RUBE GOLDBERG FLUKES
Genesis 3:17b
"...cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life...."
The lancet fluke is a parasite that accomplishes its life cycle in a most complicated, Rube Goldberg, manner.
Mature lancet flukes live in cows and other grazing animals. Their eggs are spread in the manure left by the animal. Snails, which naturally eat the manure, eat the eggs. Once in the snail's intestines, the eggs hatch. The flukes make their way to the outside of the snail. Meanwhile, the irritated snail tries to get rid of the flukes by imprisoning them in balls of slime, which it leaves behind in the grass. A foraging ant is likely to find the ball, filled with hundreds of flukes. When the ant eats it, the flukes leave the ant's intestinal tract, finally settling as a cluster of nerves that control the ant's mandibles. The ant seems perfectly normal until the sun begins to set. Then the ant, under the control of the flukes, climbs a blade of grass, and the mandible clamps shut on the end. There the ant waits to be consumed by a grazer, where the lancet life cycle begins all over. Even stranger, if the ant isn't eaten by the time the sun returns, the ant returns to normal life, until the next sunset.
Although parasites are part of the curse of sin, the lancet fluke is still a testimony to God's incredible creativity.
Father, thank You for sending Your Son to reverse the curse of our sin with His death and resurrection. Amen.
Discover, 8: 2000, p. 80-85, "Do Parasites Rule the World?" Photo: Mature lancet flukes. Courtesy of Alan R. Walker. (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Genesis 3:17b
"...cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life...."
The lancet fluke is a parasite that accomplishes its life cycle in a most complicated, Rube Goldberg, manner.
Mature lancet flukes live in cows and other grazing animals. Their eggs are spread in the manure left by the animal. Snails, which naturally eat the manure, eat the eggs. Once in the snail's intestines, the eggs hatch. The flukes make their way to the outside of the snail. Meanwhile, the irritated snail tries to get rid of the flukes by imprisoning them in balls of slime, which it leaves behind in the grass. A foraging ant is likely to find the ball, filled with hundreds of flukes. When the ant eats it, the flukes leave the ant's intestinal tract, finally settling as a cluster of nerves that control the ant's mandibles. The ant seems perfectly normal until the sun begins to set. Then the ant, under the control of the flukes, climbs a blade of grass, and the mandible clamps shut on the end. There the ant waits to be consumed by a grazer, where the lancet life cycle begins all over. Even stranger, if the ant isn't eaten by the time the sun returns, the ant returns to normal life, until the next sunset.
Although parasites are part of the curse of sin, the lancet fluke is still a testimony to God's incredible creativity.
Father, thank You for sending Your Son to reverse the curse of our sin with His death and resurrection. Amen.
Discover, 8: 2000, p. 80-85, "Do Parasites Rule the World?" Photo: Mature lancet flukes. Courtesy of Alan R. Walker. (CC BY-SA 3.0)
LIVING FOSSILS, EVOLUTION'S OOPS
Psalm 104:30
"Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth."
Living fossils are creatures believed to be extinct and known only through the fossil record. The most famous living fossil is the Coelacanth. It is a fish, and textbooks claim it has been extinct for 70 million years according to the evolutionary timetable. Now we know that schools of them live in the Indian Ocean.
To make the claim that a creature is extinct is really only an opinion until the entire Earth has been searched and no living specimen found. Another example based upon opinion is the trilobite, said to typify the Cambrian period. Textbooks regard it as an index fossil, indicating that any rocks in which its fossil is found must therefore be Cambrian. The index fossil system was placed in serious question again when living trilobites were found. Other living fossils used to date rock layers are the Graptolites. They supposedly lived 300 million years ago, and so have been considered a reliable indicator of that age. We know now that they are still with us.
The point is not just the discovery of creatures thought to be long extinct. The point is that opinions based upon their fossils are the foundation for the millions of years essential for the doctrine of evolution. As Scripture says, the foolishness of God, Who made all these creatures, is greater than the wisdom of man.
Thank You, dear Father, for the truth of Your Word, for I cannot rely on the wisdom of man. Amen.
Back to Genesis, 11-2000, "The Profusion of Living Fossils." Photo: Preserved specimen of a coelacanth. Courtesy of Alberto Fernandez Fernandez. (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Psalm 104:30
"Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth."
Living fossils are creatures believed to be extinct and known only through the fossil record. The most famous living fossil is the Coelacanth. It is a fish, and textbooks claim it has been extinct for 70 million years according to the evolutionary timetable. Now we know that schools of them live in the Indian Ocean.
To make the claim that a creature is extinct is really only an opinion until the entire Earth has been searched and no living specimen found. Another example based upon opinion is the trilobite, said to typify the Cambrian period. Textbooks regard it as an index fossil, indicating that any rocks in which its fossil is found must therefore be Cambrian. The index fossil system was placed in serious question again when living trilobites were found. Other living fossils used to date rock layers are the Graptolites. They supposedly lived 300 million years ago, and so have been considered a reliable indicator of that age. We know now that they are still with us.
The point is not just the discovery of creatures thought to be long extinct. The point is that opinions based upon their fossils are the foundation for the millions of years essential for the doctrine of evolution. As Scripture says, the foolishness of God, Who made all these creatures, is greater than the wisdom of man.
Thank You, dear Father, for the truth of Your Word, for I cannot rely on the wisdom of man. Amen.
Back to Genesis, 11-2000, "The Profusion of Living Fossils." Photo: Preserved specimen of a coelacanth. Courtesy of Alberto Fernandez Fernandez. (CC BY-SA 3.0)
THE BEST SWIMMING WING
Genesis 1:21a
"And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind...."
