A week devoted to learning about different potentials within ourselves seemed to inform me of new knowledge about behavior. Action potentials seem to be the core of expressing behavior. This moving constant voltage and longitudinal battery (having also autonomous properties) allows our bodies to> generate reactions. These reactions originate from the different chemicals, electrical potentials, concentration gradients and random movement within the> membrane. The membrane is important in this whole process as a boundary layer which separates contents into two different areas. This allows for the movement of such chemicals and electrical charges in and out of the membrane according to the electrical charge and the concentration gradient. Thereafter> an equilibrium is established.

The components which interact with the membrane are of basic elements and processes which seem to be similar to the basic elements of early earth which gave rise to living organisms. The electric field which exists in the membrane existed also on earth where electricity was generated by lightning and thunder creating electric discharge. The random motion of chemicals allowed for the creation of the first basic cells on earth and within our membranes this random motion helps generates reactions to form an equilibrium.> Water is a basic component essential for both conditions. These similarities seem to point to the thought that maybe all matter comes from one source and that everything inorganic or organic evolved from this source of chemicals, random motion, and electrical discharge.

It is interesting to know that a moving wave of permeability changes allows for the flow of information through membranes resulting for certain expression of behavior. These acting potentials within our membranes seem to be the starting point for understanding behavior. It is the smallest part of> the whole box (nervous system). However, if all of us have similar properties> regarding different potentials and information flow, how come we have different behavior among individuals? Individuals of similar backgrounds and> culture express different personalities so what differentiates each individual's behavior?

Very interesting set of thoughts/questions. It is indeed intriguing to recognize things one encounters again and again across all of biology, and wonder whether there is some important meaning in that. And why people are so different from one another, given things which are the same, is a very productive way to approach matters. As we talked about, if differences aren't apparent at one level of organization, it must be that there are important higher levels of organization. Differences due to different connection patterns among neurons, for example. PG