Researchers in the U.K. and at MIT have found that seeds sprout faster when exposed to the sound of rainfall on the ground. When raindrops hit the ground, they create vibrations strong enough to jostle microscopic structures called statoliths inside the seeds. That sets off a biological chain reaction that triggers germination. The study shows that seeds can germinate 40% faster when exposed to rainfall sounds.
This new research helps explain why seeds germinate faster in jungle-like environments than in areas with very little rain. Researchers have had great success with rice seeds exposed to rainfall sounds, compared with rice without them. With all other factors identical between the two groups, rice seeds exposed to the sound of rainfall grow 40% faster.
This discovery can be applied to other food crops and should be a valuable tool for addressing food shortages worldwide. It is difficult, if not impossible, to attribute this design characteristic to chance. The extensive design in nature is a strong apologetic for God’s existence.
I’m sitting by my window, looking out at the beautiful trees, green grass, flowers, birds, groundhog, and squirrels, and I’m thinking about Darwinism. According to Darwinism, all living things have evolved from a common ancestor, a single-celled creature about four billion years ago. I’m thinking that it takes a lot of faith to believe in the creativity of chance.
People often cite similarities among living things as evidence that all life originated from a single common ancestor. In their book I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, Norman Geisler and Frank Turek consider how much faith it takes to be a Darwinist. To believe in Darwinism, you must be able to explain the dissimilarity among living things. I think that may be more difficult than explaining the similarities.
Think about the variation among the millions of life forms. Geisler and Turek point out that if you believe in Darwinism, you must explain the dissimilarity between “the palm tree, the peacock, the octopus, the locust, the bat, the hippopotamus, the porcupine, the sea horse, the Venus flytrap, the human, and mildew.” The question is, how could those and all other species have descended from the first unicellular life by mere chance and without intelligent intervention?
As you ponder that, you must also realize that if you’re going to leave God out of the picture, how did nonliving chemicals organize into that original single-celled organism from which all life sprang into being? Furthermore, how can you explain the existence of the fine-tuned universe that makes life, and especially advanced life, possible? Could chance and time have created all of this, or does it require an intelligent Designer? Believing in the creativity of chance takes more faith than I have.
A cemetery in Ithaca, New York, not only has a large number of graves but also an even greater number of bees. Researchers estimate there are perhaps 5.6 million underground bees in that plot of land. It is the largest known aggregation of ground-nesting solitary bees, known as miner bees or mining bees, in the family Andrenidae.
The Andrenidae family of bees consists of more than 1300 species. They don’t build hives, and they don’t swarm. They are solitary bees that live out their lives, build their nests, and raise their young underground. The species of bees that have found a home in the Ithaca cemetery is Andrena regularis. This particular species pollinates crops such as apples and blueberries.
Bees in the Andrenidae family of underground bees are designed to carry pollen on their legs. Various species within this family tend to pollinate specific plant species. We often think of honeybees as essential pollinators, but we tend not to think about or even know about the bees that don’t make honey but are still important pollinators
These underground bees emerge for a short period in the spring and do their pollination work. As temperatures get warmer, they go back underground. Because of the pollen-carrying features of these solitary bees, they can deposit more pollen than individual honey bees. This cemetery discovery is unusual because of how many of them are concentrated in one area. Researchers estimate that there are more than 800 bees per square meter.
God’s amazing web of life is often overlooked because many creatures are largely out of sight and therefore out of mind. These underground bees remind us that there is a lot of life underground, even in a cemetery.
Monotropa uniflora, or ghost pipes in Glacier National Park, Montana
Hidden underground is a network that enables most green plants to survive. Without it, most green plants would be unable to survive. It’s a network of mycorrhizal fungi. In 1960, a Swedish botanist demonstrated that substances pass between plants through a fungal pathway. In the 1980s, it became clear that most plants form mycorrhizal associations. In a play on words from the “worldwide web,” English researcher David Reed called this underground network “the wood wide web.”
Through this network, plants exchange nitrogen, phosphorus, water, and carbon. These fungal networks collaborate by connecting with one another, forming a vast, complex mycorrhizal network. Although it is not worldwide, it can be wood wide.
An extreme example of a plant that depends on the wood wide web is Monotropa uniflora, also known as ghost pipes. They resemble white smoking pipes, with their stems stuck in the ground. They are white because they lack chlorophyll and therefore cannot use photosynthesis to produce the nutrients plants need. Since the fungal networks form physical connections between plants, allowing them to share nutrients, Monotropa plants freeload on other plants.
