Peace Out Man

 
Item:  Contrary to prevailing scientific "wisdom," the immune system of a human fetus is not a weak, inadequate system that takes months after birth to rev up to full capacity.  Researchers now say that their systems are designed "specifically to allow foreign invaders in that an adult immune system would fight off." 

The researchers state further that adult and fetal immune systems come from two distinct stem cells; in the bone marrow for adults and first the liver, and later the bone marrow, for fetuses.  In a newborn, these two systems overlap.  While the adult immune system is designed to cut off threats from invaders such as viruses and bacteria, the fetal system allows foreign bodies to "invade peacefully."  It does so by releasing a regulatory T cell that "encourages tolerance."  Why?  In order to keep the fetus from rejecting its own developing cells or those of its mother's.

My reaction:  Funny how much credence we give to scientific "truth" until it's proven not to be "the" truth and replaced by new "truth."  Maybe we should start calling our scientific "wisdom" simply a collection of facts or data, and not "truth."  Truth should be steadfast, something we can count on.

My reaction:  Who said there wasn't a God, an intelligent Creator of life?  Tell me this is just the stuff of random and mutant evolutionary progression.  The more we learn about how our bodies function, the more I am convinced of its exquisite, purposeful, intelligent design.  I no more descended from a monkey than I did an amoeba.  But then maybe that's just "my" truth and I'm sticking to it.

My reaction:  I had to smile at the author's use of the words "invade peacefully" and "encourages tolerance."   Before we even see the light of day, we are allowing invaders into our private spaces not only to bolster our resources later in life, but to protect ourselves during the formation of life.  Seems counter-intuitive that one system would be designed to do both.  I envisioned a little hippie fetus with a tie-dyed tshirt mouthing the words "peace out man" into a megaphone.  Ha. Ha.  It seems that our fetus selves understand a bit more about peace and tolerance than our grown-up selves do.


(Blogmeister note:  Original article by Erin Aliday, SF Chronicle 1/22/11)