science Archives

June 20, 2025June 20, 2025

Bogong Moths and Stellar Migration

Since ancient times, humans have used the stars for navigation. So have various animals and migratory birds. Even some insects use the stars to guide their flights at night. For the first time, researchers have discovered that insects use the stars to guide their long-distance migrations. The insects are Bogong moths, native to Australia.

Researchers spent years studying the migration of Bogong moths. They wanted to know how a moth flying at night could journey 620 miles (1000 km) to a place it had never been before. After spending their summer in the cool, dark caves of the Australian Alps, every autumn, they travel to their breeding grounds in the Australian bush.

Since Bogong moths travel at night, they can’t navigate by the Sun. Past research has shown that birds, as well as some insects such as dung beetles, use Earth’s magnetic field to guide their flight. However, dung beetles travel only a few meters, not 1000 kilometers. Researchers sought to understand how Bogong moths navigate their way.

Researchers captured some Bogong moths and placed them in a planetarium-like flight simulator that blocked Earth’s magnetic field, allowing the moths to navigate by eyesight alone. The research concludes that the moths use the stars to guide them.

These moths aestivate (remain dormant) during the hot summer, huddling tightly together on cave walls or dark crevices, and migrate in the cooler weather to eat and reproduce. What is the purpose of these moths and their stellar migration? They nourish various predators in Australia. Many birds rely on them for food. Additionally, mammals, particularly pygmy possums, depend on them. Even Australian aborigines have feasted on Bogong moths.

We have described long migrations by butterflies, including monarchs and painted ladies. However, butterflies are active during the day, but moths fly at night. Bogong moths are the first insects known to migrate long distances at night using the stars for guidance. Is the remarkable migration of the Bogong moths merely an accident, or is it another essential part of an incredibly complex, designed system of life?

References: space.com, the journal Nature, and Wikipedia

June 17, 2025June 16, 2025

Dealing With Disasters

One of the challenges that we all face is dealing with disasters such as tornadoes, hurricanes, and floods. Skeptics claim that if a God exists, He wouldn’t allow these terrible natural disasters to take place. That claim displays a combination of scientific and theological ignorance.

Tornadoes result when hot air is trapped under a layer of cold air. Warm air rises, but if the cold air above it is dense enough, the warm surface air will become even warmer. Eventually, the hot air will rise through the cold layer. Hang glider pilots and soaring birds look for these vertical updrafts. When the ground is covered with vegetation, there is never enough heat to trigger a strong upward air movement. However, when thousands of acres of land are plowed up or paved over, the surface air becomes hotter and creates stronger vertical movement. Earth’s rotation spins these upward air movements, creating a tornado.

Areas around 30 degrees north and south latitude are usually deserts. The states of Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama are at or near 30 degrees north latitude. Hurricanes pick up massive amounts of water from the ocean and dump it on the land. Without hurricanes, there would be a water shortage in many places. In the past, storm surges were not a problem because the coastal areas were lined with mangroves and other plants on the barrier islands and along the mainland coast. Today, that protection has been stripped away and replaced with hotels, roads, parking lots, and beach-front homes. The result is that we are dealing with disasters.

God told humans to take care of the Earth, but greed, selfishness, and ignorance have often caused disasters. The more we learn about the creation, the more we understand that God designed it to work well, but humans have brought much pain and suffering on ourselves by misusing God’s gift. We must work together and avoid repeating past mistakes, or we will continually be dealing with disasters.

June 13, 2025June 13, 2025

Fruit Flies and Humans

The genetic data contained in DNA is rich in information. The DNA in living cells contains molecular genes that direct the synthesis of proteins necessary for the development of an organism’s body during embryonic development . As we mentioned in a previous post, the DNA of a fruit fly is 60% similar to that of a human. How can we explain the significant difference between fruit flies and humans?

How can similarities exist in the DNA of organisms that look and function very differently? According to Stephen C. Meyer, “scientists have found that the larger informational context in which genes are expressed often determines the specific function of the proteins they produce.” For example, Meyer notes that a corresponding gene in insects and vertebrates regulates the production of appendages. However, in fruit flies, it regulates the development of compound limbs with exoskeletons and multiple joints. In sea urchins, it regulates the development of spines. In vertebrates, it regulates the development of limbs with internal bony skeletons and multiple joints.

Orthodox evolutionary theory suggests that since genes control the development of anatomical structures, the corresponding genes should produce corresponding structures in various organisms. That would eliminate the differences between fruit flies and humans. Clearly, genes perform different functions based on the larger context of information in the organism. The context contains specified information that is key to the differences.

You could compare this context variability to words in an English text. The same words used in a different context can convey a very different meaning. Words can convey their intended meaning when they are used in a systematic, organized structure composed by an intelligent mind. A hodgepodge of random words can result from non-intelligent actions, but only intelligence can create a meaningful paragraph. What does that tell us when we apply that principle to genetics? Only intelligence can create a meaningful paragraph, and only intelligence can create fruit flies and humans.

