G-Proteins: The Molecular Swtiches

Imagine you are a soldier on a very dangerous patrol in Iraq. During this patrol, you are likely to experience fear, as you feel that your life is in danger. While your conscious brain attends to the environment, looking for suspicious activity, the unconscious part of your brain is busy altering your body's physiology in anticipation of an impending threat. Your heart will start to beat faster and much of your blood that would otherwise be traveling to your kidneys and digestive organs is rerouted to your muscles and nervous system. The liver dumps extra sugar into your blood and the airways in your lungs open wider, allowing them to deliver more oxygen to the blood that pulses more quickly. Your sweat glands are more active and the pupils of your eyes dilate. This is what is called the "fight or flight" response, made possible by the hormone epinephrine, better known as adrenalin. The net result of this response is that your muscles are stronger and faster and your brain is more alert. In other words, your body is optimized to fight the enemy, or if need be, to flee.

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This entry was posted on Friday, October 5th, 2007 at 6:58 am and is filed under Cell, Intelligent Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. The trackback link is: http://telicthoughts.com/g-proteins-the-molecular-swtiches/trackback/

5 Responses to “G-Proteins: The Molecular Swtiches”

Thought Provoker Says:
October 5th, 2007 at 11:43 am
Hi Mike,

Good post.

I wish more ID proponents presented their arguments as clearly and completely as you do.

Comment by Thought Provoker — October 5, 2007 @ 11:43 am

Doug Says:
October 5th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
I like this post, one of my favorite ones from over at idthink.
But you should have reposted your cytosine reamination paper instead!
You no good………

Comment by Doug — October 5, 2007 @ 4:48 pm

Doug Says:
October 5th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
deamination.

Comment by Doug — October 5, 2007 @ 5:43 pm

stunney Says:
October 5th, 2007 at 6:03 pm
Is this more evidence of bad design? Or just evidence of no design? Or is it evidence of design?

Scientists: Appendix protects good germs

By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer 44 minutes ago

Some scientists think they have figured out the real job of the troublesome and seemingly useless appendix: It produces and protects good germs for your gut. That's the theory from surgeons and immunologists at Duke University Medical School, published online in a scientific journal this week.

For generations the appendix has been dismissed as superfluous. Doctors figured it had no function, surgeons removed them routinely, and people live fine without them.

And when infected the appendix can turn deadly. It gets inflamed quickly and some people die if it isn't removed in time. Two years ago, 321,000 Americans were hospitalized with appendicitis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The function of the appendix seems related to the massive amount of bacteria populating the human digestive system, according to the study in the Journal of Theoretical Biology. There are more bacteria than human cells in the typical body. Most of it is good and helps digest food.

But sometimes the flora of bacteria in the intestines die or are purged. Diseases such as cholera or amoebic dysentery would clear the gut of useful bacteria. The appendix's job is to reboot the digestive system in that case.

The appendix "acts as a good safe house for bacteria," said Duke surgery professor Bill Parker, a study co-author. Its location "” just below the normal one-way flow of food and germs in the large intestine in a sort of gut cul-de-sac "” helps support the theory, he said.

Also, the worm-shaped organ outgrowth acts like a bacteria factory, cultivating the good germs, Parker said.

That use is not needed in a modern industrialized society, Parker said. If a person's gut flora dies, they can usually repopulate it easily with germs they pick up from other people, he said. But before dense populations in modern times and during epidemics of cholera that affected a whole region, it wasn't as easy to grow back that bacteria and the appendix came in handy.

In less developed countries, where the appendix may be still useful, the rate of appendicitis is lower than in the U.S., other studies have shown, Parker said….

Comment by stunney — October 5, 2007 @ 6:03 pm

Guts Says:
October 5th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
G-proteins are great examples of ancient hourglass architectures.

Comment by Guts — October 5, 2007 @ 6:18 pm

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G-Proteins: The Molecular Swtiches

5 Responses to “G-Proteins: The Molecular Swtiches”

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