Humans Archives

May 12, 2026May 11, 2026

The Thymus Has an Essential Purpose

A mysterious organ of the human body lies behind the sternum (breastbone) and in front of the heart. It’s called the thymus. Almost 2000 years ago, the Greek physician and surgeon Galen of Pergamon called it the “seat of the soul.” However, as recently as 1961, Nobel Prize-winning British biologist Sir Peter Medawar called the thymus the graveyard for dying cells and “an evolutionary accident of no very great significance.” Today, scientists know that the thymus has an essential purpose in establishing the immune system during childhood and continues to be beneficial throughout life. Since the thymus has been known for thousands of years, why did it take so long for science to discover that it has a purpose?

Recent research at Massachusetts General Hospital has shown the role the thymus plays in a person’s health. It helps regulate aging and immune health. It appears to play a crucial role in a person’s longevity, protecting against cancer, autoimmune disease, and even cardiovascular risks. Medical scientists have found that people with healthier thymuses are less likely to develop lung cancer or die of heart disease or other causes.

The thymus has sometimes been removed because it can get in the way of heart or chest surgery, and the removal is called a thymectomy. In the past, thymectomy was not considered a problem because people seemed to get along very well without the thymus. The research team found that people receiving a thymectomy were more likely to die of any cause within five years than people with a healthy thymus. People without a thymus were twice as likely to develop cancer and were also more likely to develop autoimmune disease.

The thymus has an essential purpose and is not a vestigial organ, as some have thought in the past. It is not a mistake of evolution. A healthy thymus is a predictor of good health in many respects. People with healthy thymuses are less likely to develop lung cancer or die of heart disease. They are also more likely to respond positively to cancer drugs. The research has led to interest in finding ways to slow the thymus’s natural deterioration, which occurs in adulthood.

Too often, we have been led to believe that something is a vestigial organ, leftover from the process of evolution, when, in fact, it plays a role in our health. (For example, tonsils, appendix, and so-called “junk DNA.”) Looking at medical research from an evolutionary viewpoint can sometimes lead to neglect of important health issues. If we believe our bodies are intelligently designed rather than merely accidents of evolution, we have a reason to look for that design. The thymus has an essential purpose because God designed it that way, but science overlooked it for way too long.

References: washingtonpost.com, and New England Journal of Medicine HERE and HERE

May 8, 2026May 4, 2026

Creating a Smell Map

It is easy to overlook the importance of the sense of smell. Smell affects human health and safety. The sense of smell plays an essential role in the taste of food. It can also warn us of spoiled or unsafe food by its rancid odor. Smell can give pleasure, as with the fragrance of flowers, or make us nauseated, as when we smell a foul odor. Fragrances can bring back pleasant memories. The loss of smell can cause depression. With those things in mind, researchers are creating a smell map.

Maps of the receptors for vision, hearing, and touch have been developed previously, but this research was the first to create a detailed map of the receptors for smell. The research began by studying the smell receptors in mice. The challenge in creating a smell map is that it is more complex than the other senses. There are only three main receptor types needed for color vision, but mice have 20 million olfactory neurons and more than 1,000 types of odor receptors that detect unique subsets of odor molecules.

Before creating a smell map, the prevailing theory was that the smell receptors were randomly placed. The study showed that smell receptors form horizontal stripes from the top of the nose to the bottom, and the order matches the brain’s olfactory bulb. Further study will explore human olfactory receptors to compare them with those in mice.

This research is important because it will help scientists develop therapies for people who have lost their sense of smell, as has sometimes been the case with COVID-19. As we learn more about how the sense of smell works, we see evidence of design. The bottom line is that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalms 139:14). The design of life, and especially the human body, shows evidence of a Designer, not random chance.

Reference: Harvard Medical School hms.harvard.edu

May 6, 2026May 4, 2026

Spoken Language and Linguistics

Animals communicate with each other in various ways, including sounds, movements, colors, odors, and more. Humans are the only creatures God has created that use spoken language. Many scholars have studied language in the field of linguistics. Noam Chomsky is an American linguist who has been called “the father of modern linguistics.” Chomsky is a controversial figure because of his political and atheistic radicalism, but his credentials in linguistics are widely recognized.

Chomsky insists that the principles of language structure are biologically present in the human brain and are genetically inherited from birth. He believes that knowledge of syntax is at least partially inborn and that children need only learn the specific features of the language they are exposed to in their native culture. Thus, Chomsky maintains that there is an innate linguistic capacity in every human, enabling language-based communication in ways no other creature can.

