symbiosis between two unicellular organisms looks like a eukaryote

Science | Examples abound of long-term mutually beneficial relationships between microorganisms and plants or animals. In contrast, only a few examples of such symbioses between unicellular partners are known. In a Perspective, Zehr highlights recent reports of unicellular symbioses in marine and fresh-water systems. In both cases, the cyanobacterial partner in the symbiosis has a much reduced genome and must thus always carry their symbiont. These systems resemble organelle evolution and may help to understand the evolutionary events that led to organelle formation in eukaryotic cells.

"It is very often the case that what pushes us on to great things is precisely some lack or absence in us or in our lives"

Counter-Currents | Collin Cleary

The Spiritual Journey of Alejandro Jodorowsky
Rochester Vt.: Inner Traditions, 2008

1. Introduction

Alejandro Jodorowsky is known to English-speaking audiences as the director and star of the cult film El Topo (1970). His other films (of which there are only a few) are lesser known, and his work outside of film is hardly known at all in America. But Jodorowsky is also a stage director, composer, psychotherapist, mime, and author. His books deal with the tarot and other matters mystical, and he has also published some thirty graphic novels.

Born in Chile, to parents of Jewish extraction, he lived and worked for many years in Mexico where he studied under a Japanese Zen master. He now makes his home in France, where he stages elaborate psychodramas and offers free tarot readings. In short, Jodorowsky seems impossible to categorize.

But there is a common thread running throughout his life and work, and that thread is a spiritual quest. Jodorowsky might, therefore, plausibly be described as a lover of wisdom, less plausibly as a “mystic.” All that Jodorowsky does—even the comic books and the mime—can be understood as playing a role in this quest. This is a man seeking enlightenment not through religion or philosophy, but primarily through art. As anyone knows who has met him or seen him interviewed, this is also a man who is wonderfully, hilariously strange—and wise.

the 82 commandments of alejandro jodorowsky

The Arcane Front | Reyna d’Assia, daughter of the influential spiritual teacher George Gurdjieff, relayed these “commandments”, given to her by her father, to renowned filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky.   From Jodorowsky’s 2008 book “The Spiritual Journey of Alejandro Jodorowsky”:

[Jodorowsky]: “Reyna, you are telling me fairy tales! Such goals are 100% utopian ‒ and even if they were true, what is the first step on this path?”

[Reyna d’Assia]: “Whoever wishes to attain the supreme goal must first change his habits, conquer laziness, and become a morally sound human being. To be strong in the great things, we must also be strong in the small ones.” 

[Jodorowsky]: “How?” 

[Reyna d’Assia]: “We have been badly educated. We live in a world of competition in which honesty is synonymous with naïveté. We must first develop good habits. Some of them may seem simple, but they are very difficult to realize. Believing them to be obvious, we fail to see that they are the key to immortal consciousness. Now I shall offer you a dictation of the commandments that my blessed father taught me…”

swarm hovercraft

"Ancient" medicine

solar energy + starch = ethanol

wiley | A solar reactor was designed to perform the conversion of starch to ethanol in a single step. An aqueous starch solution (5 wt %) was fed into the reactor bed charged with Baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and amylase, resulting in approximately 2.5 wt % ethanol collected daily (ca. 25 mL day⁻¹). A significant amount of ethanol (38 g) was collected over 63 days, corresponding to 84 % of the theoretical yield. The production of ethanol without additional energy input highlights the significance of this new process. The ethanol produced was also demonstrated as a potential fuel for direct ethanol fuel cells. Additionally, the secondary metabolite glycerol was fully reduced to a value-added product 1,3-propanediol, which is the first example of a fungal strain (Baker’s yeast) converting glycerol in situ to 1,3-propanediol.

my go-to source for edible, multi-function perennials -- now in a book

pfaf | Current interest in forest or woodland garden designs reflects an awareness that permanent mixed plantings are inherently more sustainable than annual monocultures. They safeguard and enrich soil ecosystems, enable plants to form cooperative combinations, make use of layers above and below the soil, and they create benign microclimates which soften winds and recycle the rain. The challenge is productivity: how can yields of useful foods and other useful materials be maximised? The latest book from Plants For A Future is a resource for discovering some of the answers.