She has conducted research on the psychology of meditation for over 25 years, including investigations on the effects of meditation on heart rate control, general well-being, spirituality, psoriasis and anxiety disorders. Her other (but related) line of research is investigating the role of spirituality in adjustment to serious medical illness. A recently published randomized intervention study documented benefits of a very brief physician-delivered spirituality intervention offered to cancer patients on quality of life, emotional well-being, and satisfaction with care. Current work is investigating how religious and spiritual resources, from the patient’s perspective, may help in adjusting to cancer. Matter&Beyond spoke with her on her research.

Matter&Beyond: Dr. Kristeller, you are doing research on the spirituality of cancer patients. You also developed an intervention technique called OASIS that could benefit the patients who are going through spiritual struggles. What was your starting point for this project?

The OASIS Project stands for Oncology Assisted Spirituality and Intervention Study. In this project, we were exploring how individuals draw on their spiritual and religious resources to deal with having a cancer diagnosis. The other question was how physicians perceived that aspect of their patients’ resources and whether they felt it was appropriate to bring it up in the medical environment. First we went out and actually asked physicians what they thought about the role of patients’ spirituality in dealing with cancer. We actually got back a very positive response. Substantial proportion of the physicians actually felt that it was helpful to their patients; it was something that was valuable to engage within the medical environment.

M&B: Were they able to address the spiritual dimensions of the patients?

What we found out was that they didn’t know how to do that. They were afraid if they brought it up, their patients might get upset with them and they’d be triggering off a reaction perhaps that would require so much time and effort on their part to explore with their patients that it just wasn’t practical. So when we found that out from the physicians we decided that we would systematically look at that from that patient’s side.

What we heard from patients was that they also wished to bring it up in the medical environment but they felt that the physicians wouldn’t want to and that they would bring it up if the physicians asked about it first, and the physicians were saying they’d talk about it if the patients brought it up first. So nobody was bringing it up.

So we moved this onto the next step. What if we taught the physicians a particular approach to bringing up this issue with their patients because we couldn’t sit down and teach the patients how to do it. We decided to take a risk and teach physicians how to bring this up to their patients in a very simple way. And we found a few very brave oncologists who were willing to work with us around this and we designed literally a 5-minute patient centered way of introducing this concept.

M&B: How did you design this approach and what were its characteristics?

In a way, we’re guided by previous research on how physicians can talk to their patients about difficult topics. This is actually research that I had done previously in relation to other difficult topics like smoking and alcohol use. And what we did in those cases was we taught the physician a very neutral, gentle supportive way to introduce those issues with their patients and then we took a look at how we could use that with introducing the questions about spiritual resources. So a physician may say something like “Many patients draw on their spiritual or religious resources to deal with something like finding out they have cancer. As your physician I would like to hear more about whether that is true for you, it may or may not be, how do you feel about that?” And that very gentle open way of introducing it feels very comfortable to the physicians and it feels very comfortable to patients. And what we find again is most of the patients respond very positively to that.

M&B: What if the answer is no and they are not interested in talking about spirituality?

We also taught physicians that if the response they get back from a patient is something like “oh no, I’m not religious or I don’t want to talk about that,” how they should respond to that. They should say something like “really what I’m concerned about is how you’re dealing with this and I’d like to hear more about that. Is that ok?” And that shifts it just a little bit. But for about 90% of the patients, they really open up and they are responsive and they start to talk about it and if they are a little hesitant we then teach the physicians how to draw them out a little bit more. Very simply saying, “Tell me more about that. I’d like to hear more about that. Are there any problems you’re having around that? Who else can you talk to about this?” It’s very important. So being encouraging and thanking them for having the courage to share their feelings with the physician. Asking them a little bit more about how they draw on a sense of inner meaning and peace, because we’ve identified that in research as one of the key elements for moving to a different level of coping with cancer.

To our surprise this actually worked very, very well. What we found was that patients have appreciated it. Over 50% of them actually told us after the fact that they had found that conversation helpful to them in dealing better. And about a month after this very brief exploration, they actually said that they were feeling less depressed and they were coping better in comparison to patients from the very same physicians who didn’t get this, who just go their usual appointment. So we’ve been continuing to work on this line of research to deepen it and to expand it at this point.

M&B: You also discuss that a small number of patients are coping in a negative way with spirituality. How does it happen?

Our research and research from some other groups, for example Harold Koenig’s work at Duke, is systematically coming up with a pattern that shows that individuals who feel angry at God, who feel that they’re being punished by having cancer are not doing very well.

Most people feel that at some point. But what I’m talking about is a sort of enduring ongoing struggle around this. And what we find is individuals who are really caught in that struggle in fact are doing very poorly. They are more depressed, and their relationships are not going as well. We don’t have any evidence at this point to show that it actually affects the course of their disease. That would be a challenging kind of study to take on and we haven’t been able to do that. But certainly it’s affecting their inner struggle and their inner well-being. What we encourage physicians to do if they realize that one of their patients is struggling at that level is to encourage the individual to find somebody else to talk to, maybe a Chaplain for example from the medical environment. We really encourage them to look to that and to try to provide those resources and not take that on themselves.

M&B: Maybe it is difficult to estimate how the constant spiritual struggles affect recovery time, but maybe it is easier to estimate how it affects the quality of life.

The individuals caught up in that struggle have a poorer quality of life in general and the research again is pretty consistent in that. And of course it would be naïve to say that you just turn that off. If somebody is struggling in these deep personal issues, they deserve to be recognized and I think we have to assist the individual to find some way to talk to people in their own personal circle of friends, family, religious community about how to deal with them.

M&B: Regarding spiritual intervention, what is the general opinion of the medical community? Is there a growing interest?

I think we are just shedding some light on this. Given how positively the patients respond to even just 5 minutes, I think that there is a growing awareness that there can be a role for this. Within the care of the whole patient, when you shift into the perspective that the spiritual and religious resources people bring to a medical crisis are actually tremendously valuable, and the more they can bring those to the crisis the better they’re going to be doing then. I feel that that defines within the medical environment in a different way.

One of the issues that often physicians would bring up with us is “I don’t know if I have the same beliefs as my patient does” and “if I don’t have the same beliefs maybe it’s not appropriate to bring this up.” And one of the things we do in our training is to work with them around that. Saying you know it isn’t about the beliefs that you have and whether they match your patients. It’s about listening to your patient; it’s about hearing the underlying feelings and meaning that the patient has.

M&B: In terms of spiritual response to cancer, do you see people going through a spiritual transformation?

Let me give you a little bit of frame on that. We’re funded on the Spiritual Transformation Project. When you think of spiritual transformation you’re actually thinking about a real shift in people’s beliefs and people’s sense of themselves as a religious or spiritual person, their relationship to God, or their sense of relationship to God. We’ve compared our data to data that’s been collected on AIDS patients in Miami. Something like half of the AIDS patients communicated that spiritual transformation happened to them. We had 2 out of 100 cancer patients relate that level of change occurred.

M&B: Fifty percent compared to two percent. That is a huge difference. What is your explanation for that?

A couple of reasons I think, one is that even though cancer is a very frightening disease, it’s nowhere near as frightening as AIDS. The prognosis is much better in truth. The other is that the AIDS patients were really people who were struggling with their lives in general. Most of our cancer patients have really quite well-functioning lives. They’re already members of religious community. They don’t need a transformation. They just need to deepen or engage that religious support more fully or the spiritual side of themselves. So, one of the issues is that transformation isn’t necessary, it isn’t needed for this. Engagement though is what we’re talking about.

M&B: What are the fundamental difficulties in doing research on spirituality?

One of the things that is so challenging about this area is trying to measure, trying to capture very elusive concepts and do it in a way where we can systematically identify them, where we can frankly put some numbers to them. So we can compare individuals, so we can look at the effect, for example, of a stressful life event on something like spirituality. So, one of the other lines of work we’ve been doing here is to develop the framework for measuring what we call religious and spiritual engagement, and it’s very challenging to do that. Within Psychology, there’s a long tradition of trying to capture these psychological processes, something like depression or fear. And we have lots of different measuring tools.

M&B: Is there a widely accepted measure of spirituality and religious participation among the healthcare and medical research community?

When we started working in this area, what we discovered were a couple of hundred different scales to measure what people called religious and spiritual involvement. But most of them had been developed in very small groups of individuals, they hadn’t been put into a larger theoretical model and we knew there were probably not hundreds of different dimensions but we didn’t know whether there were 2 or 4 or 5 or 10 and one of the projects we’ve done here is to identify using a group of these measures that seem to capture different aspects of spiritual and religious involvement like belief, compassion, like sense of growing within oneself. As in mystical experiences, we’ve had several of these projects where we’ve given this set of measures actually over almost a couple of thousand people at this point.

Another dimension is interestingly their willingness to tolerate questions about their beliefs and their spiritual well being. Tolerating those questions seems to be a separate and important element that is linked into doing better, to growing more. Mystical experience is a separate dimension so someone who has a mystical experience may or may not be strong in their belief system. Having that may shift that strength but it’s somewhat separate.

We focused on several dimensions. One of the 5 or 6 dimensions is what we call spiritual struggle and that is a separate dimension and again people might be high or low on their strength of their beliefs. If that dimension is strong or high, you do see a lot of distress not only in that part of the person’s life but often in other areas of their life.

M&B: People often think that hope, love, and compassion are the indicators of spirituality. But you are giving other dimensions as toleration to questions or having a mystical experience etc. Do you choose them because they are easier to analyze?

That’s a very good question. It’s very important to include as a part of someone’s total spiritual well being their ability to feel compassion towards others; their ability to feel hope. One of the challenges now in this area is to understand those dimensions in and of themselves and I see them more as overlapping with spirituality rather than defining it. And I say that partly because there are many people who feel that they are not religious or spiritual perhaps, but they certainly have the ability to feel hope and they have the ability to be compassionate toward other people in their lives. From the perspective of Psychology, we don’t have the answers to this yet but we’re applying tools out of Psychology that we’ve used in other areas of understanding human emotions, personality, and patterns to try to apply them within this arena of understanding something as complex as religion and spirituality.

M&B: You are using tools from both religion and psychology. Are psychologists generally interested in spiritual experiences?

Well. William James who is considered one of the founders of Contemporary Psychology in the 1800s wrote the Varieties of Religious Experience. And he wrote that from a very sophisticated perspective where he said we really do need to look at some of the universal aspects of religious or spiritual experience. At the time he didn’t really have the tools to do that but he introduced the discourse around the value of doing that, the value of understanding those very human experiences from a psychological perspective. And it began with a respect for those experiences rather than discounting them. And I think that that is a very important distinction.

In contrast, when some of the thinking that came out of the Psychoanalytic Schools and particularly Freudian theory tended to pathologize those experiences considering them as an anomaly or like a sickness. In fact one of the differences between Freudian thinking and Jungian thinking was the discounting of those experiences as regressive and pathological. It is an aspect of human experience that could tremendously contribute to the best in human nature. And if understood and cultivated in appropriate ways, this could tremendously increase people’s ability to engage with their fellow human beings to act ethically.

White blood cells (leukocytes) are fewer in number and their duty is to fight against germs. How this process works is to be expounded by the immune system under a separate title. The red blood cells are my main building blocks and they are born by the dividing of the main cells in the bone marrow. After passing through a few phases, they lose their nucleus and are filled instead with hemoglobin, a magnificent substance containing iron. Hemoglobin’s most vital function is its binding oxygen and then carbon dioxide after releasing it. Hemoglobin reaches everywhere, traveling with the blood stream. When it comes to the lungs, hemoglobin dumps the carbon dioxide and replaces is with oxygen. Then it supplies this oxygen to the cells and removes the carbon dioxide, which is produced by burning organic compounds. So its short life passes with the same ceaseless cycle to continue your life. Hemoglobin molecules’ longevity is approximately 120 days. They contain no cell elements like ribosome, mitochondria, and nucleus and therefore cannot repair themselves. They simply die when they get old. Sad? Not at all! Red blood cells fulfill the duty they were created for and leave the stage for new ones. They are broken down in the liver and bone marrow and the iron they contain is absorbed. A certain part is transformed into bilirubin, giving bile its yellow color. As you see, nothing is truly wasted.

The red blood cells in circulation number around 25 trillion, and this number does not vary greatly, as the dying ones are constantly replaced. Their measuring gives doctors an idea about possible diseases. The amount depends on various factors’ reciprocal balance. A hormone (erythropoietin) secreted by the kidneys increases the rate of production of red blood cells, in response to falling levels of oxygen in the tissues. If you lose blood due to an accident or medical operation, the stem cells in the bone marrow receive an emergency alert to produce more red blood cells. On the other hand, if you get a blood transfer, stem cells are ordered to stop producing, due to the excess of red blood cells. You see, even such basic knowledge about bodily systems fills the learner with wonder.

Deficiency of red blood cells, scientifically known as anemia, should not be ignored. It results in pallor and weariness; you feel like sleeping more. In order to avoid this condition, your body needs different things such as group B vitamins (B6, B11, B12), vitamin C, amino acids, and iron. Since it is hard to pinpoint the deficient substance, doctors generally prescribe iron-rich multivitamin supplements.

Red blood cells divide into four types, which determine the blood groups A, B, 0, and AB. In addition to the blood group, another feature known as Rh (rhesus) factor is important to know particularly before a blood transfer. Transferring the wrong type of blood may result in death.

Platelets, which are scale-shaped cells and circulate with me are not independent; they are pieces which came off bigger cells. In a cubic millimeter of blood, 250 to 350 thousand of these little scales are found and their duty is of vital importance. If it weren’t for these pieces, the slightest cut could cause death because your bleeding would not stop. Clotting is a great blessing. It usually blocks the surface of a wound within five minutes, stopping the flow of blood and saving your life. Clotting is realized through particular molecules in these minute scales as a result of a complex chain of reactions using enzymes, vitamins, and salts. Every step of this chain of reactions is another stitch to fix the wound. Other blood cells pile up and stick together behind this net and they dry up. If such clotting occurred inside the blood vessels, it would make a disastrous effect by blocking the bloodstream. I also have enzymes to break down little amounts of such clotting. As you see, everything is splendidly organized.

Peter! A blood test reveals very critical medical data. As I visit every organ, I exchange certain substances with them. Therefore, detection of an unusual substance in me can be an early warning for a disease. Nowadays, it even helps an early diagnosis of cancer.

It is not so easy for me to explain the wisdom behind all of my duties and capabilities. But to give you an idea, there are specialized departments for studying just me at medical faculties and research institutions throughout the world.

Original Article: Kim, D-H et al., Science 333, 838 (2011).