Some animals, such as parrots, can imitate spoken language, but they are just imitating sounds. They are not capable of understanding syntax or communicating in human language. Dr. Stephen C. Meyer has said, “Every single human language has this complexity and suppleness of expression, all the tenses and the declensions and so forth. This was Chomsky’s mantra: There are technologically primitive cultures, but there are no primitive languages. And how you get from what the primates do to what we do is a complete mystery.”

In Genesis 1:28, we find God telling the first couple to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the Earth.” It seems they failed to do so, since at the time of the flood they were still confined to a limited area of the planet that God covered with water. Then, when Noah’s family emerged from the ark, God repeated his command to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Genesis 9:1). Again, they failed to do so because they still lived in a limited area, and, working together, they contrived to build a tower to reach heaven against God’s wishes.

It was then that God gave them different languages: “So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth” (Genesis 11:8). They still had that sophisticated inborn language ability, but they could no longer understand one another or work together to accomplish the project they were attempting. That action of God finally caused them to spread over the Earth. In the genealogies of Genesis 10:25, we read an interesting note. It says that in the days of Peleg, “the earth was divided.” Could that refer to the time when the land bridge between Asia and North America became covered with water, so the people who had migrated to the Western Hemisphere could no longer travel back to the east? The land bridge was no longer needed.

Today, of course, we are scattered over the Earth, but our ability to communicate with one another through spoken language has increased to the point where we can instantly talk with people around the world. Even in cases where we don’t speak the same language, computers and even handheld devices can translate our words into another language. We have today the ability to use language to accomplish prideful things, similar to the people in Babel attempting to build the tower. Or we can use our ability to communicate with one another to achieve peace and bring the message of salvation through Jesus Christ to people all over the world. I pray that we will make the right choice.

References: scienceandculture.com and wikipedia.com

May 1, 2026April 29, 2026

Cleanliness on the International Space Station

Keeping your house clean can be challenging. Consider what it would be like to have several people confined to a small space on the International Space Station (ISS). You might think that keeping that environment perfectly clean and sterile would ensure the astronauts’ health. That is not necessarily the case. Excessive cleanliness on the International Space Station may cause health problems.

According to a new study, the ISS may be more sterile than it should be. Microbes can be beneficial to our health, and research indicates that low microbial diversity on the ISS may be contributing to immune dysfunction, skin rashes, and other inflammatory issues. The new study suggests that introducing more Earth microbes may help prevent astronaut health problems.

For the study, astronauts were asked to swab 803 surfaces on the ISS and return the samples to Earth for analysis. The returned samples contained chemicals from cleaning products and disinfectants, as well as microbes. Researchers examined how the bacteria and chemicals interacted. Particularly important were the dining, food-prep, and toilet areas.

Microbes in our natural Earth environments may help strengthen our health and resistance to infections and skin problems. We have millions of microbes on our skin and in our gut that are not harmful and actually help us digest our food and fight diseases. While on Earth, we have beneficial microbes all around us, but excessive cleanliness on the International Space Station may not be entirely positive. The researchers suggested introducing microbes from Earth to give a more natural balance without posing any health risks to the astronauts.

Sanitized living spaces may not be as healthy as we think. There are far more microbes on planet Earth than there are people, and we can be thankful that God has placed them here for the benefit of life.

Reference: Discovermagazine.com

April 29, 2026April 29, 2026

A Natural Tendency to Believe in God

An international research project found that humans have a natural tendency to believe in God. Directed by academics at the University of Oxford, the project involved 57 researchers examining diverse cultures across 20 countries. The project was not intended to prove or disprove the existence of God but to determine whether the concept of God, or gods, is learned or a basic aspect of human nature.

The studies were conducted in both traditionally religious countries and atheist societies. Among the findings were that children as young as age three believed in “all-seeing, all-knowing supernatural agents.” It seems normal for a child to have a natural tendency to believe in God, but atheism must be taught. The research also indicated that adults instinctively believe that some part of their mind, soul, or spirit lives on after death. In other words, people find it natural to believe in the separation of the mind and the body. Project director Dr. Justin Barrett of Oxford University said, “Interestingly, we found that religion is less likely to thrive in populations living in cities in developed nations…”

Project co-director Robert Trigg said, “We have gathered a body of evidence that suggests that religion is a common fact of human nature across different societies. This suggests that attempts to suppress religion are likely to be short-lived as human thought seems to be rooted to religious concepts…” Why would people want to “suppress religion,” or a natural tendency to believe in God? That question is especially significant since the research also found, not surprisingly, that people with religious ties are more likely to cooperate in societies.

