Evidence for God in Life Design Archives

December 22, 2020December 21, 2020

Christmas Holly Is a Reminder

It’s an evergreen tree that can live for 500 years and grow up to 33 feet (10 meters) tall. However, it usually doesn’t live for more than 100 years or grow taller than 10 feet (3 meters). It is often associated with Christmas because people use it in wreaths and garlands, and you see it pictured on many Christmas cards. What does European (or English) holly (Ilex aquifolium), also known as Christmas holly, have to do with Christmas?

The connection to Christmas goes back to medieval times in Europe. People said that the sharp-pointed evergreen leaves reminded them of the crown of thorns Christ was forced to wear at His crucifixion. The berries, which are red during the Christmas season, reminded them of the blood Christ shed, and the white flowers stand for purity.

European holly grows as a tree or a bush. The berries are mildly toxic to people and harmful to dogs or cats. However, they provide winter food for birds, rodents, and other animals. The flowers are sources of nectar for bees and butterflies. European holly grows in shady areas in forests, and it can form a dense thicket along forest borders. Because it is a dense evergreen with sharp points, people often use it for privacy hedges.

In its native areas of Europe and other regions, holly is an ornamental plant admired for its beauty. However, since people brought it to North America’s west coast, it has become an invasive species. It thrives in the shade of forests and crowds out species native to that area. Washington state has called it a weed.

Like other plant species, European holly has an ecological niche to fill. Problems often arise when people do something to upset the balanced relationship that God has designed into nature. From the beginning, humans have done things to upset our relationship with God. That brings us back to Christmas and the reason God came to Earth in the form of a human who lived a pure life and shed His blood on the cross to redeem us. Christmas holly reminds us of that.

December 18, 2020December 16, 2020

Incredible Diversity of Plants

We often take plants for granted, but their design has allowed animal and human life to exist and offers great hope for the future. We are amazed at the incredible diversity of plants.

Plants not only sustain life on the land but also in the oceans. Seagrass meadows exist all over the planet. Studies in England have shown that 92% of seagrass meadows have disappeared due to pollution, industrial development, and other threats. That has led to a decline in fish and shellfish populations. Yesterday we talked about seahorses, which depend on seagrass for food and protection. The World Wildlife Federation has begun a project called Seagrass Ocean Rescue to reverse the damage by collecting seeds and replanting them in huge plots. The project has protected shorelines and provided nursing grounds for countless species in the hope that coastal life will rebound.

The redwood and sequoia trees that grow in California are very different plant designs. Those giant trees bring water into what would otherwise be a very dry area. The redwoods and sequoias can extract water from fog and rain because of their size, providing a rich soil ecology for other plants. A giant sequoia will weigh around 640 tons – equal to about 107 elephants. They can grow to heights over 300 feet and live for well over 3000 years. You can find information about California’s 1.6 million acres of redwoods and the 48,000 acres that depend on the giant sequoias at www.savetheredwoods.org.

Because of the incredible diversity of plants, we find them growing underwater and in deserts, but some plants known as epiphytes grow in the air. They have exposed roots that pick up moisture and nutrients from the perspective, and they are a food source for many organisms. Closely related are water plants that don’t need soil but can use the nutrients released by fish and other animals that live in oceans and lakes.

Science has developed new aquaponics and hydroponics methods to grow plants in water to produce food for people. In aquaponics, the plants receive their nutrients from the waste products of fish living in the water. In hydroponics, the plants receive their nutrients artificially.

We find plants of all kinds growing everywhere, and because of that, animals can live everywhere. With creative agricultural practices, we can produce enough food to feed the growing human population. Our geologic studies show us that, from the beginning, plants have provided the oxygen that we breathe while removing the carbon dioxide we produce. The plant diversity God has given us makes it possible to produce food, remove pollutants, and recycle carbon. Without the incredible diversity of plants, animal and human life would not be possible.

December 17, 2020December 16, 2020

Seahorse Role Reversal

In most animal species, the female is the one who gives birth and cares for the young, but that is not always the case. One exception to that rule is the seahorse role reversal.

Females seahorses compete to secure a mate. The female is the leader in the courtship ritual, which involves an extended “dance.” After the ritual, the female will deposit her eggs in a pouch on the front of the male. The male fertilizes the eggs and keeps the embryo sea horses for as long as ten weeks.

