for the potassium ion (K+) only allows the passage of potassium ions, whereas the sodium channel only lets sodium (Na+) through. Other channels have “gating” mechanisms that enable the channel to be “open” or “closed” depending on the need for the transport to happen. Although the specificity and gating mechanism of every channel protein relies on a unique ingenious design principle which deserves detailed mention in its own right, in the rest of the article we will focus on the water channel, for it once again exemplifies the perfect harmony between water and the bio-molecules.

Aquaporin: The water channel

Almost 170 liters of water is recycled in the human kidney on a daily basis, and this requires that kidney tissue possesses high water permeability. Since water cannot diffuse in and out of the cell membrane very rapidly for the reasons given above, reconciliation of the enormous daily flux of water in the kidneys has been a long-standing puzzle. The discovery of water channels (also known as “aquaporin”) by Peter Agre in 1992 resolved the mystery, and this finding was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2003. It is now known that the recycling machinery in the kidney chiefly consists of millions of aquaporins. Like other channel proteins, aquaporins also display selectivity: water is effectively transported across aquaporins, whereas the passage of other ions and miscellaneous agents is not permitted.

However, how this selectivity is achieved presented another riddle: Hydrogen is smaller than water and can move through the smallest opening. How, then, is the hydrogen selected against, while water is allowed? It was also well known that water molecules which are ordered within the channel constriction (see Figure 5) normally form a “proton wire” through which the hydrogen ions (i.e. protons) can easily flow just like an electrical current flows along an electrical wire. Thus, as water is transported across aquaporins, hydrogen ions should in principle move rapidly in and out of the cells through the chain of ordered water molecules (i.e. the proton wire) in an uncontrollable manner. This would cause an imbalance in the cellular environment, and most likely would lead to cell death.

The answer came from a computer simulation of aquaporin by Emad Tajkhorshid and Klaus Schulten at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. They found that the water molecules change their orientation (see Figure 5) as they spun through the water channel. This rotation was achieved via water molecules’ specific interactions with the amino acid residues in the channel. Thanks to this orientation, the formation of the proton wire is disrupted (just like a break in an electric circuit) and the hydrogen ions are not permitted through the channel, while rapid water diffusion takes place. The interaction between water and aquaporin thus provides just another reason water is rightfully considered the cradle of life.

Conclusion

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” Albert Einstein

… and that He sends down water from the sky, and revives with it the earth after its death. Surely in this are signs for people who will reason and understand. Rum 30:24 

References

1. Gedik, N. “The Miracles of Water,” The Fountain, Issue 43, January–March 2005.

2. Ileri, R. “Water and Vitality,” The Fountain, Issue 2, April-June 1993.

3. Unal, Ali. The Qur’an: An Annotated Interpretation in Modern English, The Light, Inc. NJ: 2005.

4. “Simulating Water and The Molecules of Life,” Scientific American, November 1998.

5. Errington, J. R. & Debenedetti, “P.G.” Nature, 409, 318–321, 2001.

6. Water, Wikipedia.

7. “Mysteries of Water,” Physics Today, June 2003.

8. Sener, Hamdi. “Mikroalemdeki Canli Motorlar” (Living Engines in the Micro World), Sizinti, September 2005.

9. Figures are modified from: Chemical polarity, Wikipedia
Hydrogen bond, Wikipedia
http://www.ccl.net/cca/documents/dyoung/water/
http://www.helsinki.fi/~jtvaara/images/water.gif
“Inner Life of The Cell” animation, http://multimedia.mcb.harvard.edu/
“Molecular Biology of the Cell,” 4th Edition; Bruce Alberts et al.
http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=53074&rendTypeId=4
http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/179_11_011203/van10722_fm-5.jpg

Yusuf Ali, in his translation of the Qur’an, asks several questions about lightning: Why look to evil rather than to good? To punishment rather than to mercy?”To the fear in the force and fire of the lightning rather than to hope of good and abundant crops in the rain which will come behind the lightning clouds (note 1818); Nay, thunder itself which may frighten you, is but a tame and beneficent force before Him, declaring His praises, like the rest of creation. Thunder thus aptly give the name to this surah of contrasts, where what we may think is terrible is shown to be really a submissive instrument of good in God’s hands (note 1819); and: To cowards, lightning and thunder appear as terrible forces of nature. Lightning seems to kill and destroy where its irresistible progress is not assisted by proper lightning”conductors. But lightning is also a herald of rain-bearing clouds and showers that bring fertility and prosperity in their train (3530).

