science Archives

February 10, 2025February 9, 2025

The Design of Mountain Goats

Every niche in the natural world has a designed relationship with plants and animals that live there. Goats thrive in a variety of environments that are unsuitable for other animals. The design of mountain goats allows them to run up vertical mountain slopes and even climb trees in areas where no ground forage is available. Their ability to run vertically up steep slopes protects them from predators like bears or mountain lions. The only predator goats have to worry about are those that can fly. However, eagles and hawks can carry away small young goats.

The secret that allows mountain goats to do these seemingly impossible things is their hoof design. The outer edge of a goat’s hoof consists of very hard material. The hoof has adjustable toes that can compress to a sharp point for digging or to gain traction on a narrow ridge. Mountain goats can also expand their toes for a wider surface. The hoof edges have pointed toenails to catch on small crevices in rocks. The center of the hoof has a soft, rubbery material that gives traction for walking.

People who raise goats have found them difficult to hold in a pen. They can scale any material the walls of an enclosure might be made of and even move about on a steel roof with ease. No other animal has all of the features that allow goats to thrive in places where other animals can’t survive.

The design of mountain goats is challenging to explain based on chance. They are uniquely designed to be the leading players in the ecology of mountainous areas. Their design speaks loudly of the statement of Romans 1:20 that we can know there is a God through the things He has made.

February 6, 2025February 3, 2025

Size Extremes of Animals

We must be amazed when considering the size of dinosaurs and the number and function of insects. There have been very large or very small life forms throughout the history of planet Earth. The key to the size extremes of animals depends on ecological needs.

Fossils show enormous dinosaurs as large as a house and as tall as 50 feet. At the time of the dinosaurs, these animals could eat massive amounts of vegetation to provide the fossil fuels that humans would eventually need. They were larger than any land animal living today for good reason. Humans would be unable to share land areas with animals of that size, and predation would be an issue with carnivores the size of T. rex.

In today’s world, giant animals live in the ocean. The blue whale is the largest animal to ever live on this planet. An elephant weighs less than the tongue of a blue whale, and a blue whale’s heart is roughly the size of a car. They are not dangerous carnivores but eat massive amounts of small ocean creatures like krill. Without such a large consumer, the krill would overpopulate the world’s oceans and throw the ocean’s entire food chain out of balance.

Ants are closer to the small end of the size spectrum. For every human on this planet, there are roughly one million ants. Ants exist in many species, and each has particular functions. Some control the number of other insects, while others clean up human waste. Still others are integral to the plant kingdom as pollinators or as food for the plant.

Of course, there are microscopic life forms that make ants look huge by comparison. These size extremes of animals are not an accident, and they serve to sustain life today as they have in the past. Humans have the responsibility to protect the creatures God has created. Otherwise, Earth will become a lifeless ball of rock traveling through space.

— John N. Clayton © 2025
Our thanks to Joe Kramarz for sending us these facts.

February 3, 2025February 2, 2025

Bat Migrations and Design

The disappearance of bats from various areas of the world when winter approaches has puzzled scientists for years. Dr. Edward Hume of the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior led a study of bat migrations to determine where the bats go and how they get there. Monitoring bat migration is difficult because bats are fast and travel at night. They have a very low mass, roughly an ounce, so tags used for birds are too heavy for bats.

New tags developed by Hume and his associates weigh roughly a gram (1/454th of a pound), so they can follow bat migrations. Research has shown that bats use the warm fronts that precede storms to ride the winds to travel as much as 1000 miles. There are many variables in this system, meaning that the timing and direction of the winds must be very precise to carry the bats where they need to go.

There is a very practical reason for understanding bat migrations. Wind turbines can kill large numbers of bats, so knowing the timing of the migrations can reduce this problem by shutting down the wind turbines. Bats are essential to control insect populations and produce guano used in fertilizers.

Romans 1:20 says we can know there is a God through the things He has made. Every creature science has studied shows unique characteristics. The “Does God Exist?” program has five volumes of books titled “Dandy Designs,” showing many of these, and more volumes will soon be available. The evidence for God’s wisdom and design increases with every discovery science makes.

— John N. Clayton © 2025
Reference: “Bats catch a lift from storm winds on long-distance migrations,” NPR for January 4, 2025, by Jonathan Lambert.

January 28, 2025January 27, 2025

Who Is to Blame for Cancer?

Whom do you blame when you learn you have cancer? Many people blame God, but human actions often cause cancer. It is well-known that alcohol causes 13,500 deaths from drunk driving every year in the United States. It is not well-known that alcohol causes 20,000 cancer deaths in the U.S. every year. Who is to blame for cancer?

Dr. Timothy Rebbeck, a professor of cancer prevention at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, says that alcohol has long been known as leading to cancers of the mouth, esophagus, breast, liver, and colon. However, he says that recent studies have shown “even occasional alcohol consumption” is associated with other kinds of cancer risks.

