The dark side of the Mediterranean : expression of fear from the inquisition to the present

Inside the stones of its most famous buildings, Évora keeps mysteries and secrets which constitute the most hidden side of its cultural identity. A World Heritage site, this town seems to preserve, in its medieval walls, a precious knowledge of the most universal and ancient human emotion: fear. Trying to transcend many of its past and future fears, some of its historical monuments in Gothic style were erected against the fear of death, the most terrible of all fears, which the famous inscription, in the Bones Chapel of the Church of São Francisco, insistently reminds us, through the most disturbing words: “Nós ossos que aqui estamos pelos vossos esperamos”. If the first inquisitors worked in central Europe (Germany, northern Italy, eastern France), later the centres of the Inquisition were established in the Mediterranean regions, especially southern France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Consequently, the roots of fear in Évora are common to other towns, where the Inquisition developed a culture of fear, through which we can penetrate into the dark side of the Mediterranean, where people were subjected to the same terrifying methods of persecution and torture. This common geographical and historical context was not ignored by one of the most famous masters of American gothic fiction, Edgar Allan Poe. Through the pages of The Pit and the Pendulum, readers get precise images of the fearful instruments of terror that were able to produce the legend that has made the first grand inquisitor, Tomas de Torquemada, a symbol of ultimate cruelty, bigotry, intolerance, and religious fanaticism, which unfortunately are still the source of our present fears in a time when religious beliefs can be used again as a motif of war and destruction. As Krishnamurti once suggested, only a fundamental realization of the root of all fear can free our minds.

Inquisition of Microcystis aeruginosa and Synechocystis nanowires: characterization and modelling

Identification of extracellular conductive pilus-like structures (PLS) i.e. microbial nanowires has spurred great interest among scientists due to their potential applications in the fields of biogeochemistry, bioelectronics, bioremediation etc. Using conductive atomic force microscopy, we identified microbial nanowires in Microcystis aeruginosa PCC 7806 which is an aerobic, photosynthetic microorganism. We also confirmed the earlier finding that Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 produces microbial nanowires. In contrast to the use of highly instrumented continuous flow reactors for Synechocystis reported earlier, we identified simple and optimum culture conditions which allow increased production of nanowires in both test cyanobacteria. Production of these nanowires in Synechocystis and Microcystis were found to be sensitive to the availability of carbon source and light intensity. These structures seem to be proteinaceous in nature and their diameter was found to be 4.5-7 and 8.5-11 nm in Synechocystis and M. aeruginosa, respectively. Characterization of Synechocystis nanowires by transmission electron microscopy and biochemical techniques confirmed that they are type IV pili (TFP) while nanowires in M. aeruginosa were found to be similar to an unnamed protein (GenBank : CAO90693.1). Modelling studies of the Synechocystis TFP subunit i.e. PilA1 indicated that strategically placed aromatic amino acids may be involved in electron transfer through these nanowires. This study identifies PLS from Microcystis which can act as nanowires and supports the earlier hypothesis that microbial nanowires are widespread in nature and play diverse roles.

The Jews of Spain and Portugal and the inquisition

by Frederic David Mocatta

Die Juden in Spanien u. Portugal und die Inquisition

von Frederic David Mocatta. Ins Deutsche übertr. von S. Kayserling