This piece continues from the earlier part of Stones in the Body: More Frightening Than Cancer (Yoon Jong-won). The body, figures, and citations follow the manuscript as written.
1. Immunity and Hemostasis: Calcium Defends the Body
If we liken the immune system to an army, the T cells, B cells, macrophages, and mast cells are the soldiers. They are trained and their weapons are stockpiled, but without the order to sortie the army does not move.
When a pathogen invades, calcium gives the order to sortie. When a T cell recognizes an antigen, the calcium concentration inside the cell rises, the calcineurin pathway is activated, and the T cell is activated. When a mast cell recognizes an allergen, calcium flows in and histamine granules are released.
Calcium executes blood clotting as well. When a blood vessel is damaged, platelets come into contact with the collagen exposed at the injured site, the calcium inside the cell rises, and the platelets are activated, changing their shape and aggregating with one another.
At several stages of the coagulation cascade, calcium plays an essential role as 'coagulation factor IV.' Calcium is involved in every defensive action that fights pathogens and stops bleeding.
2. Cough and Sneeze: The Emergency Ejection System
If we liken the cough reflex and the sneeze reflex to an emergency ejection device, the sensor and the firing system are ready. But unless the firing button is pressed, the foreign matter is not expelled.
When foreign matter enters the airway, calcium presses the firing button. When the irritant receptors are activated, the reflex signal is transmitted to the brainstem, the command goes out from the brainstem to the respiratory muscles, calcium flows into the muscles, and an explosive contraction occurs. Air and foreign matter are expelled at a speed reaching from several tens to over a hundred kilometers per hour.
3. Blinking: A Wiper 20,000 Times a Day
If we liken the eyelid system to a car's windshield wiper, the wiper blade and the motor are installed. But unless the wiper is operated, the windshield is not wiped.
At every moment calcium operates the wiper. When calcium flows into the orbicularis oculi muscle, the eyelid closes, and when calcium withdraws, the eyelid opens. From 10,000 to 20,000 times a day, this process repeats and the cornea is kept moist.
4. Pupils, Tears, Sweat, Goosebumps, and Airway Cleaning
When the light suddenly brightens, calcium tightens the aperture of the pupil, just as a camera, upon meeting strong light, automatically narrows its aperture to protect the film, our eye too immediately enters defense mode so that excessive light does not strike the retina, and that execution button is precisely calcium.
When the parasympathetic nerve signal is transmitted to the pupillary sphincter, and calcium flows into the muscle cells or is released from storage so that contraction begins, the pupil naturally shrinks and the amount of incoming light decreases.
In the end, the saying that "the eye responds on its own" actually means that "the nerve sends the command, and calcium switches on the muscle to tighten the aperture," and this brief instant of calcium lighting up becomes the first safeguard that protects eyesight.
When the eye grows dry or emotion wells up, calcium operates the lacrimal gland, and the lacrimal gland is not simply an organ that sheds water but a 'lubrication and defense system' that protects the surface of the cornea, washes away bacteria, and reduces friction to prevent injury, and this system too produces its actual effect only when there is a moment in which the packaged secretion is expelled to the outside.
At that moment calcium rises instantaneously inside the cell and 'opens the gate' of the secretory vesicle to trigger tear secretion, and when body temperature rises the same principle repeats in the sweat glands, that is, even though the coolant called sweat is prepared, its discharge begins only when the calcium signal switches on, and a cooling device that evaporates from the surface of the skin, taking away heat and lowering body temperature, goes into operation.
And when we are cold or afraid or moved, the phenomenon in which the arrector pili muscles of the skin contract and goosebumps rise is also executed by the way calcium switches the muscle on.
This small muscle operates in the direction of reducing heat loss, like a device that stands up the fur of a cold-weather garment, and at the same time it creates the moment in which the wave of emotion is imprinted on the body as a 'physical trace.'
