An addendum to Post 21—Me, Myself, and My Proprioception...
(...and, my Piezo proteins)
I wrote in this blog about proprioception, about what happens when proprioception fails, and my own personal experience living life without situational awareness.
From the blog:
Proprioception is the reason we are aware of the scope and extent of our physical bodies, of how they exist in the context of the space around us—it comprises of numerous sensory receptors located all through the body that allow the brain to create a mental image of our physical selves, which in turn lets us not only understand our physical boundaries, but to also respond to external stimuli appropriately.
That is until it doesn’t…
And I thought I had proprioception covered… that is until I hadn’t, because there’s a new kid on the block of bodily sensing, and its name is Piezo, Piezo proteins. These proteins are responsible for sensing a surprisingly large array of things in our bodies including blood pressure, food digestion, bladder control, cell elongation, pain, and even breathing! — and they essentially kick in under pressure, which is fascinating, because as Ardem Patapoutian said in a recent interview:
Biology thinks that most cells communicate by chemicals, whether it’s a hormone, a neurotransmitter... Everything is chemical. But what we’re discovering is that pressure sensing is also very important. We’re finding a new biology.
A new biology! How about them apples!
Patapoutian along with a David Julius were awarded the Nobel Prize in 2021 for this new biology—according to the Nobel website, “for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch.” They also happen to look like fidget spinners:
The two scientists discovered these new-biology pressure-sensitive ion channels via a patient process of elimination, possibly involving actual fidget spinners?… starting with 72 possible gene candidates, and then turning them off one by one. Also, on a related note, Patapoutian, an immigrant to the US himself, has been quite vocal about another process of elimination that has taken a hold of America in recent months:
“Forty percent of Nobel Prize winners in the United States are immigrants, but this government does not value either science or immigration.” — Ardem Patapoutian
Here he is looking so very much like Robert Downy Jr, sporting a tattoo of the Piezo protein on one sleeve, and wearing his politics on the other:
