Reverse Development in Cnidaria

Mind-boggling!

"
"Besides their high regenerative and asexual-reproduction potential, a number of cnidarians can undergo ontogeny reversal, or reverse development: one or more stages in the life cycle can reactivate genetic programs specific to earlier stages, leading to back-transformation and morph rejuvenation. The switch is achieved by a variable combination of cellular processes, such as transdifferentiation, programmed cell death, and proliferation of interstitial cells."

From S. Piraino, D. De Vito, J. Schmich, J. Bouillon, and F. Boero. 2004. Reverse development in Cnidaria. Canadian Journal of Zoology 82:1748–1754. doi: 10.1139/Z04-174.

Sail Seaming!

Back in 1998 I was exploding with energy, shoving my sailmaking needle through not only canvas, but 1/2 inch rope, to build the sails for our magnificent vessel! Seventy days later, I stood at the fore part of the ship, on night watch, everyone else asleep, guiding the vessel up the Pacific coast of Colombia, almost incapacitated by the incredible situation. Those experiences are a deep reservoir, a well, from which I continue to draw, daily.

So, today, am I still exploding with the same energy? Yes! When I wake in the morning, I can hardly wait to get to the office, or the library, to fill in some piece of the puzzle. I'm alone, but electrified--most days--by the the idea of flying my ship to 50,000 feet, and seeing things that few have ever seen, and that nobody has ever written a word about.

Keeping that energy and exuberance going can be hard when there is no-one around who really cares about any of it, but that is, I suppose, the price of an interest in things that are of no use to most people.

Center Fitting Installed

Built in the center through-fitting, for communication and electrical cables, and replaced plastic helmet hold-down fittings with metal; very close, now, to being ready to give it a full-pressure test, with me inside. I've been saying that for months, but that's how it goes! Also a close-up photo of seaming to tighten up a restraint-garment arm section...and again, I'm so lucky to have learned the principles of high-strength hand-seaming while designing and sewing the sails for our 1998 sailing vessel. I'd be almost crippled without that, or forced into using sewing machines. While sewing machines would be more precise, my accuracy here is sufficient -- and the point with this project is to build the suit with my own skills rather than relying on the expertise of the system that has to date built such suits. There are a few items I do have to have made by experts, but I'm confident I could learn those skills, and I will as I observe their construction.

Gagarin

Just some interesting pictures: Yuri Gagarin with his training aircraft, title page of his book (though 'his' has to be taken with a good dose of salt as it was edited by two Pravda reporters and one Air Force general) and one of Yuri on the telephone after his April, 1961 flight, wearing an interesting garment that I am assuming is his pressure garment, but is somewhat mysterious for a number of reasons. The book is very interesting, and heavily propagandistic--just as were the early books about the American astronauts--and since Gagarin died in 1968, it's unfortunately very hard to get his real impressions of being the first human being to enter the off-Earth realm we call 'space'. These are scans from the book 'Road to the Stars' by Yuri Gagarin, no printing date, published in Moscow, which I've obtained from Inter-Library Loan.

I have to mention the upcoming Yuri's Night celebration of 50 years since a human being first entered space; last summer I was thrilled to meet Dr. Ryan Kobrick (currently of MIT's Man-Vehicle Laboratory), founder and director of the Yuri's Night International Space Party, when he and some other MIT and NASA folk came to my little home workshop to see the pressure suit I'm building. Ryan told me about the party, and I will be going to the one in Seattle, WA. There will be parties worldwide to celebrate the idea of humans living beyond the temporary and small scale of Earth, and you can find the closest party here.

The Stars

"People love to see the stars. That's where we came from. It's where we're going."

I desperately want to steal that for my own writing, but I can't. It was said by astronaut Story Musgrave -- who was instrumental in repairing the Hubble Space Telescope some years ago -- in a documentary on the space shuttle.

Rebuild

Turned a corner with a thought tonight: take it apart and rebuild. With the various pressure tests, I know the weaknesses, where the leaks are, and how to fix them. It's time to get the suit out of the seat, lay it out on the work table again, and make the final adjustments to all the sewing, fittings and plenty of other details. I think about eight hours of work will do it, and there's not a single thing to buy, I have every tool and material I need. First thing will be to do a good cleanup of the work area, sort out and clean all the tools, then clear my work area and prepare it for a final rebuild. One or maybe two weekends should get the suit properly sealed and ready for the pressure test with me in the suit, which I'm really looking forward to.

Actually, first is to formalize my task list, and then assemble exactly the items I need to complete each task. Then clean my tools, clear my head this coming weekend, and get a little more serious about locking in these final pre-test adjustments.

A quick list:

HELMET

* seal / remove helmet exhaust valve

* arrange intake hose warm-air defog unit

* spare UV/IR cover cutouts

* extend brow of liner cap

* reseal helmet / ring interface

* paint helmet with antiflame coat


ORAL-NASAL MASK

* add inner pressure shell

* add velcro connections to helmet liner cap

* ensure proper hose in / out lengths


HELMET HOLD-DOWN CABLES

* replace buckles with metal

* remove / secure sharp swage ends


GLOVES

* second hose clamp each

* hose clamp hold-downs

* antistretch gauntlets


CHEST FITTINGS (final tighten of all fittings)

* left = breathing gas out / extend hose

* center = electrical + comms / shorten through-fitting

and epoxy in lines

* right = breathing gas in / attach quick fitting and

attach hose hanger clip


ABDOMEN FITTING (final tighten of fitting)

* left = cooling hoses in + out / attach hose hanger clip


LEG FITTINGS

* left = suit pressurization gas in / replace fitting or

test for slow leak at SCUBA shop

* right = suit pressurization gas out / attach larger

control knob


HELMET HOLD-DOWN CROTCH STRAP

* reinforce


KNEE PATCHES

* add final grommets to each / add velcro position holders

to each


BOOTS

* final airtight coat


PRESSURE RESTRAINT GARMENT

* center chest through-hole

* reinforce all through-holes with third strength layer

* cinch underarm mesh

* replace helmet hold-down fittings with metal

* replace chest fittings wtih metal


FIREPROOF COVERALL

* build and attach with arrangements for parachute harness

* add arrangement for bail-out aviator's breathing gas

cylinder

* add arrangement for inflating life vest, sea dye and

small survival / map kit

LINER COVERALL

* sew vest tubes for threading in coolant hoses

* sew socks on to leg cuffs

* sew thumb loops onto arm cuffs

Goodbye to Plastic Fittings

No photo today, just a note: all the plastic fittings -- buckles etc. -- have to go, to be replaced by metal. With the suit up at 3psi, several are visibly strained. I knew a few would have to go, but it's astounding how much stress is put on the fittings at that pressure. The good news; made big progress in understanding the sealing of the helmet's exhaust valve, though that's still just a temporary fix until I can entirely remove it. I'll feel a lot better when it's off and I can install whatever I want there rather than the 'black box' of the current valve. Even though I have a manual for the helmet, which shows a diagram of the valve, there are things I don't understand about it, and I won't fly with anything I can't disassemble and reassemble, thereby knowing exactly how it works. Final, final editing on two books this coming week, then I can get back to the system. Two months 'behind schedule' RE the next pressure test with me in the suit, but that's OK; there's just no way to move faster, and I think that once the suit is holding pressure properly a lot of other things will fall in place rather quickly.