Science & Self-improvement

The spaces between the genes have proved to be important in explaining the vast differences found between apes and humans. Rather surprisingly, non-coding sequences of DNA make up more than 90 percent of the human genome. Reciently, scientists have discovered that they contain elements than can control how and when nearby genes are activated.

An international team led by genome researcher Edward Rubin of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California wonders if these non-coding regions play a role in human evolution. They looked at more than 100,000 samples of non-coding DNA sequences that seem have been conserved during evolution. Statistical tests proved that almost one thousand sequences were not due to simple chance, suggesting that they were caused by natural selection.

The strongest evidence was found in sequences next to genes involved in helping the neurons to keep together. These sequences may have contributed to the evolution of uniquely human cognitive talents. Rubin says that neuronal adhesion molecules play an important role in “wiring” the brain. The formation of connective synapses between nerve cells is involved in these processes, which are crucial in early brain development, as also in adult learning, memory, and cognition.

A molecular biologist at the University of California, Ajit Varki, says that the conclusions sound interesting and plausible, but cautions that the findings should be considered tentative because the gene databases that were used give only a broad generalization about a gene’s function.

Science, 3 November 2006

There exist basically two types of feelings: the positive ones and the negative ones. Positive feelings are so because they increase our wellness, making us feel that life is worth being lived. Negative feelings, on the other hand, make us feel tired, empty, and lonely. When we reach a long desired goal we experiment positive feelings. When we suffer a loss we experiment negative feelings. Positive feelings may make us more creative, or can lead to an act of altruism.

What we must strive for is to be as free as possible from negative feelings, and so we will be also free from the burden of defenses that we erect to maintain feelings unnoticed. We will be more creative and productive, because we will have no longer to spend energy preventing feelings from being expressed. When the occasion comes to be hurt, and negative feelings are unavoidable, we will recover sooner our well-being if we do not avoid them and permit us to experience reality as it is.

Feelings must arise from the present and not from the past. We may have memories of past events, glad ones or sad ones, but they should not be the cause of our current feelings. Past events must remain in the past. When we can look at the past without being affected by gloomy feelings, we gain the capacity to recover those happy events that had also been repressed. When we are afraid to look at our past, it is not only the sad memories that we bury, but all of the past including our cheerful moments.

The consequences of being disconnected from the past for fear of dark memories go beyond what one would imagine. As I explained, we lose all memories including the joyous ones. This causes that our energy, and consequently our attitude towards life, is impaired. We are less optimist and less joyful when we blockade those parts of the past that mortify us or that make us to be ashamed.

We must endeavor to be free of all need to distort reality, as this is the path to true development. Each stage of life must have its problems solved before we can pass to the next stage. When children, our problem was our dependency from the adults, and our goal to reach independence. Later, we have other type of problems, as to control our life and get freedom. Even later, we strive to achieve a sense of identity, to ascertain who we are. To this end, we must accept our feelings and not try to disguise them.

We learn to be by being opened to our feelings. Most of the time we can lie to ourselves by faking that we have no feelings or that our feelings are different from the real ones. But it comes a moment when all these defenses fall and we must admit what we are. In that moment we may feel sorrow for not having admitted it before, but it is really hard to simply learn to be what you are.