[Table 4-4] Protection and Defense: DNA Design vs. Calcium Execution
| Function | What DNA designed | What calcium executes | Analogy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Immunity | T cells, B cells, mast cells | T cell activation, histamine release | The sortie of an army |
| Hemostasis | Platelets, coagulation factors | Platelet activation, the coagulation cascade | The dispatch of a fire brigade |
| Cough/sneeze | The cough reflex circuit | Explosive muscle contraction | Emergency ejection |
| Blinking | The orbicularis oculi muscle, the blink reflex | Opening and closing of the eyelid (10,000 to 20,000 times/day) | Windshield wiper |
| Pupillary reflex | The iris muscle | Pupil constriction/dilation | Camera aperture |
| Tears/sweat | The lacrimal gland, the sweat gland | Tear/sweat secretion | Sprinkler |
| Goosebumps | The arrector pili muscle | Standing the hair on end | The quills of a hedgehog |
| Airway cleaning | Cilia, mucous cells | The beating of cilia | Sweeping with a broom |
Higher Functions
Beyond the basic functions of survival, the human being has a more refined regulatory system. It is hormones, learning, and emotion.
1. Learning and Memory: Calcium Engraves Memory
How does the brain learn and remember? The most compelling answer in neuroscience today is synaptic plasticity. The synapses between neurons that are frequently activated together are strengthened, and the synapses between neurons that are not activated together are weakened.
In 1973, Terje Lømo and Tim Bliss discovered the phenomenon of long-term potentiation (LTP) in the hippocampus of rabbits. After high-frequency stimulation was given, the synaptic response was strengthened, and this strengthening lasted for several hours, even for several days. And research over the following decades revealed that the key signal of long-term potentiation is precisely calcium.
When the NMDA receptor opens, calcium ions flow into the postsynaptic neuron. A high calcium concentration activates CaMKII and strengthens the synapse. A low calcium concentration activates calcineurin and weakens the synapse. The same signal, calcium, produces exactly opposite effects depending on its concentration.
A high calcium concentration activates a transcription factor called CREB and induces the synthesis of new proteins. This is the formation of long-term memory. Everything that converts a transient experience into a permanent memory begins from the calcium signal. What engraves memory into the brain is calcium.
3. Emotion, Stress, and Sleep
If we liken the emotion system to an orchestra, the neurons that synthesize dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins are the instruments, and the emotion-processing circuit is the score. Joy, sadness, anger, fear, love. In every emotion calcium raises the baton. When a reward is anticipated, calcium flows into the dopamine neurons, dopamine is released, and pleasure is felt.
The stress response is the same. When a threat is detected, the sympathetic nerve signal reaches the adrenal medulla, calcium flows into the chromaffin cells, and adrenaline is secreted into the blood. The heart beats fast, blood pressure rises, blood flow rushes to the muscles, and the pupils dilate, preparing to fight or flee.
Calcium regulates sleep as well. When night comes, the melatonin synthesis program of the pineal gland switches on, and one of the signals that executes and coordinates that program inside the cell is calcium. Melatonin is secreted into the blood and drowsiness comes.
4. The Gene Switch and Cell Membrane Stability
Calcium regulates gene expression as well. When cytoplasmic calcium rises, transcription factors are activated through the calcineurin or the calcium/calmodulin-dependent pathway, and the expression of a particular gene is switched on or off. If DNA has written down the rules, calcium is the stamp of approval that decides whether or not to execute those rules.
Calcium maintains the stability of the cell membrane as well. When calcium binds to the surface of the cell membrane, the activation threshold of the sodium channel is stabilized. When blood calcium drops, the cell membrane becomes unstable and the nerves and muscles become excessively excited.
This is why tetany appears in hypocalcemia. Calcium is the execution button that moves life gorgeously, and at the same time it works as the safeguard that props up life so that it does not waver.
[Table 4-5] Higher Functions: DNA Design vs. Calcium Execution
| Function | What DNA designed | What calcium executes | Analogy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Learning/memory | NMDA/AMPA receptors, the plasticity apparatus | Induction of LTP/LTD | Writing to a storage device |
| Emotion | Dopamine/serotonin/oxytocin neurons | Neurotransmitter release | Conducting an orchestra |
| Stress | The adrenal medulla, the adrenaline synthesis system | Adrenaline secretion | Emergency alarm |
| Sleep | The pineal gland, the melatonin synthesis system | Coordination of melatonin secretion | Lighting timer |
| Gene regulation | Transcription factors, promoters/enhancers | Activation of transcription factors | Taking a book out of the library |
| Cell membrane stability | The cell membrane, ion channels | Stabilization of the excitability threshold | Electrical circuit breaker |
Reproductive Function
What is the ultimate purpose of all these functions? It is the transmission of life. From an evolutionary standpoint, reproduction is the very final goal of life.
