science Archives

April 5, 2022April 4, 2022

The Blessing of Beauty

Yesterday, we talked about the problem of beauty. The question is: “How could natural selection acting on random mutations create beauty which seems to have no survival value?” I suggested that natural selection acting on blind chance mutations cannot explain all of the beauty we see in animals and plants. Let’s continue to think about this as we examine the blessing of beauty.

The blessing of beauty involves more than just visual beauty. A humpback whale’s intricate and beautiful song lasts for half an hour. Does it have anything to contribute to the survival of these mammals? Well, in a way, it does. When human technology reached a point where the humpback’s song could be heard and recorded in the 1960s, more people than whale hunters got a chance to hear it. The exposure of that song to the general population of humans played a large part in the passage of laws preventing the slaughter of those animals. But that is evidence for human appreciation of beauty, not evolutionary natural selection. For those who suggest the male humpbacks use their songs to attract females, there is little to no evidence that the females are even paying attention.

No proponent of Darwinian evolution would suggest that humpback whales are even remotely related to nightingales, but those birds also contribute to the blessing of beauty. They sing long, complex, and beautiful songs, but rather than singing into the ocean, nightingales sing from twilight into the night. As those small birds sit on a branch singing, they make themselves easy prey for predators. Instead of singing for hours in the darkness, why don’t they just be quiet and stay safe until morning?

When scientists tape-recorded nightingales and slowed down the tape, lowering the pitch a couple of octaves, they discovered something very interesting. The result was that the nightingale’s song sounded much like the song of a humpback whale. On the other hand, if you take the humpback whale song and speed it up while raising the pitch, it compares to a nightingale’s song. Why should they be so much alike? Evolutionists like to call this sort of thing “convergent evolution.” I have another suggestion. Perhaps they got their music from the same original Composer.

Since the beauty of bird songs often goes beyond attracting mates for the survival of the fittest, do the birds sing because they love to hear music? I think they are merely doing what their Creator programmed them to do. But why did God design and program these animals to sing? Perhaps the blessing of beauty is God’s gift to us. Beauty brings us joy, eases our stress, and touches our emotions. Because God loves us, He created beauty for us to enjoy. The beauty around us provides an earthly sample of the beauty God has planned for us beyond this life. In other words, beauty is another evidence that God exists. With that in mind, the problem of beauty becomes the blessing of beauty.

Tomorrow, we will look at how beauty was a problem that, according to Darwin, “makes me sick.”

April 4, 2022April 3, 2022

The Problem of Beauty

One of the challenges that skeptics use to argue against the existence of God is often called “the problem of pain.” The argument goes something like this: “Why would an all-powerful and loving God allow pain and suffering?” We have dealt with that problem before, including on our website whypain.org. However, there is a contrasting argument for the existence of God that some have called “the problem of beauty.”

The problem of beauty asks the question: “How is it possible that evolution by natural selection could create such beauty in living things?” In other words, “How could natural selection acting on random mutations create beauty which seems to have no survival value?” Darwinian evolution operates on the survival of the fittest. So how can the seemingly simple process of natural selection or survival of the fittest explain many cases of beauty which seem to make animals less fit and thus less likely to survive?

Look around, and you will see beautiful designs that naturalistic evolution attempts to explain without a designer. Why do male cardinals have the beautiful red color? Why do butterflies have such exquisite designs and colors? Some animals display beautiful colors that make them more vulnerable to predators. Birds make sounds that we can describe as beautiful music. A male bird may sing for an hour, announcing himself not only to prospective mates but also to predators. How can those beautiful features promote the survival of the fittest?

Peacocks, lyrebirds, flowers, starfish, butterflies, and seashells all display beautiful features that cannot be fully explained as survival benefits. In some cases, they may be at least partially explained by mathematical principles. But then, where did mathematical principles in our three-dimensional world originate except from the Creator of all things. Why does the nightingale sing beautiful songs to the darkness? Why do some lizards display colorful crests? How can colorblind cuttlefish change their colors at will not just to camouflage but to send messages to other cuttlefish or predators or just to dazzle any observer? Why do flowers display not only beautiful colors but also soothing fragrances? The beauty of nature is visual, auditory, and even fragrant. Most of all, it is priceless.

