science Archives

March 12, 2022March 8, 2022

Drifting Along With the Breeze

Plants disperse their seeds in various ways. Many of them allow their seeds to be carried away by the wind. A method used by other plant species involves allowing the entire plant to go drifting along with the breeze. We call them tumbleweeds.

Tumbleweeds have often been associated with the American southwest, but they exist in primarily arid or desert areas in many countries of the world. A tumbleweed is simply a plant that breaks off from its roots and rolls along in the wind. Sometimes only part of the plant carrying the seeds breaks off. Also, some plants that produce spores rather than seeds become tumbleweeds.

As the plant is drifting along with the breeze, it scatters the seeds or spores over a wide area. This seed dispersal system works well in dry, open, windy areas. Unfortunately, sometimes it works too well. Humans have accidentally transported tumbleweeds from their native environments into new areas where they become invasive species. Sometimes they get caught in fences or get tangled with each other. These tumbleweed clusters can even grow large enough to block roads or houses. On the other hand, tumbleweeds can be beneficial by serving as food for animals or livestock in the dry rangelands. What could be better than for your food to come drifting along with the breeze right to you?

For the tumbleweeds to disperse their seeds and bring new life, they have to die first. As the dead plant degrades, the seeds are released, and new life begins in the desert. Jesus Christ said, “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24). Jesus spoke those words knowing that He would soon give His life. However, from His death would come new life for all who will accept it because He rose to conquer death. Jesus was not just drifting along. He knew exactly what he was about to do, and He did it for you and me.

March 11, 2022March 8, 2022

Unusual Properties of the Sacred Lotus

People sometimes call them “water lilies,” but that term applies to a different plant species. The sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), also known as Indian lotus, is a flowering tropical aquatic plant. Its roots are planted in the bottom of a pond or slow-moving stream while the leaves float on top of the water. The distance from the roots to the leaves may be around 5 feet (150 cm). The spread of the leaves may be about 10 feet (3 meters), and the flowers about 8 inches (20 cm) in diameter. Let’s examine some unusual properties of the sacred lotus.

One of the unusual features of this plant is its ability to regulate its flower temperature. Even if the air temperature drops to 50 degrees F (10 degrees C), the flower can remain at around 90 degrees F (32 degrees C). This temperature regulation can attract cold-blooded (ectothermic) insect pollinators to the flowers. Mammals and birds are warm-blooded (endothermic) because they produce heat by the oxidation of nutrients, but it’s very unusual for a plant to produce heat to warm itself.

That’s only one of the unusual properties of the sacred lotus. The plant is a perennial, meaning it survives from year to year. As long as the water remains, an individual lotus plant can last for many years. However, if the water dries up, the lotus seeds can survive for extended times. The sacred lotus often grows in river floodplains, where they deposit their seeds on the bottom. When the floodplain dries up, the seeds that wildlife don’t eat can become buried in dried mud. When water returns, the seeds germinate and grow to a new abundance of sacred lotus plants, even after a dormancy of hundreds of years. For example, a 1300-year-old lotus seed found in a dry Chinese lakebed germinated and grew after planting.

Another of the unusual properties of the sacred lotus is that even when it grows in dirty water, it remains clean. That’s because of what is known as ultrahydrophobicity (super water-repelling). People have noticed this property of the lotus plant for centuries, if not millennia. However, scientists could not explain it until the invention of scanning electron microscopes. The leaves are covered with microscopic (or nanoscopic) papillae (or bumps) with a waxy surface. These surface features cause the leaves to shed water aggressively. Water can’t wet the leaves, so the water’s surface tension forms spherical droplets that adhere to dirt and run off the leaves carrying the soil along with any harmful fungi and algae.

Science has imitated the lotus leaf surface to create paint that cleans itself in the rain, fabrics that shed water, and other products. This is only one of many “natural” inventions that people have copied and taken credit for, even though God actually invented them.

March 10, 2022March 8, 2022

Our Sun Is Just Right

Scientific discoveries continue to show that our Sun is just right. It has the just-right size and just-right temperature, and it’s the just-right distance from our planet to make advanced life possible.

Add to those things the fact that the type of radiation our Sun emits is just what we need to survive. We have often talked about Earth’s magnetic field and how it protects us from some of the Sun’s harmful radiation. That fact shows the fine-tuning of our planet for life, and we don’t know of any other star so precisely-designed for life as our Sun.

The Sun has magnetic fields also, stretching far out into its atmosphere. However, those fields are not as stable as Earth’s magnetic field. The magnetic lines of force move like seaweed swaying in underwater gardens, but much slower. They carry energy from the Sun’s surface up into the corona, a bubble of plasma surrounding the Sun.