At the end of that time, the male ejects the young with muscle contractions, pushing them out into the ocean to fend for themselves. There can be dozens or hundreds of tiny seahorses, depending on how big the male is. Sea horses live in dense seaweed, which supplies food and hides them from predators. Small fish such as seahorses are easy prey for many animals in the sea, so they need to reproduce in large numbers.

Besides the seahorse role reversal, there are other cases in the natural world where a male is the caregiver for offspring. Diversity is the answer to many needs of a balanced life system, and the male and female roles can be different depending on the needs of the ecosystem.

The more we learn of the natural world, the more examples we see of incredible design and planning which reflect God’s actions in preparing this planet for human life. We all have a role in protecting the diversity of living things God has placed in our care.

National Wildlife magazine for December-January 2021 has pictures of seahorse birthing.

December 15, 2020December 14, 2020

Bees Develop a Defense Against Killer Hornets

One of the strangest battles in the natural world has been the war between killer hornets and honey bees. The large hornets invade the honey bees’ hives, carry off the bee larvae, and feed them to their offspring. Scientists are seeing bees develop a defense against killer hornets.

This battle has been going on in China, Vietnam, Thailand, Bhutan, and Nepal for some time. In 2019, the killer hornets arrived in Europe, Canada, and the United States. Beekeepers are desperately trying to find the killer hornet nests and destroy them. One of the problems they face is that a single hornet sting delivers about seven times as much venom as a bee sting, so encounters with them can be very painful.

Researchers at the University of Guelph in Canada have found that the bees develop a defense against killer hornets in Vietnam. The bees collect buffalo dung and pack it around the entrances to their hives. The animal feces reduced hornet intrusions by 94%. The honey bees did not use the dung until hornets started invading, and it surprised people who work with the bees. Because beehives are ideal places for disease to grow, bees are very careful about allowing any contamination of their hives. Any attempt to give an evolutionary explanation to this defense system by the bees is doomed because there has not been enough time for any behavioral changes to occur.

Because they can travel great distances by various methods, it is not surprising that insects from one geographical region will show up in a different area. When they do, it creates a problem because they don’t have predators to control them. Fire ants have caused problems in the United States for some time, and African bees are becoming problematic. It appears that the knowledge to use feces to repel their mortal enemies is built into the honey bee’s DNA. Scientists are trying to understand whether it is the smell or natural chemicals that keeps the hornets away. One thing is clear. The bees have a tool they know how to use.

When we see how bees develop a defense against killer hornets, it reminds us that living things are designed to preserve life. The intelligence of the living system is strong evidence of God’s creative ability. The next time you enjoy honey, remember that it is not just the honey itself that God has given you, but also the protection built into the honey bees who produced it.

Reference: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/09/honey-bees-use-animal-poo-to-repel-giant-hornet-attacks

December 11, 2020December 11, 2020

Tiny Living Things that Make Life Possible

The natural world is incredibly complex, with a staggering number of things that we are not even aware of. Every cubic meter of air above a grassy field can contain more than 100,000 living things, many of which we can’t see. We seldom realize that it is these tiny living things that make life possible.

In 2008, Dr. Thomas Kunz at Boston University helped to establish a new scientific discipline called aeroecology. Dr. Kunz and his team used radar, telemetry, thermal imaging, and acoustic monitoring devices to study our lower atmosphere. Other scientists have continued studying aeroecology, which provides useful information in biology and such diverse areas as weather, wind turbines, conditions around airports affecting airplane safety, and disease control.

Aeroecology also involves controlling and maintaining insect populations. Insects are pollinators, and they are critical in a variety of food chains. Recent problems with bee die-offs have affected food production in many areas. Birds and bats help control airborne insects, and their survival is essential to maintain healthy conditions for the success of farming. A purple martin will eat about 20,000 insects yearly, which means this one species removes roughly 412 billion bugs from the atmosphere every year. Some birds stay in the air eating bugs for months at a time, like the alpine swifts of Europe and Africa. They can fly continuously for up to seven months while eating, drinking, and even sleeping.

All of this atmospheric life has a direct bearing on our bodies. We take in massive numbers of bacteria from the atmosphere. Studies by the germ-free research center at Notre Dame University have shown that microbes are critical for life. Researchers found that germ-free rabbits were unable to reproduce. Babies exposed to antibiotics during the first six months of their lives are prone to being overweight. A lack of microbes alters the serotonin levels in humans, affecting many areas of our health. Healthy humans have 1000 microbial species in their mouths and more than 10,000 species in their digestive systems.