An unusual example of a design in nature that runs counter to human common sense is found in the pectoral flippers of the humpback whale. The leading edge of these flippers, which one would intuitively expect to be smooth, actually sport evenly spaced bumps.
After all, airplanes, as well as birds, have sleek leading edges on their wings. These smooth edges would seem to be the most efficient at cutting through the air, which is a fluid, just like water. Puzzled about this, scientists recently made two models of the humpback's pectoral fins. One had a smooth edge, the other had the bumps that appear on real fins. These models were taken for testing in a wind tunnel. Not surprisingly, the smooth-edged fins performed like a standard wing. However, the humpback model did much better! It generated 8 percent more lift and a third less drag than the standard design. What's more, the bumpy wing could angle 40 percent more steeply into the air than the sleek model before it stalled. Since water, like air, is a fluid, these principles would apply to a real humpback fin, enabling humpbacks to be more nimble in the water.
This unusual design comes in handy for the humpback because they feed on fast-moving schools of nimble herring and sardines. Obviously, God gave them a special design to help them do this.
Father, I thank You that Your thoughts are not our thoughts. Help me to think more like You. Amen.
Scientific American, 8-2004, pp. 18-19, "Bumpy Flying." Photo: Humpback whale. Courtesy of NOAA. (PD)
Genesis 1:21a
"And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind...."
An unusual example of a design in nature that runs counter to human common sense is found in the pectoral flippers of the humpback whale. The leading edge of these flippers, which one would intuitively expect to be smooth, actually sport evenly spaced bumps.
After all, airplanes, as well as birds, have sleek leading edges on their wings. These smooth edges would seem to be the most efficient at cutting through the air, which is a fluid, just like water. Puzzled about this, scientists recently made two models of the humpback's pectoral fins. One had a smooth edge, the other had the bumps that appear on real fins. These models were taken for testing in a wind tunnel. Not surprisingly, the smooth-edged fins performed like a standard wing. However, the humpback model did much better! It generated 8 percent more lift and a third less drag than the standard design. What's more, the bumpy wing could angle 40 percent more steeply into the air than the sleek model before it stalled. Since water, like air, is a fluid, these principles would apply to a real humpback fin, enabling humpbacks to be more nimble in the water.
This unusual design comes in handy for the humpback because they feed on fast-moving schools of nimble herring and sardines. Obviously, God gave them a special design to help them do this.
Father, I thank You that Your thoughts are not our thoughts. Help me to think more like You. Amen.
Scientific American, 8-2004, pp. 18-19, "Bumpy Flying." Photo: Humpback whale. Courtesy of NOAA. (PD)
THE TSUNAMI AND THE ANIMALS
Job 12:7
"But now ask the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee;"
Almost everyone in the world today knows of the terrible disaster that struck the coasts of South East Asia. The North American news media gave daily body counts, reported human tragedy and inflicted damage yet, as far as is known, none mentioned the animals.
However, Asian reports from the damaged areas comment not only on the ability of trees to withstand the devastating waves but the almost total absence of animal deaths. It appears that the animals, from flamingoes to elephants, took off for the hills long before the humans. The Chinese have done extensive investigations on animals and earthquake detection but are at a loss to explain it. Chinese scientists simply conclude that animals have far greater sensitivity than the best of scientific instruments.
Reuters reported from Thailand that the elephants used in the tourist business at Khao Lak began to "cry" at 9 am, about the time of the quake. Some elephants broke their hefty chains, but they all raced away toward the jungle-clad hills, taking their surprised tourists and guides with them. Some people were even picked up by the elephants using their trunks. They all came to a point on high ground where the waves stopped just short of where they stood. Three thousand, eight hundred people died in that area. God is merciful to those sensitive enough to His warnings.
We thank you, Father, for teaching us by this example of our insensitivity to Your warning signs and Your mercy to the animals. Amen.
Reuters. Mark Bendeich, "Jumbos Save Tourists from Tsunami." January 03, 2005. Photo: Elephants in Thailand. Courtesy of Siebrand. (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Job 12:7
"But now ask the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee;"
Almost everyone in the world today knows of the terrible disaster that struck the coasts of South East Asia. The North American news media gave daily body counts, reported human tragedy and inflicted damage yet, as far as is known, none mentioned the animals.
However, Asian reports from the damaged areas comment not only on the ability of trees to withstand the devastating waves but the almost total absence of animal deaths. It appears that the animals, from flamingoes to elephants, took off for the hills long before the humans. The Chinese have done extensive investigations on animals and earthquake detection but are at a loss to explain it. Chinese scientists simply conclude that animals have far greater sensitivity than the best of scientific instruments.
Reuters reported from Thailand that the elephants used in the tourist business at Khao Lak began to "cry" at 9 am, about the time of the quake. Some elephants broke their hefty chains, but they all raced away toward the jungle-clad hills, taking their surprised tourists and guides with them. Some people were even picked up by the elephants using their trunks. They all came to a point on high ground where the waves stopped just short of where they stood. Three thousand, eight hundred people died in that area. God is merciful to those sensitive enough to His warnings.
We thank you, Father, for teaching us by this example of our insensitivity to Your warning signs and Your mercy to the animals. Amen.
Reuters. Mark Bendeich, "Jumbos Save Tourists from Tsunami." January 03, 2005. Photo: Elephants in Thailand. Courtesy of Siebrand. (CC BY-SA 3.0)
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