Journals publish articles on injuries and death caused by lightning. However, the Qur’an specifically mentions the hope of lightning as a good or beneficent force. This article addresses this issue.

What are ions?

After a storm, the air feels clean and fresh filled with negative ions. People often report feelings of pleasantness and well-being following an electrical storm. Electrical storms are generally preceded by higher levels of positive ions and followed by higher levels of negative ions.

Air is made of individual molecules. When the outer electrons of two or more atoms join together, the resulting particle is a molecule. Each molecule, in turn, contains smaller particles of positive and negative charges (protons and electrons). Under normal circumstances, the number of protons and electrons are equal, and so their charges cancel out and leave the molecule electrically neutral. However, negatively charged electrons are lighter and more mobile. If they happen to absorb energy from intense sunlight, they tend to jump from one molecule to another. When a negative charge jumps from a molecule, it upsets the equilibrium and leaves behind more positive than negative charges. Thus the molecule becomes a positive ion. The electron arriving at the new molecule brings with it an extra negative charge. This molecule now becomes a negative ion. When the energy supply is removed, the electrons return toward the vacated spaces, and everything becomes balanced and has a zero charge.

Oxygen, a prime example of small gaseous molecules, remains neutral as long as the proton“electron balance is maintained. Since atoms have equal numbers of protons and electrons, they have no charge. However, if an electron is lost or gained, the molecule becomes positively or negatively charged, respectively, and an ion is created.

The simplest way to visualize an air ion is to consider it a tiny charge of static electricity carried by the air. This charge can be either positive or negative. The charged particles, or ions, are not merely suspended in the atmosphere; rather, they are part of the air’s very fabric. The air we breathe contains billions of tiny, invisible, electrically charged energy packets called ions, each of which have either positive or negative charges. Every time we take a breath, ions fill up our lungs and are carried by our blood into every cell in our body. Without ions in the air, our body could not process oxygen properly.

A lack or imbalance of ions affects the environment in which we live and breathe. Research shows that most of us who live, work, and travel in closed spaces suffer some degree of negative ion starvation or positive ion overabundance. This has become extremely evident to NASA in its space travel program.

People are spending their lives submerged in an atmospheric ocean of nitrogen, oxygen, and a small percentage of other elements, plus the toxins and pollution of our industrial world. In cities like New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Mexico City, Karachi, Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Calcutta, and many other densely populated cities, there may be few or no detectable negative ions at all during heavy traffic and high pollution periods.

In nature, abundant ions are generated wherever energy is transferred into the air by the friction within wind, rain, and surf. Certain events occurring in nature, such as lightning discharges, falling water, and air friction can cause electrons to be torn loose from a molecule. These orphan electrons are then adopted by other nearby molecules, which transforms them into negative ions. The parent particles become positive ions.

Negative ions carry the air’s electrical energy. Some examples of nature’s ion generators are solar (ultraviolet) and cosmic radiation, air friction, lightning, falling water (the splitting of water into droplets by waterfalls), ocean surf and waves, evergreens and Earth’s radioactivity (from natural radiation in rocks and soil).

The ion effect: Serotonin hypothesis

An excess of positive ions and a lack of negative ions can produce uncomfortable effects. Scientists have demonstrated that small air ions are biologically active. Moreover, they can stimulate the over-production of serotonin, a powerful neurotransmitter and very active neurohormone that causes profound nerve, glandular, and digestive effects throughout the body. Tests show that positive ions increase the production of serotonin and that negative ions decrease the hormone level.

High serotonin concentrations are associated with migraines. Negative ions accelerate the oxidative degradation of serotonin, whereas positive ions deactivate the enzymes that break it down. Thus more negative ions should reduce migraines. A higher serotonin level also produces tachycardia, higher blood pressure, bronchial spasms and even asthma attacks, increased intestinal peristalsis (intestinal contractions and dilations to push the contents through), increased sensitivity to pain, and increased aggression. Reduced serotonin levels result in a mentally relaxed state and reduce feelings of depression. Negative ions appear to reduce serotonin by enhancing monoamine oxidizing activity. Paradoxically, mental illness is often treated successfully with drugs that inhibit this activity and raise serotonin levels in the brain.

