SoCal Tai Chi

In What is Qi?  Part II, we saw how suns and biospheres and the Universe interact to convert black body radiation in the form of photon gas from a sun into negative entropy.

Instead of accumulating energy, the biosphere, when it is in steady-state condition, accumulates negative entropy or negentropy and increases in organization.  This is the difference between the entropy of absorbed radiation and the emitted radiation at longer wavelengths of photons.

This influx of the negative entropy through the interplay between the entropy of absorbed radiation and the emitted radiation is the magic "Life Force" responsible for the organization of organic and non-organic matter into more complex, living things. 

In our particular biosphere the result of this influx of negative entropy that the Earth has extracted from the Sun has organized life into a biological pyramid.  The most numerous form of biological life – plants and all photosynthesizing organisms – are at the base of this pyramid. 

Chlorophyll has been thought to be the only substance widely distributed in nature that is capable of delivering hydrogen to the plant cell.  The hydrogen atom is the smallest and most abundant in the universe, and is the carrier of energy used most in nature.

Since herbivores and carnivores do not possess chlorophyll, they use the Sun’s energy indirectly by consuming plant life or those creatures that consume plant life.  While it is true that humans do not possess chloroplasts and cannot photosynthesize, we do, however, have another substance that helps us to perform essentially the same process.

Previously, no substance found in the cells of herbivores or carnivores had shown the ability to capture photons from electromagnetic radiation, use the energy to split the water molecule and release hydrogen to cells   But in experiments done over a twelve year period (1990-2002) in a laboratory at Aguascalientes, Mexico, researchers found that melanin, also called polyhydroxyindol, can do just that¹.

The results obtained confirm that melanin gives ​​all mammals, including any living creature whose genetic code expresses the melanin, the ability to perform a process similar to photosynthesis.  In other words, melanin is to the animal kingdom what chlorophyll is to the vegetable kingdom.

In experiments with the chlorophyll molecule, various research studies over decades have tried to use chlorophyll to split water in order to obtain hydrogen for energy purposes.  However, once it is extracted from a leaf the chlorophyll molecule becomes inactive in approximately 20 seconds.

To their surprise, the researchers at Aguascalientes, Mexico discovered that melanin is thousands of times more efficient in capturing the elementary particles of electromagnetic radiation (photons) than chlorophyll.  In addition, if we perfected the technology, melanin could probably work for decades if not longer.

Two molecules of water (H₂O) plus melanin in the presence of photons of electromagnetic radiation from the sun yields two molecules of hydrogen (2H₂) plus an oxygen molecule (O₂) and 4 high-energy electrons (4e^-) – primal Qi.

This reaction occurs in both directions.  It is therefore exergonic (releases energy) and endergonic (stores energy). The hydrogen and oxygen atoms rejoin, giving us water and electricity or Qi. The melanin remains unchanged, since it only catalyzes the reaction without damage to its molecule.  Thus, it creates an ongoing cycle, since the melanin itself is not impaired.  The entire reversible process occurs in 3 x 10^-12 seconds.

The researchers estimated that a third of the usual energy available to humans comes from the reactions of melanin, light and water. That third is the primordial energy, which is equivalent to the activation energy of the main chemical reactions in the body. Without it, our internal life-support systems would eventually cease to function.  This is consistent with clinical findings that the human body can sustain the lack of food up to three weeks but can only sustain the lack of water for three days.

Where do we find melanin?

Melanin is a pigment in our skin.  It is present in most organisms except for spiders.  In humans it is responsible for our skin color. It is also found in hair, in the pigmented tissue underlying the iris of the eye (we will see why this is important below), and in the stria vascularis of the inner ear. In the brain, tissues with melanin include the medulla and zona reticularis of the adrenal gland, and pigment-bearing neurons within areas of the brainstem, such as the locus coeruleus and the substantia nigra².

The melanin in the skin is produced by melanocytes in the basal layer of the epidermis. Melanocytes insert granules of melanin into specialized cellular vesicles called melanosomes. These are then transferred into the other skin cells of the human epidermis. The melanosomes in each recipient cell accumulate atop the cell nucleus, where they protect the nuclear DNA from mutations caused by the ionizing radiation of the sun's ultraviolet rays.

In general, people whose ancestors lived for long periods in the regions of the globe near the equator have larger quantities of eumelanin in their skins. This makes their skins brown or black and protects them against high levels of exposure to the sun, which more frequently results in melanomas in lighter-skinned people.

Because melanin is an aggregate of smaller component molecules, there are many different types of melanin with differing proportions and bonding patterns of these component molecules.

Eumelanin is found in hair, areola, and skin, and the hair colors grey, black, yellow, and brown. In humans, it is more abundant in people with dark skin.  There are two different types of eumelanin: black eumelanin (found mostly in non-Europeans and aged Europeans) and brown eumelanin (found mostly in young Europeans).

Pheomelanin is also found in hair and skin, both in lighter-skinned and darker-skinned humans. It imparts a pink to red hue and, thus, is found in particularly large quantities in red hair.  Pheomelanin also may become carcinogenic when exposed to the ultraviolet rays of the sun and caution must be taken with regard to sun exposure.  (More on this in Part IV)

Neuromelanin is the dark pigment present in pigment-bearing neurons of four deep brain nuclei: the substantia nigra - Pars Compacta part, the locus coeruleus (blue spot), the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve (cranial nerve X), and the median raphe nucleus of the pons. Both the substantia nigra and locus coeruleus have a dark pigmentation. In humans, these nuclei are not pigmented at the time of birth, but develop pigmentation during maturation to adulthood.

While neuromelanin increases throughout life in most people, the loss of pigmented neurons from specific nuclei is seen in a variety of neurodegenerative diseases. In Parkinson's disease there is massive loss of dopamine-producing pigmented neurons in the substantia nigra. High levels of neuromelanin are also detected in other primates, and in carnivores such as cats and dogs.

As for melanin’s effectiveness as an electrical conductor, studies were carried out long before those at Aguacalientes.  In 1963, D.E Weiss and coworkers reported high electrical conductivity in a melanin, iodine-doped and oxidized polypyrrole "Black". They achieved the very high conductivity rating of 1 Ohm/cm. A decade later, John McGinness, and coworkers reported a high conductivity "ON" state in a voltage-controlled solid-state threshold switch made with DOPA melanin. Further, this material emitted a flash of light—electroluminescence—when it switched.

Melanin also shows negative resistance, a classic property of electronically-active conductive polymers. Likewise, melanin is the best sound-absorbing material known because of its strong electron-phonon coupling. This could explain part of the reason behind melanin's presence in the inner ear.

In any case, melanin is found throughout our epidermis as well as in the iris, the ear and the brain.  It is the prime substance that catalyzes cosmic Qi in the form of photon gas into the many different types of Qi that circulate throughout our bodies.  Melanin is also responsible for conducting the Qi into the various meridians and channels that nourish our organs and glands, where this Qi combines with our food Qi that results in the production of ATP (explained in What Is Qi?  Part II) which serves as the major energy source within our cells to drive a number of biological processes such as photosynthesis, muscle contraction, and the synthesis of proteins.

In What Is Qi?  Part IV, the final segment, we will see how the photosynthesis of photon gas electromagnetic radiation affects advanced practitioners such as Indian yogis and Chinese Qigong masters.