We often see patients in hospitals with many cables attached to their bodies. Now there is hope to replace these mobility-limiting settings with something very portable. Engineers have developed an ultrathin, stretchy, and flexible synthetic skin that consists of electronic components such as sensors, antennae, and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Embedded solar cells or wireless power transfer can be employed to power the patch. The device is thin enough to stick to skin using only the short-range van der Waals forces without the addition of any adhesives, and it can be applied and removed like a temporary tattoo. As a result, electronic skin is much more comfortable than traditional electrodes and gives the user complete freedom of movement. These devices have many potential applications in medical diagnostics, including EEG and EMG sensors to monitor nerve and muscle activity. Gathering patient data during normal activity is especially beneficial for continuous monitoring of health and wellness. During the tests, the patches collected data accurately for up to six hours, and showed no signs of degradation or irritation to the arm, neck, forehead, cheek, or chin after 24 hours. In addition, the researchers used electronic skin to control a video game by collecting electrical activity of muscles from the user’s throat, demonstrating the potential for human-computer interfacing. In the near future, patients with muscular or neurological disorders could use this technology to communicate with computers. There is one major obstacle for long-term use. The patch falls off after a few days due to the continual shedding of skin cells. Researchers are looking for ways around this so they can be worn for months at a time.

2- Searching memory engines

Original Article: Sparrow, B. et al., Science 333, 776 (2011).

What is the capital of Liberia? Which year did Edison invent the light bulb? Are your fingers itching to “Google” the answers? Evidently, the answer is yes. Researchers led by Betsy Sparrow of Columbia University cleverly designed four experiments to investigate how we process information in our memory. In one experiment, participants were presented with trivia-like statements, e.g. “An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain,” to which they immediately thought about computers or accessing the Internet. In another experiment, participants were asked to type answers to trivia questions. The computer would either save or erase their answers. When participants thought their answers were saved, they remembered information less as opposed to the erased-from-the-computer-condition. In the other experiments, participants were given statements along with the names of the folders where one can reach that information (e.g. DATA, INFO, ITEMS). They remembered where to find the information (i.e. folders) more accurately than the information itself. To sum up, this research showed that we come to utilize computers or Google as external or transactive memory. In the 1980s, Daniel Wegner of Harvard University first coined the term “transactive memory.” Dr. Wegner, co-author of this article, suggested that people relied on others such as spouses or friends to remember various things. However, it seems like the duty is all on Google now.

3- Lasers come to life

Original Article: Gather, M.C. & Yun, S.H., Nature Photonics 5, 406 (2011).

Since its invention in 1960, the laser became an invaluable device that found uses in numerous applications in many segments of today’s world, including science, medicine, industry, electronics, and entertainment. Laser, an acryonym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation, works through a process where light amplifies by bouncing back and forth between two mirrors. Sandwiched between these mirrors, lasers utilize a gain medium made of non-biological materials such as dyes or crystal. Two physicists at Harvard Medical School, Seok Hyun Yun and Malte Gather, were able to replace gain medium with a living cell. The cells used in this study produce green fluorescent protein (GFP) the material that makes jellyfish fluoresce. When illuminated with relatively weak blue light, GFP amplified the light and the cell produced a visible green laser. Even though their biolaser is currently in the development stage, the researchers predict that it will be very useful in science and medicine in the future. For example, they suggest that biolasing may be used for unraveling the structure of living cells. Yun and Gather are now trying to integrate a nanoscale cavity inside the cell rather than using external mirrors. Such self-lasing cells may allow medical applications where cells can be specifically targeted for disease treatment.

4- The smallest farmers of the world

Original Articles: Brock, D. A. et al., Nature 469, 393 (2011).

A social amoeba, Dictyostellum discoideum, lives independently and feeds on bacteria, but when the food becomes scarce, many amoebas bond and form a slug-like organism that can move around to find more resources to feed on. It was thought the amoeba exhausts all its resources by eating all nearby bacteria before forming the slug structure. Surprisingly, scientists from Rice University found that these single-cell organisms use a very simple form of agriculture in the form of bacterial husbandry. Agriculture in the general sense includes the scattering of food seeds, farming of crops, and harvesting. Humans have used agriculture for thousand of years and it was one of the transforming forces behind our switch from nomadic to settled lifestyles. Researchers showed that a group of amoeba, called farmers, eat less and engulf bacteria into their migratory systems instead of consuming all food they encounter. The slugs of the farmer amoeba travel slowly because of packed food, and one-third of Dicty found in nature turns out to be farmers. Apparently, being a farmer is a genetic trait but it comes with a cost: farmers produce less spores during feasts, but more during famine, which explains why there are both farmers and non-farmers still present. There are still many mysteries, yet this article shows the principles of frugality even in the single-cell realm.

As is the case in many scientific arenas, the first studies in the field of algorithms were conducted by Muslim scientists. The concept of algorithm was used for the first time by the worldwide renowned Muslim scientist Al-Khwarizmi, who lived between 780–850 AD in Baghdad. Al Khwarizmi put his name to historic studies in the fields of mathematics, astronomy, and geography. His work entitled Hisāb al-jabr wa-l-muqābala (Calculation by Completion and Balancing) constitutes the first collection of algorithms. The Latin translation attracted great attention in Europe. The Europeans used the term algoritmi, rendered from “Khwarizmi,” to refer to rules for solving arithmetical problems by using Arabic numerals.

Having first developed as a branch of mathematics, algorithms have been described as a sequence of instructions that is used to solve a certain problem. These finite number of steps,begin at a certain point and come to an end with a result. But, today when we talk about algorithms, what comes to mind are the methods pursued in the operations of sequencing in computer programming; though algorithms are used in many fields, including physics, chemistry, biology, and music.

When different algorithms are used for solving the same problem, this enables us to reach the same solution through different means. There are, for instance, a great number of sorting algorithms (selection sorting, merge sorting, quick sorting) that have been developed for the purpose of incrementally sorting a given set of numbers. The same also applies to the search algorithms which find a given number in a set of numbers. What does this imply for us? Different people can attempt to solve the same problem with different algorithms or approaches that are better, truer or more “beautiful”. Thus, it is always important not to reject an idea without a prior examination or understanding, to welcome proposals of different opinions and to try to benefit from better alternatives or solutions. Thus, we can understand from an algorithmic approach that establishing dialogue and showing mutual respect are essential moral virtues in transforming differences into wealth.

Computer algorithms solve certain problems according to pre-defined parameters. Thus, we should never forget that computers cannot carry out a spontaneous operation, but can only carry out functions that have previously been programmed into them by human beings. Although some researchers, by relying too much on recent developments in computer sciences, and particularly in fields like artificial intelligence, attribute human characteristics to computers. They even estimate that they can produce human-like things in the near future, which seems rather unfeasible when we consider countless physical and spiritual features of humans. What does this imply for us? Pursuing a systematic method when solving problems in both computer sciences and daily life would considerably increase one’s success rate in solving any problems encountered. The most critical stages in problem solving are obviously a correct diagnosis and full description of the problem. The algorithms are developed and the most coherent and suitable are then chosen.

After an algorithm is designed in a flowchart, it is translated into software and tested against verifiable data prior to its usage in real operations. This test is necessary to prevent probable flaws in the software. What does this imply for us? By utilizing all the talents and especially the intelligence granted to us, human beings are always able to find what is better or truer. Research has been conducted in scientific studies by keeping in mind that there is always a next step in any development that has been achieved; the experience of the history of mankind demonstrates that a method that has been developed today might prove to be inadequate tomorrow.

When analyzing a number of different algorithms that are used to solve the same problem, the cost is assessed, with the least costly and most suitable one being selected. The cost of an algorithm is determined according to the number of operations carried out in solving any problem. An algorithm which solves the same problem with a greater number of steps has a lesser efficiency and a lesser performance.

Sorting algorithm by insertion

Sorting algorithms are one of the most frequently used algorithms in computers. As sorted data is more easily processed and used, data are usually sorted first with a sorting algorithm before it is processed within more costly operations.

In insertion sort (i.e., sorting by insertion), numbers to be sorted are inserted into a new “sorted” set. The new sorted set is empty at the beginning, and the numbers are inserted one by one into the right position of this set. During each insertion, the number at hand is compared to the numbers of the new set from the smallest to the largest. During a comparison, if the term (number) at hand is smaller than the term in the new sorted set, then the term is inserted right before the term in the sorted set. As each term is generally compared with all the terms which precede it, sorting of n numbers is done by about n2 comparisons. Thus, the cost of such a sorting algorithm is O(n2).

The quick-sort algorithm

This algorithm is used to find the shortest way between two points. Let us suppose that we have a limited number of points, some of which are inter-related. During this type of calculation, the shortest way is systematically found by checking all the combinations that have been able to be established among given points. The web sources that are provided for planning routes and mapping services with PNDs (Portable Navigation Devices) for travelers can be given as examples; here the minutest details of every highway and road have been recorded to the virtual media. In accordance with certain criteria, by taking into consideration all the probable routes between the two addresses provided by the user, the optimum driving route, including road and street names, is suggested.

Use of algorithm in medicine

Any research or inquiry used in the diagnosis and treatment/curing of a disease is defined as a medical algorithm. The logic of a decision tree is used in diagnosing, curing and following up diseases with these algorithms. Guiding algorithms, for example, “if symptoms A, B, C are observed in patient, then, the patient is probably suffering from the disease D, so, use the treatment E” are used in medical expert systems. The purpose of such algorithms is to standardize the medical services provided and thus minimize potential uncertainties and errors that likely to arise. Moreover, such algorithms are also used for educational and training purposes and as a guide to approaching the patients, diagnosing and curing diseases and towards solving their problems with greater ease. A great number of medical information that has been published has been transformed into numerous algorithms, ranging from those that use simple calculations to those that make highly complicated decisions. For instance, in the algorithm that was developed to measure the Body Mass Index (BMI), age, sex, height and weight are among the questions that are asked of the patient. The data obtained from the patient is later applied to a formula developed from the experiences of medical science, and the said index can thus be calculated. However, doctors should compare the results obtained from such algorithms with their existing knowledge, for even such simple algorithms as BMI become undependable in different cases, for example an athlete or an expectant mother. Algorithms only provide guidance for physicians, but the final decision should be taken by the physician after having individually assessed the status of each and every patient.

Algorithms and music

The algorithmic composition has been used in music for centuries to produce music with a methodological approach. Canon, for example, is a form of music produced with an algorithm in which a melody is replicated by one or more imitations of it played after a given duration.

Human brain, nature, and algorithms

Although the secrets of brain have not yet been fully explained, vital information has been compiled about its biological structure and functioning, thus proving that different sections of the brain fulfill different roles. Such sophisticated tasks as controlling the bodily organs, mental discernment, functions corresponding to the use of tongue and other sensory activities, the perception of colors, calculation of actions and the perception of physical conditions, are all carried out by use of brain mechanisms and faculties. All these tasks are accomplished by algorithmic processes which have not yet been fully explained. The issue of the unification of the data or images received by the eyes is, for instance, one of the matters that scientists do not yet fully understand. Although many have tried to imitate the human brain, such simple cerebral functions as walking and communicating have, to date, not been convincingly imitated.

What algorithms imply for us

As science and technology develop more and more, new inventions are being made, algorithms are being proposed for unsolved problems, while algorithms of already solved problems are being further developed. For example, many ciphers, which in the 1970s were believed to be unsolvable within an acceptable span of time, are being easily solved today thanks to the algorithms that have been developed and the ever-increasing operational power of computers. Consequently, developments in algorithms suggest to us that we should always search for that which is better and more effective; also we should remember that there are a number of different ways that lead to the very same target. Thus, we should always be open to the ideas of others and willing to consult with them before making a decision about any subject.

Ahmet Isik has a PhD in mathematics and is a freelance writer.

References

• Cormen, T. H., C. E. Leiserson, R. L. Rivest, Clifford Stein. Introduction to Algorithms, MIT Press, 24th Edition, 2000.
• http://www.nist.gov/dads/termsType.html#P

HIV/AIDS is one of the most devastating health issues in modern history. Since the first case was reported in 1981, over 25 million people have died of HIV/AIDSrelated causes. Despite a better understanding of the disease, extensive knowledge about virus-human interaction, improved preventive measures, and medical treatment options, most experts agree that the pandemic is still in its early stages and rapidly spreading. According to the World Health Organization, in 2006 4.3 million people became infected with HIV and a total of 2.9 million people died of HIV/AIDSrelated causes. As of 2007, over 40 million people are living with HIV/ AIDS around the world and nearly half of them are females between the ages of 15 and 24.

With a vaccine still perhaps decades away, the best hope for impeding the spread of this deadly disease lies in effective prevention, early diagnosis, and successful treatment. For more than two decades, thousands of researchers from the most prestigious institutions around the globe have been struggling to discover more effective screening, diagnosis, and treatment options against HIV/AIDS, but a great deal has yet to be accomplished. At the moment, the high cost of the current medical treatment options and limited accessibility to HIV testing worldwide remain as additional obstacles to be overcome. Below is a table showing the spread of HIV/AIDS worldwide, based on the best available information provided by WHO in 2006. Additionally, the map below represents the regional distribution of adult HIV/AIDS cases by region based on UNIAIDS 2006 Report on the global AIDS epidemic.

What is HIV/ AIDS?

Healthy human bodies have a wellprogrammed defense mechanism (the immune system) that fights infections and helps prevent the development of cancer cells. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) primarily targets vital elements of the immune system, such as helper-T cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells. Due to the damage and destruction of these cells, the human body loses its ability to fight against infections and cancerous developments. This makes the body more susceptible to certain types of cancers, such as Kaposi sarcoma, and to opportunistic infections that would normally be easily defeated, such as pneumonia (Pneumocystis carinii) and Cryptococcal Meningitis. These infections might result in severe damage or the death of the patients. Therefore, it is not the Human Immunodeficiency Virus that causes death in HIV(+) individuals, but opportunistic infections or cancerous developments that a weakened immune system cannot repel. Hence, the later stages of HIV infection are called Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

In spite of many obstacles, in industrial countries there has been a remarkable improvement in the medical care of HIV/AIDS individuals as a result of testing for HIV on a regular basis, particularly among high risk groups. This facilitates early diagnosis and therefore an early start in medical treatment, which allows HIV(+) individuals to live for decades after diagnosis. However, worldwide, particularly in developing countries, 90% of those carrying HIV have not been tested or do not have access to adequate treatment for the disease. Furthermore, every year a considerable number of HIV(+) individuals in developing countries die without even knowing what HIV is and leave thousands of orphans behind who do not have any idea what took their parents away. The number of people living at critical poverty levels in some of these hardest-hit regions, such as sub- Saharan Africa, has reached over 43 percent in recent years. Women encompass 80 percent of those who are living on less than a dollar a day. For people who live in such abject poverty, neither treatment for an HIV+ /AIDS individual (which normally costs around $25,000 annually) nor routine HIV screening seems realistic. On the other hand, even though testing and medical treatment options are available in developed countries, the economic burden on the health care system is becoming greater with every passing day.