This research project was conducted over three years, and the results were published in 2011. Despite the years that have passed, I suspect the results would still be the same today. The bottom line is that people everywhere naturally believe in God and in an afterlife. They have to be convinced otherwise. Are most members of the human race confused and wrong, or is there an inherent truth behind that belief? “He (God) has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV).

Reference: phys.org

April 20, 2026April 19, 2026

The Acoustic Reflex

Human ears are amazing. They can distinguish half a million tones and detect sound levels from 0 to 135 decibels. Zero dB is a very faint sound, and 135 dB is extremely painful and damaging to hearing. Decibels are measured on a logarithmic scale, so 135 dB is 10 trillion times as loud as 0 dB. Anything over 85 dB can damage hearing with long exposure, but God has given us an automatic protection system that activates between 70 and 100 dB. It is called the acoustic reflex.

Here is how the human acoustic reflex (also known as the stapedius reflex or auditory reflex) works. High-intensity sounds trigger an involuntary muscle contraction in the middle ear. Tiny muscles in the middle ear, primarily the stapedius and tensor tympani muscles, contract to dampen the movement of the ossicles or stapes (the small bones in the middle ear). Because of this reflex, chain saws, loud engines, or hair dryers can make it difficult to hear conversations, which are typically not more than 60 dB, but it helps protect the inner ear from damage caused by loud noises.

When the acoustic reflex activates, the stapedius muscle pulls the ossicles (stapes) of the middle ear away from the cochlear window, and the tensor tympani muscle stiffens the stapes by pulling on the eardrum and malleus (hammer bone). This is essential to protect hearing in everyday environments. However, the acoustic reflex is not fast enough to react to sudden loud noises, such as gunshots. Also, extremely loud noises or prolonged exposure to loud noises can still harm your hearing, and for that reason, wear ear protection when around loud noises. We should be thankful for God’s design of ears and for the automatic protection He provided as part of the amazing design of the human body.

March 23, 2026March 22, 2026

Knee Joint Design in Humans

One common criticism used by atheists against the existence of God is the so-called “poor design” of the human body. They criticize many areas, with the knee joint often being a focal point. In reality, a healthy knee joint has an impressive range of motion and can last for decades without significant wear. No human-engineered prosthetic knee can match this longevity. Even with the best available materials, all prosthetic knees tend to show signs of wear after just a few years.

One of the leading critics of the human body’s design is Nathan H. Lents, a scientist, author, and professor affiliated with the City University of New York (CUNY). He is especially critical of the knee joint. As an advocate for human evolution, he claims, “The problem is due to incomplete adaptation.” He states, “The anatomical adaptation to upright walking never quite finished in humans. We have several defects that are the result of the failure to complete the process… The ACL is vulnerable to tearing in humans because our upright bipedal posture forces it to endure much more strain than it is designed to.” It’s interesting that he used the word “designed,” even though he does not believe it was designed. He believes it simply evolved through natural selection acting on random mutations.

The truth is, the human knee functions as what engineers call a floating joint because it has no fixed center of rotation — it is free to rotate and roll. It is stabilized by ligaments, including the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL). These ligaments work together with the femur and tibia to form a four-bar linkage mechanism. Professor Lents refers to people tearing the ACLs. However, the ACL is not a bad design. Injuries to it are uncommon in everyday life but are more frequent in high-impact sports such as soccer and ski jumping. Sports like tennis or skating generally do not pose a significant risk to the ACL.

Being overweight is another common factor contributing to knee problems. In the United States, more than two-thirds of adults are overweight, and one in three is obese. Just ten extra pounds of weight can add approximately sixty pounds of force to each knee during running. Obese individuals are twenty times more likely to require a knee replacement than those who are not overweight.

In reality, the knee joint is an ingenious design, as you can see in the illustration. Engineer Stuart Burgess explores this in detail in his excellent book, Ultimate Engineering. Many who view the human body as a product of evolution assume it is poorly designed without understanding the facts. God has created the human body with many remarkable engineering features, including our knee joints. Truly, ultimate engineering requires an Ultimate Engineer.

March 2, 2026March 1, 2026

Junk DNA and ERVs

Every cell in the human body contains a molecule called DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). We often hear about DNA being used in crime investigations because each person’s DNA is unique. The DNA molecule holds a code that determines many characteristics of an individual. It also contains some seemingly non-coding sequences that scientists have called “junk DNA.” Evolutionists suggest that this “junk” proves humans are simply the result of evolution because an intelligent creator would not have inserted ERVs or useless sequences into our DNA.

The most notable of these so-called junk sequences are endogenous retroviruses (ERVs). “Endogenous” means they originate from within the cells, and “retroviruses” because they were believed to be remnants of ancient viral infections that affected the genomes of our ancestors. The theory was that ERVs were inherited through the evolutionary process. However, recent studies paint a different picture.

