MISCELLANEOUS
Analytic approach is an approach which investigates organisms by separating them into parts which can be then investigated under controlled conditions. This approach is still dominant in natural science although nowadays there exists also scientists who use a systemic approach – that is, looking at the whole organism and interactions of separate parts with this whole and amongst themselves.
Anecdotal evidence refers to the evidence from personal anecdotes about life experiences. Anecdotal evidence is considered dubious support of a claim; it is accepted by science only if is accompanied with other types of evidence.
Antediluvian means very old, occurring or belonging to the era before the Flood.
Archaea were initially regarded as bacteria, but now are placed into a separate group of single-celled organisms. Archaea are particularly numerous in plankton in the oceans. They are also part of the microbiota of all organisms. In the human microbiome, they are important in the gut, mouth, and on the skin.
Asceticism (from the Greek áskēsis, ‘exercise’ or ‘training’) is a lifestyle characterized by voluntary abstinence from various worldly pleasures with the aim of pursuing religious and spiritual goals. The aim of ascetic practices is release of the soul from the bondage to the body and thus achieving a union with the divine.
Autonomous is an adjective with the meaning: independent; having the power to govern something without being controlled or having any help from anyone else.
Beeswax is one of the substances produced by bees. It is composed mainly from fatty acids (linked together by double-bonded carbon and oxygen atom) and various long-chain alcohols.
Biodynamic farming (agriculture) is a special method inside organic farming. It started in 1924 with the course of lectures on the subject of agriculture given by Rudolf Steiner in the big estate in Koberwitz. The main characteristic of biodynamic, versus the organic approach, is the conscious working with cosmic influences and use of special homeopathic preparations for composting and for application on fields or crops.
Biogeochemical cycle is a circular pathway by which an element (or compound such as water) moves through its various living and nonliving forms and locations in the biosphere of Earth. Biogeochemical cycles important to living organisms include the water cycle, oxygen cycle, carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, phosphorus cycle, and sulphur cycle.
Breatharianism (also ‘nourishment from light’ or ‘pranic nourishment’) is a fasting practice described in the book Living on Light – The Source of Nourishment for the New Millennium (by Jasmuheen, 1998) which is promoted as permanent way of life. It first appeared in Australia via the method of channelling and includes the 21-day conversion process of ‘sacred initiation’ into this new way of living on light.
Cartesian division refers to an ontological dualism of two finite substances, mind (spirit or soul) and matter (corporeal body). The essence of mind is self-conscious thinking; the essence of matter is spatial extension in three dimensions. This division was established by René Descartes (1596-1650), a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist.
Celebrity endorsement is a very effective method of manipulation of public opinion introduced by Edward Bernays, an Austrian-American pioneer in the field of public relations and propaganda. Nowadays it is the standard tool of marketing strategists whose purpose is to use one or multiple celebrities to advertise a specific product or service.
Cell culture is the group of cells that are grown outside their natural environment in laboratory conditions. After the cells from plant, animal or human source have been isolated from living tissue, they can subsequently be maintained under carefully controlled conditions. These conditions vary for each cell type, but generally consist of a suitable vessel with a substrate or medium that regulates the physio-chemical environment (pH buffer, osmotic pressure, temperature). To this base are added the essential nutrients (blood, amino acids, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals), growth factors, hormones, and gases (CO2, O2), and other desired ingredients (such as dyes, indicators, and medicinal drugs).
Circadian rhythm (circa, about; diem, a day) is the scientific term for the daily rhythm which includes rhythmical changes evolving over a period of 24 hours. Often they are mentioned as an expression of the inner ‘biological clock’.
Cognition is the process by which you see or hear something, recognize it, and understand it. It is the mental process or faculty by which knowledge is acquired; that which comes to be known through perception, reasoning, or intuition.
Computer virus is a type of computer programme that, when executed, replicates itself by modifying other computer programmes and inserting its own code into those programmes. If this replication succeeds, the affected areas are then said to be ‘infected’ with a computer virus, a metaphor derived from biological viruses.
Concept is a thought of an object, being, event, activity, etc. Other words which can be used instead are conception, notion and idea.
Consanguinity means blood relationship. Adjective consanguine: of the same lineage or origin; especially, related by blood.
Conventional farming (or industrial agriculture) is the modern method of farming based on the use of artificial fertilisers and synthetic pesticides.
