Living with the Stars: How the Human Body is Connected to the Life Cycles of the Earth, the Planets, and the StarsLiving with the Stars tells the fascinating story of what truly makes the human body. The body that is with us all our lives is always changing. We are quite literally not who we were years, weeks, or even days ago: our cells die and are replaced by new ones at an astonishing pace. The entire body continually rebuilds itself, time and again, using the food and water that flow through us as fuel and as construction material. What persists over time is not fixed but merely a pattern in flux. We rebuild using elements captured from our surroundings, and are thereby connected to animals and plants around us, and to the bacteria within us that help digest them, and to geological processes such as continental drift and volcanism here on Earth. We are also intimately linked to the Sun's nuclear furnace and to the solar wind, to collisions with asteroids and to the cycles of the birth of stars and their deaths in cataclysmic supernovae, and ultimately to the beginning of the universe. Our bodies are made of the burned out embers of stars that were released into the galaxy in massive explosions billions of years ago, mixed with atoms that formed only recently as ultrafast rays slammed into Earth's atmosphere. All of that is not just remote history but part of us now: our human body is inseparable from nature all around us and intertwined with the history of the universe. |
Contents
1 The Illusion of Permanence | 1 |
2 Dying to Live | 13 |
3 Countering Wear and Tear | 25 |
4 Food for Thought | 37 |
5 Basking in Solar Energy | 53 |
6 The Human Elements | 69 |
7 Cycles of Change | 83 |
8 Infant Atoms | 105 |
Other editions - View all
Living with the Stars: How the Human Body is Connected to the Life Cycles of ... Karel Schrijver,Iris Schrijver No preview available - 2019 |
Common terms and phrases
acids animals asteroids astronomers average bacteria beryllium-10 blood cancer carbon dioxide carbon-14 atoms cause cells cellular century changes chemical chemical elements climate cloud comets common continually core coronal mass ejections cosmic rays created cycle decay disease dust Earth Earth’s atmosphere Earth’s magnetic field effects ejections electrons energy environment enzymes example exist explosions function galactic Galaxy gases glow happens heavier elements helium human body hydrogen impact interstellar kilometers layers light living organisms magnetic field mass material meteorites million molecules Moon move neutrons nitrogen nuclear collisions nuclear fusion nuclear reactions nuclei nutrients occur oceans Oort cloud orbit overall oxygen pathways patterns photosynthesis physical planet planetary system proteins protons radiation radioactive radioactive decay replaced reservoir result rocks solar core solar system solar wind space stars stellar sugars sunlight sunspots supernova surface temperature tion tissues universe vast vitamins