Reference: Signature in the Cell by Stephen C. Meyer, pages 471-472

June 4, 2025June 2, 2025

Genetic Difference Between Humans and Chimpanzees

The media has popularized the myth that the genetic difference between humans and chimpanzees is only 1%. Recent research shows that the variance is 15% or more. What we have here is the old graduate student mentality: “Make sure your data conforms to your conclusions.” If you are trying to prove that humans came from apes and that genetics supports that faith, you cannot accept the 15% data. The result is the popular 1% myth.

The Bible is silent on how God made the human body, stating only that He formed it “of the dust of the earth” (Genesis 2:7 and 3:19). These verses use the Hebrew word “yatsar,” meaning to form as a potter would shape a vase from clay. The Bible does not tell us how God formed the first human or how long He took to do it.

One thing is clear: both men and women are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). This refers to the human soul, not the physical body. God is a spiritual being, not a physical one. Humans are uniquely endowed with a soul, a spiritual component that distinguishes humanity from all other life on Earth. The human soul enables us to create music and art, to worship, and to develop the capacity for critical thinking. We are not driven by instinct as animals are.

Some physical components of the human body are similar to those of chimpanzees. Stereoscopic vision, an opposable thumb, and body hair are some genetic similarities. The fact that the genetic similarity between humans and chimpanzees is 85% should not be surprising, given that fruit flies share 60% of their genes with humans. God has used the best design in many features of all animal bodies.

What separates humans from animals is our spiritual makeup, not our genes. However, the 1% genetic difference between humans and chimpanzees is a myth.

References: Evolution News, the journal Nature, and wikipedia

June 2, 2025June 1, 2025

Why We Care About Entropy

As a high school physics teacher, I frequently found myself challenged to keep my students interested. Some subjects were easy, but others were challenging, and the kids became bored very quickly. An example of the latter was a unit on the laws of thermodynamics. The second law, also known as the entropy law, states that a closed system tends to become increasingly disordered over time. Entropy is a statistical measure of disorder. During that unit of study, I once had a student who said, “Who cares?” There are good reasons why we care about entropy.

My response is that entropy is a design feature of the cosmos that produces black holes, but it also allows us to breathe and have engines in our cars. As a public-school teacher, I could not bring my religious views into the classroom, but it also disproves one of the atheist arguments against the existence of God.

When we say that God has always existed and He created the cosmos, atheists ask, “Then who created God?” They suggest it is easier to believe that matter has always existed. Why we care about entropy is that it shows that matter and the cosmos have not always existed.

Every reaction in the physical world reduces the amount of energy available to do work. The total energy in the cosmos available to do work is constantly decreasing, eventually becoming zero, and entropy will be maximum. That means the cosmos could not be eternal, and it must have had a beginning. There must be a cause for that beginning, and that cause is God.

May 29, 2025May 28, 2025

Nighttime Pollinators Are Essential

There is considerable media discussion about the plight of bees, attributed to the use of insecticides and to climate change. The media overlooks the fact that bees and butterflies are primarily daytime pollinators. Of the approximately 350,000 flowering plant species, some depend on nighttime pollinators.

The long list of nighttime pollinators includes moths, cockroaches, beetles, slugs, snails, and bats. Many people consider them to be pests, especially cockroaches and beetles. For this reason, they target pollinators by applying chemicals to control them. The result is that desirable plants fail to reproduce and die out.

The answer to this problem is helping people understand the importance of being cautious about what they apply to their plants and why. Christians believe that God has designed all ecosystems, and good stewardship requires protecting what He has given us. People who reject God’s design for life are engaged in chemical warfare, in this case, against nighttime pollinators.

Reference: BBC.com “Where bees won’t go: The unloved pollinators of the underworld.”

May 27, 2025May 26, 2025

Ice Crawlers and Ice-Worms

As humans enjoy spring’s warmer weather, we are reminded of extremophiles that can only survive in the cold. They include ice crawlers and ice worms.

Ice crawlers (Grylloblatidae), also known as icebugs, are about an inch (3 cm) long. They are nocturnal, spend the daytime under snow, and then emerge at night to forage for dead insects and plant material blown by the wind. They live under logs and deep in crevasses in warmer weather to stay cold. Ice crawlers have no wings and only diminished eyes. Their optimal living temperature is 34-39 degrees F (1-4 C). Lower or much higher temperatures can kill them. They survive on glaciers and ice sheets.

Ice-worms (Mesenchytraeus), also called glacier worms, survive in glacial ice and eat algae and bacteria that live there. They spend their entire life cycle at 32 degrees F (0 C) or lower and will die if the temperature goes above that. These tiny worms move between the ice crystals using small bristles called setae.

Birds that live in high-altitude snow and ice fields feed on ice worms and ice crawlers. Snow buntings stay in the ice fields year-round, and other birds stop there during migration in the spring and fall.

Many years ago, my daughters and I were on a snowmobile trip in Jasper Provincial Park, Canada. We gazed down into a crevasse and marveled at the beautiful blue color, free of any dirt lines. It was so pure that the ranger guiding us gave us a cup of melted glacial ice to drink. He said a biologist told the park service that the melted glacial ice was safer to drink than distilled water. I questioned that statement, but now we know that ice crawlers and worms do an incredible job of keeping the snow and ice pure. There were birds all around us during that visit, but it was years later before I learned that birds like snow buntings exist.