The human body breaks down alcohol into chemicals that damage DNA, causing cells to grow out of control and become cancerous. Alcohol can also block the body from breaking down nutrients, leading to increased cancer risks. It can increase the blood levels of estrogen, leading to a higher risk of breast cancer. When combined with smoking, the National Cancer Institute says the risk is “multiplicative.”

Alcoholic drink companies have suggested that drinking moderate amounts of alcohol is good for one’s health, but research shows that even one drink per day increases cancer risk. Who is to blame for cancer? Between alcohol, nicotine, pollution, and recreational drugs, a massive percentage of cancer deaths are caused by humans. Even second-hand smoke is a cause of cancer.

In 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, we read, “Do you not know that you are God’s sanctuary and that God’s Spirit has his home in you? If anybody desecrates the temple of God, God will bring him to ruin, for the temple of God is sacred, and so you are.” God does not cause cancer, but He does not prevent the consequences of taking dangerous substances into our bodies.

— John N. Clayton © 2025
Reference: “Can alcohol cause cancer?” in USA Today by Eduardo Cuevas, January 3, 2025

January 24, 2025January 20, 2025

Possible Astronomical Catastrophes

The media often fills a void in natural disasters on Earth by headlining possible astronomical catastrophes. A recent example was a headline in USA Today stating that a “Rare but extreme solar event could disrupt life on earth.”

The article tells us that a solar superflare would fry communications satellites and produce electric currents strong enough to paralyze the power grid. The article tells us that in 1859, a violent solar storm knocked out the telegraph network in large parts of northern Europe and North America. It said if a solar superflare happened today, it would knock out phone services, GPS, credit card authorization, and weather and climate monitoring. The USA Today report is taken from the peer-reviewed journal Science, a publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

So, what is the danger of a solar superflare to you and me? The answer to that question is “virtually none.” The point is that solar superflares occur in stars like our Sun roughly once every 10,000 years. The flare in 1859 was not a solar superflare but merely a flare for which the nascent electric industry was unprepared. Today, such a flare would not significantly affect today’s telegraph or phone service.

The lack of possible astronomical catastrophes shows the intelligence and design built into our planet and solar system. A G-2-type star, like our Sun, has infrequent occurrences of solar superflare. Other spectral classes of stars can have solar superflares every 1000 years. That means the occurrence of life on a planet around another star is highly unlikely, if not impossible.

In his 1956 CBS television program “Our Mister Sun,” the late Dr. Frank Baxter said, “The more we know of the creation, the closer we get to the Creator.” The lack of solar superflares is another example of the truth of his statement.

— John N. Clayton © 2025
Reference: “Rare but extreme solar event could disrupt life on earth” on USA Today December 6, 2024

January 23, 2025January 20, 2025

Alien Civilizations in Space – WOW!

On August 15, 1977, astronomer Jerry Ehman looked at a printout of signals received by the “Big Ear” radio telescope at Ohio State University. He saw a signal that astronomers associated with SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) had suggested would be a natural calling frequency for alien civilizations. Ehman circled the signal and used a red pen to write “Wow!” in the margin. The signal has never been seen again, and no explanation of its origin has worked until now.

Astrobiologist Abel Mendez at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo Observatory has discovered a cosmic hydrogen cloud that can emit light like a laser. Scientists have built hydrogen masers, and they have seen a few of them in space, but this is the first one at this frequency.

If this discovery turns out to be correct, it can complicate things for the SETI researchers looking for alien civilizations in space. Those folks would like to find a source for some of the things that are attributed to God. By explaining away claims of action by God, they feel they can discredit the Bible and eliminate God from the picture.

We have pointed out that the Bible is silent on life elsewhere in the creation, but if there is, God created it. Rejecting God because they can find an explanation rooted in alien civilizations is a step of faith for these people. However, explaining life on Earth as seeded by alien life is not logical. It does not explain the origin of the alien life. Over and over, attempts to find signals from aliens have proven unsuccessful, and this is just one more.

— John N. Clayton © 2025
Reference: Science News for January 2025, pages 23-24

January 22, 2025January 20, 2025

Bumblebees Can Fly High

Two researchers have discovered that bumblebees can fly high at elevations of 29,527 feet. That is higher than Mount Everest! Michael Dillon and Robert Dudley worked with bumblebees native to Sichuan, China, that live at elevations over 10,000 feet. The question is how these bumblebees do that with the thin air and reduced oxygen levels at such altitudes.

The researchers used a pressure chamber to simulate high-altitude conditions. Using high-speed cameras, the researchers saw that the bumblebees didn’t change their wings’ flapping but rather used deeper arcs to scoop more air with each beat. This technique also enables more efficient escapes from predators and the ability to carry heavy nectar loads.

Bumblebees can fly high, but how they can sustain their metabolism with so little oxygen remains unanswered. We have much to learn from bumblebees, but their design challenges all observers. The writer of Proverbs said, “Go to the ant; consider her ways and be wise.” (Proverbs 6:6). All of God’s creatures have something to teach us, including ants and bumblebees.