Although Monotropa is an extreme example of dependence on the wood wide web, most other plants depend on receiving and sharing the nutrients required for plant life. We normally think of plants as separate units, and we may even think of them as competing with one another, but that is not always the case. Sometimes tall plants, such as trees, compete with smaller plants by blocking sunlight. However, they may also share nutrients underground through the mycorrhizal network.
Only in recent years have scientists discovered the wood wide web, even though it has surely been around since God created plants. This fungal network is still not fully understood, but science is seeking to understand it. How many other things in God’s creation will we discover in the future? It is clear that we have much to learn about the vast web of life. “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).
We recently discussed that honeybees can make on-the-fly decisions individually and that they can also make group decisions by communicating with one another. Another important aspect of these remarkable insects is their role in honeybee pollination.
The flowers of various types of plants produce nectar. What is the purpose of nectar? Nectar is actually made up of two substances that are essential for plants—sugar and water. Flowers that produce nectar do so not for their direct benefit but to attract pollinators. Many plants depend on the wind to carry their pollen from one flower to another. However, this method is not very efficient because it requires a lot of pollen to fill the air, causing problems for allergy sufferers, while only a small amount will reach the intended target. A more efficient way to pollinate flowers is to attract pollinators, such as honeybees, to visit and collect pollen, either intentionally or accidentally.
Honeybees have pollen baskets on their legs to collect pollen for their use. Pollen contains protein, vitamins, minerals, and even fat, which benefits honeybees. But even more important is the nectar that honeybees use to produce honey. They accidentally collect pollen because their fuzzy bodies brush against the flower’s stamens. Honeybees even attract pollen without touching the stamens. The motion of the bees makes them positively charged, while the flowers have a negative charge, and static electricity pulls grains of pollen onto the bees’ fuzzy bodies. Honeybee pollination takes place when the bees visit another flower and deposit pollen on the sticky stamen. Ninety percent of the time, a honeybee will visit the same species of flower, which is helpful because pollen from one species would not aid a flower of a different species.
The bottom line is that 80% of the world’s most important crop plants are pollinated by insects. Two-thirds of North American crops depend on insects for pollination, and honeybees are the most vital pollinators for crops in North America. Honeybees are another part of the beautifully designed system that makes life possible in the world God created.
It’s well known that trees benefit the environment by taking in carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen into the atmosphere through the complex process of photosynthesis. However, recent research indicates another way that trees are beneficial to life. Tree bark is home to over 1000 microbial species that help to eliminate methane, hydrogen, and carbon monoxide from the atmosphere.
There has been much concern about the greenhouse effect produced by carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Often overlooked is the fact that the greenhouse effect of methane is many times more potent than that of carbon dioxide, and methane is produced by many natural sources, such as decomposing organic matter. Also, carbon monoxide produced by incomplete combustion is deadly for humans, and many of us have carbon monoxide detectors in our homes because of that. Hydrogen, along with carbon monoxide, apparently helps methane remain longer in the atmosphere. Therefore, removing carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, and hydrogen from the atmosphere can reduce the greenhouse effect.
Researchers studied flooded lowlands in the Amazon region, where microbes living in lake and wetland sediments produce methane. When they measured the amount of methane bubbling up and compared that to methane data acquired by satellites, they were surprised. The satellite data indicated only half as much methane as predicted by ground-based measurements. The research showed that methane levels were reduced because microbes in tree bark oxidized methane. They also found that microbes in the tree bark oxidize hydrogen and carbon monoxide from the air. This shows another way that trees are beneficial to life.
The researchers found that different tree species had distinct microbial communities in their bark. Further study is needed to understand which tree species are most beneficial to the atmosphere. Previous research has found that tree trunks harbor many beneficial microbes. The bottom line is that trees are beneficial to life. In addition to being good for the environment, they are beautiful and beneficial for people’s emotional well-being. The more we learn about the design in the natural world, the more we are amazed by how God has given us exactly what we need for a living environment. It is up to us to enjoy and protect what God has provided.
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.)
Evolution, simply stated, is “change over time.” When we apply this to living organisms, we see two levels: microevolution and macroevolution. The difference between these can be simply stated. Microevolution involves changes below the species level, while macroevolution involves changes above the species level. For instance, transforming a sea creature into a land animal would be an example of macroevolution. Conversely, a bacterium developing resistance to antibiotics illustrates microevolution. The organism remains a bacterium. Microevolution does not confirm macroevolution.
We observe microevolution. Besides bacteria, we see human-directed evolution in dogs, cows, and roses. In each case, they are still dogs, cows, and roses, but with different traits. When Charles Darwin published On The Origin of Species in 1859, he speculated that if his theory was correct, the “number of intermediate varieties” of living things should show up in an “enormous” number of fossils. He acknowledged that, in his time, “Geology assuredly does not reveal any such graduated organic chain; and this, perhaps, is the most obvious and greatest objection which can be urged against my theory.” However, he predicted that over time, those missing-link fossils would be discovered.
