A CAGE OF LIGHT
Psalm 27:1
"The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"
Ask any evolutionist, and he will tell you that the Venus Flower Basket is one of the least-evolved animals. This animal is actually a sponge that is made up of a colony of creatures, and it does some amazing things.
The Venus Flower Basket builds a basket-like skeleton made up of glass-like silica covered only by a thin layer of cells. The intricate internal structure of this skeleton is reinforced to provide the greatest strength using the least amount of material. The resulting skeleton turns out to be a fiber optic network whose sophistication has been compared to modern fiber optics used for telecommunications networks.
Symbiotic luminescent microorganisms make a home inside the base of the sponge, sending their light throughout the Flower Basket's fiber optic skeleton. The Flower Basket traps shrimp inside this skeleton, where they spend their entire lives. The food they drop feeds those luminescent microorganisms at the bottom of the basket. The purpose of the light pulses is to attract prey to feed the shrimp, who, in turn, feed the source of the light pulses! All of this is even more impressive, given the fact that the Flower Basket has no nervous system whatsoever.
That this beautiful creature with no nervous system is designed and works in such an intricate manner is a powerful testimony to our Creator, the only One Who could design this.
Father, in the beginning, You created light which brings beauty, but nothing like the beauty of Your salvation. Amen.
Discover, 8/05, pp. 42-47, George M. Whitesides, "Illuminated Life." See also: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/species-of-the-day/collections/our-collections/euplectella-aspergillum/index.html
Psalm 27:1
"The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"
Ask any evolutionist, and he will tell you that the Venus Flower Basket is one of the least-evolved animals. This animal is actually a sponge that is made up of a colony of creatures, and it does some amazing things.
The Venus Flower Basket builds a basket-like skeleton made up of glass-like silica covered only by a thin layer of cells. The intricate internal structure of this skeleton is reinforced to provide the greatest strength using the least amount of material. The resulting skeleton turns out to be a fiber optic network whose sophistication has been compared to modern fiber optics used for telecommunications networks.
Symbiotic luminescent microorganisms make a home inside the base of the sponge, sending their light throughout the Flower Basket's fiber optic skeleton. The Flower Basket traps shrimp inside this skeleton, where they spend their entire lives. The food they drop feeds those luminescent microorganisms at the bottom of the basket. The purpose of the light pulses is to attract prey to feed the shrimp, who, in turn, feed the source of the light pulses! All of this is even more impressive, given the fact that the Flower Basket has no nervous system whatsoever.
That this beautiful creature with no nervous system is designed and works in such an intricate manner is a powerful testimony to our Creator, the only One Who could design this.
Father, in the beginning, You created light which brings beauty, but nothing like the beauty of Your salvation. Amen.
Discover, 8/05, pp. 42-47, George M. Whitesides, "Illuminated Life." See also: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/species-of-the-day/collections/our-collections/euplectella-aspergillum/index.html
FROM MOZART TO EINSTEIN
1 Chronicles 15:16
"And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers with instruments of music..."
Scientists have shown that the so-called "Mozart effect" of music in young children is just a myth. This popular idea said that exposing young children to classical music improves their ability in non-verbal tasks. Nevertheless, researchers did find a more interesting effect of classical music on students.
At the beginning of the school year, researchers from the University of Toronto randomly assigned 132 first graders into one of four groups. Some received piano or drama lessons while others took chess lessons or joined science programs. At the end of the school year, the students' IQ was evaluated. Those who had taken piano lessons showed a 7 point increase in IQ. Those involved in the other programs showed only a 4¼ point increase in IQ. Researchers believe that the focused attention that learning music requires for extended periods is a major factor in the greater increase of IQ among the music students. They also suggest that the memorization required in a musical education also helps IQ. Further research into these and other factors will be the subject of long-term study.
Music is a gift from God, and the study of music has traditionally been considered an essential element of a good education. Modern research is showing us that this traditional approach to music has more wisdom than is offered by a purely materialistic approach to education.
Father, I thank You for the gift of music. Lord, open my lips that I might sing forth Your praises. Amen.
Science News, 6/19/04, p. 389, B. Bower, "Tuning Up Young Minds."
1 Chronicles 15:16
"And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers with instruments of music..."
Scientists have shown that the so-called "Mozart effect" of music in young children is just a myth. This popular idea said that exposing young children to classical music improves their ability in non-verbal tasks. Nevertheless, researchers did find a more interesting effect of classical music on students.