The three major effects of positive ion excess are irritation and tension, exhaustion, and a hyperthyroid response. The common symptoms of dizziness, headaches, depression, anxiety, and a generally lower level of physical and mental functioning were shown to be alleviated and, in most cases, reversed by increasing the negative ions in the air.

Positive ions

Many people find a pre-storm atmosphere heavy and oppressive. This has been attributed to the high levels of positive ions building up in the air, which are also believed to trigger storm-sensitivity in asthmatics and many other people. In the hours before a certain storm arrived, hundreds of people reported to hospital with severe asthma attacks. Was this due to positive ions?

Scientists have found that if the air is charged with too few negative and too many positive ions, we become anxious,tired, and tense. This positive-ion poisoning results from weather disturbances, central air conditioning, smog, and driving too long. It even has been linked to heart attacks, aggravated asthma, migraines, insomnia, rheumatism, arthritis, hay fever, and most allergies. However, a negative electrical charge imparts positive feelings of health and vitality.

Negative ions

Refreshing places, usually located in the mountains and near waterfalls and seashores, where health resorts are traditionally situated, have high negative ion concentrations. Areas with high levels of positive ions often make us feel uncomfortable and irritable.

In addition to providing a rewarding visual experience, waterfalls may be beneficial to our health. Those wishing to enhance their body and mind through breathing exercises should do so by a waterfall. Nearly everyone agrees that visiting a waterfall is a stimulating, refreshing, and energizing experience.

The energy produced by falling water causes negative ions, for as the falling water breaks into droplets, electrons (negatively charged parts of an atom) are separated from water atoms. These electrons combine with oxygen atoms in the air to create negative ions, which then are inhaled and absorbed into the bloodstream. Negative ions are not known to permanently cure anything. However, experts believe that they help our bodies by accelerating the delivery of oxygen to our cells. Some researchers believe that they may stimulate cells that regulate the body’s resistance to disease.

Plants grown in an ion-enhanced atmosphere show a marked increase in size and growth rate. Air-borne bacteria greatly diminish in number when there is a high negative ion count in the air. Synthetic materials, forced air circulation, improper humidity levels, excess static electricity, and a lack of fresh air all contribute to an ion imbalance. Natural negative ion levels should be maintained through full-spectrum lighting; natural materials on walls, floors, and furniture; windows that open to the outside; and living plants. These should be kept in mind when designing a place in which to live.

On average, 1,500 ions are found in a cubic centimeter (roughly the size of a sugar cube) of fresh air. Of these, about 45% are negative ions and the rest are positive ions. At Yosemite Falls in California, a reading of 100,000 negative air ions per cubic centimeter was recorded.

The fresh air after a thunderstorm, on a mountain top, or by the seaside are due to high negative ion concentrations. The reduced well-being often felt in highly polluted areas, cars, smog-enclosed areas, artificially air conditioned offices, or in hot dry weather conditions are usually due to an unduly low negative ion balance. Negative ions can be found in the billions on mountain tops, waterfalls, and by the sea. Radioactive substances in Earth’s crust and cosmic rays cause most ionization. But fire, crashing water, and plants during photosynthesis also produce negative ions. They give the air its invigorating freshness, which is so good for us.

Physiologically, the presence of negative ions in a sweat bath is as important as the heat. The discovery of negative ions in certain types of saunas a few years ago became headline news in Finland. Until then, the sauna’s healing power was attributed to relaxation and increased circulation. Now, negative ions add startling new possibilities.

Ions and our modern lifestyle

We now live in an environment that virtually eliminates negative ions. Rural areas have a higher concentration of ions, but many of us live in towns and cities that have very low levels due to dirt and pollution. Pollution from car exhaust, smoking, overcrowding, and even breathing all contribute to this.

Modern vehicles have many problems. For example, opening a window lets in polluted city air. Many drivers, especially long-distance ones, keep an ionizer in their vehicle to help them maintain a high level of alertness and concentration. In addition, this can relieve car sickness and remove pollen and smoke. In cities, closed rooms, cars and elsewhere, the proportion of negative ions is markedly reduced compared to what it is in undisturbed nature. According to experts, positive ions rob us of our good senses and dispositions, while negative ions enhance them, stimulating everything from plant growth to overall bodily well-being. In general, people who are sensitive to air-borne allergens will benefit far more and quicker from the cleansing action of negative ions.