It seems that natural selection acting on blind chance mutations cannot explain all of the beauty we see in living things–both plants and animals. If natural selection can’t explain it, does that indicate evidence for design by an Artist? Furthermore, how can we explain the fact that humans can recognize and appreciate beauty? Is that because the Artist created us in His image? These questions point out the problem of beauty. I hope you will join me as we continue to consider this problem tomorrow.

April 2, 2022March 30, 2022

Archaeology in Jerusalem Today

The work of archaeology in Jerusalem is changing with the current national political situation and the use of new scientific tools. Three religions have an interest in Jerusalem. Judaism has great interest in the Western Wall. Islam is very concerned about the Dome of the Rock. Various Christian sects express interest in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The obstacles to progress in archaeological excavations in Jerusalem are many and quite complex. First, the Israel Antiquities Authority controls all Jerusalem excavations. They will not give any permits to Palestinian teams and rarely grant permits to foreigners.

In Jerusalem, the chief building stone was a relatively soft limestone that was easy to quarry and got harder when exposed to the air. This stone was reused over the centuries by tearing down the remains of an ancient culture and using the limestone for new construction, leaving little evidence of the past. There was virtually no wood in the area, so standard dating methods like dendrochronology and carbon 14 were impossible.

Another problem with archaeology in Jerusalem is that treasure seekers used violent and unscientific methods as these untrained people pillaged the area. They were often looking for an item claimed to have mystical powers, such as the Ark of the Covenant. Dreams of wealth and notoriety were their goals.

Still complicating the situation is that while early archaeologists were Christian believers who saw archaeology as a means to verify the integrity of scripture, modern archaeologists are “overwhelmingly made up of agnostics and atheists.” They have often allowed their personal beliefs to attach a negative bias to whatever artifacts they find.

Despite these challenges to archaeology in Jerusalem, researchers are progressing in understanding the city’s history thanks to new scientific tools. Geomagnetic instruments with great sensitivity allow researchers to use changes in the Earth’s magnetic field to date some artifacts accurately. New laboratory techniques enable researchers to learn from tiny bone fragments and detritus that reveal the diets and diseases of people in the past. Much of archaeology in this century is going on in the laboratory, where scientists analyze the uncovered artifacts.

Archaeological work is hard, but Webster defines “science” as “knowledge,” and new scientific techniques provide us with knowledge. That knowledge continues to support the accuracy of the biblical narrative. While nationalism, politics, and Zionism complicate archaeology in Jerusalem, the unfolding story supports the accuracy of the Bible. The science of archaeology must be supported by the facts, not the opinions of archaeologists.

Reference: Article on Jerusalem Archaeology by Andrew Lawler in the April 2022 issue of Scientific American.

The Does God Exist? ministry has produced a series of videos on archaeology and the Bible available on DVDs with a study guide HERE. Or you can view them for free HERE.

March 31, 2022March 30, 2022

Creeks and Streams Are Designed for Life

No matter where you live, you have a small flow of water called a stream or creek somewhere nearby. Unfortunately, urbanization coupled with greed has caused the destruction or severe alteration of many of those creeks. In 1999, the United States Department of the Interior listed Chinook salmon as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. That required the city of Seattle, Washington, to consider the salmon when making capital improvements. But, under the leadership of biologist Katherine Lynch, people came to realize that creeks and streams are designed for life.

Thornton Creek runs through an area of the city, and it had formerly been the spawning grounds for the Chinook salmon. Two streams entering Thornton Creek had originally been floodplains, and the city leaders decided to revitalize them. Unfortunately, not realizing that creeks and streams are designed for life, people had altered the small streams so that they could not support salmon spawning and other functions.