HIV and children

As of 2007, over 2.3 million children are suffering from HIV/AIDS worldwide. A small percentage of these children were exposed to the HIV in medical settings, due to unscreened blood transfusions or reused or insufficiently sterilized equipment. Pediatric HIV outbreaks in Romania in 1989 and in Libya in 1998 are two devastating examples of the consequences of negligent or insufficient precautions taken by medical personnel in hospitals. Currently, health care professionals are required to take strict precautions when cleaning and sterilizing medical equipment, while blood banks are monitored closely to ensure the careful screening of blood. These precautions seem to have led to a significant reduction in the number of HIV infections which are acquired in hospital settings. However, motherto- child transmission still constitutes 90% of pediatric HIV cases. An HIV (+) mother has about a 35% risk of transmitting the virus to her child during her pregnancy, child birth, or nursing. This risk can be reduced by administering AZT (an antiretroviral drug) to the mother during the last trimester of pregnancy, delivering the child by C-section, giving one dose of prophylactic antiretroviral therapy to the baby after birth, and by avoiding breast-feeding the infant. As a result of widespread screening and the use of prophylaxis for mother-to-child transmission, the rapid spread of HIV among the pediatric population in industrial countries is relatively under control.

Sadly, not all nations have benefited uniformly from the recent advances in our knowledge about the prevention of transmission. Mothers and infants in developing countries face a different scenario than those in the “modern world.” In places like sub-Saharan Africa, where the majority of HIV/AIDS cases are due to mother-to-child transmission, the number of new infections is rapidly increasing; it seems that ensuring the abovementioned precautions are in place is extremely difficult due to several limitations. These limitations should be discussed in another paper, however to give a brief idea to the reader, one of these instances can be examined. It is a fact that if an HIV(+) mother avoids breastfeeding her newborn baby the risk of her infecting the child with HIV is dramatically reduced. Although this sounds like a wonderful way to combat HIV infection in infants, it poses many problems to mothers in sub-Saharan Africa. Every year, more than one million babies die in the first 28 days of their life in Sub- Saharan Africa. Most of these deaths are due to malnutrition and infections. In most situations breast-feeding is the only clean source of nutrition a mother can offer her child. It also provides natural immunization against most of the infectious agents to which a newborn can be exposed in the later days of his/her life. Babies who are not breastfed have almost no other alternative source of clean nutrients and stand little chance against infections. An HIV(+) mother in Sub-Saharan Africa has to face this dilemma every single time her baby cries from hunger: either take the risk of infecting your baby with HIV or let your child die of malnutrition or infections which kill approximately 3,000 African children every day.

Another issue concerning children in the hard-hit HIV regions is the loss of one or both parents or primary care-givers at a very early time of their life. So far in Africa, HIV/AIDS related deaths have left 14 million orphans. The United Nations estimates that the number of orphans will reach 25 million by the year 2010. Only in rare cases do these children have access to clean water, food, shelter, and education. Furthermore, the orphans who have been infected with HIV by their parents do not have access to adequate treatment options. The number of orphans is so high and resources are so limited that unfortunately most of these children fall through the cracks of society, succumbing to poverty, abuse and even death. Some of these orphans are relatively lucky and have healthy grandparents to care for them. It is not uncommon to find 75-80 year old grandparents who are already living under the critical poverty level taking care of three or four AIDS orphans, and wondering who will care for their grandchildren when they pass away.

Education

Success against the HIV/AIDS epidemic cannot be accomplished only with scientific and medical means. Preventive education plays a key role in the battle against HIV/ AIDS. The first step in preventive HIV/AIDS education is to inform individuals about the disease and answer their questions, such as, “What causes AIDS?”, “How is HIV/AIDS spread?”, “What are the preventive measures to be taken?” If one is already infected with HIV then one must ask “What are the treatment options?”

Preventive education for risk groups who are not aware of HIV/ AIDS and the consequences of the infection helps to decrease the overall number of new infections, particularly those in developing countries. However, another issue appears as education level increases: according to current studies, the number of people who continue risk-taking behavior is increasing in spite of the knowledge they have about HIV/ AIDS prevention and the consequences of the disease. This suggests overthat effective HIV/AIDS prevention should include not only education about the facts of the illness, but also education that focuses on teaching people to avoid behavior that puts them at high risk. It is also worth noting that the widespread dissemination of information by governmental organizations may not be effective on its own, and that different types of intervention may be necessary by groups with the potential to motivate people on a personal level. In other words, it is important to individually instill a sense of consequence and personal responsibility within those at risk, rather than broadly reminding them of the dangers that they face. As a result of recent thinking along these lines, various institutions, professional groups, and government organizations have realized the need for strong collaborative efforts and have aligned themselves in order to begin taking the steps necessary to effect this type of change.

Working together

Around the globe, government agencies have been initiating and sponsoring several efforts aimedat HIV-prevention. However, the complexity of the HIV epidemic and the involvement of many sociologic and behavioral factors require a shared commitment among government agencies and civil society organizations. For example, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) is the leading federal agency in HIV prevention in the United States. In their strategic plan for HIV prevention in 2005, the CDC admits that the HIV epidemic is not a matter that can be handled by only one agency, group, or organization. Therefore, for success in HIV prevention the CDC recognizes the need for other domestic partners, such as:

~ Other federal agencies;

~ State and local health and education departments;

~ HIV prevention community planning groups;

~ Community-based organizations;

~ Academic institutions;

~ The private sector;

~ Faith-based groups and

~ Foundations and nonprofit groups

(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention HIV Prevention Strategic Plan Through 2005)

In addition to domestic partnership, worldwide cross-cultural and cross-faith collaborations are establishing a strong global response to eradicate HIV/AIDS. People from all over the world should contribute, in whatever capacity and with whatever resources they can, to the solution; their involvement is critical. The World Health Organization, UNICEF, UNESCO, and similar organizations are doing their parts to bring multinational aid to the hardest hit regions. Additionally, many faith-based national and international organizations around the globe have started working in collaboration towards the eradication of HIV/AIDS. Among these faithbased efforts there are recent examples of interfaith partnerships. The Africa HIV/AIDS Faith Initiative, a successful example of this type of collaboration, has been active since 2001 in five African countries: The Ivory Coast, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. One of their noticeable accomplishments is promoting interfaith dialogue in these countries where ethnic and religious variations often cause serious clashes. A report from The Global Health Council lays the power of Interfaith partnership before our eyes:

“In Kenya, the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims, the Anglican Church of Kenya and the Pentecostal Churches of Eastlands, a low socioeconomic community outside Nairobi, have teamed up to reach bishops, pastors, men, women, youth, children and people infected with HIV/AIDS through education and service initiatives. In Tanzania, the national staffs of the Episcopal, Christian and Muslim HIV/AIDS offices meet monthly to exchange ideas and plan together for the effective development, implementation and coordination of HIV education and service interventions.

But it is in Nigeria, with its welldocumented history of religious conflict and recent violence, where the partnering of Christians and Muslims is most remarkable. Observing the establishment of separate offices in each of the four other countries, Nigeria’s religious leadership said “it won’t work here,” and charged The Balm In Gilead to set up the Interfaith HIV/AIDS Coalition of Nigeria. Christian and Muslim clerics going out on the street together can draw curious crowds, and “people will come into the office just to see us working together,” said one reverend.

Nigerian faith institutions involved in this historical decision included the Episcopal Conference of Nigeria, Christian Association of Nigeria, the Christian Health Association of Nigeria and the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs. This interfaith approach in Nigeria is being seen as a model that can be replicated by other countries. The Kenyan Muslim leaders have already requested that it be presented as a best practice model and replicated in other parts of the continent.” http:// www.globalhealth.org/reports/ text.php3?id=194

Conclusion

We have witnessed many harsh discussions, questions and speculations about HIV/AIDS such as, “How and where did HIV/AIDS start?”, “Whose fault was that?”, “Why don’t people simply stay away from risky behavior and put a stop to it?”, “What are the roles of faith traditions, family values and public wisdom in terms of preventing and fighting against HIV/AIDS?”, “If I am not involved with certain risky behavioral elements am I safe? Are my children safe from HIV?”, “Is contributing to the solution for HIV the same as trying to legitimize the life-style preferences which are the primary cause of the spread of HIV in the first place?”

As a matter of fact, how this epidemic started, whose fault it was, why precautions were not taken on time does not matter that much anymore. What matters is that hundreds of people are dying, thousands of children have been orphaned, and millions of mothers are crying in desperation everyday. We do not have the luxury to sit back in our comfortable seats and be the judge who decides who is right and who is wrong in this drama. We are all human… we are citizens of the earth… we breath the same air, sleep under the same sky. When we cut ourselves, our blood runs red, our tears are salty. Pain is pain… a cry is a cry… desperation is desperation…No matter where we go, what language we speak, or how we live our lives… We are obliged to put the differences to one side and to become a part of the solution…to think about it… to talk about it… to do something about it… or at least with a sore heart cry and pray for our HUMAN sisters and brothers who are suffering from HIV/AIDS… who might not be able to do much for themselves.

A wanted child brings happiness to a family; it is a gift from God. And, of course, every woman who wants to give birth wants to bring up a healthy and beautiful child. Unfortunately, the health index of the modern generation of women at child-bearing age is not very high (there are many chronic diseases, spiritual poverty, with a high vulnerability to different infections due to a variety of reasons). Due to this reason, medical interference in what is a natural process has become more frequent recently. Statistics show that more than 92% of women use different drugs at different stages of pregnancy. The question is to what extent this medication is safe for the future baby. This is a fundamentally important matter to investigate because a pregnant woman taking any chemicals is in essence applying a kind of experiment on her as well as the baby’s health which can have a variety of different consequences.

The problem of medical effects on the development of a fetus has recently become very acute. This is because there are many different medications that are common and easily available nowadays, and they are very often taken without a doctor’s prescription. Unfortunately, the consequences of this fact are not pleasant. Prenatal development is one of the most important and difficult stages in a person’s life. Just in 9 months an ovicell (an egg cell) and a sperm cell form an extremely complex living organism that consists of millions and billions of cells! Moreover, all these cells are combined into tissues, organs and systems that are always interacting. The fetus has a fascinating rate of growth to become a structure with an ever-increasing complexity. In addition, all these processes do not happen chaotically but in a strict order. This order is supplied by two factors: the first is a sound genetic program. It is obtained by the fetus from its parents and the decoding of the genome vividly denotes the existence of Divine Power. The second factor is the state of a maternal organism which supplies everything necessary for the realization of the genetic program and protects the fetus from the negative influence of the environment. In this way the failure of one of the mentioned factors can lead to different deviations and to the disturbance of the development, including the formation of congenital malformations of the fetus and even prenatal death.

The history of medicine shows that medications can be the most harmful etiological factor in relation to the fetus. Today, there are many examples proving this fact. One of the best-known is the thalidomide tragedy which happened in Europe in the 1950-60s. As a result of taking a poorly studied medicine (a light tranquilizer) the children of hundreds (!) of women were born with serious physical defects. Unfortunately, the list of drugs that causes fetal malformation is not short. Nowadays doctors are aware of syndromes caused by hydantoin, warfarin, aminopterin, and many other medications. Each of these has a specific effect on the fetus (mostly leading to serious abnormalities) when taken by a pregnant woman. In the past, people believed that such children were marked by Satan. But nowadays we say that it is the unpredictable effect of the medicine on the realization of the Creator’s program. Medical interference can lead to a disruption in the rate of development and affect the order of differentiation in the tissues and organs of fetus. Moreover, drugs can interrupt the blood circulation in the placenta, change the metabolic process between the fetus and the mother, causing a retardation of intrauterine growth or premature labor, or they can be the reason for a falloff in the health of the child in the first years of life.

The influence of drugs on the fetus depends on different factors, such as the term of gestation at which the drug is administered, the dosage, and the length of time that the medicine is taken, as well as the ways that the drug is excreted, the health of the mother and her inherited sensitivity to medicine, and, of course, the properties of the medicine itself. There are many drugs whose influence on the fetus have not yet been examined, as such research is very difficult, expensive, or in many cases simply impossible. If we understand this, we can see that the outlook for scientific interference in God’s creation of human beings is not good.

You may wonder why the wide-spread usage of medication by pregnant women throughout the whole world has not lead to a continuous increase in congenital malformations if it is really this dangerous. Thanks to a happy concourse of circumstances, this process has not become too wide-spread, as there are many factors that allow the fetus to “escape” medical danger. For example, there may be an inherited insensitivity on the part of the fetus to the influence of different medications, the placenta has its own inherent protective function, the medication may be taken in a small dosage, the developmental stage of the fetus may be at a “non-critical” period, plus many other factors. Doubtless, although this has not been proven, is the fact that the mother has a sincere faith in God and believes in God’s protection of her and her child, which has a positive influence on the development of the fetus.

The initial clustering of embryonic cells and the formation of all the fetus’ organs and systems occur in the first trimester of pregnancy. It is particularly in this period that the fetus is very sensitive to the influence of different factors, including different drugs.

It is quite common that the results of the use of some teratogens¹ by pregnant women, which can have fatal effects, can simply go unnoticed in some cases, resulting in the death of the fetus during the first two weeks of development. In this case, the woman does not even know that she is pregnant. Such cases are not rare (according to some researchers, up to 70% of all pregnancies finish in the early death of the fetus).

What should a pregnant woman do if she is ill or feeling unwell? How can she effectively help herself and minimize the risk of any medications on her baby at the same time? It is never a good idea to self-medicate if you are pregnant, particularly in the case of little-known or untested medications. In any case, it is better to consult an experienced doctor or pharmacist. If for some reason this is impossible, please read the prospectus which is to be found with the medicine carefully. Which dangers the medicine can cause are probably mentioned on the prospectus, and it may be written that the drug should not be used if pregnant. If a drug has been used while being unaware of pregnancy (for example, during the first 2 weeks) then immediately consult a specialist about any possible negative effects there might be for the fetus as soon as you found out that your are pregnant. Going to see your doctor early will allow you the necessary time to avoid any dangers and allow you to arrive at a decision about this pregnancy. If the medicine has been prescribed by a doctor then be sure to ask about possible unwanted side effects for the fetus. Don’t hesitate to ask such questions. If it seems to you that your doctor’s attitude to this question is not serious enough (unfortunately, this happens quite often) then consult a competent specialist (a geneticist or a clinical pharmacist).

If you are just planning your pregnancy, then try to predict all the negative factors beforehand. If you have some chronic diseases which may become acute during the pregnancy, or if you have an allergic predisposition or high sensitivity to acute respiratory diseases, then you should consult a doctor. Preventive methods which have been worked out especially for you minimize the risk of the illness and the risk of using drugs that are potentially harmful to the fetus.