The bottom line is that the life of a plant or animal is not just about the organism itself. It is also about the tiny living things that make life possible. The air and the soil are full of these supporting organisms. This indicates design by an Intelligence far beyond what humans can comprehend.

As we get more and better tools to look into the very small, we are astounded by their complexity and function. The Bible simply says God created life. We don’t see any detail, nor should we expect to. How would you explain bacteria to a man with no microscope? “We can know there is a God through the things he has made” (Romans 1:20). Our ability to understand the tiny living things that make life possible leaves us in awe of what God has done.

Footnote: In 2011, Dr. Thomas Kunz was struck by a car and severely injured, ending his career. In 2020, Dr. Kunz, who introduced the science of aeroecology, died from an airborne disease—COVID-19. You can read more about his remarkable life HERE and HERE.

December 10, 2020December 9, 2020

God’s Diversity of Birds

An interesting study involves the biblical classifications of living things. Genesis doesn’t talk about species — it talks about broad groupings. For example, “the flesh of fish” and “the flesh of birds” (1 Corinthians 15:39 and Genesis 1:20-21) includes a wide range of species with many adaptions to particular environments. There is no better example of adaptation than what we see in God’s diversity of birds.

The December 5, 2020, issue of Science News featured a discussion of recent studies into the genomes of modern birds. called the “Bird 10,000 Genomes Project.” An international team of researchers has published the genomes for 363 species of birds, covering roughly 92% of all modern bird families. The scientists in the project are determined not to stop until they have published the genomes of all bird species on Earth.

This diversity is amazing. There are flightless birds like emus, kiwis, and penguins. Some birds are carnivores, and others are herbivores. Other birds have very limited and specialized diets. Some have wide ranges, and others, such as the Henderson crake, are found only on one island in the South Pacific. The most practical aspect of this study is learning how to protect bird species to preserve diversity. All creatures on Earth have properties important to humans, so this research is critical.

God didn’t create 10,000 species of birds independently of one another. He created “fowl,” and the Bible mentions several different species. The bird genomes allowed them to adapt to different environments. Those environments could support other forms of life only because birds supply nutrients and resources that make life possible. Bird migrations can provide the needs for environments thousands of miles apart. The Arctic tern and the bar-tailed godwit are excellent examples of that. Birds not only supply the needs of plants, but their eggs provide food for a variety of animals.

God has used diversity to supply the entire planet with life. Romans 1: 20 tells us that we can know there is a God by the things He has made. We see incredible wisdom and design built into God’s diversity of birds.

You can find the article in Science News HERE and the research report in Nature HERE.

December 7, 2020December 6, 2020

World’s Fastest Ant Species

One of the exciting things about life on Earth is that there are creatures designed to survive, even in hostile environments. A good example is the Saharan silver ant (Cataglyphis bombycina), the world’s fastest ant species.

These ants thrive in the Sahara desert, where the sand’s daytime temperature can be as high as 140 degrees F (60 degrees C). In fact, these ants’ primary food is the remains of other insects that have died from the heat. Saharan silver ants play an important environmental role by helping to keep the desert clean. But how do they survive the heat?

Researchers have found that these ants are designed to move extremely fast. They can travel 108 times their body length in one second. That would be equal to a human running 1 ½ football fields in one second. Have you ever been barefoot on the beach and had to sprint over the hot sand? The ants run so fast that each foot is in contact with the ground for only seven milliseconds. That is not long enough for the heat to threaten the ant’s survival. Researchers say the muscle contraction speed is unique to Saharan silver ants, and it is at the limit of what the ant’s body can withstand, making them the world’s fastest ant species.

We see life no matter where we look on planet Earth. Life prevails from the hot desert sands to the extreme pressure and darkness of the deepest part of the oceans. Through the system of plant and animal life, even the extremes, God has provided for the needs of humans.

Reference: National Wildlife, December/January 2021.

December 5, 2020December 1, 2020

Safe Haven Baby Box

In the Dark Ages, nuns of the Roman Catholic Church would put a “baby box” near the door of the convent where they lived. They did this because people were leaving babies on the doorstep, frequently in unsanitary conditions. The baby boxes contained swaddling clothes and were kept clean. In America today, an organization called Safe Haven Baby Boxes has revived the baby box idea with some 21st-century technology.