1. Reproduction: Calcium Transmits Life
If we liken the sexual response system to a hydraulic system, the pump and the valve and the cylinder are installed. But unless the system is set in motion, it does not work. When sexual stimulation is given, calcium sets the system in motion. Calcium is regulated in the vascular smooth muscle so that the blood vessels relax and blood flow rushes in, and at the climax calcium flows into the muscles and rhythmic contraction occurs.
Sperm motility, uterine contraction, and milk secretion are the same. If we liken it to a marathon runner, the muscles and the cardiopulmonary system are trained. But without the start signal, the run does not begin. At each stage of reproduction, calcium sends the start signal.
When the sperm swims toward the egg, calcium regulates the movement of the flagellum. When giving birth, calcium flows into the uterine smooth muscle and labor pains occur. When nursing, calcium flows into the myoepithelial cells of the mammary gland and milk is secreted.
Calcium is the start signal of the transmission of life. At every stage of reproduction, calcium presses the execution button.
[Table 4-6] Reproductive Function: DNA Design vs. Calcium Execution
| Function | What DNA designed | What calcium executes | Analogy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sexual response | Vascular smooth muscle, sensory nerves | Vasodilation, muscle contraction | Hydraulic system |
| Sperm motility | The flagellar structure | Regulation of flagellar beating | The start of a marathon |
| Uterine contraction | Uterine smooth muscle | Induction of labor pains | Start signal |
| Milk secretion | The mammary gland, myoepithelial cells | The ejection reflex | Carrying out a delivery |
2. The Meaning of the Calcium Execution Code
As we have examined so far, calcium makes the heart beat, moves the muscles, makes us breathe, makes us feel the world, defends the body, secretes hormones, and engraves memory.
Calcium executes every function that DNA designed.
In 2003 the Human Genome Project was completed. All 3 billion base pairs were decoded. Humanity cheered, that the blueprint of life had been revealed.
But does a blueprint alone build a house? No matter how excellent an architectural blueprint may be, without an architect the house is not built.
DNA is like a single book shelved in a library. No matter how excellent the knowledge it holds, unless someone opens it and reads and executes it, it is merely information left idle. What reads this blueprint and actually makes proteins, makes the heart beat, and makes thought happen is calcium.
DNA is the blueprint and calcium is the architect. No matter how perfect the blueprint, unless the architect turns on the switch, life is nothing but data at a standstill.
This is the heart of the calcium code theory.
If Darwin revealed 'why species change,' and Watson and Crick revealed 'what is inherited,' the calcium code theory reveals 'how it is executed.'
The Cycle and Evolution of the Earth
In the 1970s the British scientist James Lovelock made a strange claim.
"The Earth is not a dead lump of rock. It is a giant living being that regulates its own body temperature."
At first he was met with ridicule. How can a lump of rock be a living being? But now, fifty years later, his 'Gaia theory' has become the foundation of Earth system science.
I will explain how the Earth regulates its body temperature. The key is the carbon-calcium cycle.
When carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases, the temperature rises. This is the greenhouse effect. But when the temperature rises, much rain falls. When much rain falls, the weathering of rock quickens. As the rock is worn away, calcium dissolves out.
This calcium travels down the rivers to the sea. In the sea it meets carbon dioxide and becomes calcium carbonate. It becomes the skeleton of coral. It becomes the shell of a clam. It becomes the shell of plankton. These pile up on the bottom and become limestone.
As a result, the carbon dioxide of the atmosphere is locked into the limestone at the bottom of the sea. When carbon dioxide decreases, the temperature falls. The Earth has lowered its own body temperature.
Calcium is the Earth's thermostat. It is both the air conditioner and the heater.
1. The Earth's Six-Stage Cycle [Table 4-1] Matching the Earth's Life Cycle of Birth, Aging, Illness, and Death with the Calcium Code
| Stage | Category | Earth | The Role of Calcium (Ca) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birth | Planet formation | The dust and gas of the cosmos gather by gravity and become the Earth. Calcium becomes the foundation of the crust |
| 2 | Growth | Formation of crust/sea | Magma cools and becomes rock (the bones of the Earth), and rain falls and becomes the sea (the blood of the Earth) |
| 3 | Reproduction | Sustaining life | The heyday of 'Gaia,' which uses the calcium of the sea and soil to give birth to and raise countless living beings |
| 4 | Decline | Environmental pollution | Acid rain (A) falls and the soil acidifies so that calcium flows out. The sea loses its self-purification capacity |
| 5 | Death | End of the planet's lifespan | Through the expansion of the sun or the cooling of the inner core, the magnetic field and atmosphere disappear so that life can no longer survive |
| 6 | Return | Cosmic dust | At the end of the solar system the Earth is broken apart and scatters into the cosmos once more as interstellar matter (Stardust) at the atomic level |
2. The Earth's Bones: Limestone
Just as the human being has bones, the Earth too has bones. It is limestone. Ha Long Bay is the same. They are all the Earth's bones made of calcium. These limestones held the carbon dioxide of the Earth's atmosphere for hundreds of millions of years.