Some scientists think that the energy conveyed by the moving magnetic force fields might explain why the corona is hotter than the Sun’s surface. The surface is almost 10,000 degrees F (5,500 degrees C), but flares in the corona can reach millions of degrees. Although scientists have studied the Sun for years, they still don’t understand many things about it.

One thing we can know for sure is the fact that our Sun is just right can either be a fantastic coincidence or the wisdom of God’s design. We believe this is another evidence of design.

March 9, 2022March 8, 2022

Much to Learn from the Animals

Animals have much to teach us. We have learned many things by studying animal anatomy and behavior and made numerous advances in medicine through animal studies. For example, principles of flight, the use of sonar, robotics, and improved adhesives have all been aided by studying animals. But one thing is for sure is that we still have much to learn from the animals.

Conversely, animals also learn from humans. That is especially true of mammals and birds, which can develop special relationships with humans. Dogs were domesticated from their wild ancestors thousands of years ago and have lived side-by-side with humans ever since. They learn from us, and they help us as we help them. Dogs assist people with vision problems and other illnesses. They provide valuable help to police and rescue workers.

You may have noticed that yawning can be contagious. When a person sees another person yawning, they tend to yawn also. Try this test. While your dog is watching, start yawning. Dogs often yawn after they see a human yawn, and they are more likely to yawn in response to their owner rather than a stranger.

God commanded us to have dominion over the animals (Genesis 1:28), and He gave mammals and birds the ability to relate to humans uniquely. If we pay attention, we have much to learn from the animals. In Job 12:7-10, Job said:

“But ask the animals, and they will instruct you;
ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you.
Or speak to the earth, and it will instruct you;
let the fish of the sea inform you.
Which of all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?”

Job knew that the animals have much to tell us about the wisdom of God’s design for His creatures. Then in Job chapter 38:39 to 39:30, God uses descriptions of ten mammals and birds to show Job and his friends that they have a lot to learn. In Matthew 6:25-, Jesus told His followers that the birds can teach us a lesson about not worrying. In this time of chaos, war, and inflation, that’s a lesson we all need. Yes, we still have much to learn from the animals.

March 8, 2022March 7, 2022

Water Affects Earth’s Climate

One of the factors that put planet Earth in the so-called “Goldilocks Zone” of our solar system is that it is the correct distance from the Sun for liquid water to exist. Life is not possible without liquid water. Another factor we sometimes overlook is how water affects Earth’s climate.

We are approaching the end of winter with spring on our doorstep in the Northern Hemisphere. One of the familiar features of our cold winter months is ice and snow. Although we grow tired of the cold and the frozen water, the spring melting of snow and ice from mountains supplies essential water for many parts of the world. The changing seasons caused by the tilt of our planet on its axis and the way water affects Earth’s climate are factors of design allowing humans to live over most of the globe.

The Lofoten Islands in Norway are 105 miles (169 km) north of the Arctic Circle. The area is home to more than 24,000 people and has attracted millions of tourists because of its beauty. Even though it is only 1500 miles (2,420 km) from the North Pole, the area enjoys relatively mild temperatures. The warmest temperature ever recorded at the Skrova lighthouse on one of the islands was 86.7 degrees F (30.4 degrees C) in June 1972. The coldest was 4.8 degrees F (-15.1 degrees C) in February 1966. Skrova has what Norwegians call “tropical nights” when the temperature does not fall below 68 degrees F (20 degrees C).

On the other hand, the city of Yakutsk, Siberia, has a population of 336,200 people, and it holds the title of being the coldest city in the world. Some reports say the temperature has dropped to as low as -76 degrees F (-60 degrees C). The surprising thing is that Yakutsk is 280 miles (450 km) SOUTH of the Arctic Circle. That’s 385 miles south of Skrova in the Lofoten Islands. So what makes the difference?

Water largely explains the difference. The North Atlantic Current and the Norwegian Current bring warmer water to the Lofoten Islands. Also, mild low-pressure air from the Atlantic has an open path to blow northward in the winter. By contrast, Yakutsk is landlocked and located in a valley surrounded by mountains. As a result, the cold air settles into the low area and keeps Yakutsk in the freezer.

The highest and lowest temperatures on Earth tend to be in the interior of continents. This is because landmasses heat and cool much more quickly than large bodies of water. Also, landmasses covered by snow and ice reflect the warming radiation from the Sun back into space rather than warming the land.

As we have said before, water makes life possible in many ways. It is also true that water affects Earth’s climate in significant ways. Water shows design precision at the atomic and molecular levels to give it the qualities that life requires. Furthermore, water is abundant on this planet to supply our needs if we use it wisely. We think water is strong evidence of God’s design wisdom and care for His creation.

