REKONSTRUKCIJA ANAKSIMANDAROVA BIOLOŠKOG MODELA RAZOTKRIVA TEORIJU EVOLUCIJE SRODNU DARVINOVOJ, IAKO STOLJEĆIMA PRIJE ROĐENJA ZNANOSTI

Anaximander’s fragments on biology report a theory of evolution, which, unlike the development of other biological systems in the ancient Aegean, is naturalistic and is not based on metaphysics. According to Anaximander, evolution affected all living beings, including humans. The first biological systems formed in an aquatic environment, and were encased in a rugged and robust envelope. Evolution progressed with modifications that enabled the formation of more dynamic biological systems. For instance, after reaching land, the robust armors around aquatic beings dried up, and became brittle, This led to the loss of the armor and the development of more mobile life forms. Anaximander’s theory combines observations of animals with speculations, and as such mirrors the more famous theory of evolution by Charles Darwin expressed 24 centuries later. The poor reception received by Anaximander’s model in his time, illustrates a zeitgeist that would explain the contemporary lag phase in the development of biology and, as a result, medicine, in the ancient western world.Anaksimandarovi fragmenti o biologiji izvješćuju o teoriji evolucije, koja je, za razliku od razvitka drugih bioloških sustava na drevnom egejskom prostoru, naturalistička i nije temeljena na metafizici. Prema Anaksimandaru, evolucija je zahvatila sva živa bića, uključujući ljude. Prvi biološki sustavi formirani su u vodenom okolišu te su bili oklopljeni u hrapav i robustan oklop. Evolucija je progredirala s modifikacijama koje su omogućile nastajanje dinamičnijih bioloških sustava. Primjerice, nakon prelaska na kopno, robustan oklop oko vodenih bića isušio se i postao lomljiv. To je vodilo gubitku oklopa i razvoju pokretnijih oblika života. Anaksimandarova teorija kombinira opservaciju životinja sa spekulacijom i kao takva odražava poznatiju teoriju evolucije Charlesa Darwina, objavljenu 24 stoljeća kasnije. Slabo prihvaćanje Anaksimandarova modela u njegovo vrijeme ocrtava duh vremena koji bi mogao pojasniti onodobni usporeni period razvoja biologije te, kao posljedica toga, medicine antičkog zapadnog svijeta

Equation-Free Multiscale Computational Analysis of Individual-Based Epidemic Dynamics on Networks

The surveillance, analysis and ultimately the efficient long-term prediction and control of epidemic dynamics appear to be one of the major challenges nowadays. Detailed atomistic mathematical models play an important role towards this aim. In this work it is shown how one can exploit the Equation Free approach and optimization methods such as Simulated Annealing to bridge detailed individual-based epidemic simulation with coarse-grained, systems-level, analysis. The methodology provides a systematic approach for analyzing the parametric behavior of complex/ multi-scale epidemic simulators much more efficiently than simply simulating forward in time. It is shown how steady state and (if required) time-dependent computations, stability computations, as well as continuation and numerical bifurcation analysis can be performed in a straightforward manner. The approach is illustrated through a simple individual-based epidemic model deploying on a random regular connected graph. Using the individual-based microscopic simulator as a black box coarse-grained timestepper and with the aid of Simulated Annealing I compute the coarse-grained equilibrium bifurcation diagram and analyze the stability of the stationary states sidestepping the necessity of obtaining explicit closures at the macroscopic level under a pairwise representation perspective

The biblical plague of the Philistines now has a name, tularemia

Abstract An epidemic thought to have been the first instance of bubonic plague in the Mediterranean reveals to have been an episode of tularemia. The deadly epidemic took place in the aftermath of the removal of a wooden box from an isolated Hebrew sanctuary. Death, tumors, and rodents thereafter plagued Philistine country. Unlike earlier explanations proposed, tularemia caused by Francisella tularensis exhaustively explains the outbreak. Tularemia fits all the requirements indicated in the biblical text: it is carried by animals, is transmitted to humans, results in the development of ulceroglandular formations, often misdiagnosed for bubonic plague, and is fatal. Moreover, there is the evidence from the box and rodents: mice, which are known carrier for F. tularensis and can communicate it to humans, were credited by the very Philistines to be linked to the outbreak, and are small enough to nest in the box. Mice also explain the otherwise odd statement in the biblical text of a small Philistine idol repeatedly falling on the floor at night in the building where the Philistines had stored the box as mice exiting the box would easily have tipped over the statuette. Tularemia scores yet another point: an episode of the disease is known to have originated in Canaan and spread to Egypt around 1715 BC, indicating recurrence for the disease, and suggesting Canaan was a reservoir for F. tularensis in the 2nd millennium BC

Extra-visual perception and discriminatory abilities in the animal kingdom: the case of mexican tetra

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Six medical papyri describe the effects of Santorini's volcanic ash, and provide Egyptian parallels to the so-called biblical plagues

Six medical papyri document how Santorini's volcanic ash from the Bronze Age biphasic eruption, otherwise attested by material retrieved at the bottom of lakes at the edge of the Nile Delta, severely affected the health of the inhabitants of Egypt as well as their society as a whole. Treatments for burns caused by particulate and dissolved acids are documented in the London Medical Papyrus as well as in the Ebers Papyrus, and are compatible with ash fallout and ash in rain, respectively. Furthermore, both instances of ash correlate to the first eight biblical plagues. Moreover, the latter text also presents a series of ailments coherent with serious inhalation of toxic substances in aerosol form. This scenario is confirmed by the Hearst Medical Papyrus, the Carlsberg Papyrus 8, and the Ramesseum Papyrus III, and fits a volcanic plume, which is also coherent with the ninth biblical plague of palpable obscurity as well as Santorini's second phase of its Bronze Age eruption. Finally, a sixth contemporary medical text, the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, a manual to practice on wounded soldiers, supplies an insight into the collapse of the sociopolitical system of the time. The text appears to provide an insight into the sociopolitical climate in the aftermath of the Santorini eruption, possibly describing conditions that would have led to the tenth and final biblical plague of the massacre of firstborn as well as the escape of slaves from local labor camps