Paleontologists, scientists who study fossils, were some of Darwin’s strongest critics at the time. How is the situation today? The bottom line is that the missing links are still missing. The Field Museum of Natural History has one of the largest fossil collections in the world. In 1979, paleontologist David Raup, in the museum’s bulletin, stated, “We now have a quarter of a million fossil species, but the situation hasn’t changed much” since Darwin’s time. Famed paleontologist Niles Eldridge of the American Museum of Natural History wrote in 1985, “We paleontologists have said that the history of life supports (the Darwinian theory of gradual change), knowing all the while it does not.”
Now, more than 165 years after Darwin, the missing links are still missing, while the average person believes the fossil record proves Darwinian evolution because that is what we have been told. Microevolution does not confirm macroevolution, nor does the fossil record.
References: “Conflicts Between Darwin and Palaeontology,” Field Museum of Natural History bulletin, January 1979, p. 25; Time Frames: The Evolution of Punctuated Equilibria, Princeton University Press, 1985, pp. 144-45, and God’s Undertaker by John C. Lennox, Lion Hudson, 2009, pp. 113-14.
Science News highlighted an intriguing report on tile pattern design found in nature. Biologist John Nyakatura and colleagues at Humboldt University of Berlin examined tile-like patterns in various plants and animals. They aimed to discover ways to incorporate these biological tilings into bioinspired devices. They documented 100 examples in the journal PNAS Nexus.
The skin of an elephant has a tile-like pattern, with cracks and wrinkles that trap water and mud. This arrangement helps dissipate heat and cools the elephant. Butterfly wings use overlapping tiles arranged to display colors while repelling water and reducing drag during flight. The eye of a fly features a tile pattern made of closely packed rods, each transmitting an image to the brain, making it extremely difficult to swat the fly. Instead of bones, the cartilage skeletons of sharks and rays consist of thousands of individual tiles that grow as the animals mature.
Research shows that other living organisms also benefit from tile pattern design. The sunflower’s head consists of a tile-like pattern of tiny flowers called florets. By packing the florets in a tile-like structure, the sunflower becomes more attractive to pollinators. Studies of the HIV-1 virus reveal that it has a tiled protein shell that protects its genome. Armadillos are protected by overlapping tiles that provide stiffness while allowing them to roll into a ball. The earliest forms of life also used tiles, indicating that tiles did not evolve recently by chance. The fossilized shells of ancient cephalopods, known as ammonites, show squiggles along the edges of their shell’s tiles.
Understanding the usefulness of tile designs opens the door to significant new benefits for humanity. The more we study living things, the more we recognize God’s wisdom and planning. The statement in Romans 1:20 that “we can know there is a God through the things He has made” is supported by every scientific discovery.
This isn’t a new method plants use to communicate with each other, because they have been using it for who knows how long. But for scientists, it’s a newly discovered plant communication method.
The natural world is filled with astonishing forms of communication, and plants are no exception. We have mentioned before that plants communicate underground with the aid of fungi and mycorrhizal networks in what some have called the “woods-wide-web.” They also communicate by releasing chemicals into the air. We have even seen that they communicate with insects by means of sounds. Plant communication does not involve images, spoken words, or written texts, but can still be considered communication.
Plants communicate primarily through chemical signals. When a plant experiences stress—such as an attack by herbivorous insects—it may release volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air. These airborne chemicals can be detected by neighboring plants, which may then activate their own defense mechanisms preemptively. This method of plant communication has sometimes been described as “eavesdropping.”
The newly discovered plant communication method involves electrical signals passing from plant to plant when leaves touch. Ron Mittler and colleagues at the University of Missouri in Columbia experimented by growing thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana). They grew some plants in isolation and some in dense patches where the leaves touched. Then they stressed the plants by exposing them to excess light. The plants that were grouped together showed less stress damage than the ones in isolation. The researchers analyzed gene expression in isolated plants and in plants that were touching. They also monitored signals passed between the grouped pants.
According to the report, the plants with leaves touching activated over 2,000 stress-response genes that could help to protect them from excess light, cold, salinity, and wounding. The isolated plants showed greater cell damage under stressful conditions.
Understanding plant communication opens new doors for agriculture, conservation, and our appreciation of design in the natural world. Mittler hopes that this newly discovered plant communication method may be used to design mixed plant communities that are more resilient, perhaps reducing the need for chemical pesticides or fertilizers. We believe that God has given us the tools and the talent to reveal new strategies for ecosystem management and food production.
