John N Clayton Archives

January 23, 2023January 22, 2023

Human Metabolism and Food Energy Production

Some say that the human body is no different from the bodies of other mammals, and in some senses, that is true. We all have hearts, stomachs, livers, etc., and our body chemistry is pretty much the same. If that were not true, we would be unable to eat meat or maintain a body temperature different from our environment. Still, despite these similarities, there are huge differences between human metabolism and the way we produce the food energy our bodies use.

For our body size, humans consume more calories each day than any other mammal. Evolutionists attempt to relate humans to chimps, gorillas, and orangutans, but the way humans handle food energy is radically different from the apes. When a baby human is born, its metabolism is very similar to an adult human, but it skyrockets over the first year of life. By the first birthday, toddlers burn over 50% more energy than we would expect for their size. Much of this consumption is to develop the brain. Throughout childhood, human metabolism will decline, reaching adult levels at around age 20, with boys declining more slowly than girls. After that, the energy expenditure is steady from age 20 until about age 60, and then it declines again.

Chimps, gorillas, and orangutans foraging for food can obtain between 200 and 300 k/cal each hour. At that rate, it takes apes about seven hours of foraging to get the k/cal they need for the day. Human metabolism requires more k/cal per day – around 2000 for women and 2500 for men, depending on body mass, activity, and age. Human hunter-gatherers can easily bring in 3000 to 5000 food k/cal per hour. Farmers produce much more than that. Until the middle 1800s, more than half of America’s workforce were farmers. Since humans have not had to spend so many hours obtaining food, we have time to devote ourselves to science, medicine, teaching, and the arts.

Human efficiency of food production allows children the freedom to grow and learn without spending every waking hour finding food. The problem we have involves food distribution and food waste. Our bodies are amazing machines of human metabolism. Herman Pontzer of the Duke Global Health Institute wrote, “The human body is a wonder of coordinated chaos. Every second of every day, each of your 37 trillion cells is hard at work, pulling in nutrients, building new proteins, and doing the myriad of other tasks that keep you alive.”

The human body is uniquely designed to serve others and serve God. That fact led the Psalmist to write, “I will praise you, God, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I know that full well” (Psalms 139:14). It also speaks to the value of human life and the importance of living as God has called us to live.

Reference: “New Human Metabolism Research Upends Conventional Wisdom about How We Burn Calories” by Herman Pontzer in Scientific American magazine, January 2023.

January 21, 2023January 18, 2023

BabylonBee Satire with a Message

I often enjoy the posts on the satirical website BabylonBee.com. Many times the BabylonBee satire relates to Christian faith, and that is true of the one posted on October 8, 2022. It tells the fictional story of two friends named Brad and Vince. Brad was suffering after losing his job and being diagnosed with lupus. Vince tried to “comfort” him by saying, “God will never give you more than you can handle in life.” Brad was suspicious that “Vince isn’t real accurate with these Bible quotes.” I agree with Brad that we can misuse the Bible when trying to comfort someone.

Vince was apparently using I Corinthians 10:13: “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (ESV) First, let me point out that the verse does not say that God gives you these trials and temptations. James 1:13 tells us, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.” In other words, God does not “give” us “more than we can handle in life.”

With that clarified, we can agree that the tempter, Satan, certainly tries to give us more trials and temptations than we can stand. In the BabylonBee satire, Brad decided to check the Bible for himself. His reaction was, “Wow. Like half the characters in here just lay down and beg to die at some point…Moses, Elijah, Jonah, Jeremiah, Job – all tell God they wish they could just cash it in. Then you have the Psalms of David – the man apparently lived half his life in total despair.”

As Brad realized, even though God doesn’t give us the bad things in life, He doesn’t always protect us from them. God gives us the good things. James 1:17 says, “Every good give and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights…” The problem comes when we blame God for the bad things and then try to face them on our own. Again, James 1:12 says, “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.”

