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Showing posts with the label pacemaker

Cyborgs - They are Walking Among Us

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General Grievous "I am Grievous, warlord of Kaleesh and Supreme Commander of the armies of the Confederacy. And I am not a droid" ~ Grievous I've always been fascinated by science fiction stories. I'm allured by the exotic locales, strange creatures and the wondrous but sometimes unsettling human characters that are portrayed as a synthesis of organic and artificial parts. People like the Six Million Dollar Man, Robocop and the Terminator raise questions about the differences between man and machine concerning morality, free will and empathy. My favorite cyborg has to be General Grievous from the Star Wars saga. Not only because he's artistically cool but he's also a battered old warrior living precariously to fight another day. After a bomb destroyed his shuttle, Grievous suffered near fatal injuries that rendered his body useless. The Separatists reconstructed Grievous by implanting his brain, eyes and vital organs into a duranium alloy body. Grievo...

The Eternal Mystery of the Human Heart

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The human heart is a mystery "When we understand every single secret of the universe, there will still be left the eternal mystery of the human heart." ~ Stephen Fry Ancient Greek philosophers identified the human heart as the primary spiritual feature and most important organ of the human body. It was the source of intelligence, motion and sensation. From the heart alone, emotions like anger, passion, fear, terror, sadness, shame, delight and joy were derived. Because the heart functions at the center of the blood delivery system, it's also central to life. The heart speeds up and slows down automatically in response to nerve signals from the brain. Each heartbeat fills the four chambers inside with a fresh round of blood. The upper chamber on each side is called the atrium while the larger, more powerful lower chamber is the ventricle. They keep the body freshly supplied with oxygen and nutrients, as well as clearing away harmful waste. More than just a mec...