If ERVs had been random viral insertions in our ancestors’ DNA, they would likely have no important functions. A recent study shows that they are “essential” on a “widespread” scale during the earliest stages of human development. Without them, the human embryo would not survive. Earlier research indicated that ERVs are crucial in our immune system, perform vital cellular functions, and help regulate gene expression.

Scientists should be cautious before assuming that so-called “junk DNA” has no purpose and that humans are simply products of blind evolution. One thing we have been told before is that God doesn’t make junk. Intelligent design predicted that we would find this “junk” has a purpose.

Reference: scienceandculture.com

February 27, 2026March 11, 2026

My Chinny Chin Chin

“Little pig, little pig, let me come in. Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin.” That familiar line comes from “The Three Little Pigs,” published in The Nursery Rhymes of England in 1886. It shows the piggy’s response to the wolf’s request to gain entrance to the pig’s home for nefarious purposes. The clever response of the pig could be stated in the less poetic way, “Absolutely not!”

To analyze this quote scientifically, we might ask whether pigs actually have chins. According to the scientific definition of chins, the answer is “absolutely not.” According to a recent scientific study, neither do other mammals, not even chimpanzees. Only humans possess chins. The respected science journal PLOS One published a study exploring why humans have chins. The researchers aimed to determine whether our chins resulted from direct natural selection or are merely a by-product of other factors.

The issue is that my chinny chin chin serves no clear survival purpose and thus cannot be directly explained by the evolutionary process of natural selection or survival of the fittest. Because the human chin is unique, anthropologists use it as a distinguishing feature for identifying our species, Homo sapiens, in the fossil record.

Evolutionists have proposed several explanations for why we humans have chins. One suggestion is that they help facilitate chewing, but many mammals without chins can chew foods that humans cannot. Another idea is that the chin provides more space for our thick tongues, which are crucial for speech. Even sexual selection of mates has been proposed as an evolutionary explanation for chins. However, according to the article in PLOS One, “none of these hypotheses have received strong support” for various reasons.

The study’s author, Noreen von Cramon-Taubadel, a professor of anthropology at the University at Buffalo, suggests that the uniqueness of the human chin “does not mean that it was shaped by natural selection to enhance an animal’s survivability.” As for this animal—or human—I believe my chinny chin chin is part of God’s unique design for His creatures, created in His spiritual image.

References: journals.plos.org and discovermagazine.com

February 20, 2026February 18, 2026

Information Is Fundamental to Everything

At the core of everything is information. DNA carries information in every cell of the human body, as well as in the cells of animals and plants. Without the information in our genes, we could not exist. DNA is a physical molecule, but it contains information that is not physical. We write words with physical ink on physical paper, but the information in those words is not physical, and it is far more valuable than the paper itself. Information is fundamental.

Ancient Greek Stoic philosophers used the word “logos” (translated as “word” in English) to refer to the rational principle behind the universe. The apostle John gave that term a deeper meaning when he used it to refer to the One who created all things. John’s gospel begins with, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” He goes on to say that the Word created all things.

When you read the Genesis creation account, you find, “And God said let there be light” (verse 3). The phrase “And God said” recurs in verses 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, and 29. Hebrews 11:3 tells us, “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” Words are not visible. Information isn’t visible. We can put information on paper by writing visible words, but the information behind those words is not visible—yet it is more important than the paper on which it is written.

Information is fundamental, immaterial, and invisible. God is spirit (4:24), meaning that He is not material. The cosmic creation event, popularly known as the Big Bang, involved the creation of matter/energy, space, and time. That means the Creator of matter/energy, space, and time must be immaterial and outside of space and time. Matter/energy cannot create itself. God’s Word created everything we see as God spoke the universe into existence. The Bible doesn’t specify when God created the universe, what physical processes He used, or how long it took. Since God is not limited by our time dimension, time means nothing to Him (2 Peter 3:8).

After the physical creation, God used information to create life, with a DNA code far more complex than any human-made computer code. There could be no life without information to guide the production of proteins necessary for forming living cells and to direct the metabolism that sustains life. Information comes only from intelligence.

The bottom line is that information is fundamental, and it’s built into every living cell. If someone says, “I will not believe unless I can see it,” they are not being honest. Everyone believes in things they cannot see. Information is fundamental, and we cannot see it. The Word created all things (John 1:3). At the right time, the Word became visible: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Those who refuse to believe in God because they can’t see Him should remember that “the things that are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (See 2 Corinthians 4:13-18.)