I like the way the BabylonBee satire ends. “Brad was sharing with Vince the good news that sometimes, the place where you are completely crushed and defeated is the easiest place to hear God speak.” That’s it! God doesn’t cause bad things to happen, but if we allow it, those things can bring us closer to Him as we realize we can’t handle them by ourselves.

Reference: BabylonBee.com/news

January 20, 2023January 18, 2023

Glass Frogs Become Translucent

Glass Frogs Becomes Translucent — *Hyalinobatrachium fleischmanni*

One of the most compelling examples of design in natural things is a frog that escapes predators by making itself practically invisible. During the day, glass frogs (Hyalinobatrachium Fleischmanni) can be up to 61% transparent while sleeping on green leaves in their native Central and South America. At night, they regain their color and become active. Medical researchers want to know how they do this because it might give a clue about how to avoid blood clotting in humans.

Somehow, glass frogs separate their red blood cells from the blood plasma. The plasma is still circulating, and if you look closely, you can see the heart beating. But the red blood cells are temporarily stored in the liver, making the frog transparent enough to avoid notice by predators. When the frog becomes active, its color returns, and, like most frogs, it can evade predators.

Jesse Delia, a researcher at the Museum of Natural History in New York, and Carlos Taboada of Duke University have used ultrasound imaging technology to understand what the glass frogs are doing. They found that the frogs store their red blood cells in the liver, enlarging it by 40%.

The challenges the glass frogs are able to overcome include having little or no oxygen while avoiding blood clotting. That is what the medical researchers want to understand because the application to anti-blood-clotting medications could be significant.

God has built many techniques for survival into living things, and this is one of the most interesting. We continue to learn from the things God has made.

Reference: BBC News and the journal Science

January 19, 2023January 18, 2023

Spider Webs Have Great Diversity

Not all spiderwebs are the same. The web shape and use are different from one spider species to another. However, scientists have identified more than 49,000 species, so spider webs have great diversity.

Araneidae spiders make a round web with a hub in the center and radii projecting outward with rings of sticky spirals surrounding it. Most people have seen those webs in their gardens or other outdoor locations. Spiders in the family Agelenidae build horizontal sheet webs that insects fall onto. The web is not sticky, but when an insect lands on the platform, the spider quickly rushes over and injects venom into the victim.

The Deinopis spiders are net-casters. They make a small square web and hide above it until an insect walks below. The spider drops the net on the unsuspecting prey and then wraps it in silk. One New Guinea spider species makes a long ladder web to capture moths. The moth’s protective coating falls off when sliding down the ladder, and then it gets stuck. In Australia, a species of orb-weaving spiders produce giant net-like webs up to three feet in diameter.

We can see that spiders have enormous diversity in their webs. Spider silk is very acidic, so fungi and bacteria can’t exist on it. Because of that, humans have used spider webs as a treatment for wounds. Medical research has also found uses for spider venom. Researchers estimate that spiders catch up to 800 million tons of insects every year worldwide. Without spiders, we might be overrun by insects.

We tend to have a negative view of spiders, but they are one of God’s great tools to protect us and help make the world a better place. Spiders are not aggressive toward humans, but they can inflict a painful and sometimes dangerous bite when we invade their spaces. Like many other things, we must learn how to manage spiders and their varied webs designed to remove the plague of insects from our lives.

Reference: The International Society of Arachnology in the Old Farmer’s Almanac 2023, pages 186-7.

January 18, 2023January 17, 2023

Potential Life-Supporting Planets are Hard to Find

Astronomers have discovered over 5,000 exoplanets in the last 30 years, and 2022 was a banner year. Exoplanets are planets orbiting stars other than our Sun. Astronomers are looking for potential life-supporting planets similar to Earth but orbiting another star like our Sun.