The Safe Haven Baby Box is installed in an exterior wall of a fire station or hospital. It has an exterior door that automatically locks upon the placement of a newborn inside. There is an interior door that allows a worker to reach the baby from the inside. When someone places a baby in the box, it triggers an alarm, so workers know to pick up the baby. The boxes are temperature controlled to prevent risk to the baby, although the average wait time to pick up the infant is three minutes.

The baby box idea has had strong support from Willie Robertson of Duck Dynasty fame. It’s an obvious response to the abortion problem in America. It allows a woman who has a baby a “red tape free” way of making sure the child has a legal adoption while keeping the birth mother anonymous. Since the program began in April of 2016, there have been 52 baby boxes installed in Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio. Eight babies have been surrendered in Safe Haven Baby Boxes, and three were surrendered to firefighters at baby box locations. Also, Safe Haven has referred over 500 women to crisis pregnancy centers.

There are situations where a pregnant woman does not want to kill her child but wants just to be free of the situation. This is especially true of rape, but it can be a solution in other cases. New safe haven laws exist in various states, so counselors need to know what is available to help women who find themselves in a difficult situation.

Here is their contact information:

Safe Haven Baby Boxes
PO Box 185
Woodburn IN 46797
(888)742-2133
shbb@SafeHavenBabyBoxes.com
https://shbb.org/

December 3, 2020November 30, 2020

Nature’s Jawbreaker – the Ironclad Beetle

What would you think if I told you that a steamroller weighing 3900 tons could run over me and not hurt me? I doubt you would even dignify me with an answer because it is obvious that I would be lying. In the natural world, a beetle called the diabolical ironclad beetle (Phloeodes diabolicus) can withstand a force 39,000 times its body weight and not crack. Researchers have nicknamed it “nature’s jawbreaker.”

Scientists have paid a lot of attention paid to this beetle in recent months because the secret of its ability to withstand massive forces has a variety of applications. That secret is in the beetles’ exoskeleton. Tiny interlocked and impact-absorbing structures with zipper-like ridges connect the exoskeleton’s top and bottom and resist bending to protect the vital organs. A damage-resistant joint connects the left and right side of the exoskeleton, and a protein glue helps hold the top and bottom together. If the beetle is put under tremendous force, tiny cracks form in the glue to absorb impact energies without cracking the joint.

The diabolical ironclad beetle can be run over by a car and survive with no damage to its internal organs. Scientists are researching ways to apply the ironclad beetle design to armored vehicles for the military and various medical devices. Humans frequently use God’s designs in living things to produce devices that protect and serve people. Nature’s jawbreaker has one of the most recently studied useful designs. We prefer to call this beetle, “God’s jawbreaker.”

Reference: Science News, November 21, 2020.

You can read about some other examples of copying God’s design (biomimicry) HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

December 2, 2020November 30, 2020

Escape the Human Noise

I have always been fascinated that sometimes Jesus wanted to be by Himself, away from the crowds and even His disciples. He was God in the flesh, but He needed to escape the human noise. There are times in my life when I just want silence. There is an island on Saganaga Lake in Ontario where my family built a cabin. I have always loved going there because all you can hear is the wind and the waves.

The December 2020 issue of Scientific American carried an interesting article about human noise. Amazingly, human noise produces seismic vibrations that can be measured by instruments as deep as 400 meters below Earth’s surface. Scientific studies of seismic vibrations in 172 locations worldwide showed that when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the volume of human noise fell by 50% in some places. In rural areas, the noise level depression was even lower. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the human noise level fell on Sundays, but it has declined and stayed depressed since the pandemic began. When you add up the noise of trains, buses, planes, and cars, the noise level is very high. It is not enough to cause earthquakes, but it does have other effects.

The big question for science to answer is, What effect noise has on not just humans, but on the world as a whole? Are animals affected by the noise levels we create? How does noise affect a child’s ability to concentrate? Do noise levels affect the concentration and productivity of workers in a factory? Are some forms of mental illness affected or even caused by our exposure to noise?

Noise has a role in the Old Testament. In Joshua 6, we see that noise played a role in the fall of the walls of Jericho. Many passages talk about various noises in a variety of situations. Some passages emphasize the need for quiet. Psalms 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God …” After the noise of wind, earthquake, and fire, God spoke to Elijah in a soft whisper (1 Kings 19:11-13). In the New Testament, Paul commends the Christians who study “to be quiet, and to do your own business (1 Thessalonians 4:11).”

All of us need to escape the human noise of this world and have a quiet time to focus on God and quietly glorify Him.