More news about quarks

The “constituents” quarks and leptons of matter (with rest-mass) are compared with the historical development of “elements” in chemistry. If unsaturated quarks induce high (and at the moment unpredictable) rest-masses above l0GeV, we have a new view of nuclei comprising (2Z + N) u-quarks and (Z +2N) d-quarks in their low-energy states, without any reference to protons and neutrons as permanent building-blocks. Recent studies of quarks and possible rishons (sub-quarks) and technicolour hadrons are reviewed, and the rôle of identity and cardinality in quantum mechanics analyzed.     

Evolution and longevity-assurance processes

The role of the development of information fidelity systems in evolution is explored, with evidence that the loss in the ability to maintain the integrity of homeostasis in organisms over time, aging, is correlated with the loss in the ability to maintain integrity at the molecular biological level. Evolutionary-comparative analysis places an upper limit on the number of these systems important to the evolution of longevity in the primates, and suggests the importance of insuring the stability of information bearing macromolecules in evolution and the role of modulators of damage to these moieties in the expression of the senescent state     

Morphogene substanzen ausHydra

We use hydra as a model system to understand how growth and differentiation and, as a consequence of this, pattern formation are controlled at the molecular level. We have found that four substances control head and foot formation in hydra: an activator and an inhibitor of head formation and an activator and an inhibitor of foot formation. The two activators are peptides with molecular weights around 1000 daltons, the inhibitors are smaller in molecular weight (<500), have an overall positive charge and do not contain peptide bonds. In normal animals all four substances are present and most likely produced by nerve cells. We hope to understand how these substances act and interact to create the spatial and temporal pattern of growth and differentiation typical for hydra.