January 21, 2025January 19, 2025

Prehistoric Frozen Animals

Many years ago, I was doing a lectureship in Alaska when a young man said he had a fossil he wanted to give me. He said it was on the back porch of his home, but he neglected to tell me it was in the family freezer. His story was that he and some friends were on a canoe trip and found a tusk sticking out of the permafrost. Upon digging it out, they found it was a mammoth. Unfortunately, they cut off the head and put it in the family freezer. He wanted me to take it and get it out of the freezer, but that was impossible for me to do, so I think it ended up at the University of Alaska. I can imagine the mother’s reaction if she found that in her freezer. With climate change, finding prehistoric frozen animals in the permafrost is becoming more common.

USA Today published an article about a baby mammoth found in the Siberian permafrost. The picture shows a specimen very much like the one I described above. In November, scientists discovered the remains of a saber-toothed cat cub. Earlier in 2024, a wolf carcass was found.

Researchers have a problem protecting these prehistoric frozen animals because the meat is still edible. Left alone, birds and modern carnivores will eat it. Some natives who came to my lectureship programs talked about eating frozen carcasses. Various dating methods on these specimens show them as old as 50,000 years, yet the meat is still edible.

Researchers we talked to in Alaska did not have a good explanation as to how the specimens were frozen so quickly. Evolution assumes uniformitarianism – the belief that no process has operated in the past that is not going on today. The prehistoric frozen animals pose quite a challenge to that assumption. Research is ongoing, giving us more information about past climate and astronomical events that are NOT happening today.

January 16, 2025January 12, 2025

Life on Mars in Fiction and Fact

Our fascination with Mars goes back to American sci-fi, with War of the Worlds, written by H. G. Wells and published in 1898. It was recreated as a radio drama by Orson Welles on Halloween in 1938, causing panic in America. In 1950, Ray Bradbury released a novel called The Martian Chronicles, which ended with the Earth destroyed by nuclear war. In 2005, Steven Spielberg directed a movie based on the Wells novel starring Tom Cruise. In 2015, The Martian was a science fiction movie starring Matt Damon. We have now scientifically investigated the red planet, resolving the question of life on Mars.

Measurements made by NASA’s Curiosity Rover from four Gale crater sites show that there is no life on Mars and that there has never been life on Mars’ surface. The ratios of carbon and oxygen isotopes indicate that no biosphere existed on the planet. Rock samples show extreme rates of evaporation and carbon flowing into the atmosphere like bubbles from a pressurized can of soda.

Previous measurements on Mars have been made in ice, which forms and melts there with some degree of regularity. For the first time, science has isotopic readings from rock samples. One can argue that there has been life on Mars in the distant past preserved many feet below ground, but drill cores have not backed up that theory.

The more we learn from scientific data gathered in space, the more we realize how extraordinary life is on Earth. Mars is NOT our twin planet, and no planet in our solar system is. Travel to another star and another solar system would not be within human capacity at any time during the lives of those living today. Humans may destroy Earth by nuclear war, but Bradbury’s story of The Martian Chronicles is not a predictor of how that might happen.

The Bible says God created time, space, matter-energy, and life. It doesn’t tell us when or how many steps were involved in creating the planet on which we live. The Bible does tell us how to live and avoid the things that can destroy this planet. Albert Einstein is purported to have said that if nuclear war is used in World War III, World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. Moving to Mars is not an option. We can avoid wars by following the words of Jesus Christ in Matthew 5-7.

January 15, 2025January 12, 2025

Animal Medicine Design

Animals have a fascinating ability to use natural materials to combat or treat injuries or illnesses. People often think animal behavior in treating an injury, infection, or disease is an accident. A familiar example is a dog eating grass because of an upset stomach. The grass treats diarrhea or vomiting and can lower the pH level to soothe pain and symptoms of illness. You may see ads from dog food companies saying they have no vegetable matter in their product, but a dog needs some fiber. To meet these needs, foxes, and wolves will eat blueberries, wild carrots, or wild spinach. These are examples of animal medicine.

Researchers watched an injured Sumatran orangutan extract juice from a plant known for antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties in humans. He applied it to a wound under his eye, and the wound did not become infected. In five days, the wound closed, and in a month, it completely healed. Chimpanzees fold and swallow rough leaves to purge parasites. Great apes, elephants, bears, and porcupines are among the animals with an innate ability to find and use certain plants for medicine. Emory University biologist Jaap De Roode said, “You have to have inherited the gene that gives you the general ability to detect the right taste or smell in a plant for your needs.”

It sounds fantastic, but we also see animal medicine in the insect world. European honey bees use tree resin to prevent mites and other infections. Monarch butterflies with an infection will lay 68% of their eggs on milkweed with high cardenolide compounds, which have anti-parasitic powers. When their caterpillars hatch and start eating the milkweed leaves, they ingest the compounds that ward off parasites.

The study of animal medicine shows that insects and animals are programmed to deal with the health problems they encounter. When God addressed Job with questions in chapters 38 to 40, Job realized how much he didn’t know. As we read those chapters, we recognize how much we don’t know and are still learning from the lives of God’s creatures. Proverbs 6:6 advises us to “go to the ant… consider her ways and be wise.”