At the beginning of the school year, researchers from the University of Toronto randomly assigned 132 first graders into one of four groups. Some received piano or drama lessons while others took chess lessons or joined science programs. At the end of the school year, the students' IQ was evaluated. Those who had taken piano lessons showed a 7 point increase in IQ. Those involved in the other programs showed only a 4¼ point increase in IQ. Researchers believe that the focused attention that learning music requires for extended periods is a major factor in the greater increase of IQ among the music students. They also suggest that the memorization required in a musical education also helps IQ. Further research into these and other factors will be the subject of long-term study.
Music is a gift from God, and the study of music has traditionally been considered an essential element of a good education. Modern research is showing us that this traditional approach to music has more wisdom than is offered by a purely materialistic approach to education.
Father, I thank You for the gift of music. Lord, open my lips that I might sing forth Your praises. Amen.
Science News, 6/19/04, p. 389, B. Bower, "Tuning Up Young Minds."
GLOBAL POSITIONING LOBSTERS
Isaiah 40:22
"It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in…"
Homing pigeons are valued because of their highly developed sense of direction, and this includes the ability to read the Earth's magnetic field. Some other birds, turtles and even a few salamanders have also shown this same ability. However, bees, ants or people are not born with this ability.
Until now, those animals classified as "lower animals" on the evolutionary scale were not expected to have such navigation abilities. However, this ability has now been confirmed in – of all things – the Caribbean spiny lobster. Researchers collected more than 100 lobsters from various locations; each lobster was tagged with a number indicating the exact location of their discovery. They were then placed in closed containers and boated about in circuitous routes for an hour so that they would not remember the direction of home. To further confuse the lobsters, some of the containers contained magnets. Each lobster was then fitted with a removable hood so that they were effectively blindfolded. They were then placed in a large tank to see which direction they would naturally seek. Typically, the lobsters would begin trying to walk home, aiming to within three compass degrees of where they were captured.
Scientists were surprised that a so-called "lower invertebrate" has a navigation system as sophisticated as a homing pigeon. But they shouldn't be surprised. The same wise Creator made both creatures.
Lord, I thank You for Your goodness toward us and all Your creatures in giving them their survival abilities.
Science News, 1/4/03, p. 4, S. Milius, "Homing Lobsters."
Isaiah 40:22
"It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in…"
Homing pigeons are valued because of their highly developed sense of direction, and this includes the ability to read the Earth's magnetic field. Some other birds, turtles and even a few salamanders have also shown this same ability. However, bees, ants or people are not born with this ability.
Until now, those animals classified as "lower animals" on the evolutionary scale were not expected to have such navigation abilities. However, this ability has now been confirmed in – of all things – the Caribbean spiny lobster. Researchers collected more than 100 lobsters from various locations; each lobster was tagged with a number indicating the exact location of their discovery. They were then placed in closed containers and boated about in circuitous routes for an hour so that they would not remember the direction of home. To further confuse the lobsters, some of the containers contained magnets. Each lobster was then fitted with a removable hood so that they were effectively blindfolded. They were then placed in a large tank to see which direction they would naturally seek. Typically, the lobsters would begin trying to walk home, aiming to within three compass degrees of where they were captured.
Scientists were surprised that a so-called "lower invertebrate" has a navigation system as sophisticated as a homing pigeon. But they shouldn't be surprised. The same wise Creator made both creatures.
Lord, I thank You for Your goodness toward us and all Your creatures in giving them their survival abilities.
Science News, 1/4/03, p. 4, S. Milius, "Homing Lobsters."
THE FASTEST FLOWER IN THE WEST
Psalm 105:5
"Remember his marvelous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth..."
Can you imagine a plant that moves so fast that science didn't know what it was doing until recently? The plant is a forest wild flower found in North America and called the Bunchberry dogwood.
A few botanists had noted a strange "poof" associated with the plant, but no one knew what was going on. Researchers at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, were studying the plant when they experienced the "poof." Wanting to track down what the plant was doing, they got a high-speed video camera that can shoot 1,000 frames per second. Amazingly, that camera was too slow to clearly catch what the plant was doing. So they got a higher-speed camera that could shoot 10,000 frames per second.