Creeks and streams are highly complex systems, not just water coursing between banks. Under the creek bed is a layer of wet sediment, small stones, and tiny creatures called the hyporheic zone. Water flows into and through this zone just like the creek above, but much more slowly.

The hyporheic zone can spread laterally for a considerable distance beyond the creek banks. In this zone, many good things happen, including aeration, oxygenation, temperature moderation, pollution cleanup, and food creation. In addition, the hyporheic zone is full of living things, including crustaceans, worms, and aquatic insects. They dig passages allowing water to mix with oxygen and nutrients to not only nurture the salmon eggs but to solve a variety of other problems, including flooding.

Straightening a stream, bulldozing it, covering it with concrete, running it through tubes, and burying it have wiped out the hyporheic zone in many creeks. The result is flash floods, pollution, and an area sterile of life, including the salmon. In addition to Seattle, Philadelphia has destroyed 73% of its streams, and Baltimore has buried 66% of its creeks.

Cities experience flooding and other problems because of the destruction of streams. When we pollute creeks and streams, that pollution goes into our rivers. We pay a high price for not respecting God’s design in the world and failing to realize that creeks and streams are designed for life.

You can read much more about this in Scientific American magazine for April 2022.

March 30, 2022March 29, 2022

Birds Navigate Across Oceans Using Quantum Effects

Over the years, we have spoken several times about the migration of birds as an example of God’s design in the creation. The Bar-tailed Godwit seems to be the champion of long-distance travel flying, traveling 7,450 miles (12,000 km) nonstop across the Pacific Ocean from Alaska to New Zealand. Many other bird species make similar long-distance journeys. The question we wonder about is how birds navigate across oceans thousands of miles with no landmarks. How do they know when to make the journey, and how do they manage the energy requirements of such a long flight.

Modern research has shown migrating birds have a compass that relies on quantum effects built into their eyes. These quantum effects use something called “radical pairs” that form photochemically to allow them to see the Earth’s magnetic field lines. Earth’s magnetic field is very weak, especially in equatorial areas. So any normal effect from the magnetic field would not have enough strength to contribute to navigation, but birds navigate across oceans and over the equator.

Retinal cells in the bird’s eye contain proteins called cryptochromes that contain a molecule called flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD). Tryptophan amino acid stabilizes the FAD, so the molecules are electrically neutral. When a photon of blue light reaches the FAD, a quantum release of electrons makes a radical pair. The electron spin of the radical pair is so sensitive that the Earth’s magnetic field influences it. The bird’s brain detects the quantum changes allowing it to know its flight direction.

This is a simplified explanation of a very complex process by which birds navigate across oceans. Researchers Peter J. Hore and Henrik Mouritsen wrote, “When you next see a small songbird, pause for a moment to consider that it might recently have flown thousands of kilometers, navigating with great skill using a brain weighing no more than a gram. The fact that quantum spin dynamics may have played a crucial part in its journey only compounds the awe and wonder with which we should regard these extraordinary creatures.” We would add to that statement “…and the God who designed them, giving them this amazing ability.”

Reference: “How Migrating Birds Use Quantum Effects to Navigate” Scientific American April 2022.

March 29, 2022March 28, 2022

Magnetosphere Display Protecting Life on Earth

As the Sun approaches an eleven-year maximum of its magnetic cycle, solar flares and eruptions occur with increasing frequency and violence. That means the Sun is blasting out a massive cloud of fast-moving electrons, protons, and ions in all directions. To see the magnetosphere display this creates on Earth, go to apod.nasa.gov for March 22, 2022. There you will see what NASA calls “A Whale of an Aurora over Swedish Forest.”

The cloud of particles from the Sun would cause huge damage to life if it reached us unobstructed by Earth’s magnetic field and atmosphere. Earth’s magnetosphere deflects the charged particles coming toward us from the Sun. As Earth’s magnetic field moves the particles toward the poles, they hit molecules in our atmosphere, causing them to glow in a magnetosphere display that we call an auroral corona.