God’s design of every part of Earth’s biosphere has unique conditions, requiring living things to have special equipment to survive there. The more we see the Earth’s varied environments, the more we see God’s wisdom and creation around us.

References: Wikipedia “Grylloblattidae” and “Ice Worm”

May 26, 2025May 25, 2025

Microplastics and Dementia

You may have noticed that dementia is much worse today than it was in the past. Part of that is probably due to people living longer, but life expectancy has not increased enough to fully explain the growth rate of dementia. Perhaps there is a connection between microplastics and dementia.

Researchers from the University of New Mexico have found an amazing correlation between dementia and the concentration of microplastics in human brains. A study of specimens from autopsies found that the brains of people with dementia had as much as five times more microplastics than normal brains. Comparisons of brain tissues from 2016 and 2024 show 50% higher concentrations in the 2024 samples.

Global plastic production doubles every 10 to 15 years, so the problem is only going to get worse. The human brain is designed with a barrier between blood vessels and brain tissue, but some people have weak blood-brain barriers. Skeptics suggest there is a design failure in the human brain because it evolved by chance over time. A better explanation involves human failure to protect our health.

The fact is that pollution is apparently a significant cause of dementia. Like cancer, brain problems are linked to human greed and a failure to use what God has given us as a tool for successful living. Reducing the flow of microplastics into the environment is going to be an uphill battle because cheap alternatives to plastics are not available. Meanwhile, more studies are needed on the connection between microplastics and dementia.

Reference: Nature Medicine at nature.com

May 23, 2025May 23, 2025

Male and Female Bodies are Different

“Failure to protect the female category in sports is one of the most egregious forms of violence against women and girls.” Those are the words of Reem Alsalem, the United Nations special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, who reported that female athletes have lost nearly 900 medals to males competing in the female category. The scientific fact is that the male and female bodies are different by design.

This website deals with evidence and promotes the concept that science and faith are friends, not enemies. Stating that since Genesis 1 says God made Eve from Adam’s rib, men and women are the same is a misunderstanding of the biblical message. We are all one spiritually, not physically. In Galatians 3:28, we read, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Obviously, that is not true physically, but it is true spiritually, so those who quote this passage to say that there should be unity in all sports are not understanding the Bible.

The fact is that male and female bodies are different by design. Males and females have different-sized muscles, pelvises, and skeletal structures. You will never see a female fullback in the NFL or a female center in the NBA. You will never see a male giving birth to a child, even if an embryo was in some way placed in a male.

This issue has become a political manipulation. The tragic end of medical techniques used to control hormones and surgically alter genitalia will become clear. Those who have had transgender medical procedures as children will realize that their life expectancies have been drastically reduced and their relationships terminated by a decision made when they were too young to understand the consequences.

Genesis 2:24 says, “A man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.” In Genesis 2:18, we read, “It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” God created woman to do what man could not do on his own. Trying to change what God created will not work because male and female bodies are different by design. God intended the sexes to work together, fulfilling the roles He gave them.

Data from: “Faith and Justice” newsletter of Alliance Defending Freedom, February 2025, page 3.

May 22, 2025May 20, 2025

I WAS an Atheist

Yesterday, we looked at John N. Clayton’s answer to the question, “Were you really an atheist?” He said, “I WAS an atheist,” and explained two points about why. He concludes here with two final points:

My third point is that you cannot scare faith into a person. I have heard people say, “There are no atheists in foxholes.” That is not true. I have seen atheists who went through the worst of combat experiences continue their belief that there is no God. I had a few experiences as an atheist where I thought my life was about to end, and it never scared me into believing in God.

What finally changed my parents’ belief system was their response to Christians who ministered unselfishly to them when they could no longer take care of themselves. An atheist views death as part of life. What does not make sense to an atheist is someone who sacrifices when there is no personal gain for themselves. Survival of the fittest can explain death, but it cannot explain altruistic service to others. When my wife and I decided to keep and raise a multi-handicapped baby we had adopted, my parents were enraged. Our action violated their position, producing a major breach in our relationship for many years.

My fourth point is that helping someone out of atheism is never a fast process. I was never in a church building or worship service of any kind until I was nearly twenty years old. Hearing words like “Jesus Christ” used in any way but profanity was very strange to me. Prayer was a meaningless waste of time in my view.

When science forced me to recognize that my atheistic assumptions about the cosmos were inadequate, I started doubting my atheism. It was seven years until I was finally willing to ask questions and share my struggles with someone else. My father was not willing to discuss his atheism until he was seventy years old and faced leukemia. My mother was ninety years old before she would rationally discuss the existence of God.

People do not get out of atheism overnight, but if they accept the evidence and get to know God, their faith will be on fire like no person of inherited faith will ever be. I WAS an atheist because I inherited that belief system. Now I have my own faith, which is supported by evidence that I can see, and it is much better and more fulfilling.