During early stages of ontogenesis the fetus has almost no adaptation mechanisms or specific reactions in its response to the influence of pathogenic agents. Only with time will the fetus’ main organs and systems become mature and the functions of the placenta fully form the morphological and functional backgrounds of the response characteristics peculiar to a new-born baby. We usually say that everything happens according to God’s Will but He has created us for a full, vivid, and creative life. And He wants us to understand and be attentive to the miracle that happens during pregnancy.

Note

1. Agents such as drugs, chemicals and infections that can cause birth defects when a mother is exposed to them during pregnancy.

In the 21st century, we are plunging forward into a new era of technological power — one that offers enormous promise and danger.

What is nanotechnology?

In its most basic form, nanotechnology refers to the manipulation of materials at the atomic or molecular level. The name derives from the nanometer, a scientific measurement unit representing a billionth of a meter, three to four atoms wide. Scientists are learning how to connect atoms and molecules together to create nano-scale mechanisms that create switches or transistors, or even small machines that can perform complex tasks.

To use an oft-quoted comparison, a human hair is between 100,000 and 200,000 nanometers thick, while a typical virus can be just 100 nanometers wide. Atoms are typically between one-tenth and one-half of a nanometer wide. Due to the difficulties involved in working at this scale, manipulation of items as “large” as 100 nanometers is generally included in the concept of nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology enables scientists to create new materials atom by atom. With increasingly more powerful microscopes, scientists can see molecules that are mere nanometers (billionths of a meter) in size. To clarify this size, a pinhead is one million nanometers across. The field intertwines nearly all fields of science.

Most nanotechnology discussions deal with the futuristic concept of nanomachines or nanorobots: microscopic devices that carry out tasks at the atomic or subatomic level. Nanotechnology, also called molecular manufacturing, is “a branch of engineering that deals with the design and manufacture of extremely small electronic circuits and mechanical devices built at the molecular level of matter.” The goal of nanotechnology is to manipulate materials at the atomic level to build the smallest possible electromechanical devices, given the physical limitations of matter. Many of the mechanical systems that we know how to build will be transferred to the molecular level as some atomic analogy.

A typical vision of the twenty-first century: “Nanotechnologists will be building our cars one molecule at a time, invading our bloodstream to declog our arteries, and replicating themselves thousands of times over.”

Nanorobots (1)

A nanorobot is a computer-controlled robotic device constructed of nanometer-scale components to molecular precision, usually microscopic in size (often abbreviated as nanobot). This reminds one of the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage, in which a team of scientists (including Raquel Welch) are miniaturized, placed in a tiny submarine, and injected into a sick man’s bloodstream. Nanotechnology invariably involves work on a much smaller scale than the average blood cell.

Producing commercially viable nanomachines will be more challenging, since atomic manipulation, while not theoretically contrary to the laws of physics, is still extremely slow and costly. The most widely discussed long-term solution is to make the nanomachines self-replicating. Control mechanisms for such systems, mainly how a machine “knows” to copy itself and when to stop doing so, are still in their very early stages. Once again, theory is far ahead of practical reality.

Many of nanotechnology’s more recent practical applications have been in the area of material research. However, scientists believe that transistors eventually could be built in this way, paving the way for computational technologies that do not depend on silicon and that can pack even more circuitry into microscopic spaces.

Nanoshells (2)

Nanoshells, defined as tiny particles that can manipulate light, can be used to transform medical procedures, ranging from cancer therapy to medical testing and drug delivery. They are ideal for biotechnology applications because they are biocompatible, can be altered and modified, and absorb light easily in the near-infrared region, where human tissue is most transparent.

Nanoshells can be tagged and delivered specifically to tumor cells, thereby leaving healthy cells undamaged. In addition, they can reduce the amount of time needed to conduct medical tests from several days to a matter of seconds. When incorporated into temperature-sensitive polymers, nanoshells can be triggered to release a chemical using infrared light, thus enabling a patient to control the release of medicine that requires periodic dispensing.

A new bandage (3)

A new bandage that imitates natural healing process is used for injuries ranging from minor cuts to gunshot wounds. The bandage, a flannel-like material, stops bleeding immediately and eventually is absorbed by the body. This new material is developed by spinning a compound naturally found in the blood into a bandage that can minimize blood loss and be absorbed by the body, according to an article in the 12 Feb. 2003 issue of Nano Letters, a journal of the American Chemical Society. “We’ve taken an old technique — electrospinning — and applied it to natural fibers,” says Gary Bowlin, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University.

When a person bleeds from a cut or a wound, a blood clot forms and netting made of a substance called fibrin develops over the clot. According to researchers, fibrinogen, the compound in blood that comprises the “natural” bandage, is a fibrin precursor that can come from human, bovine, or genetically engineered bacterial sources. The goal is to pack the bandage like gauze so that it can be used to treat trauma patients, according to Bowlin.

Science fiction into reality (4)

Imagine a world in which cars can be assembled molecule-by-molecule, garbage can be disassembled and turned into beef steaks, and people can be operated on and healed by cell-sized robots. Sounds like science fiction? Well, with current semiconductor chip manufacturing encroaching upon the nanometer scale and the ability to move individual atoms at the IBM Almaden laboratory, we are fast approaching the technological ability to fabricate productive machines and devices that can manipulate objects at the atomic level. With this ability, we will be able to develop molecular-sized computers and robots that will give us unprecedented control over matter and the ability to shape the physical world as we see fit.

Nanofabrication techniques with applications in fiber optics, biotechnology, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), and “tiny mechanical devices such as sensors, valves, gears, mirrors, and actuators embedded in semiconductor chips,” are of particular interest, as they are but a mere step away from the molecular machines envisioned by nanotechnology. MEMS are used in automobile airbag systems as accelerometers to detect collisions, and will become an increasing part of our everyday technology. In 1986, K. Eric Drexler, a researcher at MIT, foresaw the advent of molecular machines. In his Engines of Creation, he outlined the possibilities and consequences of this emerging field, which he called nanotechnology. Drexler has written numerous books on the subject, such as Unbounding the Future, and has founded the Foresight Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the responsible development of nanotechnology. Today, nanotechnology research and development is widespread in numerous universities. The U.S. government has created an organization, the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), to monitor and guide research and development in this field.

Potential benefits

It does not take much of a leap of imagination disassemblers dismantling garbage to be recycled at the molecular level, and then giving it to assemblers who will use it to build atomically perfect engines. Stretching this vision a bit, you can imagine a Star Trek type replicator that could reassemble matter in the form of a juicy steak, given the correct blueprints and organization of these nanomachines.

A laboratory-scale “in vivo nanoscope” could be capable of providing atomic resolution, real-time movies of happenings inside living cells in intact living animals. This nanoscope, a hybrid of conventional technology and early (pre-assembler) nanotechnology, is an enormous leap in the ability of biologists to understand the workings of cells and develop medical therapies.

Some of the more prominent benefits of nanotechnology would be precision manufacturing, material reuse, and miniaturization. Medical applications are pharmaceutical creation, disease treatment, and nanomachine-assisted surgery. Environmental applications lie in toxin cleanup, recycling, and resource consumption reduction.

Nanomedicine deals with the comprehensive monitoring, control, construction, repair, defense, and improvement of all human biological systems by working at the molecular level with engineered nanodevices and nanostructures; the science and technology of diagnosing, treating, and preventing disease and traumatic injury, as well as relieving pain and preserving and improving human health through the use of molecular tools and molecular knowledge of the human body; and the use of molecular machine systems to address medical problems and using molecular knowledge to maintain and improve human health at the molecular scale. Cosmetic nanosurgery carried out with simple nanomachines (no on-board computers, for example) could change hair color, cause hair to grow or not to grow in specific locations, keep teeth clean and skin smooth, and so on, all far more effectively than current treatments.

Looking somewhat further in the future at more radical modifications of the human body through nanotechnology, Edward Reifman describes dentistry with assembly-fabricated teeth, and even with the teeth and jaws being made of diamonds. “In the long term, we hope to be able to build small nanorobots which can search out and destroy cancerous tumors when they comprise just one or two cells” or “small drilling machines which dissolve clots.”

Viruses, which are natural nanomachines, could be fought more effectively, as the body’s own immune system has some handicaps: it tends to forget the shape of its enemies, cannot always successfully identify malignant cells, and suffers from a certain delay until the immune reaction is fully developed. Therefore, nanomachines could support the immune system. Nanomachines could rout bacteria, excise tumors, reconstruct damaged tissue, and even make a huge contribution to treating the process of aging.

Along with the obvious manufacturing benefits, there are many potential medical and environmental benefits. With nanomachines, we could better design and synthesize pharmaceuticals, directly treat such diseased cells as cancer, better monitor a patient’s life signs, and make microscopic repairs in hard-to-operate-on bodily areas. With regard to the environment, we could use nanomachines to clean up toxins or oil spills, recycle garbage, and eliminate landfills, thus reducing our natural resource consumption.

Potential dangers

The downside to these benefits is the possibility of using assemblers and disassemblers to create weapons, to be used as weapons themselves, or the possibility that they may run wild and wreak havoc. Other less invasive but equally perilous uses would be in electronic surveillance.

However, with nanotechnology, armies could develop disassemblers to attack physical structures or biological organisms at the molecular level. A similar hazard would be if general-purpose disassemblers escaped into the environment and started disassembling every molecule they encountered, the so-called “gray goo scenario.” Furthermore, if nanomachines were created to be self-replicating and, for some reason, had a problem with their limiting mechanism, they would multiply endlessly, like viruses.

Even without considering such extreme disaster scenarios, we can find plenty of potentially harmful uses for nanotechnology, such as the erosion of our freedom and privacy. For example, people could use molecular-sized microphones, cameras, and homing beacons to monitor and track others.

Ethical issues and analysis

Given the awesome potential dangers inherent in nanotechnology, we must analyze its potential consequences. Nanotechnology may never become as powerful and prolific as envisioned by its evangelists, but as with any potential near-horizon technology, we should formulate solutions to potential ethical issues before the technology is irreversibly adopted. We must examine the ethics of developing nanotechnology and create policies designed to assist its development while eliminating, or at least minimizing, its damaging effects.

Nanosensors(5)

A nanosensor is defined as a chemical or physical sensor constructed by using nanoscale components, usually microscopic or submicroscopic in size.

Nanotechnology brings science fiction into everyday life6 Nanotechnology’s more immediate future lies in its application in such sensors as electronic “noses” that can detect, for example, the presence of individual protein molecules in a blood sample. This involves a fingernail-sized chip with thousands of sensors, each set to detect a specific substance. It might even be possible to make these noses so small that they could fit on a needle. Then, there would be no need for a blood test, for a finger prick would be sufficient to allow a full blood analysis.

Nanosensors also will be of great value in producing new medicines, for they can effectively find active substances. So far, it has been possible to build this type of sensor one by one; the difficulty lies in integrating perhaps 100,000 of them on one chip.

Aging can be delayed by repairing human cells one by one. Unlimited computer power can be obtained by improved microchip performance. Global warming can be reduced by cleaning greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere with nanoparticles, and pesticides could kill insects without harmful byproducts. Creating artificial muscles and sensors, as well as nanocoating for metal, could increase power plant efficiency and potentially save millions of dollars a year for electricity generators. For example, we now have self-washing windows that repel dirt, thanks to their nanostructured surface.

Nanofluids (7)

On the medical front, researchers at Virginia Polytechnic Institute are developing magnetic nanofluids. They posit that magnetic particles attached to medicines, like those used in chemotherapy, can be concentrated on one part of the body by using external magnets on patients. 

Always clean clothing (8,9)

Imagine textiles that cannot be stained or wrinkled, that always maintain the look and feel of fabrics made from natural fibers. Imagine materials that are 100 times stronger than steel, but weigh only one-sixth as much. Nanofibers could be used in astronauts’ suits, moving with them as they work to give them greater flexibility in space, or to allow the disabled greater mobility by acting as extra muscles.

Imagine batteries that take up less than one cubic millimeter, but supply a medical implant with power. Imagine sensors, smaller than a pinpoint, that detect anything in extremely low concentrations, from specific antibodies to toxic chemicals.

A big splash of coffee leaves an unmistakable stain on an ordinary pair of trousers; on a pair of nanotextile trousers, it can be brushed off without leaving a trace. A titanium frying pan and the laser in a fairly modern CD player are both based on nanotechnology. By using nanotechnology, wall paint could automatically sterilize an operating theatre, filters could be used in water purifiers to automatically kill undesirable bacteria, and roofing tiles that convert solar light into household electricity could give way to reinforced self-repairing houses immune to all natural disasters “short of a large incoming meteor.(10)

Hence nano-technology is and will continue to become part of our everyday lives … sometimes without us even noticing.

Michael Crichton (11)

Crichton says “These organisms [self-reproducing tiny computers] will be created by nanotechnology, perhaps the most radical technology in human history: the quest to build man-made machines of extremely small size, on the order of 100 nanometers, or 100/billionths of a meter. Such machines would be 1,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. Experts predict that these tiny machines will provide everything from miniaturized computer components to new medical treatments to new military weapons. In the 21st century, they will change our world totally.

“The potential benefits are spectacular: Tiny robots may crawl through your arteries, cutting away atherosclerotic plaque; powerful drugs will be delivered to individual cancer cells, leaving other cells undamaged; teeth will be self-repairing. Cosmetically, you will change your hair color with an injection of nanomachines that circulate through the body, moving melanocytes in hair follicles. Other nanomachines will lighten or darken skin color at will, removing blemishes, birthmarks and liver spots in the process; still others could cleanse the mouth and eliminate bad breath. Nonsurgical nanoprocesses could even perform liposuction and body reshaping. They will also repair knees and spines.

Living spaces will be transformed with self-cleaning dishes and carpets and permanently clean bathrooms. Windows will lighten or darken at will; programmable paint will change color. You can walk through the walls of your house, since they are composed of particle clouds. Your personal computer and your watch will be painted on your arm. Temperature-sensitive clothing will loosen when it gets hot, insulate when it gets cold.”

In the future, roving nanomachines will convert trash dumps to energy, solar nanomachines will be coated on the houses to generate electricity, and flexible nanomachines will provide earthquake protection. It may even be possible to move a house across the lawn on the backs of millions of nanomachines.

In 2003, nanotechnology is still very much in its infancy. However, such major corporations as IBM, Fujitsu, and Intel are funding this research. U.S. government investment has gone from virtually nothing only a few years ago to well over $600,000,000 per year in 2003.

At present, nonotechniques are being used to make sunscreens, stain-resistant fabrics, and composite materials for cars; soon, they will be used to make extremely small computers and storage devices. Pittsburgh based PPG Industries, Inc. is making self-cleaning window glass; the Westaim Corporation of Toronto is making nanocrystal wound dressings with antibiotic and anti-inflammatory properties. Currently, nanotechnology is principally a material technology.

