Cycles In Humans And Nature

This volume is the first bibliography to be published on the broad subject of cycles in humans and nature. The importance of cycles as a model for understanding the world is as old as the Bible and other ancient records of past civilizations. The modern investigation of diverse fields of study has resulted in the concept of cycles once again gaining center stage as an interdisciplinary model for reaching a better understanding of the nature of our universe. Major categories of cycles covered in this bibliography are: Astrophysics, Atmospheric Science, Biology, Botany, Geoscience, Medicine, Social Science, Zoology, and Interdisciplinary. Over 600 sources of information on thousands of cycles are carefully reviewed to enable the reader maximum access to the most substansive evidence for cycles in each field. A balance of general readings as well as more technical articles is maintained throughout the bibliography. An introduction provides an overview of the broad spectrum of information on cycles, indicating those areas of controversy as well as of agreement. The claims of cycles in social unrest, economics, and climatology are noted, as well as the more well-known cycles in biology, physiology, and medicine. The volume has an extensive table of contents to facilitate the location of many subcategories of cycles. An extensive index also enables the location of citations for specific researchers and for numerous subjects.

With stunning infographics on every page, this riveting visual guide reveals the mind-bending marvels of nature’s timescales both large and minuscule “This work broadens our perception of time by looking at it through natural cycles . . . . The visuals seamlessly enhance the text, making for an impactful learning experience.”—Booklist starred review Take a visual journey of discovery through the animal and plant kingdoms—and uncover the extraordinary rhythms of nature! Here are the answers to all kinds of curious questions, including: How long do eggs take to hatch? Do dogs really need more sleep than humans? What are the world’s fastest- and slowest-growing plants? And many more! These infographics shed light on the truly remarkable range of the natural world—how plants and animals grow and age, sleep and migrate, and reproduce and die. Spanning ideas both big and small—from evolution to animal behavior—The Time Nature Keeps is a visual trove of nature’s clocks that brings the world’s cadences to life before our eyes.

Describes the cycle of life: birth, growth, and death.

This book is an outlined for the short study (1- to 2-weeks) of chronobiology, a field of science that explores the relationships between time and biological functions. It develops step-by-step the reasoning that leads to the current scientific understanding of biological rhythms. The unit can be inserted into a standard middle or high school biology course. Because the scientific study of biological rhythms begins with data, Chapter 1 provides a brief review of the ways to collect, graph, and interpret data. Chapter 2 introduces some of the cycles in nature, especially those of the human body-from dream cycles to menstruation to body temperature. Chapter 3 explores how these cycles come about and explains the differences between external and internal influences. Chapter 4 explores the internal workings of organisms to determine whether there is a single master source of timing information that synchronizes an organism's many interacting cycles. Chapter 5 discusses the impact of rhythms on society and asks how an understanding of them could bring progress in medicine, work schedules, and everyday life. Chapter 6 offers a brief historical perspective on the study of biological rhythms, and chapter 7 outlines eight activities that demonstrate cycles in chemicals, plants, and animals. Each activity includes an introduction, materials, set-up, procedures, and possible extensions. (KR)

With the invitation to edit this volume, I wanted to take the opportunity to assemble reviews on different aspects of circadian clocks and rhythms. Although most c- tributions in this volume focus on mammalian circadian clocks, the historical int- duction and comparative clocks section illustrate the importance of various other organisms in deciphering the mechanisms and principles of circadian biology. Circadian rhythms have been studied for centuries, but only recently, a mole- lar understanding of this process has emerged. This has taken research on circadian clocks from mystic phenomenology to a mechanistic level; chains of molecular events can describe phenomena with remarkable accuracy. Nevertheless, current models of the functioning of circadian clocks are still rudimentary. This is not due to the faultiness of discovered mechanisms, but due to the lack of undiscovered processes involved in contributing to circadian rhythmicity. We know for example, that the general circadian mechanism is not regulated equally in all tissues of m- mals. Hence, a lot still needs to be discovered to get a full understanding of cir- dian rhythms at the systems level. In this respect, technology has advanced at high speed in the last years and provided us with data illustrating the sheer complexity of regulation of physiological processes in organisms. To handle this information, computer aided integration of the results is of utmost importance in order to d- cover novel concepts that ultimately need to be tested experimentally.

Restoring our biological cycles to heal ourselves, our culture, and our planet • 2017 Nautilus Gold Award • Shows how, just like the tides and the moon phases, both women and men have biological cycles of growth and renewal necessary for healthy bodies and minds • Explains how the seclusion of women during menstruation and of men during vision quests offers a cleansing process for body and mind to awaken innate creativity and sensitivity, re-attune us with the deeper rhythms of the body and nature, and restore harmony between the divine feminine and divine masculine • Reveals how the need for sacred retreat was forgotten when the divine feminine was suppressed by patriarchal culture All of life is interwoven into a living system of cycles, from Earth’s seasons to the enzymatic pathways that provide energy to a cell. Waxing and waning from times of growth to times of rest, renewal, and healing, cycles map the most auspicious time for everything in life. Both women and men have biological cycles of active growth and quiet renewal, led by our hormones. By understanding how everything in life moves in cycles, you can become more aware of and comfortable with your own cyclic nature, something that has been forgotten by the modern world’s linear views of time. Drawing on the wisdom of ancient cultures, the natural cycles of life, and her own groundbreaking research, Pia Orleane, Ph.D., offers a template for how we can restore balance to our emotions and health, ease tensions between the sexes, and heal our fractured culture by honoring divine feminine consciousness and re-embracing natural cycles, including our innate need for rest and retreat. She explains the biology of how our bodies operate by hormones released in cycles and shows how balanced hormones help eliminate anger, depression, insomnia, anxiety, and fatigue. Exploring ancient traditions and rituals surrounding blood and sacred retreat, she explains how the seclusion of women during menstruation and of men during vision quests offered a cleansing process for body and mind, alone time to clear suppressed emotions, awaken our innate creativity and sensitivity, re-attune us with the deeper rhythms of the body and nature, and restore harmony between the genders and balance between the divine feminine and masculine. Outlining the sacred retreat process, the author explores dream cycles, divine sexuality, and practices for reconnecting to nature, increasing creativity and intuition, and clearing suppressed emotions. She also looks at the benefits for women and men of separate sleeping during menstruation. Through this wisdom, we can restore our natural cycles, allow the divine feminine to once again blossom alongside the divine masculine, and, with the return of balance, heal our world and our hearts.

Human Dependence on Nature: How to Help Solve the Environmental Crisis.