The AnkiDroid Collection (Part 52) – Ephemeral, Autophagy & Masochism

Ankidroid additions related to Science, History and Philosophy. More information about Anki can be found in this article.

Ephermeral (adjective)

It’s temporary, its transitory. Examples:

• The ephemeral beauty of a sunset.
• We all think of the life as a butterfly as ephemeral. Most of them live for a month but some of them can live up to a year.
• The ephemeral pleasures of life.

There’s an insect we call the Mayfly and this has an ephemeral life which lasts only a few hours. The brief lives of mayfly adults have been noted by naturalists and enciclopedistas since Aristotle and Pliny the Elder in classical antiquity. The German engraver Albrecht Dürer included a mayfly in his 1495 engraving The Holy Family with the Mayfly to suggest a link between heaven and earth. These aquatic insects even belong to the class of family called Ephemeroptera. It’s even in the name.

Autophagy

Autophagy refers to the process of the natural regulated mechanism of the cell that disassembles unnecessary or dysfunctional components.

I discussed autophagy in an article about the video presentation From Cells to Cities Part 2 – Life Span (Geoffrey West):

What is the system that is keeping us alive?

Our metabolic system has built into it dissipating forces. For want of a better word, wear and tear. There is continued damage being done by the flow of blood through the circulatory system. The blood flowing through your capillaries can be quite destructive. It’s like pushing fluid through very thin tubes and there is a great deal of resistance such as scraping between the blood and the walls. So this scraping is really what’s called entropy (2nd law of thermodynamics) which in turn leads to cellular damage. So as already discussed we have the scaling laws theory and you can calculate that the maximal lifespan should scale with 1/4 power scaling and hence gives us a rough estimate of longevity. Essentially the parameters associated with lifespan point to metabolism; not surprisingly because metabolism is that which keeps you alive. However, we also have the physical deterioration of material (wear and tear) which is occurring at the molecular level. And even something outside of that which is the process of repair; that we repair damage. Where does that repair come from? It has its origins in metabolism as well, because you have to supply metabolic energy to clean out damaged cells and regenerate new ones (Autophagy) and avoid premature death.

Masochism

Masochism is the tendency to derive sexual gratification from one’s own pain or humiliation. It is related to the concept of BDSM, which stands for bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, sadism, and masochism.

Masochists often enjoy activities such as being spanked, whipped, or humiliated. They may also enjoy being in submissive roles and giving up control over others. It can also be used in the context of talking about someone who seems to love self-destructing or someone who’s their “own worst enemy.”