Most experts predict that self-reproducing machines are only a decade away. Man-made, self-reproducing entities already have been released into the environment. The first of these, of course, were computer viruses. The first viruses were created as a game (“core wars”), a 1960s battle between mainframe programmers, each releasing a program into the other’s mainframe computer. Originally limited to specialists, hackers soon joined in. The growth of computer networking made rapid worldwide transmission possible. Computer viruses, worms on the Internet, have become an international threat to information and global business.

Scientists are witnessing some of the problems of self-replicating biotechnology agents. For example, a recent report indicates that modified maize genes are appearing in native maize in Mexico, despite laws against it and efforts to prevent it. This is only the start of probably a long journey to control this new technology. Laws have been passed to put hackers in jail; delinquent biotechnologists will soon join them. We need international controls to deal with self-reproducing technologies right now, whereas now there are essentially none.

Footnotes

(1) www.zdnet.com.au/newstech/enterprise/story/0,2000048640,20267134-2,00.htm

(2)www.rice.edu/projects/reno/Newsrel/2001/20010402_nanotechnology.shtml.

(3) www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=5481.

(4) http://cseserv.engr.scu.edu/StudentWebPages/AChen/ResearchPaper.htm.

(5) www.nansosensors.com.

(6) Nino Simic, “Nano into Everyday Life.” www.oresundit.com/composite(1610).htm.

(7) Ryan Randazzo, Reno Gazette-Journal, 15 June 2002.

(8) www.agg.com/Practice/Nanotechnology_main.html.

(9) www.oresundit.com/composite(1610).htm.

(10) www.foresight.org.

(11) Michael Crichton, “Could Tiny Machines Rule the World?” Parade Magazine, 24 November 2002, pgs. 6-8.

Some nanotechnology links:

• www.about.com/nanotechnology (A search engine that compiles various sources and articles).
• www.jmtour.com (Professor Jim Tour’s research home page).
• www-ece.rice.edu/~halas (Professor Naomi Halas’ research home page).
• www.nano.gov (The National Science and Technology Council’s site for nanoscale technology, including information on federal initiatives). 

The debt that Briffault speaks of is often referred to as though it should be taken for granted: The Arabs only transmitted Greek science and made no contribution to the overall history of Western science. Fortunately, many historians of science no longer hold this view. The Arabs “ under an Islamic hegemony “ acquired the scientific heritage of earlier civilizations, including classical Greece and Rome, and translated, preserved, and transformed much of it. Their scientific experience profoundly impacted the late medieval world of western Europe, where Muslim scientific achievements were important to the evolving Renaissance and the grand narrative of the history of science.

Until recently, these historic achievements were unknown. Gradually, more evidence showing the magnificent work in Islamic science has come to light. Modern history of science studies show that the productive, original scientific research of Muslim scientists persisted into the sixteenth century. Yet, histories of Islamic science consistently claim that such science declined after the eleventh century due to the opposition of religious authorities (e.g., Imam al-Ghazali), Islamic law, and the absence of a capitalistic economy,(2) to name just a few.

But this theory, in addition to its palpable counter-intuitiveness, fails to explain the growing body of evidence for the rise of science in the Islamic world after the eleventh century. This article will discuss just a part of the accomplishment, importance and originality of Islamic science between the ninth and sixteenth centuries.

Islamic science defined

The more historians deconstruct the grand narrative of their discipline’s history, the harder it becomes to assign linguistic, civilizational, and cultural adjectives to science.(3) Using such adjectives as Greek, Arabic, Chinese, Indian, Islamic, and more pertinently, western, in this context is quickly becoming obsolete, due to the newly-emerging understanding of the essentially hegemonic meanings such adjectives have always harboured.(4) These terms were often used as analytical categories that imparted some significance at the time when languages, cultures and civilizations used to embody individual characteristics that could distinguish them from one another.(5)

Now, however, such terms no longer serve the same functions, for the new scrutiny now being applied to such grand narratives of the history of science is making it quite obvious that these terms can no longer yield the same analytical results they used to yield.(6) In addition, such terms as culture, civilization, language, and science are no longer the same stable, commonly accepted terms of reference they once were,(7) since they embody ambiguities of their own and embody hegemonic theoretical structures that prohibit their modification with the old adjectives as was once done.(8) Furthermore, the intimate interconnectedness between scientific traditions makes it almost meaningless to speak of a Greek, Arabic or European science as if each had a character of its own.(9)

In light of the above, Islamic science (10) perhaps should mean science conducted mainly in Arabic and within the context of Islamic civilization, for many individuals from different ethnic and religious backgrounds were actively engaged in this undertaking: Christians (e.g., Hunayn ibn Ishaq), Persians (e.g., Ibn Nawbakht), Sabians (e.g., Thabit ibn Qurrah), and Jews (e.g., Masha’allah). Arabic was the main scientific, but not necessarily the native, language of these scientists. While the terms Islamic science and Arabic science are modern historical terms for the science conducted within the context of Islamic civilization, this science is Islamic in the sense that it suited the new and growing needs of Islamic civilization; was available entirely in Arabic, which had replaced Syriac; and was familiar to an increasing number of Muslim translators, students, and scientists./(11) It is in this context that Islamic science will be used in this article.

Of equal importance is the realization that Islamic science, in this context, does not imply religious sciences (e.g., jurisprudence) but rather the natural sciences (e.g., mathematics, astronomy, and physics). Nor does it imply the type of science that states that all knowledge, including scientific knowledge, can be found in the Qur’an.(12) This view examines the Qur’an’s scientific content and claims that, from relativity, quantum mechanics, big bang theory to the entire field of embryology and much of modern geology has been ˜discovered’ in the Qur’an.(13) Its adherents claim that scientific experiments have been devised to discover what is mentioned in the Qur’an but not known to science. Although this view is now the most popular version of Islamic science, it is not the one implied in this article.

Nor does it imply the mystical perspective that equates Islamic science with studying the nature of things in an ontological sense. In this viewpoint, the material universe is studied as an integral and subordinate part of the higher levels of existence, consciousness and modes of knowing.(14) Given such a context, science is not a problem solving enterprise and socially objective inquiry but more a mystical quest for understanding the Absolute.(15) This view also advocates the idea that in this universe, conjecture and hypothesis have no real place; all inquiry must be subordinate to the mystical experience.(16) Thus, its advocates view all science in Islamic civilization as sacred science, a product of a particular mystical tradition that traces its roots to the Greek neo-Platonists. This view, however, has been strongly refuted by Muslim historians of science (e.g., Ahmad al-Hassan) and Western historians (e.g., David King and Donald Hill).

Having said that, in this article Islamic science means any natural science that depends upon observation and experimentation, as well as rational thought in a critical way, that was studied by scientists of various religious and ethnic backgrounds who operated under an Islamic hegemony.

Islamic science remains largely unappreciated

With the exception of a few scholars, the contributions of Muslims scientists have been “ and remain “ poorly understood in the West. Western literature on Muslims presents them as mere torch-bearers of Greek science. This view is a product of Orientalism, which treats the Orient and Orientals as an ˜object’ of study inscribed by Otherness.(17) This typology is based on a real specificity but detached from history, and thus conceived as intangible and essential,(18) which, according to Ziauddin Sardar, the European man, from Greek antiquity onwards, becomes the measure of all men everywhere.(19) Accordingly, Muslim contributions to science were deliberately ignored or suppressed, and the view that Muslim scientists produced nothing original remained the orthodox belief until the mid-twentieth century.

In astronomy, for example, Kevin Krisciunas states that it is a common misconception that astronomical research fell into a dazed slumber following Ptolemy [the Greek scientist who lived during the second century], not to reawaken until the time of Copernicus.(20) Accordingly, Western historians of astronomy, like Neugebauer and Delamere, find nothing to report about Islamic astronomy.(21) The distinguished physicist-philosopher-historian Pierre Duhem (1861-1916), on the other hand, believed that: The revelations of Greek thought on the nature of the exterior world ended with the Almagest, (by Ptolemy) which appeared about A.D. 145, and then began the decline of ancient learning. Those of its works that escaped the fires kindled by Mohammedan warriors were subjected to the barren interpretations of Mussulman [Muslim] commentors and, like parched seed, awaited the time when Latin Christianity would furnish a favourable soil in which they could once more flourish and bring forth fruit.(22)

In other words, Muslims were fanatic, rampaging hordes, burners of Greek science, and also pale imitators, copiers of the Greeks.(23) Duhem also believed that: There is no Arabian science. The wise men of Mohammedanism were always the more or less faithful disciples of the Greeks, but were themselves destitute of all originality.(24) Ernest Renan (1823-92), the influential French philologist, believed that Islamic science could only flourish in association with heresy, and that science in Islam was merely parasitic on Greek culture and that Islam was simply a vehicle transmitting Greek philosophy to the Renaissance in Europe.(25) Other historians repeated the view that Muslim scientists acted as unproductive transmitters of Greek science. Von Grunebaum suggested that Islamic science was a mimic of Greek science, and asserted that Islam failed to put natural resources to such use as would insure progressive control of the physical conditions of life. Inventions, discoveries, and improvements might be accepted but hardly ever were searched for.”(26)

Prominent historians of Islamic science, however, explain that modern research in Islamic science poses a challenge to what is at best a caricature of history, one that portrays the ˜torch’ of science and knowledge as something that was handed down from the ancient Greeks to medieval Europe by way of Islamic scholars.(27) The danger of this representation is that it miscasts the role of the Islamic civilisation in the scientific revolution and undermines the often deep relation between cultures and intellectual movements.(28) Furthermore, it allows historians of classical science to conclude, science as theory is Greek and as experimental method it was born in the seventeenth century,29 thereby neglecting the contributions of Muslim scholars in between.

According to the torch theory, therefore, Islamic science constituted an excavation site, in which the historian is the archaeologist on the track of Hellenism.30 This approach, explains Rashed, has frequently ended up misrepresenting the results of Greek science as well as those of the seventeenth century, a necessary distortion if one wishes to link the two ends of the chain in a continuous history; on the other hand, and not without coincidence, it has led to some famous blunders affecting not only interpretation but comprehension too.(31)

Recent scholarship, however, confirms that Muslim scientists were more than just torch-bearers of Greek science, and that, in fact, they influenced the Renaissance. For example, in his The Middle East, Bernard Lewis explains that Greek science, on the whole rather tended to be theoretical. Medieval Middle Eastern [Islamic] science was much more practical, and in such fields as medicine, chemistry, astronomy and agronomy, the classical heritage was clarified and supplemented by the experiments and observations of the medieval Middle East.(32)

Today there is sufficient information about the quality and staggering quantity of Islamic science. Muslim scientists were active in many fields, from astronomy to zoology, and made original contributions. For example, recent research in astronomy shows that the mathematical models of Ibn Shatir, a fourteenth-century scientist, and the work of astronomers at the famous observatory in Maragha, laid the foundation for the Copernican revolution.(33)

Thus the novelty of Islamic science was that it was not the fruits of chance meetings, but the deliberate results of a massive movement of scientific and philosophical translation, undertaken by professionals “ sometimes rivals “ supported by power and stimulated by the research itself.(34) This movement resulted in the creation of a library on the scale of the world of its time.(35) Hence, for the first time scientific traditions from different backgrounds and languages became elements of one science, whose language was Arabic, and found ways of reacting together to engender new methods and sometimes even new disciplines, such as trigonometry, algorithms, and algebra.

Nevertheless, most people remain unaware of the importance of Islamic science. For example, most Westerners know that the Muslims invented algebra, Arabic numerals, and possibly the zero, but not that Islamic science is a possible concept.(36) Thus the most widely used American university textbook for the history of science (37) shows no interest in Islamic science per se and ignores most of the research on Islamic science conducted during the past 50 years.(38) Europe has no such textbook at all, and the less said about modern Arabic books on Islamic science the better.

Only recently has the Western scholarly community produced a substantial amount of reliable literature on the subject, some even for the general reader. For example, the Dictionary of Scientific Biography (1970-80) contains a series of articles on the major Muslim scientists, as does the Encyclopaedia of the History of Arabic Science (1996).

The contributions of Muslim scientists are even less well understood in the Islamic world itself, let alone elsewhere in the world. No serious modern work of a general nature on Islamic science is available in Arabic, except George Saliba’s The Origin and Development of Arabic Scientific Thought (1998). Also, very little of the research of the past 50 years is available or even known in the Muslim world.

According to King, the surviving written works and artefacts relating to the achievements of Muslim scientists are some 10,000 manuscripts preserved in libraries around the world, and some 1,000 instruments preserved in museums and private collections. (39) This is an insignificant number when compared to some of the libraries that existed during Islamic civilization’s golden age, when there were about 500,000 such manuscripts on their shelves. Few of the surviving major scientific works have been translated, and modern scholars have never read thousands of these manuscripts. Simply put, the history of Islamic science as a field remains virgin territory. Nevertheless, as little as we know about Islamic science, scholars affirm that every single specialised science in the West owes its origins to the Islamic impulse “ or at least its direction from that time on.(40)

Original contributions and their impact on modern science

Islamic science made many important contributions to the history of European scientific thought. Its importance can be deduced from its original contributions and impact. Islamic science influenced the sciences of the West, and thus had a direct influence on the Renaissance and the scientific revolution.

In the twelfth century, the West discovered, via a translated catalogue of sciences (map of knowledge) by al-Farabi, the existence of a considerable body of Antiquity’s scientific work. The West started examining these sciences, including astronomy, biology, botany, mathematics, and medicine. In addition, the medieval European university became the institutional manifestation of al-Farabi’s map of knowledge. In fact, the translated work of Islamic knowledge formed the basis and the scientific foundation of the university in its living reality “ the reality of its syllabus, the content of its teaching.(41)

The originality of Islamic science and its significant innovation is clear in several fields, including mathematics, astronomy, and medicine. Due to this topic’s vastness, this article shall confine itself to these three fields.

Originality in mathematics

Recent research proves that many of the ideas that once were thought to belong to European mathematicians of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries were in fact originated by Islamic mathematicians. In many respects, the mathematics studied today is far closer in style to that of the Muslims than of the Greeks.(42)

In the case of mathematics, Muslims initially were transmitters of almost all the important mathematical ideas of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, India, Persia, and the Hellenistic world. But they also made original contributions that directly influenced arithmetic, geometry, algebra, and algorithms. Before learning of Indian numerals and the dust-board system early in the eighth century from Indian and Persian sources, the Muslims used finger computation, also called the arithmetic of the scribes or secretaries because it was used by government bureaucrats. This Indian system could express any number by using only 10 figures, including an empty place for zero, and the results were written out in words. (43) Though this system was far easier than, and superior to, the Babylonian sexagesimal system (in which letters replaced numbers), the latter system was still being used especially by astronomers. While the Babylonian system was developed for practical business needs, the Indian system was inspired by the Hindus’ inherent philosophical bent.