If you are going to find life in space, it would have to be on a planet with surface water and an atmosphere that provides oxidation and protects the surface from radiation and meteorite bombardment. Unfortunately, potential life-supporting planets are hard to find. Here is the breakdown of exoplanet characteristics so far:

*30% of all exoplanets are gas giants like Jupiter or Saturn.
*35% are like Neptune or Uranus, with densities so low that no life form could exist and no surface features that could sustain life.
*31% of all exoplanets are called super-earths which may have rocky surfaces but are too massive to support the chemicals needed for life. They lie somewhere between the mass of Earth and the mass of Neptune.
*Only 4% of all exoplanets are considered to be terrestrial, like Earth. However, many of them orbit the wrong kind of star, have no magnetic field, or have other properties that would be hostile to any life form.

The bottom line is that the study of exoplanets has shown the exceptional qualities of our planet and solar system. We must take care of planet Earth because we have no other potential life-supporting planets to migrate to if we make this planet hostile to life. God designed not only the life on our planet but also the conditions that allow that life to exist.

There are many possible explanations for why exoplanets exist. For example, they may be debris from the construction of our universe or the preparation for other life forms in the distant future. The message of exoplanets is that our planet is unique. The statement “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the skies show the work of His hands” takes on a special meaning in the light of what we see in space.

Data from NASA/JPL-Caltech reported in Discover magazine January/February 2023.

January 17, 2023January 16, 2023

Bird Nest Designs Display Wisdom

We tend to ignore the hidden intelligence of design in the natural world. One great example is the wisdom of bird nests. We see that wisdom in a wide variety of bird nest designs in how and where they build and how they use them.

You may think that bird nests are where birds live, but that isn’t true. Birds do not sleep in their nests, and most birds never return to their nests once their young can fly. Instead, when it’s time to sleep, birds roost in safe, comfortable places. This may be a well-sheltered tree or a sheltered spot under an eave. Perching birds have locking tendons in their legs and feet so they can hold tight to branches, even when they are sleeping.

When building their nests, birds use ingenious ways to protect their eggs and baby birds. Two main techniques are camouflage and making nests hard to reach. For example, hummingbirds weave their nests with natural objects to blend in with tree branches. Cactus wrens build their nest in sharp-spined cholla cacti, which few predators can navigate. Birds use common materials such as lichens and leaf scraps held together with spider web threads that can stretch as the young grow.

Some birds set up decoys by building an empty dummy nest in addition to their real one. Flycatchers weave snakeskins into their nests to frighten away squirrels and other nest raiders. Seabirds lay pear-shaped eggs on cliffs beyond where predators can climb. The shape of the eggs keeps them from rolling off the cliff. Some birds will nest within a wing’s reach of each other, so there are many defenders against an approaching predator.

Small birds sometimes build their nests near large birds for protection. Sparrows and hummingbirds nest within an abandoned eagle’s nest or Cooper’s hawk nest. Snow geese nest near a snowy owl’s nest. Egrets and herons nest above alligator ponds to keep raccoons away. Some wading birds fake an “incubation pose” to decoy predators from their actual nest location.

Other bird nest designs include a floating nest of aquatic vegetation that moves with changing water levels. The decaying vegetation also generates warmth to help incubate the eggs. Canadian jays situate their nests, so they have southern exposure to give them extra heat. All birds line their nests with their own feathers so the featherless baby birds can stay warm. Some species will even pull fur from dogs and other animals to line their nests for warmth.

Bird nest designs take advantage of many locations to give their babies a chance to survive. For example, Wrens, barn swallows, purple martins, and house finches use locations that include human structures, such as highway overpasses, abandoned cars, skyscraper ledges, and traffic lights.

Observing the many bird nest designs is a great way to see the wisdom and design God gave them. In Job 39, God challenges Job to explain how various birds do what they do. Job responds by saying, “Who is he that gives counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered things that I did not understand, things too wonderful for me which I did not know about” (Job 42:3). The natural world displays so much design and wisdom that we need to have that same attitude.

Reference: Old Farmer’s Almanac for 2023, Number 231, pages 56- 64.