Thanks to this, the Earth did not grow hot like Venus. A temperature at which life can survive was maintained. Calcium is the Earth's bones. Limestone and coral, that is the Earth's skeleton.
3. The Earth's Osteoporosis
According to the report of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), the acidity of the sea has greatly increased since industrialization. This is because, as humans burned fossil fuels, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere surged and dissolved into the sea.
What happens when the sea acidifies?
Coral dies away white. This is the bleaching phenomenon. Clams find it hard to make their shells. The shells of plankton grow thin. It becomes ever harder to make and maintain calcium carbonate structures.
When acidosis arises in the human body, the bones dissolve and calcium leaches out. When acidification proceeds on the Earth, limestone and coral dissolve and calcium leaches out. Is the principle not the same?
The Earth too can develop osteoporosis. The Earth too can undergo calcification. The Earth too cycles and evolves and grows old.
4. The War Against Acid: Cell, Human, Earth
Cell, human, Earth. These three are all the same system, which endures by wielding the weapon called 'calcium' against the threat called 'acidification.' Look at the following table.
[Table 4-2] The War Against Acid (Acidosis): A Comparison of Cell, Human, and Earth
| Category | Threat (acidosis) | Defense (the role of calcium) | Result upon failure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cell | Cytoplasm acidifies through metabolic products | The calcium pump regulates ion concentration (maintains pH) | Cell necrosis (bursts and dies) |
| Human | Body fluids acidify through stress/food | Draws calcium out of the bones to neutralize the acidity of the blood (emergency medicine) | Calcification/chronic disease (DIAH-7M) |
| Earth | Sea/soil acidify through the increase of carbon dioxide | Dissolves rock (limestone) to keep the sea alkaline | Collapse of the ecosystem (bleaching phenomenon, desertification) |
As the table shows, the cell, the human, and the Earth all wield the weapon called calcium against the threat of acidification. The cell neutralizes acid with the calcium pump, the human with bone calcium, and the Earth with limestone. And when this defense fails, all of them 'harden, clog, and collapse.'
Cell, human, Earth. These three are not a metaphor. They are a community of shared destiny that actually gives and receives the same calcium and maintains life.
The Cycle and Evolution of the Stars
In 1957, four scientists published a historic paper. Margaret Burbidge, Geoffrey Burbidge, William Fowler, and Fred Hoyle. Taking the first letters of their names, it is called the B²FH paper.
What did this paper reveal? It was the fact that the heavy elements of the cosmos are made inside stars. For this discovery Fowler received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983.
Imagine the universe just after the Big Bang. It is 13.8 billion years ago. What was there in the universe? Hydrogen and helium. There were only these two elements. There was no calcium. There was no carbon. There was no oxygen. None of the elements that make up our body existed.
Then where did the calcium in our body now come from?
1. The Birth of a Star and Nuclear Fusion
Hydrogen gas is drifting through the space of the cosmos. It gathers slowly by gravity. It gathers more and more. The pressure at the center rises. The temperature climbs. When it passes 10 million degrees, nuclear fusion begins. This is the moment a star is born.
What is nuclear fusion? It is light atomic nuclei merging to become a heavy atomic nucleus. Four hydrogen atoms merge to become one helium atom. In this process an enormous amount of energy comes out. This is starlight.
When the hydrogen is all burned, the helium begins to burn. Helium merges to become carbon. Carbon merges to become oxygen. Oxygen merges to become neon, magnesium, and silicon. And silicon merges to become calcium.
The interior of the star becomes a structure like an onion. In the outermost layer, hydrogen is burning. Inside that, helium is burning. Further inside, carbon, oxygen, and silicon are burning. At the center, iron piles up.