The Muslims recognized the importance of the Indian system and thus transformed it into the well-known Arabic numerals. This system, still used today in the West, enabled the West to achieve great breakthrough in mathematics. Arabic numerals became an intensely workable code, one so simple that literally any child can handle it, so flexible that in the hands of the mathematicians it became a vocabulary by which the most complex relations between the most astronomical quantities can be expressed. It was a revolution on a par with the invention of the computer; one was able to reduce the cosmos to a system of ten elementary symbols, from zero to nine. (44)

Arabic numerals were first transmitted and used in the West during the latter half of the twelfth century through the translation of the first part of al-Khawarizmi’s The Book of Addition and Subtraction in Indian Arithmetic, which survives as a translation only. By this time, many other important works in Arabic were well ahead of the West, including the work of al-Karaji (c.1000), ˜Umar al-Khayyam (d. 1130), as-Samaw’al (d. c. 1175), and Ibn al-Haytham (d. c. 1040).

Muslims also developed Greek geometry and then used it in surveying, in designing wheels of all kinds, including waterwheels and other systems for drawing water, in improving farming equipment, and, inevitably, in devising engines and devices of war, such as catapults and crossbows.(45) In the ninth century, Thabit ibn Qurra wrote on cubatures and quadratures, and used the method of exhaustions in a manner that anticipated the development of integral calculus; advanced the study of parabolas; and used integral sums to find the area of a parabola’s segment. He also translated Appollonius’ Conics, several of Archimedes’ treatises, and Nicomachus’ Introduction to Arithmetic, in addition to calculating the volume of the parabolic and giving a geometrical solution to some third degree figures.(46)

In geometry, Umar al-Khayyam and al-Tusi re-examined the fifth postulate of Euclid concerning the parallel line theorem, which concerns the very foundation of Euclidean geometry.47 Though they did not claim to challenge Euclid’s postulates, however, their work eventually led to G. Saccheri’s first attempt to formulate a non-Euclidean geometry (1733).

While the Greeks had calculated a table of chords, trigonometry was invented by the Arabs. (48) Muslim scientists were the first to formulate explicit trigonometric functions. The first scientist to use tangents (zill) was the astronomer Habash al-Hasib, who also knew of the sine, cosine, and cotangent functions. More influential was Abu al-Wafa al-Buzanji, the first person to demonstrate the sine theorem for a general spherical triangle and to invent the secant (qutr al-zill). The latter discovery is usually attributed to Copernicus. Al-Biruni wrote the first independent work on spherical trigonometry, calculated the approximate value of a diagonal of one degree, and was the first to demonstrate that for a plane triangle ( a/sinA = b/sinB = c/sinC ).(49)

Muslim mathematicians also invented algebra. Al-Khawarizmi (780-850), the greatest Muslim mathematician and the first to establish algebra, is known for being instrumental in converting Babylonian and Hindu numerals into a simple and workable system that almost everyone could use.(50) He is also best known for originating the mathematical terms and concepts of algebra and the algorithm (which is derived from his name al-Khawarizmi). He composed many astronomical tables, worked on arithmetic and algebra, and is recognized as the founder of algebra, for he initiated the subject in a systematic form and developed it to the extent of giving analytical solutions of linear and quadratic equations.

His book The Book of Summary concerning the Process of Calculating Compulsion and Equation was used until the sixteenth century as the principle textbook of European universities. And it is from its title that the term algebra (al-Jabr: restoration and amplification of something incomplete; muqabala: the balance of the two sides of an equation) was derived. The Toledan translation of his book, Algorismi de numero indorum, had a profound impact upon the West and gave English such words as algorithm and cipher (Arabic for zero) and Spanish the word guarismo.

One of the many other mathematicians, the Persian Ghiyath al-Din Jamshid al-Kashani, devised a theory of numbers and techniques of computation that remained unmatched until recently. He also rediscovered the decimal fraction, discovered initially by al-Uqlidisi and then forgotten for centuries, made a remarkably accurate calculation of , is considered the inventor of the first calculating machine,(51) and is the first person to solve the Newton binomial theorem.

Originality in astronomy

George Saliba, a prominent historian of Islamic science, has greatly advanced our understanding of the importance of Islamic astronomy. He explains that medieval Islamic astronomers were not mere translators but also may have played a key role in the Copernican revolution, which ultimately influenced the Renaissance. The contribution of Islamic science was fundamental to the birth and subsequent development of astronomy in the West, for before this contribution the West had no advanced astronomy. The knowledge developed by Muslim astronomers produced changes in the West as regards the development of trigonometry, instruments, and the local star catalogues, and also affected the growth and development of astronomical theory proper.(52)

Astronomy was a practical science for the Muslims, because they used the stars as guides during their travel. Thus, astronomy became one of their greatest achievements. Its practical importance was also emphasized by the need to determine the prayer direction (qibla) and time regardless of one’s location.

Islamic astronomers surpassed the Greek mathematical methods, and developed trigonometry, which eventually provided the essential tools necessary for the astronomy that developed during the Renaissance. Medieval Muslim astronomers felt themselves challenged to find a simpler trigonometric method than that postulated by such earlier astronomers as Ptolemy. The study of astronomy was influenced by ancient sources, and Muslims were acquainted with Indian and Persian sources before Greek ones. The Persian Sassanids’ astronomical treatises were translated into Arabic during the eighth century. Ptolemy’s work was introduced in the ninth century. Around that time, such scholars as Thabit ibn Qurra and Hunayn ibn Ishaq translated Ptolemy’s major work Megalé syntax mathematiké (Almagest in Arabic). By the end of the ninth century, the Arabs had thoroughly studied and were acquainted with the work of Antiquity.

Before the spread of Islam, there was only one observatory in Alexandria; Muslims built observatories all over the Islamic world. The first one, al-Shammasiyah, was built in Baghdad built by al-Ma’mun in 828. Al-Battani built one at Raqqa (Iraq), Abdul Rahman al-Sufi built one at Shiraz (Persia), and in 1023 the Persian prince Ala al-Daula built one for Ibn Sina at Hamadan. Scientists at the famous al-Maragha observatory in western Iran greatly influenced Copernican astronomy, for their work led to the development of a planetary system that was mathematically equivalent to that of Copernicus. Such closeness caused Noel Swerdlow to ask, not whether, but when, where, and in what form Copernicus learned of those scientists.(53)

Advances in planetary theories were primarily the result of criticizing Ptolemy’s work, which had dominated the field since the time of al-Battani. While refining and improving the work’s details, rising dissatisfaction with many of its aspects led such scholars as Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi, and Ibn al-Shatir to criticize the Polemic (geocentric) system in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. This criticism was, to some extent, very important in the later attacks made against him during the Renaissance. The work of astronomers like Ibn al-Shatir allows modern scholars like Saliba to conclude that at some level the Renaissance “ which was at least partly inspired by the Copernican revolution “ was not a purely European creation.(54) According to him, the role of Arabic astronomy was not to preserve Greek astronomy, but to correct its flaws and finally to seek alternatives to it.(55)

Thousands of Arabic manuscripts in major libraries remain unknown to scholars. However, eminent scholars like George Saliba and David King have advanced our understanding of Islamic astronomy’s originality and influence. Unlike the traditional view that Muslim astronomers accepted the Greek work as unalloyed truth, they in fact rejected much of it and forged a new astronomy that, later on, enabled Copernicus to lay the foundation of modern astronomy. Consequently, the original contributions made by Muslims astronomers challenge the idea that Muslim scientists only transmitted ancient Greek science and knowledge to medieval Europe without adding anything.

Originality in medicine

Muslims also excelled in and made original contributions to medicine. Islamic medicine was built on tradition, mainly the theoretical and practical knowledge developed in Greece and Rome. For Muslim scholars, Galen and Hippocrates were the pre-eminent authorities, followed by the Hellenic scholars in Alexandria. Muslim and non-Muslim scholars translated the voluminous writings from Greek (e.g., Hippocrates, Dioscorides, and Galen) into Arabic, thus providing virtually all of Islam’s early medical students with their basic reference texts. Then, basing themselves upon these texts, they produced new medical knowledge. In order to make ancient medical works more accessible, understandable, and teachable, Muslim scholars ordered and systematized the vast and sometimes inconsistent Greco-Roman medical knowledge by writing encyclopedias and summaries.

The influence of Islamic medicine in the West was critical, due to the mass of information it conveyed to the West, because it helped establish medicine as a science, and because translated Arabic medical manuscripts gave a decisive direction to the teaching of medicine in the West.(56) Islamic medical knowledge built upon the achievements of classical Greece and Rome as well as that learned from Syriac, Persian, and Indian sources. After the relatively quick assimilation of this knowledge, Islamic medical writings became more systematic and synthetic, with an evident urge to produce the most comprehensive and complete medical reference work yet written.(57) A primary concern of Islamic medical scholars was the organisation of the vast body of knowledge into a logical and accessible format.(58) They also expanded theoretical discourses on causes and symptoms, and frequently introduced examples and procedures of an applied character. It was in this historical background that Islamic medicine developed and advanced, and at its zenith produced such towering physicians like Ibn Sina and al-Razi.

Al-Razi (Rhazes: 865-925) is the keenest original thinker and greatest clinician not only of Islam but of the Middle Ages,(59) and was the Islamic world’s greatest original clinical and observational physician. Along with Ibn Sina, they are considered to be among the greatest physicians ever known. In selecting a new site for the great hospital in Baghdad, al-Razi hung up shreds of meat and then chose the spot where they showed the least sign of putrefaction.

Al-Razi applied chemistry and physics to medicine, and wrote a medical encyclopedia and a treatise on smallpox and measles that was the earliest of its kind and considered a masterpiece of Arabic medical literature. He was a pioneer in pediatrics, obstetrics, and ophthalmology. In fact, his The Diseases of Children has led some historians to regard him as the father of pediatrics. He is also considered the inventor of the seton in surgery, and the first to relate hay fever to a rose’s scent,(60) isolate and use alcohol (al-kuhul) as an antiseptic, use mercury as a purgative (known in the Middle Ages as Album Rhasis), explain how to remove a cataract, and discuss the papillary reaction or widening and narrowing of an eye’s pupil. Furthermore, he mastered the way of treating by psychological shock and of using psychosomatic medicine and psychology. In its English translation, al-Razi’s Spiritual Physic devotes 20 chapters to various ailments that upset the soul and the body.

Al-Razi wrote many books on medicine, the major ones being Al-Hawi fi al-Tibb, (The Comprehensive Book), an encyclopedic composition of Greek, Persian, and early Arabic medical knowledge in their entirety, whose modern version is incomplete at 23 volumes.(61) The Sicilian Jewish physician Faraj (Farragut) ibn Salim was the first to translate Al-Hawi into Latin in 1279. Under the title Continens, it was repeatedly printed from 1486 onwards; a fifth edition appeared in Venice in 1542. Prior to the nineteenth century, Al-Hawi can be considered one of the most extensive medical texts ever written by a doctor.

His 10-volume Kitab al-Mansuri (Liber medicinalis ad Almansori), was translated in 1480 by Milan, and also into French and German. Gerard of Cremona translated the ninth volume, under the title Nonus al-Manuri, which remained popular in Europe until the sixteenth century. Here, he developed the science of anatomy by discussing such features as veins, arteries, dispositions of the heart, and so on.

His famous book on smallpox and the measles, Kitab fi al-Jadari wa al-Hasbah (Liber de Pestilentia), was very influential in Europe. It was first translated into Latin in 1565, and then into many other European languages. In fact, 40 editions were printed between 1498 and 1866. In 1848, William A. Greenhill translated it into English. Through this treatise, he became the first to draw clear comparison between smallpox and chickenpox. This treatise demonstrates quite well his concern for therapy, and its thoroughness stands in sharp contrast to the silence regarding the topic in the Hellenistic and Byzantine literature preserved today.(62)

Another great figure, Ibn Sina (Avicenna: 1126-98), was the most renowned physician, philosopher, encyclopedist, mathematician, and astronomer of his time. According to George Sarton, Ibn Sina’s thought represents the climax of medieval philosophy.(63)

One of his major contributions to medicine was his famous Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb (The Canon of Medicine), an immense encyclopedia of medicine that contains some of the most illuminating thoughts on the distinction of mediastinitis from pleurisy; contagious nature of phthisis; distribution of diseases by water and soil; careful description of skin troubles; of sexual diseases, and perversions; of nervous ailments (including love sickness); many psychological and pathological facts clearly analysed.(64) In it, Ibn Sina deals with the general principles of medicine, simple and compound drugs containing 760 types of drugs, disorders of each internal and external organ of the body, and diseases effecting all of the body, especially pathology and pharmacopoeia.

The Canon influenced Europe’s medical schools for the next 600 years and was probably the most used of all medieval medical references.(65) Gerard of Cremona translated it in the twelfth century. During the last 30 years of the fifteenth century, 15 Latin editions and one Hebrew edition were published. During the sixteenth century, it was reissued more than 20 times. From the twelfth to the seventeenth century, it was the West’s chief medical book and fulfilled that function longer than any other medical work.

Ibn Sina was the first to describe meningitis and differentiate it from meningismus of other acute diseases and to suggest treatment for lachrymal fistula, the first to describe the manner of spread of epidemics and the contagious nature of tuberculosis. He described many details of the eye, such as conjunctive sclera, the cornea, choroids, the iris, the retina, the layer lens, the aqueous humour, the optic nerve, and the optic chiasm.

Other important medical figures were Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar, d.1161) for his work on diet, Ibn Rushd (Averroes, 1121-98) for his work on general principles, and the Syrian Ibn al-Nafis (d.1288) for his discovery of the minor circulation of the blood.

Conclusion

The contribution of Muslims to science dispels the common beliefs that they only preserved and transmitted Greek knowledge to the West. Recent studies by competent historians has led to a qualitative shift in our understanding of their contributions. Such historians adduce that Muslim scientists both influenced almost every branch of science and were instrumental in influencing the Renaissance.

Today, however, the Muslim world produces a disproportionately small amount of scientific output, and much of it is of relatively low quality. In numerical terms, 41 predominantly Muslim countries, having about 20% of the world’s population, generate less than 5% of its science. Given Muslims past contributions to science, this situation raises several questions: Is there a dichotomy between Islam and modern science? If not, how does one explain the huge gap in scientific output between the Muslim world and the West or East Asia? And what must change so that science can flourish in Muslim countries?

The past achievements of Muslim scientists clearly show that Islam is not the key problem facing scientific achievement in the Muslim world of today. The theory that implies a dichotomy between Islam and science is part of a larger conflict in post-Enlightenment historiography that opposes science and religion in general in post-medieval civilizations. Rather, the problem is a result of cumulative “ as opposed to one dominant “ factors.

