Physiologists

"I can now rejoice even in the falsification of a cherished theory, because even this is a scientific success."

"In order that a "self" may exist there must be some continuity of mental experiences and, particularly, continuity bridging gaps of unconsciousness. For example, the continuity of our "self" is resumed after sleep, anaesthesia, and the temporary amnesias of concussion and convulsions."

"I believe that there is a fundamental mystery in my existence, transcending any biological account of the development of my body (including my brain) with its genetic inheritance and its evolutionary origin. … I cannot believe that this wonderful gift of a conscious existence has no further future, no possibility of another existence under some other unimaginable conditions."

"Our coming-to-be is as mysterious as our ceasing-to-be at death. Can we therefore not derive hope because our ignorance about our origin matches our ignorance about our destiny? Cannot life be lived as a challenging and wonderful adventure that has meaning yet to be discovered? (95)"

"I have read a great deal now on the neurological side and much on the anthropological side and on the philosophical side and we have had all these discussions and all the time I have the feeling that something may break. I mean that some little light at the end of the tunnel may be sensed or some flash of insight may come. I of course know very well that there is no guarantee it will come, but I have already got myself into this state of expectancy that something will come to my imagination which has some germ of truth about it in this most difficult field."

"I maintain that the human mystery is incredibly demeaned by scientific reductionism, with its claim in promissory materialism to account eventually for all of the spiritual world in terms of patterns of neuronal activity. This belief must be classed as a superstition … we have to recognize that we are spiritual beings with souls existing in a spiritual world as well as material beings with bodies and brains existing in a material world."

"The more we discover scientifically about the brain the more clearly do we distinguish between the brain events and the mental phenomena and the more wonderful do the mental phenomena become. Promissory materialism is simply a superstition held by dogmatic materialists. It has all the features of a Messianic prophecy, with the promise of a future freed of all problems—a kind of Nirvana for our unfortunate successors."

"The materialist critics argue that insuperable difficulties are encountered by the hypothesis that immaterial mental events can act in any way on material structures such as neurons. Such a presumed action is alleged to be incompatible with the conservation laws of physics, in particular of the first law of thermodynamics. This objection would certainly be sustained by nineteenth century physicists, and by neuroscientists and philosophers who are still ideologically in the physics of the nineteenth century, not recognizing the revolution wrought by quantum physicists in the twentieth century."

"Induction was shown to be untenable as a scientific method by Popper in The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1959). Instead, advances in scientific understanding come ideally from hypothetico-deductivism: firstly, development of a hypothesis in relation to a problem situation, and secondly, its testing in relation to all relevant knowledge and furthermore by its great explanatory power."

"The concept of substance leads to a materialist aspect of the mind. I speak instead of the spiritual existence of the self without mentioning any 'substance' properties. The great problem is 'how the self controls its brain'. This is dualistic, but not in terms of two substances. Instead it relates to the two worlds of Popper."

"The hypothesis has been proposed that all mental events and experiences, in fact the whole of the outer and inner sensory experiences, are a composite of elemental or unitary mental experiences at all levels of intensity. Each of these mental units is reciprocally linked in some unitary manner to a dendron … Appropriately we name these proposed mental units 'psychons.' Psychons are not perceptual paths to experiences. They are the experiences in all their diversity and uniqueness. There could be millions of psychons each linked uniquely to the millions of dendrons. It is hypothesized that it is the very nature of psychons to link together in providing a unified experience."

"If you believe in science [evolution] you must have a rather strong faith."

"The results of ethnic psychology constitute... our chief source of information regarding the general psychology of the complex mental processes."

"In Aristotle the mind, regarded as the principle of life, divides into nutrition, sensation, and faculty of thought, corresponding to the inner most important stages in the succession of vital phenomena."

"From the standpoint of observation, then, we must regard it as a highly probable hypothesis that the beginnings of the mental life date from as far back as the beginnings of life at large."

"We call that psychical process, which is operative in the clear perception of a narrow region of the content of consciousness, attention."

"The whole task of psychology can therefore be summed up in these two problems : (1) What are the elements of consciousness ? (2) What combinations do these elements undergo and what laws govern these combinations ?"

"If we take an unprejudiced view of the processes of consciousness, free from all the so-called association rules and theories, we see at once that an idea is no more an even relatively constant thing than is a feeling or emotion or volitional process. There exist only changing and transient ideational processes ; there are no permanent ideas that return again and disappear again."

"He aims at being a sort of Napoleon of the intellectual world. Unfortunately he will never have a Waterloo, for he is a Napoleon without genius and with no central idea which, if defeated, brings down the whole fabric in ruin."