January 16, 2023January 15, 2023

Toward a Positive Relationship Between Science and Faith

Our mission is to show that science and faith in God are not enemies but exist in a symbiotic relationship. Unfortunately, it’s an uphill battle because both those who promote naturalism and promoters of religious fundamentalism are unwilling to think and work toward a positive relationship between science and faith. This is an old problem that has been detrimental to both science and faith in the past.

The ignorance of science in America today continues to be appalling. Here are some examples: 26% of all Americans believe the Sun revolves around the Earth, 60% believe that dinosaurs died out sometime in the last 10,000 years, and 33% believe dinosaurs were on Earth 100 years ago. I had a brilliant student with great science aptitude in science in my high school physics classes. He was the son of a religious figure in South Bend, where I taught for 41 years. At the end of the school year, I asked him where he would go to college and what would be his science major. I hoped it would be physics. He smiled and told me he wasn’t going to college because he didn’t want to give up his faith.

We want to work toward a positive relationship between science and faith. We encourage Christians to go into science because science needs a moral compass. Ninety-five Nobel Laureates were recognized between 1901 and 1930, but only four were Americans. Europeans dominated the winners of the Nobel Science awards. In the 1930’s Americans did somewhat better, taking 28% of the Nobel prizes in science. From 1943 to 1958, Americans won 46% of the Nobel prizes, and since 1959 the number has risen to 57%.

The dictionary defines science as knowledge, and God is the source of all knowledge. Not only has the war between science and faith eroded great talent from the growth of science, but the collateral damage of the war between science and faith has damaged the Church. In 1940, 96% of Americans believed in God, and 75% were church members. Today, 62% of Americans believe in God, and only 47% are members of a church. Thirty percent say they have no religion at all.

If you believe in God and His Word, true science (knowledge) can’t be in conflict with your religious beliefs. If you have a conflict, you either have bad science or bad theology, or both. The lesson of history is that there has been a lot of both. We must work toward a positive relationship between science and faith to advance knowledge for everyone’s benefit. Educating people about God and biblical moral values can benefit everyone. Join us as we work toward that goal. Naturalism cannot tell us why we exist, how we should live, or what our future is. God’s Word answers those vital questions.

Data from Skeptic Magazine, Volume 27 #4 2022, pages 4 -5.

January 14, 2023January 12, 2023

Emotional Tears Are Different from Other Tears

In 1662 Danish scientist Niels Stensen discovered that the lacrimal gland in the corner of each eye is the source of our tears. Human eyes produce three different types of tears, each with different purposes. Basal tears clean and lubricate the eyes. Responding to environmental stresses produces reflex tears. For example, we experience this kind of tears when we cut an onion. The third type is more mysterious. Emotional tears are different from other tears.

One difference is that we have some control over emotional tears. Secondly, they contain hormones and proteins not found in other tears. The proteins cause them to stick to our faces. Thirdly, researchers suggest that they are useful in confirming to others that we are truly happy or very sad. For example, watching a “tearjerker” movie causes us to produce emotional tears.

Emotional tears are different from other tears since only humans release emotional tears in moments of sorrow or joy. They are a way of communicating and sharing our emotions. The limbic system in the brain, which is associated with emotional arousal, triggers the brain’s message station (pons) to signal the lacrimal system to produce tears. No other animal produces emotional tears.

Researchers believe that emotional tears are a social cue to other humans to indicate that we need help. Babies don’t have fully developed lacrimal glands, so they can’t produce visible tears. Instead, they audibly cry when they need attention. As humans mature, emotional tears indicate a broad range of needs and feelings, including compassion, empathy, and sentimental or moral feelings.

People who shed emotional tears and receive support from others feel better. Holding back the tears or not receiving social and moral support leaves a person feeling less satisfied. Emotional tears are different from other tears because they can bring us together for spiritual and emotional healing. As humans, we have unique needs because of our relationship with each other and with God. That is one of the many factors showing that God created us in His image.