March 5, 2022March 3, 2022

Wildfires Can Be Beneficial

We have all seen the heart-wrenching pictures of people who have lost their homes to wildfires. Several years ago, we were in the area around Mount Lassen in California and saw how a very hot fire reduced a vast area to dust– including homes, cars, and electric power lines and towers. Of course, some people criticize God’s design when a wildfire devastates an area, but wildfires can be beneficial.

The National Science Foundation funded a 35-year study in Minnesota which showed that periodic wildfires can inhibit plant disease. Oak wilt is a fungal pathogen that can devastate groves of oak trees. The NSF study showed that areas that experience periodic wildfires have a much lower incidence rate of oak wilt than areas with no fires. The difference is striking, with a 765% reduction in oak tree mortality in burned areas over unburned areas.

The NSF report mentions that very little long-term research has been done on fire and plant disease interactions. We can’t blame God for poor design causing wildfires. Studies have shown that many wildfires are caused by poor human management of ecosystems. When people allow forest litter to pile up, the potential for destructive wildfires increases dramatically. How people maintain their properties contributes to wildfire damage to homes in residential areas. With climate change causing higher temperatures and severe droughts in areas with large human populations, wildfires will cause more damage.

The research shows that wildfires are a functional part of controlling invasive attacks on local plants in the natural world. So God’s design is not flawed, but human errors in managing what God has given us have brought great pain to many people. The question is whether we will learn from the past.

Science has given us tools to understand that wildfires can be beneficial in the natural world. Will we continue to promote ignorance of how the natural system works and bring tragic results to people living in areas vulnerable to wildfires?

References: National Science Foundation Research News and the journal Ecology Letters

March 4, 2022March 2, 2022

Shallow Torpor and Deep Torpor in Hummingbirds

You have probably heard that hummingbirds have such a high metabolism that they must eat constantly. On a human scale, a hummingbird would have to drink a can of Coca-Cola every minute just to stay alive. However, it isn’t just the rapid wing beat that requires so much energy, but hummingbirds must maintain their body heat so that organs like the liver and heart can function. A research team has studied the design built into hummingbirds to address this problem. It has to do with shallow torpor and deep torpor in hummingbirds.

Anusha Shankar at Cornell University and her team found that the smallest hummingbirds cool down at night to as low as 3 degrees Celsius. Shankar called that “an incredible ability.”
Hummingbirds can fall into deep torpor at night, something analogous to hibernation. They also have a shallow torpor they can use if they need to wake up quickly. In deep torpor, the hummingbirds can save an average of 60% of their energy relative to their basal metabolic rates. In addition to saving energy, when the hummingbirds are in deep torpor, they are invisible to temperature-sensing predators like snakes.

Hummingbirds sleep with their bills turned up and their eyes closed. While in deep torpor, their breathing is greatly reduced with ten-second periods when they don’t breathe at all. Researchers were impressed with the hummingbird’s energy flexibility. The birds not only have the options of shallow torpor and deep torpor while they sleep, but during the day, they can spend 80% of their time hovering or 80% of their time perching. Studies of gene expression show that genes are being turned off and on in hummingbird tissues in shallow torpor and deep torpor and when the bird is awake.

Hummingbirds are amazing creatures that show incredible complexity in their design. As we watch them around our feeders, we need to be impressed with how their bodies maintain their activity and survive the range of temperatures in their environment. It is just a reminder that “we can know there is a God through the things He has made” (Romans 1: 20). Hummingbird design speaks loudly of the truth of that statement.

Reference: American Scientist, March/April 2022 page 70.

March 2, 2022March 1, 2022

Dangerous Animals that We Fear

We see articles in magazines and newspapers telling terrible stories about dangerous animals killing humans. On planet Earth every year, 200 people are killed by lions, 500 by hippos, 600 by elephants, and 1000 by crocodiles. However, the deadliest creatures on the planet are not lions, hippos, elephants, crocodiles, or even sharks. Those numbers do not apply to most people reading this because those deaths occur in the limited areas of the world where those animals dominate.

Dangerous animals closer to home are scorpions, killing 3,300 people in the Americas. Dogs, including those that are rabies-infected, kill 59,000 humans. Snakes annually kill 138,000 people. So you might guess the top two killers of human beings. The second leading killer of humans is other humans, who take the lives of 400,000 people killed in homicides – not including suicides or war. However, the top killer of humans is mosquitos, with 725,000 people dying from diseases contracted through mosquito bites.

The list of diseases that mosquitos give to humans is massive. Chikungunya, dengue, yellow fever, encephalitis, West Nile fever, and malaria are a partial list. On the other hand, a minimum of care and prevention can avoid those diseases. For example, the mosquito that gives malaria to a human must be a female and one of the members of the Anopheles species. Also, they must have previously sucked blood from a malaria-infected human or animal.