"Throughout the nineteenth century, apart from the division in theoretical sciences and arts, classifiers attempted to divide the sciences into two groups. Already they had before them the examples of Francis Bacon (speculative and descriptive) and Hobbes (quantitative and qualitative). For Coleridge, the sciences were either pure (Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric, Mathematics, Metaphysics) or mixed. Arthur Schopenhauer’s similar groups were called pure and empirical, Wilhelm Wundt in 1887 called them formal and empirical, Globot mathematical and theoretical, and the St. Louis Congress of Arts and Sciences (1904) normative and physical. made similar division of the sciences into abstract and concrete"

"Imagery played a central role in theories of the mind for centuries. For example, the British Associationists conceptualizes thought itself as sequences of images. And, Wilhelm Wundt, the founder of scientific psychology, emphasized the analysis of images. However, the central role of imagery in theories of mental activity was undermined when Kulpe, in 1904, pointed out that some thoughts are not accompanied by imagery (e.g., one is not aware of the processes that allow one to decide which of two objects is heavier)."

"Man is neither carnivorous nor herbivorous. He has neither the teeth of the cud-chewers, nor their four stomachs, nor their intestines. If we consider these organs in man, we must conclude him to be by nature and origin frugivorous, as is the ape."

"Hollywood was a detour, although my mother was an aristocrat from Tokyo who ran away to join the theatre, so acting is in my genes. I've played a lot of bad guys, including a torturing acupuncturist in my first B-movie, but one of my favourite roles was a surfing grandfather from Hawaii in the film Johnny Tsunami. My father's family are Hawaiian, so it was the closest to my own personality."

"One was my movement, which I’m very conscious of in films, especially coming from martial arts. Think about how many times a character is seen just sitting or walking or standing, it’s a lot of time in film and it says so much about a character. So I’ve always been keen to pay attention to movement and that was one thing he said he noticed. Never have I heard a director talk like that about me. And also he said that the eyes were important because it really has to come through the make-up. So he was interested in those two aspects especially…"

"Nothing ever stops me. Certainly coming into Hollywood, I knew that there would be certain limitations. But I also couldn’t play a woman or I couldn’t play a white hero. To play Asian and to speak with accents because I speak Japanese, it never really bothered me. All I always look for in every piece is how can I use this piece to move to the next step? So the worst thing about playing Asian bad guys would be to not be remembered…"

"One thing I have to say about Japanese anime is that there’s a certain sort of tone there that bypasses the Asian part. And the characters really turn into something more Western. I’d like to see a true Japanese character. We don’t need to make the eyes look round, we don’t need the light in her hair. We can have dark hair and the eyes look like mine. They can be speaking English. We have Asian-Americans. And certainly there are plenty of people from Hawaii that are very Asian and totally local. It’s part of America…"

"[T]he music of life has no conductor."

"The Principle of Biological Relativity... simply states that there is no privileged level of causation in biological systems."

"Every time a is needed, the appropriate chemical 'code' is 'read off' the ; this gives the pattern of chemical elements that will make that what it is. Our genes encode the sequences of 100 000 or so proteins that make up the human body."

"A living cell is a continuous action-packed drama. ...Complex chains of molecular interaction happen again and again. We call them 'pathways'... And proteins form the backbone of all these biochemical pathways."

"The DNA causes the proteins, the proteins cause the cells, and so on. ...[T]he inside story, is that the information coded in the genes is being expressed. In biologist-speak, the is 'created by' the . The story is seductive."

"[W]hat does DNA do? As biological molecules go, not very much."

"The real players in the action of life are the proteins. ...DNA is in comparison rather passive."

"Proteins are produced in tiny factories inside the cells... Biologists call them ribosomes. ...A DNA sequence that corresponds to the relevant protein sequence is copied onto another molecule... called a 'messenger', which transmits a form of the sequence to the ribosomes. The messenger molecules, called ... are another kind of sequence. The DNA sequences are... a kind of template... sequence of s... transcribed to produce the message... translated into an amino-acid sequence when the protein is made. (s are the units of which protein is made, just as nucleotides are the units of which DNA is composed)."

"DNA does nothing outside the context of a cell containing these protein systems, just as a CD can do nothing without a CD reader. So we have the paradox that proteins are required for the machinery to read the code to produce the proteins."

"In higher animals, the bits of DNA code that we lump together and call... a 'gene' are... broken up into segments... called 's'... separated by non-coding stretches of DNA, called 's'. The exon codes can be combined in various orders to produce a full protein code."

"[I]f a gene consists of three exons, a, b, and c, it could be read as a, b, c, ab, bc, ac, abc, and perhaps... as cba, ca, ba, each... code for a different protein. At present we do not know the rules..."

"[T]here is no one-to-one correspondence between genes and biological functions. Strictly... to speak of a 'gene for x' is always incorrect."

"[T]he book of life is life itself. It cannot be reduced to just one of its databases. ...[T]he genome is only one of its databases. Function... depends also on... properties... not specified by genes."

"In the Anglo-Saxon world the debate has been dominated by arguments between the gene-centered views of people like Richard Dawkins... and the multi-level selection views of people like Stephen Jay Gould... The gene-centered view... is a metaphorical polemic: the invention of a colourful metaphor to interpret scientific discovery. It is not a straightforward empirical scientific hypothesis."

"[L]iving organisms are open systems. ...All the molecules, organs and systems dance to the tune of the organism and its social context. Those molecules include the sequences of DNA we now call s."