When they reviewed the video, they discovered that the flower was releasing pollen at an amazing speed. They calculated that the gravitational force on the pollen as it is released is 800 times the force astronauts endure when they blast into space. This wonder is accomplished by the flowers' very elastic petals which are part of a design that looks like a trebuchet � a medieval catapult.
The amazing wonders of God's creation should lead us to unceasingly praise Him, something which belief in evolution does not allow. Even if you try to add God to evolution, chance and natural forces still get the credit.
I praise You, Father, for all the wonders of Your creation. Help my life praise you before others as well. Amen.
Science News, 6/11/05, p. 381, "World's Fastest Plant Explodes with Pollen."
Psalm 105:5
"Remember his marvelous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth..."
Can you imagine a plant that moves so fast that science didn't know what it was doing until recently? The plant is a forest wild flower found in North America and called the Bunchberry dogwood.
A few botanists had noted a strange "poof" associated with the plant, but no one knew what was going on. Researchers at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, were studying the plant when they experienced the "poof." Wanting to track down what the plant was doing, they got a high-speed video camera that can shoot 1,000 frames per second. Amazingly, that camera was too slow to clearly catch what the plant was doing. So they got a higher-speed camera that could shoot 10,000 frames per second.
When they reviewed the video, they discovered that the flower was releasing pollen at an amazing speed. They calculated that the gravitational force on the pollen as it is released is 800 times the force astronauts endure when they blast into space. This wonder is accomplished by the flowers' very elastic petals which are part of a design that looks like a trebuchet � a medieval catapult.
The amazing wonders of God's creation should lead us to unceasingly praise Him, something which belief in evolution does not allow. Even if you try to add God to evolution, chance and natural forces still get the credit.
I praise You, Father, for all the wonders of Your creation. Help my life praise you before others as well. Amen.
Science News, 6/11/05, p. 381, "World's Fastest Plant Explodes with Pollen."
ONE GENERATION AFTER THE FLOOD
Genesis 8:11
"And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth."
Many listeners will recall the volcanic eruption that rocked Washington State as Mount St. Helens exploded in the May of 1980. Fortunately, there was plenty of warning and the event was recorded in detail. Since that time, many studies have been made by the Park service and by creationists, including Creation Moments, on the rate of recovery. In 2005, a generation after the eruption, scientists took a close look at the area to get an idea of how the earth might have recovered a generation after Noah's flood.
The volcano destroyed 230 square miles of forest. Much of that area was literally sterilized by hot pyroclastic flows. Twenty-five years later, 150 species of plants had established themselves in this area. This included five species of conifers such as the Western hemlock and Pacific silver fir. This was contrary to current ecological theory since these trees are supposed to sprout only after generations of other plants had improved the soil. Many trees were already 15 feet tall. In addition, birds, frogs, toads, mammals and even elk had returned. Again, many of these species were not expected to have returned to the area for a long while yet.
The Bible mentions the appearance of green plants within two months of the rain stopping at the end of the Flood. Mount St. Helens illustrates such a speedy recovery after the Flood.
Thank You, Father, for making the living world that is so resilient and for preserving it for our good.
Smithsonian, 5/05, David B. Williams, "Phenomena and Curiosities: Rising from the Ashes."
Genesis 8:11
"And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth."
Many listeners will recall the volcanic eruption that rocked Washington State as Mount St. Helens exploded in the May of 1980. Fortunately, there was plenty of warning and the event was recorded in detail. Since that time, many studies have been made by the Park service and by creationists, including Creation Moments, on the rate of recovery. In 2005, a generation after the eruption, scientists took a close look at the area to get an idea of how the earth might have recovered a generation after Noah's flood.
The volcano destroyed 230 square miles of forest. Much of that area was literally sterilized by hot pyroclastic flows. Twenty-five years later, 150 species of plants had established themselves in this area. This included five species of conifers such as the Western hemlock and Pacific silver fir. This was contrary to current ecological theory since these trees are supposed to sprout only after generations of other plants had improved the soil. Many trees were already 15 feet tall. In addition, birds, frogs, toads, mammals and even elk had returned. Again, many of these species were not expected to have returned to the area for a long while yet.
The Bible mentions the appearance of green plants within two months of the rain stopping at the end of the Flood. Mount St. Helens illustrates such a speedy recovery after the Flood.
Thank You, Father, for making the living world that is so resilient and for preserving it for our good.
Smithsonian, 5/05, David B. Williams, "Phenomena and Curiosities: Rising from the Ashes."
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