Data anonymization is a type of information sanitization whose intent is privacy protection. It is the process of removing personally identifiable information from data sets, so that the people whom the data describe remain anonymous.
Enema (plural enemas) is the procedure of introducing liquids into the large intestine via the anus. This procedure causes an induced elimination of the content of the large intestine.
Epistemology is science which investigates the nature and methods of the human activity of cognition.
Escherichia coli (also known as E. coli) is an anaerobic, rod-shaped, bacterium of the genus Escherichia that is commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms. The bacterium can be grown and cultured easily and inexpensively in a laboratory setting, and has been intensively investigated for over 60 years (counting from 2020). Under favourable conditions, it takes as little as 20 minutes to reproduce.
Euphemism is the practice of using nice words to describe something opposite (unpleasant, ugly, or bad); an example is ‘friendly fire’ which means shooting on own soldiers by mistake.
Phenotype is the set of characteristics of an individual resulting from the interaction of individual's genotype (complete set of all genes in the organism) with the environment.
GCSE (General Certificate for Secondary Education) is an academic qualification awarded in a specified subject, generally taken in a number of subjects by students aged 14-16 in secondary education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Generic is a product (such as a drug) that does not have a brand name.
Mr. Global is an expression that describes the tiny fraction of the world population which has control of financial, economic, political and legal systems besides mainstream educational, scientific, religious, medical and media organizations in many countries in the world. Their aim is to create global government and gain even more control over the lives of the world population.
Hygiene has two related meanings: it refers to the science of health and the prevention of disease (also called hygienics) and it refers to the practice of maintaining health, especially by cleanliness.
Idiosyncrasy: a characteristic, habit, mannerism, or the like, that is peculiar to an individual; the physical constitution peculiar to an individual; a peculiarity of the physical or the mental constitution, especially susceptibility toward drugs, food, etc.
IFOAM is an abbreviation for International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements which is a worldwide umbrella organisation for the organic agriculture movement uniting more than 750 member organizations from 108 countries.
In natura (Latin) means ‘in Nature’, a phrase that describes conditions present in a non-laboratory environment.
Locavore is a person interested in consuming locally grown food. The desired distance for local produce is between 50 to 100 miles.
Mechanicism is the belief that living organisms are like complicated machines or artefacts, composed of parts lacking any intrinsic relationship to each other. Thus, the source of an organism's activities is not the organism itself, but its parts or an external influence on the parts, such as the laws of physics and chemistry.
Nanotechnology is a technology by which the matter is manipulated on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale of existence.
Natural food movement is a network of organisations which promote and support the sustainable way of food production, distribution and consumption. It includes the organic movement, the slow food movement, different groups of consumers, various institutions, and individuals.
Nutritional therapists are those trained inside diverse schools of nutrition [the British list is available on www.nutritionaltherapycouncil.org.uk/training.html]. Those who work inside the medical establishment are called clinical nutritionists (physicians with specialised training in nutrition) and dieticians (mainly nurses trained in conventional, state-regulated nutrition).
Organic farming (agriculture) refers to those farming methods which are defined in The IFOAM Basic Standards for Organic Food Production and Processing.
Papal bull is a type of public document issued by a pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden seal (bulla) that was traditionally appended to the end in order to authenticate it. In terms of content, the bull is simply the format in which a decree of the pope appears.
In biology, a pathogen in the oldest and broadest sense is any organism that can produce disease. The term pathogen came into use in the 1880s. Nowadays the meaning of this term mainly refers to an infectious agent, or simply a germ.
The principle behind pelletizing processes (also known as agglomeration and granulation) is the opposite of grinding technology: it consists of gathering together or clustering fine solid particles in order to form particles of larger dimensions (pellets, grains, balls, etc.).
Percept is the object of perception or an impression in the mind of observer of something perceived by the senses.
Petri dishes are small, round, and shallow transparent lidded dishes widely used in biology to cultivate cells and various microorganisms on the suitable growth medium. It is most suited for organisms that thrive on a solid or semisolid surface.
Placebo is (from a scientific perspective) a simulated or otherwise medically ineffective treatment (e.g. faked surgical intervention, or inert pills, etc.) for a disease or other medical condition intended to deceive the recipient. Often patients given a placebo treatment will have actual improvement in a medical condition, a phenomenon commonly called the ‘placebo effect’. From a spiritual-scientific perspective it is a proof of soul-spiritual influences upon the state of the physical body itself.
Prana is the Sanskrit word for ‘life force’. According to ancient Indian texts, prana is cosmic energy originating from the sun and it enters the body through the breath and is sent to every cell through the circulation of the blood.
Predicate is the part of a sentence or clause that expresses something about the subject. For example in the simple sentences: "The house is white." and "He sold his car." the words in italic are predicates.
Protists are simple forms of life out of which plants, fungi and animals have developed.
Pseudonymization is a process that allows you to switch the original data set (for example data subject’s e-mail or a name) with an alias or pseudonym. Pseudonymization is a reversible process, that de-identifies data but allows the reidentification later on if necessary. This is a well-known data management technique that is highly recommended by the General Data Protection Regulation as one of the data protection methods.
Raison d’être (French): reason for being; point or justification for existing.
Reductionism is an approach to understanding of the nature of complex things by reducing them to the interactions of their parts, or to simpler or more fundamental things. Its position is that a complex system is nothing but the sum of its parts, and that an account of it can be reduced to accounts of individual constituents.
Renaissance is the humanistic revival of classical art, literature, and learning that originated in Italy in the late 14th century and later spread throughout Europe. This was a period of revived intellectual and artistic achievements which paved the way out of the medieval dominance of Roman Catholic Church into modern societies based on the freedom of cultural/spiritual life.
Revolutionary fungi is one of the fungi species, called Neurospora (meaning ‘nerve spore’), referring to the characteristic threads on the spores that resemble nerve fibres.
Root cellar is a structure built underground or partially underground and used to store vegetables, fruits, and nuts or other foods.
Slow Food is an international movement founded by Carlo Petrini in 1986. Promoted as an alternative to fast food, it strives to preserve traditional and regional cuisine and encourages farming of plants, seeds and livestock characteristic of the local ecosystem. For more see their website www.slowfood.com
Scientific Revolution was a series of developments in mathematics, physics, astronomy, biology, anatomy and chemistry that transformed the views of society about nature. The Scientific Revolution started in Europe with the Renaissance and continued through the late 18th century, thus paving the way for the emergence of Industrial Revolution.
Industrial Revolution (also First Industrial Revolution) was the period of transition from hand production methods to the use of machines in manufacturing processes in Europe and the United States. This development that lasted from about 1760 to 1840 was based on the use of water power, coal, iron, and steam power. The key inventions were new textile machinery, innovations in the production of iron, and the steam engine.
Second Industrial Revolution (also Technological Revolution) was the period of inventions of new technologies and advancements in manufacturing that have caused the rapid industrialization of modern societies. This development that lasted from the middle of the nineteenth century to World War I was based on the use of gas, oil, electricity and chemical engineering. The key inventions were production of steel, electric generator, bulb, telephone and automobile. This period was also the time of the birth of the modern petrochemical industry with the production of artificial dyes, fertilisers and pharmaceuticals from coal-tar and oil.
Traditional farming (agriculture) refers to those farming practices which were practised for thousands of years before the emergence of modern farming based on synthetic fertilisers and other synthethic agricultural chemicals.
Transhumanism is a philosophical and social movement, the proponents of which are devoted to promoting the research and development of sophisticated human-enhancement technologies, such as genetic engineering, information technology, molecular nanotechnology and artificial intelligence. The members of the transhumanist movement strive for the synthesis of new technologies with the human organism with the aim to radically extend the human life-span, eradicate diseases and improve the human health, eliminate unnecessary suffering, and augment human intellectual, physical, and emotional capacities. Transhumanists hope that by responsible use of science, technology, and other rational means we shall eventually manage to become posthuman/transhuman – i.e. beings with vastly greater capacities than present human beings have.
Upanishad is a group of various philosophical texts contributing to the theology of Hinduism, elaborating upon earliest sacred texts, called Vedas.
Vitalism is a doctrine that the processes of life in a living organism are not explicable by the laws of physics and chemistry alone, but by the existence of a vital principle, often referred to as the ‘vital spark’, ‘vis vitalis’ or ‘vital force’. In the 18th and 19th centuries vitalism was discussed among biologists, between those who considered an organism as a biochemical machine and vitalists who argued that the processes of life could not be reduced to mechanistic processes and biochemical reactions.