Footnotes 

1. Robert Briffault, The Making of Humanity, (London, 1938), p.200.
2. Among those who suggest this are T. E. Huff, The Rise of Early Modern Science (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993); P. Hoodbhoy, Islam and Science: Religious Orthodoxy and the Battle for Rationality (Pakistan: Zed Books, 1992); J. J. Saunders, Muslims and Mongols: Essays on Medieval Asia (University of Canterbury: Whitcoulls Ltd., 1977).
3. George Saliba, Whose Science is Arabic Science in Renaissance Europe, Columbia University http://www.columbia.edu/~gas1/project/visions/case1/sci.1.html.
4. Ibid. 5 Ibid. 6 Ibid. 7 Ibid. 8 Ibid.
5. George Saliba, Greek Astronomy and the Medieval Arabic Tradition, in American Scientist 90 (July-August 2002): 367.
6. We define science as systemized knowledge derived from observation, study, and experimentation carried on in order to determine the nature or principle of what is being studied. This definition specifically excludes such applied fields as technology and engineering.
7. G. M. Wickens The Middle East as a World Centre of Science and Medicine, in Introduction to Islamic Civilisation, ed. R. M. Savory, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976), 113.
8. Ziauddin Sardar, Islamic Science, www.islamonline.net/english/Contemporary/ 2002/05/Article21.shtml (2/6/2002).
9. Ibid. 14 Ibid. 15 Ibid. 16 Ibid.
10. Abdel-Malek (1981) quoted in Ziauddin Sardar, Orientalism (Buckingham: Open University Press, 1999), 59.
11. Ibid. 19 Ibid.
12. Kevin Krisciunas, Astronomical Centres of the World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), 23.
13. Salah Zaimeche, A Review on Muslim Contribution to Astronomy, (Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation, 2002). Online at: www.muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?ArticleID=233.
14. Ibid. 23 Ibid.
15. Quoted in David C. Lindberg, The Beginning of Western Science: The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, 600 B.C. to A.D. 1450 (Chicago: The University Chicago Press, 1992), 175.
16. Ernest Renan (ed.), Islamism and Science, in Poetry of the Celtic Race and Other Studies (London: W. Scott., 1896), 85. Quoted in Bryan S. Turner, Orientalism, Postmodernism & Globalism (New York: Routledge, 1994), 31.
17. Von Grunebaum, as cited in Ibid., 71.
18. Saliba, Greek Astronomy, 360.
19. Ibid.
20. Roshdi Rashed, Preface, in Roshdi Rashed (ed.), Encyclopaedia of the History of Arabic Sciences (London: Routledge, 1996), 1:x.
21. Ibid. 31 Ibid.
22. Bernard Lewis, The Middle East (New York: Touchstone Books 1998), 266.
23. Ibid.
24. Ahmed Djebbar, Une Histoire de la science arabe, entretiens avec Jean Rosmorduc (A History of Arab Science — Conversations with Jean Rosmorduc), (Paris: Seuil, 2001), in David Tresilian, Greeker than the Greeks, Al-Ahram Weekly Online, 10-16 Jan. 2002, no.568. http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2002/568/bo5.htm, p. xi.
25. Ibid.
26. David A. King, Proposal for an exhibition on Islamic science and technology, www.unesco.org/science/pao/exhib/islam2.htm#1.
27. David Lindberg, The Beginnings of Western Science: The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, 600 B.C. to A.D. 1450 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press), 1992.
28. King, Proposal. 39 Ibid.
29. Goldstein, T., Dawn of Modern Science (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1980), 99.
30. Alain de Libera in Sabbaghi, R., The Arab Forebears of the European Renaissance (interview with French historian and philosopher Alain de Libera), UNESCO Courier (Feb. 1997) 2(6).
31. J. J. O’Connor and E. F. Robertson, Arabic Mathematics: Forgotten Brilliance? Online at:www-groups.dcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/Arabic_mathematics.html.
32. Turner, H. R., Science in Medieval Islam: An Illustrated Introduction (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995), 45.
33. Goldstein, The Dawn of Modern Science, 121.
34. Turner, Science in Medieval Islam, 47.
35. Nasr, S. H., Islamic Science: An Illustrated Study (Westerham: Westerham Press, 1976), 82 and Science and Civilisation in Islam (New York: Plume Books, 1968), 149.
36. Nasr, Islamic Science, 82.
37. Huff, T. E., The Rise of Early Modern Science. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 50. According to Baron Carra de Vaux, the Arabs founded plane and spherical trigonometry (Astronomy and Mathematics, in The Legacy of Islam, 1st ed., 276). Likewise, E. S. Kennedy agrees that Arab scientists created trigonometry, the study of the plane and spherical triangle (˜The Arabic Heritage in the Exact Sciences,’ Al-Abhath 23 (1970): 337. Also see his The History of Trigonometry: An Overview, in Studies in the Islamic Exact Sciences, ed. E. S. Kennedy et al. (Beirut : American University of Beirut, 1983).
38. Nasr, Islamic Science, 84.
39. Turner, Science in Medieval Islam, p.47.
40. See E. S. Kennedy, A Fifteenth-century Planetary Computer: al-Kashi’s Tabaq al-Aanateq’, Isis 41 (1950): 180-83 and 43 (1952): 42-50.
41. Henri Hugonnard-Roche, The Influence of Arabic Astronomy in the Medieval West, in Roshdi Rashed (ed.), Encyclopaedia,1:284.
42. Swerdlow, N., and Neugebauer, O., (1984), Mathematical Astronomy in Copernicus’s De revolutioibus (New York: Springer Verlag, 1984). Cited in Huff, The Rise of Early Modern Science, 54.
43. Saliba, Greek Astronomy, 360.
44. In In defence of Copernicus. (Letters to the Editors), American Scientist 90, no. 6 (Nov.-Dec. 2002): 492 (1).
45. Danielle Jacquart, The Influence of Arabic Medicine in the Medieval West, in Roshdi Rashed (ed.), Encyclopaedia, 3:963.
46. Savage-Smith, Emilie, Medicine, in Ibid., 3:913.
47. Ibid. 59 Ibid.
48. Savage-Smith, Emilie, Gleanings from an Arabist’s Workshop: Current Trends in the Study of Medieval Islamic Science and Medicine, Isis 79 (1988): 246-72.
49. Ibid.
50. Savage-Smith, Medicine, 914.
51. George Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science (New York: Robert Krieger, 1975), 1:709.
52. Ibid.
53. Turner, Science in Medieval Islam,136.

But this has started to change. Increasingly, professionals from respected institutions are conducting scientific studies of the effects of faith in healing. Recent conferences at Harvard, the Mayo Clinic, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) signal this change, as does major media coverage on PBS, NBC Nightly News, CNN, and CBS This Morning. Below we give examples of such scientific studies, the people behind them, and their findings.

Dr. Herbert Benson

Dr. Herbert Benson is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the founding president of the Mind/Body Medical Institute at Boston’s Deaconess Hospital. As the author of 150 scientific papers and six books, Benson has made important contributions to our understanding of the physiology involved in the healing effects of faith.(1)

As a young cardiologist working with people suffering from high blood pressure, Benson noticed that their blood pressure was the highest during office visits. He reached this conclusion after noticing that after treating his patients with anti-hypertensive medicines to lower their blood pressure, they would report such symptoms as fainting. This indicated that the adjusted blood pressure was generally too low. Since doses were set according to measurements made during the visit, the calibration was correct. He concluded that their blood pressure should have been lower before or after the visit.

To establish a model for stress-induced hypertension, he stopped his routine in cardiology and returned to physiology research at Harvard Medical School. Once when he was studying monkeys, about 15 young people involved with Transcendental Meditation asked him to study their responses to stress. Electrodes were attached to their chests and scalps to measure their heart waves and brain waves. Masks collected their breath as they exhaled, so their metabolism and rate of breathing could be measured. Then baseline measurements were taken while they sat quietly for 20 minutes. The same measurements were taken again while they meditated for 20 minutes, and then one last time while they sat quietly without meditating. The individuals had a 17 percent decrease in their metabolism during meditation, and a 20 percent drop in their rate of breathing. Also the frequencies of brain waves were lowered.

Benson identified two basic components of Transcendental Meditation: meditation and prayers involving the repetition of a word, sound, or movement with the out-breath; and passively setting aside other thoughts when they come to mind and returning to the repetition.

When he studied various religions and cultures, he found these essential elements in virtually every one of them. The earliest account was in Hinduism, where there were accounts of individuals focusing on their breathing and repeating a phrase of scripture while disregarding every-day thoughts. The pattern was found in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Shintoism, Taoism, and Confucianism. He posited that this practice may be conducive to improved health perhaps by reducing parasympathetic nervous system responses to stress, known as the “fight or flight response”.*

Benson sees his work not as alternative medicine but rather as one leg of a three-legged stool. In his words: “One leg is pharmaceuticals, another leg is surgery and other procedures, and the third is self-care. That last leg includes nutrition, exercise, and the relaxation response. It’s vital not to neglect the last leg, because 60 to 90 percent of visits to doctors are for conditions related to stress, where employing pharmaceuticals and surgery is not effective.” (2)

Benson also found out that as much as faith inspires prayer, this form of prayer or meditation inspires health. He and his colleagues treated such conditions as hypertension and cardiac arrhythmia with the relaxation response, the common ingredient in his self-care program and prayer/meditation practices. They cured 75 percent of insomniacs, treated symptoms of depression in people with AIDS and cancer, and relieved nausea and vomiting related to chemotherapy. In a fertility program for infertile women that emphasizes self-care through relaxation response techniques, proper nutrition, and re-framing thinking patterns, 34 percent become pregnant in contrast to 15 percent in other programs.

Dr. David Larson

Psychiatrist David Larson is the president of the National Institute of Healthcare Research and author of the teaching workbook, The Forgotten Factor (co-authored with his wife Susan). In this book, he discusses the relationship between religion and health. Numbers supporting his work come from Gallup polls showing that 95 percent of Americans believe in God, and that although half believe in Hell, 80 percent sanguinely trust in a forgiving God. In addition, 40 percent of Americans attend worship services weekly.

During his psychiatric residency at Duke University, Larson asked a professor for some guidance on how to bring his faith into psychiatric practice. The response was: “Are you the type person who wants people to believe like you do?” Although he said he was not, the professor continued: “It is obvious you are going to hurt your patients.” He recalls that anyone who would bring up that subject would be quickly labeled as a fundamentalist.(3) But his later research and extensive publications have brought attention, which helped fund the National Institute for Healthcare Research. The Faith in Medicine program, which the institution funds, gives $10,000 grants to medical schools for courses on religion and health. Johns Hopkins and George Washington University are among the eleven schools that have received the grants.

Dr. Harold Koenig

Among the pioneers of the study of faith’s healing potential is Harold Koenig, an associate professor of psychiatry and director of the Center for the Study of Religion, Spirituality, and Health at Duke University Medical Center. Koenig first noticed the significance of faith as a factor in medical recovery when he was a young family doctor. He was consulted about a patient who had been hospitalized for a month after hip surgery. Her husband had died of a sudden stroke, and she had slipped on ice at his funeral and fractured her hip. The surgeon warned him that she was emotionally vulnerable. Indeed, she had experienced events that normally would trigger clinical depression and thus undermine her recovery.

He was therefore surprised to find the old lady cheerful when he entered her room. She said: “What can I do for you, Doctor?” Koenig’s search for obvious signs of depression-fatigue, darkened or tear-reddened eyes, difficulty concentrating-indicated nothing. Upon further conversation, he discovered that she maintained her cheerful mood by reading the Bible. She told him: “If I wake up alone or afraid, I read my Bible or talk to God. He is always there, even when my loved ones are not. It’s the most important thing that keeps me going.”

Koenig was impressed. When she recovered with few complications, he felt compelled to study further the medical significance of such deep faith. Since that event, numerous patients have told him how their faith helped them cope, thus speeding their physical healing. His research team, which has studied thousands of Americans since 1984, has compiled powerful evidence that religious faith not only promotes overall good health, but also helps patients recover from serious illness.(4)

“By praying to God, patients acquire an indirect form of control over their illness.” They believe they are not alone in their struggle, and that God is personally interested in them. This safeguards them against the psychological isolation that batters so many seriously ill people. In a study of 455 elderly hospital patients, Koenig found that people who attended church more than once a week averaged about four days in the hospital. People who never or rarely attended church spent about ten to twelve days of hospitalization.

Dr. Dale Matthews

Dale Matthews is an associate professor of medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC. As a young internist in the early 1980s, he met a patient with strong faith who would make a lasting impact on his life. The man said: “I am a devout Christian. If you’re going to be my doctor, I want you to pray with me” before allowing Matthews to treat him. Matthews had never shared his own faith with his patients, so at first he was reluctant. But nevertheless he joined hands with the man, who he hoped would keep quiet and keep the matter secret. After all, he did not want to be labeled “unscientific.” He was alarmed when the man’s booming voice filled the examination room. But Matthews had a crucial realization that day: His patient was a whole person, not a composite of symptoms and tests forming a “case.” This led him to become sensitive to signals indicating that religion is important to a patient. If someone says: “I hope from God that nothing bad shows up in these tests,” Matthews will say: “Tell me your thoughts about God.” He declares: “We cannot prove scientifically that God heals, but I believe we can prove that belief in God has a beneficial effect.” In his recently published book The Faith Factor, he incorporates religious wisdom, scientific research, and patients’ stories to make a case for the faith-health connection.(5)

Statistical Findings

Health care institutions are beginning to pay attention to the faith-health connection. Harvard Medical School, the Mayo Clinic, and the AAAS have sponsored conferences on spirituality and health. Nearly half of all American medical schools now offer courses on the topic. Below we give findings of some published studies on the topic.

• In a survey of 269 doctors at the 1996 meeting of the American Academy of Family Physicians, 99 percent said they thought religious beliefs could contribute to healing. When asked about their personal experiences, 63 percent of doctors said God intervened to improve their own medical conditions. Their patients agree even more enthusiastically that prayer is a powerful tool in healing. Polls by Time/CNN and USA Weekend show that about 80 percent of Americans believe spiritual faith or prayer can help people recover from illness or injury, and more than 60 percent think doctors should talk to patients about faith and even pray with those who request it.

• According to researchers at Columbia University, children whose religiously committed mothers are less likely to suffer from depression later in life.(6) In their study, 60 mothers and 151 children were followed over 10 years to determine if there was any relationship between a mother’s religious commitment and resulting depression in her children. The study found that daughters, but not sons, of women who considered religion to be highly important were 60 percent less likely to have a major depressive disorder at the 10-year followup. A second important factor linked with less depression was the degree to which the children embraced their mother’s religion. When the mother and child were members of the same religious denomination at the followup, daughters were 71 percent less likely to suffer from a major depressive disorder while sons were 84 percent less likely.

