bystander effect etc.

["A Karam" <paksbi@rit.edu>]

Richard Feynman made good use of the principle of least action - basically that physical phenomena follow the path of least resistance.  No reason not to apply this to social phenomena as well - it is a lot more difficult (more action) to initiate and hold together a conspiracy than to simply contiinue following an established paradigm.  

 

Something else Mike said raises some interesting points.  From an evolutionary standpoint, the positive bystander effect makes sense - if some cells in a bacterial colony are irradiated, the colony as a whole has a better chance of survival if the irradiated cells can signal the others that they have been damaged so the others can "prepare" for damage.

 

On the other hand, there was an interesting presentation (can't remember the presenter) at the last HPS meeting on the negative bystander effect - cells irradiated with alpha particles that are introduced to a non-irradiated colony seem to induce the formation of double-strand breaks in the non-irradiated cells.  This one is a puzzle - what would be the evolutionary basis for such an effect?

 

It's easy to forget that, for most of the history of life on earth, the most complicated organisms were bacterial mats, not much different than pond scum or the film that shows up on our teeth in the morning.  Most of our basic biochemistry evolved in a world without free oxygen, with no complex organisms, and in cells without nuclei or organelles; but there are a lot of similarities between cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) and the cells in our bodies.  So maybe, to understand how things work at a basic level (e.g. DNA repair, bystander effects, etc), it helps to remember the world in which these first appeared.

 

Best regards -

 

Andy

 

P. Andrew Karam, Ph.D., CHP

Research Assistant Professor

Rochester Institute of Technology