Biosemiotic Aspect of Gravitational Medicine and Biology

Abstract

The gravitation has not been seriously considered in most of biomedical researches. The reason is not only because that the constant gravitation is often unnoticed or neglected but also due to its difficulty in experimental handling. Since the gravitation affects all nature, scientific experiments to compare biological responses with and without gravitation are virtually impossible. To study how living organisms respond to the gravitation, an alternative point of view is essential. Living organisms are not simply affected by gravitation like inanimate matters. They detect certain environmental phenomena related to gravitation and actively respond to it. In other word, living organisms receive the gravitation as a sign and interpret it to some meaning for their own sake. Such process is termed as semiosis and the science of signs in biological phenomena is biosemiotics. The necessity of biosemiotic aspect in designing gravitational biological experiments is discussed.