• Another significant finding of the study was that highly religious mothers were less likely to be depressed themselves.(7) Women for whom religion was highly important were 81 percent less likely to have major depression at the 10-year followup. This finding is consistent with other studies showing an inverse relationship between religiosity and depression. Several possible explanations exist for these findings. According to the researchers, highly religious mothers also were less likely to be divorced or exhibit poor social functioning—-both of which could contribute to depression in children. Another potential explanation comes from a recent study at the Medical College of Virginia, which found that religion can protect people from depression by buffering them against stressful life events.(8)

• A Dartmouth Medical School study found that heart patients were 14 times more likely to die following surgery if they did not participate in group activities and did not find comfort in religion. Within six months of surgery 21 patients died, but there were no deaths among 37 people who said they were “deeply religious.”

• A Yale University study of 2,812 elderly people found that those who never or rarely attended church had nearly twice the stroke rate of weekly church-goers.

• A survey of 5,286 Californians found that church members have lower death rates than nonmembers—regardless of such risk factors as smoking, drinking, obesity, and inactivity.

• Those with a religious commitment had fewer symptoms or had better health outcomes in seven out of eight cancer studies, four out of five blood pressure studies, four out of six heart disease studies, and four out of five general health studies. According to one research analysis, people with a strong religious commitment seem to be less prone to depression, suicide, alcoholism, and other addictions.

• Can others’ prayers help? In a 1988 study by cardiologists Randolph Byrd, 393 heart patients in San Francisco General Hospital Medical center were divided into two groups. One was prayed for by people around the country; the other did not receive any prayers from study participants. Patients did not know to which group they belonged. The group that was prayed for experienced fewer complications, fewer cases of pneumonia, fewer cardiac arrests, less congestive heart failure, and needed fewer antibiotics.(9)

• Researchers studying a sample population of 2,730 drawn from the Alameda County Study—a long-term research project of health and mortality—found that people who both attend religious services and participate in other activities through their place of worship receive protection from the stress of financial burdens, health issues, and other problems.

• In a study of nearly 600 severely ill hospital patients aged 55 and older, researchers measured 47 ways of coping. They discovered that patients who sought a connection with a benevolent God as well as support from clergy and church members were less depressed and rated their quality of life as higher, even after taking into account the severity of their diagnosis. Researchers also found that patients who gave spiritual support to others by praying for them or encouraging their faith also faired better emotionally.

• Another recent study conducted at Duke University revealed more striking results. In the first study to examine the role of religion in recovering from depression, researchers followed 87 patients aged 60 or older who were diagnosed with depressive disorder after being admitted to the hospital for a physical illness. They discovered that religion can help people recover from depression. In fact, the more spiritual the patient, the more quickly he or she recovered.(10)

Conclusion

Can faith really heal? According to some researchers, the answer is a definite yes. The study of the link between religious faith and physical healing is very young. But there are important signs that faith can have significant positive impact on health, complementing such conventional medical practices as pharmaceuticals and surgery. Increasingly, professionals from respected institutions are looking into the relationship of faith and healing via scientific methods. Once considered a taboo, studying the healing powers of faith is now taken seriously in scientific circles. Regardless of its results, the very existence of this effort promises to expand the possibilities of cooperation between science and faith, and lead to a better understanding of human nature. *Fight or Flight Response: Stress has been defined as the perception of threat or danger that requires behavioral change. Stress results in various bodily changes, including increased metabolism, and increases in heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, and blood flow to the muscles. These internal physiological changes prepare us to fight or run away, and thus stress reaction has been named the “fight or flight” response. The fight or flight response was first described by Harvard physiologist Dr. Walter B. Cannon. It is mediated by the increased release of adrenaline and noradrenalin (epinephrine and norepinephrine) into the blood stream.

References

1. Herbert Benson, Timeless Healing: The Power and Biology of Belief (Fireside: 1997).
2. “Mindful Healing, Technology Review,” Edited by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, October 1996.
3. Jessica Cohen, “The Greatest Story Never Told,” Utne Reader, No. 80, April 1997.
4. “Doctors Report: Faith Can Heal You,” Reader’s Digest, October 1998.
5. Dale A. Matthews, The Faith Factor: Proof of the Healing Power of Prayer, Penguin USA, 1999.
6. L. Miller, et al. “Religiosity and Depression: Ten-year Follow-up of Depressed Mothers and Offspring.” J. Am. Acad. Child Adolescent Psychiatry 1997; 36:10:1416-1425.
7. Ibid.
8. K. S. Kendler, et al. “Religion, Psychopathology, and Substance Use and Abuse: A Multi-measure, Genetic-Epidemiologic Study.” Am. J Psychiatry 1997; 154(3):322-329.
9. “Doctors Report: Faith Can Heal You,” Reader’s Digest, October 1998.
10. “Why Doctors Believe Faith is Powerful Medicine,” Reader’s Digest, October 1999.
11. http://www.nihr.org/media2/99_apr_stress.html

There are different definitions of euthanasia, each putting the emphasis on different parts of the concept. The word itself is derived from a compound of two Greek words-“eu” and “thanatos”-meaning literally a good death. It is generally understood today as the intentional putting to death by artificial means of persons with incurable or painful disease (Mason & McCall Smith, 1994, p.316). The decision to end a person’s life may involve direct interventions (active euthanasia) or withholding of life-prolonging measures (passive euthanasia). If the decision reflects the person’s own consciously and expressly declared wishes, it is called voluntary euthanasia. Where the person does not know about the decision and has not expressly approved it in advance it is called non-voluntary euthanasia. Another type of euthanasia, namely involuntary euthanasia, occurs whenever such a decision is implemented against the express wishes of the individual. (See Harris, 1985, p.82.)

Those who argue in favour of euthanasia usually presuppose a person’s absolute ownership of his or her body and life; as people are entitled to dispose as they choose of the things they own, the analogy is that they may also choose the circumstances most appropriate for them to ‘dispose’ of ‘their’ life. This is the rationale behind voluntary euthanasia.

However, the ownership (or property right) of humans over their bodies is not a property right in the usual sense of the term. Munzer (1990) defines various types of ‘ownership’, ‘property right’ etc. and concludes: “Most body rights are personal rather than property rights; examples are rights not to be murdered, not to be searched without a warrant or just cause, not to be compelled to testify against oneself, not to be libelled or slandered, to speak freely, and to exclude others from sexual or other physical contacts”. However, he says: “Some body rights are property rights whether weak, such as the right to donate an organ upon death, or strong, such as the right of publicity or the right to sell blood or semen ; but these weak and strong property rights are neither so numerous nor so central as to establish that person’s ‘own’ themselves” (ibid., p.57). Evidently, it is not very easy to propose or prohibit euthanasia by using the ‘property rights’ argument. (Perhaps we can summarise the issue by saying that the language of ‘property rights’ is appropriate only in the context of commercial/contractual transactions. If it ever was, it is no longer thought proper to speak of buying or selling human beings outright; we only speak nowadays of buying or selling an individual’s time or skills.)

Voluntary euthanasia has been likened to suicide in many respects. Therefore almost all religious traditions reject it; they reject the idea of terminating one’s life, and declare it to be one of the greatest misdeeds (Smoker, 1986, p.96). According to this understanding, our lives and our bodies are given by God. We are stewards and not owners of our lives, hence to contrive the ending of our own lives or to harm our bodies knowingly is a sign of disrespect to the ‘real owner’.

Roman Catholic theologians have reflected on matters of death and dying for centuries. The Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s 1980 declaration on Euthanasia, approved by Pope John Paul II, states: 1) None can make an attempt on the life of an innocent person without opposing God’s love for that person, without violating a fundamental right, and therefore without committing a crime of the utmost gravity; 2) Everyone has the duty to lead his or her life in accordance with God’s plan. That life is entrusted to the individual as a good that must bear fruit already here on earth, but that finds its full perfection only in eternal life; 3) Intentionally causing one’s own death, or suicide, is therefore equally as wrong as murder; such an action on the part of a person is to be considered as rejection of God’s sovereignty and loving plan. Therefore euthanasia is a violation of the divine law, an offence against the dignity of the human person, a crime against life, and an attack on humanity.

Among the Protestant denominations that oppose voluntary euthanasia are the Lutherans, Mennonites, Methodists, Presbyterians, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Episcopalians, Christian Scientists and Baptists. The rationale for rejecting the option of euthanasia or assisted suicide is based generally on the maxim, “only God can give life and only God should take it”.

The four branches of Judaism-Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist-all forbid active euthanasia. The ancient Torah and Talmud did not address euthanasia or assisted suicide. However, in recent years, rabbis have answered questions about death and dying in “responsa” that have come to be considered authoritative. For example, a responsum from the Reform Jewish tradition addressing euthanasia (Bettam, 1950) declares: “Human life is more than a biological phenomenon; it is the gracious gift of God, it is the in-breathing of His spirit. Man is more than a minute particle of the great mass known as society: “The spirit of God hath made me,” avers Job in the midst of his suffering, “and the breath of the Almighty gives me life” (Job 33:4). Thus, human life, coming from God, is sacred, and must be nurtured with great care. And man is endowed with unique and hidden worth and must be treated with reverence.”

Islam also opposes euthanasia. The Qur’an and Sunnah, the authoritative sources of Islamic law, do not speak specifically about euthanasia. However, according to the Qur’an God is the Creator of life. Consequently, persons do not own their lives and have no right to end them or to ask others to do so. The Prophet Muhammad is reported as saying: “None of you should wish to die because a harm befalls him. If he is so determined, let him pray: ‘Oh God, let me live as long as life is good for me, and let me die if death is good for me’.” This saying might be interpreted as a permission for euthanasia or deliberate termination of life, if the phrasing of the supplication were “let me kill myself” or “let me be killed” rather than “let me die”, which cannot be so interpreted. A contemporary Islamic scholar has argued: “God may deprive an individual of something he or she values, but grant that individual a manifold return for that loss in the Hereafter. By means of that loss, God makes you feel your need, your powerlessness, your poverty in relation to Him. In this way, He makes you turn to Him with a weightier sincerity, a fuller heart, and so makes you worthier of His Blessing and Favour. Thus your apparent loss is in reality a gain” (Gulen, 1994, p.162). One recent study indicated that the degree of religious observance is a factor that influences the desire for maximal medical intervention. It is argued that fundamental beliefs of the more religious elements of society, regardless of which religion, tend towards an approach in which sanctity of life, rather than quality of life, becomes the prime determinant (Hammerman, 1997). Therefore, it is not surprising, among believing people, to come across those who are remarkably contented in spite of circumstances of great hardship, suffering and pain.

One of the primary things that makes euthanasia unacceptable is the involvement of a second party. Since life is inherently valuable, no one should play a part, directly or indirectly, in terminating a life. Since 1961, it is not illegal in Britain to commit suicide, although it is punishable to help an individual to kill himself. However it is claimed that when the life is objectively meaningless, rather than subjectively, the termination of life and help for it can be justified, and in euthanasia cases lives are generally objectively meaningless. Kohl (1987) made the distinction between these two as follows: “A life is subjectively meaningless when an individual earnestly believes he or she cannot possess, can no longer possess, or cannot achieve, any goals. A life is objectively meaningless when any of the aforementioned intersensual and intersubjective conditions exists and is known, or is capable of being known, to be irreversible.” In another article, after stating that meaningful life is a precondition for a good life, Kohl (1979) said: “An ideally good life is like an ideal meal. What most men desire is a splendid meal with a splendid dessert. So, when the dessert is far from splendid, it is good for the person, as well as for those who must take care of that person, to terminate the life. But, as was mentioned in the report by the working party which reviewed the BMA s guidelines on euthanasia, termination of life requires doctors to examine their ethical convictions rather than their scientific ones. And throughout the many shifts of scientific opinion in medicine, one pervasive feature of medical practice has remained unchanged-the conviction that human life is of inestimable value and ought to be protected and cherished (BMA, 1986, pp.l8-19). But nowadays, as with many other things, these convictions are also under discussion, and tend to he challenged.

Although there is a trend toward legalising the practice of euthanasia, strong resistance to it persists. Here are some of the traditional arguments against euthanasia. One concern is that, along with the justifiable cases of terminally ill people asking for and receiving a quick, merciful death, there would inevitably be cases in which euthanasia would be clearly wrong. Another is that, a law legalising euthanasia might well be abused, with some person’s life being ended, against his or her consent, for a motive other than mercy. We also know that diagnoses and prognoses of a disease can be wrong. For instance, predicting how long someone may live with cancer is very difficult at best. Some whom we expected to die in a few months might live on for years, conversely some might live a much shorter time than we, the care-givers, anticipate. Another valid concern is that the right to die may well become a duty to die. For instance, frail, disabled elderly people who are financial and emotional burdens on their families may feel some pressure to ask for euthanasia. Finally, even apart from moral and ethical considerations, legalising euthanasia has the potential to weaken and damage the relationship between patients and physicians. (See Cundiff, 1992.)

Bearing in mind that euthanasia is, all said and done, the termination by one means or another of a human life, the justification for it will always be questionable. It needs to be questioned and debated very closely indeed by the concerned public, as well as by health care professionals, lawyers, theologians and politicians.

References

• Bettarn, I, (1950) Euthanasia, American Reform Responsa, 60, PP. 107-20. [The responsa discussed were drafted in answer to a bill signed by 2000 physicians in New York State in 1948 supporting legalization of euthanasia.]
• BMA [1986) Report of the Working Party to Review the BMA’s Guidance on Euthanasia, London, pp.16-19.
• Cundiff, D. (1992) Euthanasia is not the Answer, Humana Press, New Jersey.
• Gulen, F. (1994) Questions, Truestar Publications Ltd, London.
• Hammerman, C. (1997) Decision-making in the Critically III Neonate: Cultural Background v. Individual Life Experiences, Journal of Medical Ethics, 23, pp.164-9.
• Harris, J. (1985) The Value of Life, Routledge, London.
• Kohl, M. (1979) Voluntary Ending of Life in de Vries, A. & Carmi, A. (edst) The Dying Human, Turtledove Publication, Ramat can, pp. 253-62.
• Kohl, M. (1987) Moral Arguments For and Against Maximally Treating the Detective Newborn, in McMillan, R.C., Engelbardt Jr, H.T. and Spicker, S.F. (eds) Euthanasia and the Newborn, D. Reidel Pub. Comp. Dordrecht, pp.233-52.
• Mason, J.K and McCall Smith, R.A. (1994) Law and Medical Ethics, Butterwortbs, London.
• Munzer, S.R. (1990). A Theory of Property, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
• Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (1980) Declaration on Eurhanasia, Vatican City.
• Smoker, B. (1986) A Rejoinder to Religious and Non-Consequentialist Objections in Downing, A.B. and Smoker, B. (eds) Voluntary Euthanasia: Experts Debate the Right to Die, Peter Owen, London.