Reference: American Academy of Ophthalmology website

January 13, 2023January 12, 2023

Mangroves Are Essential for Many Reasons

We have mentioned before the value of mangroves and barrier islands for protecting areas prone to hurricanes. Mangroves are essential for many reasons, including solving today’s freshwater and climate change issues.

Mangroves grow in brackish waters that are a mixture of saltwater and fresh. For that reason, they grow in delta areas where rivers enter the sea or in coastal areas with massive amounts of rain. Mangroves can filter out 90% of the salt in seawater that enters their roots, and the mangrove root systems provide a place where marine organisms lay eggs and raise their young. Recent research has shown that mangrove forests store up to five times more carbon than any other land-based forests, storing 87% of that carbon in the soil beneath their roots.

Mangroves are essential for many reasons. They stop shore erosion, sequester carbon, provide a barrier to storm surges, and make a place for marine organisms to lay eggs and raise their young. They also offer a home in coastal areas for bees to build their hives and birds to build their nests. As a result, the honey industry gets much of its wild honey from mangrove forests. In addition, bird watchers have identified many bird species that depend on mangroves for secure nesting areas.

God gave us all kinds of plants to provide for our needs. From the desert cactus to the evergreens in cold weather areas to the seaweed in the oceans to the land trees we use for wood, plants are essential creations of God. Unfortunately, research shows that humans have eradicated 50% of the mangroves in the last 50 years, and we will pay a heavy price for the loss. We must learn to use these incredible resources wisely.

Reference: “Family Trees” in World Wildlife magazine winter 2022

January 12, 2023January 11, 2023

Water Shortages Worldwide

Potable water shortages are becoming more of a problem in various places on Earth. The water problem in the western United States has received massive attention. On our “Canyonlands” trips, we always spent a day on Lake Powell, but the water level in that lake has dropped so much that the tour boats we used can no longer operate. The Rio Grande separating the United States and Mexico was once a barrier to crossing the border, but now it is so low that people can walk across it just about anywhere.

In many African areas, potable water shortages affect both humans and animals. For example, northern Africa’s Sahara Desert is roughly the size of the United States and is home to many animals and people. In other areas, a lack of wells prevents access to the water underground. So is there a weakness in God’s creation that causes water shortages resulting in thirst and pain for millions of people? The answer is definitely not.

God has provided water stored underground and in the mountain snow, but humans refuse to manage the use of these stored reserves carefully. The desert plants God created, such as the saguaro cactus in the American southwest, prepare to survive the dry season by storing large amounts of water when the rains come. We need to apply that kind of wisdom to avoid water shortages.

Underground rivers contain massive amounts of water in various parts of the world. For example, before the last ice age, the United States had a river we call the Teays, which was much larger than the current Mississippi River. It started in North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and Ohio winding through northern Indiana and Illinois, eventually joining the Mississippi drainage. It was miles across. When the glaciers came through the area, they diverted rivers and filled the riverbeds with sand and gravel. As a result, the Teays River became buried, and the porous deposits today store massive amounts of water.

The largest freshwater lake on Earth is Russia’s Lake Baikal, which holds more than 20% of Earth’s fresh surface water, equal to all the U.S. Great Lakes combined. Lake Baikal is 400 miles long with 1300 miles of shoreline, an average depth of 2442 feet, and a maximum of 5387 feet.

The bottom line is that, on a global scale, we have no water shortage. Our “blue planet” appears blue from space because of the abundance of water. Unfortunately, like most environmental problems, we have failed to use what God has given us intelligently. We have the technology to provide potable water to everyone on Earth, but greed, selfishness, politics, and poor management combine to cause water shortages. Water is a creation of God that we need to manage wisely and distribute unselfishly.

References: “Smarter Ways With Water” by Erica Gies in Scientific American for January 2023, pp 12-14, or scientificamerican.com and Geofacts # 10 from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.