It is easy to overlook the fact that many mosquitos are helpful pollinating insects. Furthermore, humans often create invironments where mosquitos flourish. Fields flooded to grow rice are great places for mosquito breeding. Humans have altered the natural environments, removing life forms that eat mosquitos, including in the larval stage when they live in bodies of still water.

Humans have caused many problems by invading animal habitats and altering the natural system God designed to keep dangerous animals and insects in balance. In many ways, we create our own problems. God did not create animals to hurt humans. Genesis 1:21 tells us that when God created “the moving creature that has life … and every living creature that moves … God saw that it was good.” That was God’s original design, and many of the bad things we experience are due to human ignorance, carelessness, and greed.

Reference: Data from Skeptical Inquirer March/April 2022, pages 25-26.

March 1, 2022February 28, 2022

Extreme Plant Design – Rafflesia

The world’s largest and most awful-smelling flowers grow in the rain forests of the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. They are produced by about 28 species of plants in the genus Rafflesia. These examples of extreme plant design have the odor and even the appearance of rotting flesh.

Rafflesia are parasitic plants that grow under the bark of woody vines in the genus Tetrastigma. The vines of Tetrastigma are also parasitic plants that use host trees to reach sunlight for photosynthesis. So you could say that makes Rafflesia plants parasites of parasites. Rafflesia plants grow inside the Tetrastigma vines so that their only visible part is the flower. They have no roots or stems.

The Rafflesia flowers have five petals and can be 40 inches (100 cm) or more in diameter and weigh 22 pounds (10 kg) or more. Because of the odor of these flowers, they attract flies and insects that feed on dead animals. Those insects transfer pollen from the male flowers to the female flowers, which the males outnumber.

But that isn’t the end of this extreme plant design story. Tetrastigma vines have a defense mechanism to prevent the Rafflesia from growing and taking energy from them. They produce chemicals called benzylisoquinoline alkaloids that are related to morphine and codeine. Those chemicals sometimes prevent the Rafflesia from growing in the Tetrastigma vine. However, it doesn’t work all the time. Jeanmaire Molina, a plant biologist at Long Island University, is trying to find out why. She thinks that Rafflesia may have a way to suppress the Tetrastigma’s alkaloid production.

Scientific American magazine quoted Harvard biologist Charles Davis commenting that this research into extreme plant design is essential to understanding the interaction between parasites and hosts. He said that “plants are incredible chemists.” We agree that plants are incredible chemists, but only because the Master Chemist has fine-tuned plants and all of life to survive and thrive on this incredibly well-designed planet. God has given us plants to provide oxygen, food, and a wide range of medical products that enrich our lives.

In a previous post (December 4, 2021), we reported on the titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum), which is known as the “corpse flower.” It also produces the smell of a rotting corpse and attracts flies for pollination. Interestingly, the titan arum uses the same means for pollination, but it is not related to Rafflesia. Evolutionists would call that “convergent evolution,” but we call it evidence of a common Designer.

Reference: Scientific American, March 2022 page 22, and Wikipedia.

February 28, 2022February 27, 2022

King of Saxony Bird-of-Paradise

Saxony is an area of Germany that hasn’t had a king since 1918. However, in the mountain forests of New Guinea, a bird has borne the name King of Saxony since 1894. It’s the King of Saxony bird-of-paradise (Pteridophora alberti).

The males display beautiful black and yellow colors. They also have two blue brow plumes attached to their heads that can be twice the length of the bird’s body. These birds are so strange-looking that when Europeans one for the first time, they thought it was a fake. Native people hunt the male birds for their prized plumes for ceremonial purposes. However, the King of Saxony bird-of-paradise is not easy to catch.

Adult males are highly territorial, guarding their domain while perched high in the tree canopy. Their unique courtship behavior consists of two parts. The first step is sitting on a bare branch and attracting females by singing a hissing rattling sound. It accompanies those noises by waving the long plumes independently or in unison. Next, if a female shows interest, the male will fly down to a lower branch to entice her. Then, the male will bounce up and down in front of the female while giving a hissing call. People find the entire ritual very entertaining.

Regardless of the threats they face from hunting, the King of Saxony bird-of-paradise is not endangered. That is beneficial for the ecology because these birds play a significant role in distributing fruit seeds on the island of New Guinea. Plants and fruits rely on animals to ensure their survival. In return, the plants produce fruit for the animals to eat in this marvelously complex system. Meanwhile, tourists to New Guinea enjoy these birds’ beauty and fascinating behavior.

The King of Saxony bird-of-paradise is a prime example of how each animal is unique, and the Creator has given us many species to study, enjoy, and protect. The interlocking system of birds, other animals, and plants shows evidence of a Creator who is an architect and engineer who has an appreciation of beauty and a sense of humor.