Most people in the higher latitudes of North America can go outside late at night and away from the city lights and see the aurora borealis or “northern lights.” Here in Michigan, the glow in the north was yellow and orange. In a northern city like Östersund, Sweden, the aurora was blue-green and high in the sky. The APOD picture may look like a whale to some, but I think it looks like an eagle. The color of the aurora depends on what elements are being hit by the solar emissions. The green is from oxygen, but orange and red come from hydrogen higher up in the atmosphere.

Earth’s magnetic field is essential as a shield to prevent radiation damage to all life. Scientists don’t fully understand what causes the magnetic field, but it is just right to allow life on this planet. Life would have to be underground for protection on planets with no magnetic field. When God created Earth, He gave it a magnetic field of just the right strength and geographic distribution to allow life to exist. This is another great testimony to the wisdom built into the creation process that formed our planet.

March 23, 2022March 21, 2022

Phenotypic Plasticity and Life

Red Eared Slider Turtle and Phenotypic Plasticity — Red Eared Slider Turtle

There are so many examples of design in God’s creation that we often overlook them. One example that has been a problem for evolutionists is the cause of the variability of traits in organisms. Scientists call it phenotypic plasticity. For example, what determines whether the sex of an offspring is male or female? Biologists tell us that it is a matter of genetics, but that isn’t always the case.

When a red-eared slider turtle deposits her eggs, the place where she lays them determines the sex of the baby turtles. If she lays her eggs in a cool place, the babies will be males. If she lays her eggs in a warm sunny spot, the baby turtles will be females. The environment where the eggs are laid controls the ratio of males to females and limits the time of year when more females will be available to produce more offspring.

Sometimes the physical shape of an animal and its diet are determined by the environment in which it finds itself. The Mexican spadefoot toad is a classic example. The tadpoles of this toad will typically feed on plankton and algae, but occasionally a tadpole will find itself in a pool that is rich in fairy shrimp. The shape and diet of the tadpole that has eaten the shrimp will change. It now becomes a carnivore with a broad head and a new shape ideal for fast swimming.

We also see this ability to change as a function of environmental conditions in some plants. For example, cabbage white butterfly caterpillars sometimes attack wild radishes. When this happens, the plant immediately begins producing chemicals in its leaves to repel the caterpillars. Trait variability is a significant issue in evolution. In Charles Darwin’s book On the Origin of Species, he spent the first two chapters trying to explain this problem, but he never succeeded.

The ability to change as the environment changes is a design feature of many life forms. Phenotypic plasticity is a testimony to the wisdom and design that God built into all life.

Reference: American Scientist magazine, March/April 2022, pages 94-103.

March 21, 2022March 20, 2022

The Size of the Cosmos

We have often mentioned NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD). Their March 16, 2022, post showed the above diagram of the OBSERVABLE universe. The emphasis on the word observable is because astronomers have realized that what we can see is only part of the creation. Our technology allows us to appreciate the size of the cosmos. When you look into space with today’s most powerful telescopes, you can see far beyond our Milky Way galaxy.

We can observe that there are billions of galaxies with different shapes, and each contains billions of stars. However, visible light is limited. Just as the light from a lightbulb appears less bright as you move further away from it, visible radiation from distant objects becomes dimmer the farther away they are. As a result, science has developed new instruments to see radiation other than visible light, such as Xrays and microwaves. In addition, we now have devices that can detect neutrinos and gravitational waves from objects still farther away.

Everything we can detect operates by the same physical laws that govern our own tiny part of space. So any suggestion that there could be universes with different physical laws and physical constants is pure speculation.

The more we learn about the size of the cosmos as we use improved instruments, the more obvious it becomes that the creation is too vast for us to comprehend. The cosmos speaks of design, power, and creative expression beyond what our technology can perceive.

The NASA website reveals higher dimensions, and the size of the cosmos speaks to us of a God beyond our comprehension. In the words of Psalms 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God and the skies show his handiwork.”