A second potentially important factor is the person’s body voltage, for a high body voltage could alter considerably the ion ingestion rate. Perhaps the same effect as positive ion enhancement could be produced by a high negative body potential, even if the ambient air ion concentrations are balanced. Control and reduction of bodily voltage to a near-zero condition should reduce any such effects and restore ion ingestion due to the ambient air ion balance condition. For Muslims, body voltage to a near-zero condition is achieved when they prostrate during prayer.

Ironically, even today’s air-conditioned buildings, vehicles, and airplanes frequently become supercharged with harmful positive ions because the plastic and metal fans, filters, and air-conditioning duct systems strip the air of negative ions even before it reaches its destination. In addition, fluorescent lighting, electrical and electronic equipment, television screens, and static-producing as well as artificial fibers in carpets, clothes, and upholstery, all reduce the level of negative ions and increase the level of positive ions.

Desktop PCs have a cathode ray tube monitor that produces a positive static charge during normal operation. It also sweeps the nearby air of negative charges, depleting the negative-ion concentration in the immediate vicinity. Apparently when ion concentration is lowered by this or any other means, such as air conditioning, workers complain of headaches, lethargy, dizziness, and nausea. Tests conducted in England indicate that the more complex the task a person tries, the more he or she is affected by negative ion levels. Also, women are more responsive than men to negative ion depletion or enrichment.

The graph below provides some average sample readings of negative air ions taken in various locations. Note that the body responds to levels above 1,000 ions per cc.

Effects on our health

Besides cleaning the air, negative ions aid in mood elevation and increased oxygen intake, both of which make us feel more alert and energetic. Negative ions can provide major benefits for suffers of asthma, chronic fatigue syndrome, nervous energy, hay fever, allergies, sleep disorders and snoring, depression, emphysema, sinus, migraines, colds and flu, nausea, chemical sensitivity, fibromyalgia, cigarette smoke and other odors, and computers and office pollution.

Scientific studies

Research shows that negative ions can reduce histamine, which triggers hay fever; affect levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter or a neurohormone associated with anxiety, stress, and migraines; help suffers of bronchitis, asthma, catarrh, the common cold, insomnia, migraines, emphysema, eczema, headaches, tiredness, and general feelings of malaise; speed the healing time of burns and surgical incisions with less cross-infection and reduced pain (including post-operative pain); enhance the body’s absorption and utilization of oxygen, thus assisting concentration and alertness; reduce the effects of passive smoking and allergies to pollen, dust, and pets; remove and destroy air-borne bacteria and viruses; and lower serotonin levels, which leads to greater calmness and strengthens defenses against infection, as proven with the flu.

Negative ions also increase hemoglobin/oxygen affinity so that the partial oxygen pressure in the blood rises while the partial dioxide pressure decreases. This results in a lowered respiratory rate and enhances the metabolism of water-soluble vitamins. In addition, negative ions increase one’s pH level, which makes bodily fluids more alkaline.

The effect of negative ion depletion varies from person to person. Negative ions in the bloodstream accelerate the delivery of oxygen to our cells and tissues, whereas positive ions slow this down and produce symptoms markedly like those in anoxia (oxygen starvation). Negative ions may stimulate the reticulo-endothelial system, a group of defense cells that marshal our resistance to disease. Treatment with negative ions has produced dramatic improvement in healing severe burns and reducing pain. Children, in particular, seem to respond quickly, for tests have shown that children breathing negatively ionized air were superior in incidental memory and had many difficulties in dichotic listening offset.

Offices and organizations having negative air ionization equipment have found that their employees are less likely to get colds or be absent, and generally are more cheerful and alert. Negative air ionizers are used in the closed and artificial atmospheres of submarines and spacecraft.

Conclusions

The Qur’an’s verses inspire people to make new scientific discoveries, as seen in 13:12, quoted above. Nature contains many sources of the negative ions that are so beneficial to people.

Reading and acquiring a deeper understanding of the Qur’an lead to many life-enhancing discoveries. Given the right conditions, healthy food and pure water, our bodies will usually right themselves and develop properly. But so often we neglect the air we breathe. Most of us live in environments full of invisible pollution and devoid of negative ions.

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