Calcium is the work of a star. It is a work of art that the star created through nuclear fusion.
2. The Death of a Star and the Distribution of Calcium
When it has made iron, a crisis comes to the star. Even when iron undergoes nuclear fusion, no energy comes out. On the contrary, it absorbs energy. At the center of the star, energy production stops.
Then what happens? The force that had been pushing the star outward disappears. Only gravity remains. The outer layers of the star collapse toward the center. It contracts at a tremendous speed.
And then a rebound occurs. It is a supernova explosion. A light brighter than 10 billion suns combined bursts out in an instant. With the energy of this explosion, elements heavier than iron are made. And all the elements made inside the star over hundreds of millions of years are scattered into the space of the cosmos.
According to the explanation of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the heavy elements on Earth were made through the nuclear fusion of stars and supernova explosions. The calcium in your bones was made billions of years ago in some star. It is the legacy that star scattered into the cosmos as it died.
Calcium is the legacy of a star. It is the gift that a dead star left behind in the cosmos.
3. The Star's Six-Stage Cycle [Table 5-1] The Life Cycle of Birth, Aging, Illness, and Death of a Star (the Sun) and the Origin of Calcium
| Stage | Category | Star | Calcium-Code Interpretation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birth | Nebula contraction | The gas and dust of the cosmos gather by gravity and the fire is lit (Protostar) |
| 2 | Growth | Main-sequence star | It burns hydrogen and gives off light (the sun of today). The most stable period |
| 3 | Reproduction | Nuclear fusion (element creation) | Inside the star, new elements are made in the order hydrogen to helium to carbon to calcium (conceiving the material of life) |
| 4 | Decline | Red giant | Fuel runs out and the star swells up and becomes unstable (similar to the DIAH state) |
| 5 | Death | Supernova explosion | [The most important moment] When a giant star explodes, heavy elements such as calcium (Ca) and iron are made by its enormous energy |
| 6 | Return | Interstellar matter (Stardust) | The calcium and elements scattered by the explosion spread out into the cosmos. They gather again and become the stars and planets (the Earth) of the next generation |
Take note of the star's [6] Return stage. The substance that the star returned to the cosmos as it died (the supernova explosion) is precisely calcium. That calcium gathered and became the Earth, became the bones of the human being, and became the signal transmitter of the cell. That is, the calcium code is a 'medium of memory' that holds the history of the cosmos itself within the body.
The Cycle and Evolution of the Universe
According to NASA, the universe began with the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago. It exploded from a single point and is still expanding even now.
Imagine the moment of the Big Bang. There was no time and there was no space. All energy was gathered at a single point. And then it exploded. Time began and space unfolded. The universe was born.
Just after the Big Bang the universe was hot and simple. There was only hydrogen and helium. There was nothing complex. But as time passed, it changed.
Gas gathered and became stars. Stars gathered and became galaxies. Heavy elements were made inside the stars. Supernovae exploded and elements were scattered. Those elements gathered again and became planets. On the planets, life was born. Life evolved and became the human being. The human being looked upon the cosmos and began to ask 'Why?'
From hydrogen to the human being. From simple to complex. The universe too evolved.
1. The Decline and Death of the Universe
But the universe too is not eternal.
According to the second law of thermodynamics, the entropy of every system increases. What is entropy? Put simply, it is the 'degree of disorder.' It means that things go in the direction in which energy spreads out evenly.
What happens when you leave hot coffee in a room? It cools. The heat of the coffee spreads out into the room. In the end the temperature of the coffee and the room become the same. Heat no longer flows. It is a state of equilibrium.
The universe is the same. When the stars use up their fuel, they go out. One by one they go out. Energy spreads evenly throughout the entire universe. In the end it becomes a state with no energy exchange at all. A silence near absolute zero. This is called the 'heat death.'
2. The Possibility of a Cycle
Is the heat death the end of the universe? It is not necessarily so.
Roger Penrose, the 2020 Nobel laureate in Physics, proposed a possible scenario called 'cyclic cosmology.' According to his hypothesis, when the universe reaches its heat death, it can lead once more into the Big Bang of the next universe. That is, the universe too can cycle.
It is a hypothesis not yet verified. But even the universe holds within it the possibility of a cycle. Birth and death, and then birth again. The wheel can turn even at the scale of the universe.
Calcium is the medium of the cycle. Made in the stars, passing through life, it returns once more to the cosmos.