On Wikimedia, you can see the above logarithmic illustration with annotations identifying the objects. In addition, you can find some of our previous APOD references HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

March 17, 2022March 15, 2022

How Fish Navigate

A question that has bothered researchers for many years is how fish navigate. Fish move from one place to another, swimming around obstacles or locating food sources with no obvious way to know how to get to their objective. For example, we live on the edge of a river and have watched fish find their way around brush piles, even when the brush is moved by flooding.

Biologist Shachar Givon of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel conducted an ingenious experiment to learn how fish navigate. She constructed a fish-operated vehicle for a goldfish to drive. The vehicle consisted of a square fish tank fastened to a chassis with four multidirectional wheels. A downward-facing camera was connected to a computer algorithm which prompted the wheels to move the vehicle in the direction the fish was swimming. The six goldfish in the experiment navigated around obstacles and avoided dead ends. After one or two runs, they became proficient in reaching their goals. The researchers suggest understanding how fish navigate in unfamiliar territory, such as the terrestrial world, may help humans navigate in unfamiliar environments such as the zero gravity of space.

We can learn from the way God has designed survival methods in the natural world. In this case, we learn from an animal as primitive as a goldfish. The natural world is filled with examples of God’s design, and how fish navigate is just one of many systems we are just beginning to understand and may use as models to shape the future.

Reference: American Scientist magazine, March/April 2022, page 77

March 15, 2022March 20, 2022

Creation of Heaven and Earth

As scientists find more and more evidence, the picture of creation becomes clearer. That is not to say that science has the entire creation of heaven and Earth figured out. However, studies have allowed us to see what was done, even if we don’t understand and will never in this life understand how it was done.

Science has identified four fundamental forces involved in creation. They are the electromagnetic force, the weak nuclear force, the strong nuclear force, and the gravitational force. These forces work on particles that science has observed or particles for which science has found evidence but has not observed. For example, photons are responsible for electromagnetism. Particles called gluons are responsible for nuclear forces, with eight gluons causing the strong nuclear force and three gluons causing the weak nuclear force.

The recently discovered particle called the Higgs boson gives mass to the force particles and controls their behavior. Physicists are studying how that happens and looking for a particle that causes the gravitational force. As research continues, science strongly suggests that those forces began as a single force. Our standard rules of physics cannot deal with this concept, and the time during which the forces originated is called the “Planck era.” The creation of heaven and Earth is not a simple process, and science is trying to understand it.

The so-called “standard model” of particle physics has so much supporting evidence that most physicists accept it as a starting point to understanding the process of creation. Some scientists have developed an approach called “string theory” to understand what took place in the Planck era. The mathematics of string theory forces us to believe that creation has come about from dimensions higher than our own. A prominent string theory called “bulk” has creation originating in an 11-dimensional arena. We live in a three-dimensional world with time as a fourth-dimensional quantity. The idea of 11 dimensions is beyond our comprehension. We can describe it mathematically, but we cannot visualize it.

The Bible summarizes the creation of heaven and Earth by simply indicating that an Intelligence in a far higher dimension than our own created time, space, and the physical world in which we exist. “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth” accurately describes what our research and observations tell us.

In summary, there was a beginning often described as the “big bang.” At that beginning, there was Planck time when our laws of physics did not apply. The creation event was caused by “Elohim,” an intelligence outside of space/time who operates in dimensions outside of our physical universe. The creation included the matter/energy from which everything is made and the three-dimensional space, “shamayim,” translated “heaven” in your Bible. It also included the planet we call home, “erets” in Hebrew, created from that matter/energy. The more we know of the creation, the more we know of the Creator.

Reference: “Imaging Our Infant Universe” by Sten Odenwald in Astronomy magazine, April 2022, pages 16-23 or on www.astronomy.com

You can see a chart of the text of Genesis 1:1 to 2:3 HERE. You will find a chart of Hebrew words from Genesis and their definitions HERE.