"If you already know a lot of science, you may need to relearn what you thought you knew. Because... the twentieth-century biology went up the wrong street in the interpretation and presentation of its many impressive discoveries."

"[S]ome very influential twentieth-century biologists presented a simplistic gene-centered view..."

"[T]here are no genes 'for' anything. ...Genes are used. They are not active causes."

"[T]here is no complete programme in our DNA. Programmes... are distributed across scales in the organism."

"[T]here is no privileged level of causation, which is the central statement of the theory of Biological Relativity."

"[W]e are far from certain what a gene is... many of the confusions and misrepresentations of biology arise from mixing up different definitions of genes and genetics."

"[I]f genes dance, they have been doing so for... most of the period of the Earth's existence... about 4.5 billion years."

"[E]ven in the most mathematical areas of science, and biology is rapidly becoming one of those, it is usually possible to explain the concepts in common language, once they have been distilled down from the abstract world of equations."

"[L]ike the Bellman in The Hunting of the Snark... 'what I tell you three times is true'. I have deliberately included a certain amount of repetition... usually by expressing the same concept from a different angle or in a different context."

"[T]he book begins with the fundamentals of physics and cosmology, yet ends with the fundamentals of biology and the limits to our knowledge. ...[T]here are many links between these various threads."

"[T]he general principle of relativity informs the whole book."

"He did his first degree at the , then his PhD on ionic currents of the heart with . It was there he produced the first computer simulation of the , an area in which he's made massive contributions to ever since. ...[T]his work really makes him one of the founders and the fathers of the discipline of systems biology. Having done that he moved to Oxford where he's worked ever since. In a landmark series of papers he characterized the repolarizing currents in the heart, and with this work established a framework for analysis of such data... still used to this day. ...[H]e's produced a series of models in the of the heart, and in this played a major role in the establishment of the Physiome Project with the eventual goal of modeling the whole of human . ...Denis' interests ...aren't limited solely to physiology ...He's contributed greatly to the understading of genetics and evolutionary biology. He also is interested in philosophy, and all these combined with a talent for languages makes him a real renaissance man. ...Denis and colleagues founded the organization Save British Science, which this year is celebrating its 30th anniversary under its new name, the"

"you can do it!” You are truly capable! You are going to accomplish it for sure! You are going to excel.” This was a great ingredient injected in my blood to motivate my soul in everything I do"

"As the saying goes success is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration. This taught me that life is not always a straight-line and that challenges are the way to move forward in life as it would have been very boring otherwise"

"Ofcourse as part of the human element there are individual differences in pursuing goals, but I always tried to pursue the best in whatever that comes to my table which is an added value and a cumulative result to my success today."

"I believe women not only here but all over the world face double and triple-fold challenges due to societal, cultural and other baggages."

"Passion in my view is to do the best you can in whatever position you are in. Since childhood I used to do things only that feel comfortable to my soul and the biggest one was knowledge; knowledge about mathematics, the universe, science, nature and so on, therefore as a young girl I was confused which one to choose to pursue my education further, because everything seemed equally fascinating. However, as I grew up, I started to focus on one because I understood that I cannot be a master of all."

"Therefore, first a woman has to stand and feel comfortable in her own feet/skin and then when facing challenges she should take a wise decision. A woman should avoid dependency at any level, which does not mean she doesn’t have to request for support. What I mean is she needs to thrive and die trying so that she knows the thickness of her skin"

"Currently, there is no scientific information on mother-daughter physical activity programs in African-Americans"

"We are trying to recruit moms and daughters now because we have to get their baseline measures"

"Being an African-American woman, I am very passionate about improving the levels of our African-American children. For this program we are defining 'mother' as the primary female role model living with the girl"

"I am also trying to partner up with local organizations to get food donations so that we can provide dinner for mom and daughter, so that mom does not have to go home after the program to make dinner."

"The reason we are dividing it into two years is that we do not have the resources to complete the entire sample in one year."

"Increasing physical activity has been shown to improve children's academic performance, how they feel, their classroom behavior, and their risk of obesity and diabetes."

"For indeed it is one of the lessons of the history of science that each age steps on the shoulders of the ages which have gone before. The value of each age is not its own, but is in part, in large part, a debt to its forerunners. And this age of ours, if, like its predecessors, it can boast of something of which it is proud, would, could it read the future, doubtless find much also of which it would be ashamed."

"Doesn't matter where you are from or what you look like. Doesn't matter if you're poor. A human being can learn and can achieve whatever they set out to do (or come near to it). I've spent my life studying human potential—and stretching my own.Don't give up. No matter how bad or scary it gets. Not even when you ask yourself "What am I doing here?""

"I’m type O-positive. What type are you?"

"thought that it had to be a tall, pink man that interacted with the astronauts, and that nobody was going to listen to a little brown woman."

"The science and technology which have advanced man safely into space have brought about startling medical advances for man on earth. Out of space research have come new knowledge, techniques and instruments which have enabled some bedridden invalids to walk, the totally deaf to hear, the voiceless to talk, and, in the foreseeable future, may even make it possible for the blind to "see.""