We owe our existence to predation.

First, there were the Blue-Green algae producing tons of oxygen as a result of the splitting of carbon dioxide and water mostly for their carbon and hydrogen content to make hydrocarbons. The excess oxygen can not exceed certain levels or else it would become toxic. At first, I thought that organisms would evolve that consumed decayed matter using up oxygen in the process but the problem I see here is that the decayed matter may have been too oxidized to have been of any real value. The best solution would have been the creation of a predator that kept the population of photosynthesizing organisms in check and, consequently, the oxygen levels.

After predation, multicellular organisms arose as a defense against the predator, and here we are. Organisms would have stayed unicellular because there is little advantage to grouping together and may be detrimental if your aim is to maximize exposure to light.

I've always wanted to calorie count but find the procedure tedious and error-prone. The reason is that manufacturers use the per-serving specifications to hind the true caloric content of their product. You know, they state 120 calories in a serving of 25 chips. Who wants to look at a label and then count out chips? Some use fractions: 95 calories in a third of a bar or a half of a cup. Really now! If I always bought the same products in the same quantity, it might be easier for me but I'm always buying different products or different sizes.

The solution is to have the manufactures add up the total caloric content and state that on the label. Here's how it might work. Let's say you are a family of four. Before you go shopping, you add up the caloric requirements of your family based on weight. You then buy a quantity of product equal to that total. Now, the family members share the products according to their needs. They might, for instance, set aside x cups of ice cream into individualized plastic container. Of course, if everyone can be trusted to take no more than their share, there would be no need to apportion. Active teenagers may even be given an entire package of their own.

There are a few problems. One is that a product may not be consumed within a shopping cycle (jar of olives, gallon of oil, sack of rice). This is where a computer program would come in handy. Having input the total calories of a product, the computer would then calculate how long it should last before the next purchase.

If you are single or living with one other person, then the scheme is even easier because you essentially half everything you consume or you split it 1/3 to 2/3 with the larger portion going to the more active or larger member of the pair.

The next time you get a burn on the back of your hand, it will afford you an opportunity to see cytokines at work. After the burn heals, you will notice that surrounding the burn, the skin begins to form a dark ring of melanin around the burn area.

The reason the ring is darker than normal is because the burned skin is sending out cytokines asking melanocytes to produce melanin for UV protection. However, the only functioning melanoytes are on the periphery of the burn, hence, the ring.

I have always been one to seek the better way but, paradoxically, not burning fossil fuels may be detrimental to our future.

What if an asteroid hit Earth and just happened to hit in the Middle East or other site where oil is found in large amount? The debris from an asteroid hit while harmful in that it would block the sun for a while is nothing compared to the ensuing massive burning of oil that would not only pollute but greatly diminish the oxygen in our atmosphere.

It would be better, I think, if we were to continue consuming fossil fuels even when we develop alternative energies. The fact that fossil fuels exist means that the Earth is incapable of handling the biomass created over time. The problem is, of course, that there is little oxygen at the bottom of the ocean and oxygen is needed by organisms in order to utilize organic matter--the matter just sits there under the high pressure of the oceans and converts into fossil fuels. Burning it as we do now is better than a massive one-time burning at the hands of an asteroid (or terrorist?).

Alternative energy should be continued because, if anything, we could use it to help us handle the increased CO2 by separating the carbon from the Oxygen. Carbon could be used to create carbon fiber while oxygen could be used for contained home atmospheres where it would be very therapeutic.