Archive for November, 2009

Evidence From The Earth’s Ecology

November 28th, 2009

Photosynthesis

Science is learning how plants are designed to regulate carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Defination: carbon dioxide
–noun: a colorless, odorless, incombustible gas, CO2, present in the atmosphere and formed during respiration, usually obtained from coal, coke, or natural gas by combustion, from carbohydrates by fermentation, by reaction of acid with limestone or other carbonates, or naturally from springs: used extensively in industry as dry ice, or carbon dioxide snow, in carbonated beverages, fire extinguishers, etc.

Use by humans: Humans use carbon dioxide in many different ways. The most familiar example is its use in soft drinks and beer, to make them fizzy. Carbon dioxide released by baking powder or yeast makes cake batter rise.
Some fire extinguishers use carbon dioxide because it is denser than air. Carbon dioxide can blanket a fire, because of its heaviness. It prevents oxygen from getting to the fire and as a result, the burning material is deprived of the oxygen it needs to continue burning.

Carbon dioxide is also used in a technology called supercritical fluid extraction that is used to decaffeinate coffee. The solid form of carbon dioxide, commonly known as Dry Ice, is used in theatres to create stage fogs and make things like “magic potions” bubble.

First, when carbon dioxide levels go up, many plants increase their use of carbon dioxide, making more oxygen.

Second, at higher carbon dioxide levels, plants tend to make tissue that doesn’t decay as easily. This ties up the extra carbon for longer periods of time.

Third, at higher carbon dioxide levels, plant tissues discourage insects from eating them, decreasing the re-release of the plants’ carbon as carbon dioxide.

Our Creator expects us to take care of His creation. He knows, however, that we cannot control all of the possible changing conditions on planet Earth. For this reason He has built mechanisms into the creation that adjust to changing conditions and maintain a suitable habitat for human life.

Portions of the above document were taken from Letting God Create Your Day, Vol. 3, p.77 and quoted in A Closer Look At The Evidence by Richard & Tina Kleiss. The first three paragraphs were taken from dictionaries.

The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’s: but the earth hath he given to the children of men. (Psalm 115:16 KJV )

426

No comments »

Posted in Biology, Chemistry

Tags:

Evidence From The Humming Bird

November 25th, 2009

picture-animal-Hummingbird-landing-creativity

One of the most fascinating and unique creatures of all creation is the common hummingbird. What is the probability that all of the unique characteristics of the ruby-throated hummingbird, each of which are needed for its survival, developed by some step-by-step evolutionary process? A few of the hummingbird’s incredible abilities are listed below:

1. The unique ability to fly forward, backward, upsidedown, and straight up like a helicopter as no other bird can.

2. The use of a special fringed tongue to sweep insects out from the inside of flowers. It cannot survive on nectar
alone, but also needs the protein from eating insects. Without its special tongue it could never catch the insects.

3. The ability to fly 500 miles nonstop over the gulf waters to Mexico. The hummingbird can conserve its strength for long flights by taking a prolonged rest just prior to the flight and making every motion count in flight.

4. The ability to go into a “torpid” condition at night by almost shutting down its metabolism. Because of its incredibly high energy activity, gram for gram the hummingbird has the greatest energy output of any warm-blooded animal. Yet at night it uses only about one-fifth of its normal energy.

The hummingbird is truly a marvel of God’s creativity.

The above document was taken from Character Sketches, Vol. II, p. 42-48 and quoted in A Closer Look At The Evidence by Richard & Tina Kleiss.

Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced.   (Psalm 105:4-5)

714

No comments »

Posted in Biology, Evolution, Insects

Tags:

The Amazing Leaf Miner

November 4th, 2009

Leaf Miner-2

If you live in a climate where fall brings colors to the leaves before they fall, you’ve probably noticed something strange. Once the leaves start to fall, the ground is littered with their color. But among all those fading leaves, you might find a perfectly healthy looking green leaf. That green leaf is probably the work of one of God’s more amazing tiny insects.
Leaf MinerSeveral species of beetles, flies and moths go through a larval stage in which the larvae burrow into leaves. These leaf miners gain their nutrition from the leaf. But when fall comes, and the leaves lose their green chlorophyll, they stop making food for the larvae. So the larvae secrete a hormone that prevents the leaf from losing its chlorophyll and shutting down to die. This hormone enables a leaf to stay green and produce food for the larvae even long after the leaf would normally have turned color and dried up on the ground.

Leaf miners present several problems for those who think that mindless evolution produced the variety of life that we see around us today. How did the larvae learn to make just the right hormone to preserve the leaf on which it depends? Are we to believe that these larvae kept evolving from something else until one of them figured out the chemistry of the leaf? And finally, are we to believe that this unlikely evolutionary event happened in several species?
Just as the sprouting of new leaves in the spring means that summer is near, so the cleverness of the leaf miner should tell us that the hand of God created this insect. And we can reliably conclude that God made the entire creation.
Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near. (Mark 13:28)

This article was originally written by  Joachim Scheven, “Green Islands,” Origins, June 1999 as quoted in Creation Moments, Nov 4, 2009

No comments »

Posted in Biology, Chemistry, Evolution, Insects, Intelligent Design

Tags:

The Black Eyed Dragon Fish

November 1st, 2009

sci_dragonfish

The fish known as the loose jaw or dragon fish has been found to have some remarkable abilities. At most 10 inches long, this deep-sea fish lives at depths between 1,500 and 4,500 feet. At these depths, the only light that gets through the water is a dim blue light. As a result, sighted creatures that live at those depths can see well in dim blue light, but virtually none of them can see light in the red end of the spectrum. None, that is, but the dragon fish, and that’s its secret weapon.

The dragon fish is the only known creature to have chlorophyll in its eyes. This compound gives the dragon fish the ability to see red light in the depths. But why would the dragon fish have these abilities if there is no red light to see? He makes his own red light. This bioluminescent red light is invisible to the dragon fish’s prey. But the dragon fish can see its red light reflecting off nearby prey, as a sniper who uses an infrared scope to sight his prey in the dark.

The dragon fish offers a powerful set of arguments in favor of a Creator. Its unique ability to see red where there is no red light cannot be explained by natural selection. Before it supposedly evolved the ability to see red light, how would it know about red light? And why would it have evolved the ability to create a color of light it could not have known about? The dragon fish’s sniper like ability to find its prey with light invisible to its prey bears powerful witness to a wise and powerful Designer.

References: S. Milus, “Red-flashing fish have chlorophyll eyes,” Science News, v.153, June 6, 1998, p.359.

The above document was quoted  from Creation Moments.org.
“And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life…”  Genesis 1:20

No comments »

Posted in Biology, Chemistry, Marine creatures

Tags: