Proof Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells Work!

"Seventy-five months have passed and we can speak of a cure with certainty."

(Berlin)—Doctors associated with the German umbilical cord blood bank Vita 34 say that they have cured a child's leukemia completely using an infusion of stem cells from umbilical cord blood.

The procedure was reportedly performed in 2005 on a four-year-old girl whose chemotherapy treatment had failed and who had a prognosis of only three months to live. The procedure was possible because the parents had decided to preserve their child's umbilical cord blood at the time of birth. (Graphic: StemCellUmbilicalCordBlood.com)

After continuous monitoring of the child for five years now, with no sign of leukemia cells in her blood, doctors say that they have confirmed that the treatment worked.

"Seventy-five months have passed and we can speak of a cure with certainty," said Eberhard Lampeter of Vita 34.

According to the Chilean newspaper La Tercera, this is the first case in the world of a child cured of leukemia by her own stem cells. In most cases the child's umbilical cord blood is not available, and the stem cells of close family members must be used.

The new treatment is the latest in a long string of hundreds of successes in the science of stem cell treatments that use mature cells rather than embryonic stem cells.

Embryonic stem cell treatments, which destroy a human life, have never been proven effective in any medical treatment to date. Treatments with mature stem cells do not cause harm to the donor of the cells.

Stem cell pioneer Dr. Colin McGuckin recently told LifeSiteNews that, despite amazing success with umbilical cord blood treatments, it remains difficult to obtain funding for research because of the "cult of celebrity" in science, which rewards controversial research over research that is truly effective in saving lives.

"People aren't talking about cord blood because it's not controversial," McGuckin told LSN. "Consequently, it does not make headlines and therefore researchers who want to use the cells from cord blood do not receive funding."

Source: LifeSiteNews.com

2010 Christian Nature

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Babies Know More Than You Think!

Does a five-month-old infant know that three is more than two? Impressive new evidence strongly supports the idea that infants have natural mathematical reasoning skills.

Researchers relied on the fact that babies tend to look longer at something new or unexpected than they do at something they have recently seen. Infants were allowed to look at either one or two Mickey Mouse dolls.

Then, researchers put a screen in front of the dolls. With the babies watching, they would sometimes place another doll next to the first or second doll behind the screen. Sometimes another, hidden, researcher would hide one of the dolls. Then the screen was removed.

When the screen was removed, the infant might see the same number of dolls as before, one more, or one less. Researchers found that if the same number of dolls that the infant had seen before were still present when the screen was removed, the infant quickly lost interest.

However, if there was an additional doll, or one less doll, the infants spent more time looking at them. They could clearly tell that the number had changed. Other research has shown that infants can also tell when the number of beats on a drum is the same as the number of objects they are being shown.

God has built many skills and talents into us. Other research shows that infants also have language and music abilities at a surprisingly young age. That these intellectual skills are natural to us is another evidence against the evolutionary explanation for man.


2010 Christian Nature

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." Romans 12:1

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'Playing God' With His Creation

The failure of Congress to pass "climate change" legislation has, as you might expect, prompted some strong reactions.

New York Times columnist Tom Friedman cites this failure in calling for the creation of a third political party that will allow us to do what's needed to "move forward" as a country.

Others are contemplating a different way 'forward': instead of transforming politics, they want to reinvent and transform the planet.

According to the Washington Post, ideas once considered "downright wacky" are getting serious attention here and in Britain. These ideas involve "playing God with the weather in the hope of slowing global warming."

The technical term is geo-engineering. The notion is that if humans won't change their behavior, then the only way to avert catastrophe is to change the earth.

The goal of geo-engineering is to modify the environment, particularly the atmosphere and the oceans, in a way that mitigates the impact of increased CO2 emissions.

For instance, if greenhouse gases are trapping too much heat in the atmosphere, you could, in theory, spray particles that could cause sunlight to be reflected back out into space. Or more ambitiously, you could look for a way to remove excess CO2 from the atmosphere.

'Playing God' is, of course, risky business, as anyone who has ever watched a science fiction movie can tell you. Our attempts to combat global warming could themselves trigger 'radical shifts in the climate' and kill millions. It may also unintentionally affect fragile ecosystems and the species that depend on them.

Stated simply, the unintended consequences could be severe - we don't know how the world works nearly well enough to predict the outcome.

But that's not to going stop us from trying. Part of the reason for the strange new respect for the previously 'downright wacky' is the fear that 'some nut case' might go ahead and actually do it on his own.

It's not hard to understand why: the same people who worry about 'nut cases' have spent the past 20 years warning us that a few degrees are all that stands between us and the apocalypse. Their preferred mode of argumentation has been fear-mongering.

Any attempt to question the scientific basis for man-made global warming has been compared to Holocaust denial! They've told people that the principal environmental problem is too many people living too long at too high a standard. Little wonder that they fear "some nutcase" taking premature actions that could kill countless numbers of people.

What's telling is that no one in the debate seems to object to the whole idea of 'playing God.' No one seems to wonder about the hubris of what is being proposed. Is there no end to human hubris? Have we gotten used to the idea that we're really in control of everything? I mean, we speak of 'designer genes' for the human species - is a 'designer planet' that surprising?

So, we propose to become Frankenstein in order to stop would-be Frankensteins. If this doesn't make sense to you, that's because it's nonsensical. Either way, hubris gets the monster built.

And, like in the movies, it's the villagers who get hurt. And that's not wacky, it's evil - a very human kind of evil.

notes breakpoint.org

2010 Christian Nature

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How Much Does Man Really Know About Catastrophes?

Some people do not believe there was a great Flood at the time of Noah. Others see it as a huge rain storm. That is not what Scripture teaches.

The great Flood at the time of Noah was more than simply the world's biggest rainstorm. It was punishment from God Almighty. Scripture paints the picture of an upheaval across the face of the Earth that combined floods, landslides, volcanoes and earthquakes. As the ground literally danced with earthquakes of unimaginable intensity, hills and mountains would have flowed like pudding.

Is it possible that modern science has been blind to evidences of such upheaval? A few generations ago, geologists who believe in evolution saw no notable evidence of any great floods on Earth. Gradually they began to conclude that much of our sedimentary rock is the result of great floods.

More recently, they have started to notice evidence that mountains can literally collapse and flow like pudding. Some landslides are simple landslides where part of a mountain collapses. But sometimes the collapse turns into a flow that travels for many miles, even across flat ground.

Take, for example, the Blackhawk slide at the southern edge of the Mojave Desert. [Every time I do research on it, I get the same phrase: " for cause not known to us now"] Here, a mass of marble fell 1.5 kilometers down and then flowed another 9 kilometers across the nearly flat desert. One description says that it looks as if the mountain simply turned to chocolate milk. Once scientists understood that this happens, they began to recognize evidence showing that this phenomenon is not unusual.

As our scientific knowledge increases, the history recorded in the Bible becomes more dramatically illustrated – not disproved!

Notes: Science News

2010 Christian Nature

"For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment, and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly…" 2 Peter 2:4-5

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Physics and Micro Architecture - Needed to Make a Butterfly Wing

The beautiful wing of the butterfly has a lesson to teach everyone. The design of the butterfly wing involves much more than just intricate complexity. In addition to showing a knowledge of flight, each wing design is the product of very precise specifications built around the specific wavelengths of visible light.

The iridescent colors you admire on a butterfly's wing are created by the scales of the wings. Each square centimeter of wing has tens of thousands of these scales, each attached to the wing by tiny stems and overlapping each other like cedar shakes.

Each one of these scales was a living cell until a day or two before the butterfly emerged from its pupa. Each tiny scale is made of a vertical and horizontal framing within which are found various sacks of pigment hanging from the framework.

Butterfly wings that seem to glow with iridescent blues and greens have scales with tiny lattices and ribbed walls that are designed to cause interference patterns in light waves within the 300 700 nanometer range – exactly the range humans see as color. That interference pattern is what our eyes interpret as iridescence.

It takes a good knowledge of physics as well as micro architecture to design and build an iridescent butterfly wing! Science clearly teaches us that such ability and knowledge does not come from chance. Let's be bold to admit the truth – there is a Creator!

2010 Christian Nature

"One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek; That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple." Psalm 27:4

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Clues to the Puzzle of the Brain

In Genesis 2:19 we read that God brought to Adam the animals He'd made to see what Adam would call them. It's been noted for generations that this task showed Adam's great intellectual abilities.

You see, Adam had to know an animal's nature to be able to give it a meaningful name. Remember that Adam had a perfect knowledge of God.

As he looked at each of God's creations, he could see an expression of part of God's nature. This allowed him to identify what God had made each creature to be, so he could give a meaningful name. While this may be hard for us to understand, science now offers evidence that the names of animals and their characteristics are indeed stored together in our brains.

Researchers studied a 70 year old woman who has had brain damage to both temporal lobes and spotty damage elsewhere in her brain. Because of the damage, she has a most unusual disability – she cannot name animals. When shown a picture of a cow, for example, or listening to its "moo", she cannot identify the animal. Nor can she remember the characteristics of animals. When asked what color elephants are, she said they are orange.

This incident provides strong evidence that the names and characteristics of animals are indeed stored together in our brains. It also should illustrate for us how Adam's abilities were far greater than ours are today. We need to treat the so-called "early man" with respect.

Notes: Science News

2010 Christian Nature

"Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name." Genesis 2:19

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Archeologists Discover 1608 Church of Jamestown

JAMESTOWN, Virginia -- Archaeologists at Jamestown believe they've made a major discovery, one that could serve as powerful evidence of America's Christian heritage.

They're digging up what appears to be the remains of the original 1608 church at James Fort, where Pocahontas was married. (video below)

Pocahontas is legendary, best known for saving the life of Capt. John Smith, who helped establish Jamestown in 1607. Smith claimed the daughter of Chief Powhatan came to his rescue after he'd been taken prisoner by her father's men.

This Native American heroine would later marry another Jamestown colonist named John -- John Rolfe, the Virginia colony's first successful tobacco planter.

But just where that marriage took place has been a mystery. That is, until now, nearly 400 years after that historic wedding.

A 'Goose Bump' Moment

Jamestown archaeologist Bill Kelso said he's 99 percent sure he and his team have discovered the first substantial Protestant church in America -- the 1608 church. He describes the "find" as a "goose bump" moment.

"This fort was supposed to have been lost to the river, to erosion," Kelso told CBN News. "No one could find it."

"I came out here 18 years ago, and I thought, 'Well, I want to give this a shot in this area because nobody looked that seriously here,'" he said. "And sure enough the whole fort's been found -- all the buildings; now the church."

Colleague Danny Schmidt is even more convinced it's the 1608 church.

"I'd have to agree with him - maybe even up it to 99.9 percent. But, yeah, things are looking good," Schmidt said.

"We've excavated most of the fort here. We can rule out all the other structures we've seen," he continued. "This one is so far matching up precisely with the dimensions that they said it would (have)."

The secretary of the Jamestown colony recorded the church dimensions as 60 feet long and 24 feet wide.

"We can go back and look at the historic record and see how that matches up to the empirical evidence -- what we see in the ground," explained David Givens, another archaeologist at Jamestown.

A Thrilling Match

The walls and thatch roof are gone, but this year, archaeologists uncovered deep post holes dug to hold heavy timber columns to support the church. Kelso said he believes the columns probably would have been two stories high.

The holes unearthed so far are 12 feet apart, matching a 1610 description of the church.

"This would then support the super-structure of a very large building, which would have a cathedral ceiling," Kelso exclaimed. "(It's) way off the charts for any kind of post building we've ever found before."

Other evidence includes several graves found in what Kelso says would have been the church's chancel - an area near the altar where prominent Anglicans were usually buried.

Archaeologists are digging near the center of the fort, which matches the earliest known diagram of Jamestown - a map presented to the king of Spain in 1608. An "x" or perhaps a cross is located near the center of the map, which scholars believe marks the church.

Christianity's Central Role

Historians and archaeologists believe the church's central location and size showed the importance of Christianity to the settlers, and that their long trip was not just about riches.

"The directions from the Virginia Company is that, 'Look, you can find gold, find silver, do all these things that we want to make money with, but if you forget about religion, this is all going to be for naught,'" Kelso explained.

The 1608 church was important to the colonists for many reasons, including playing a key part in the very survival of Jamestown.

It was there in June of 1610 that Virginia's first resident governor, Sir Thomas West, addressed the colonists. He arrived at just the right time in the New World to motivate them to not abandon the fort.

"It would have been another lost colony had he not shown up," Kelso said.

The colonists forged ahead with the church at the heart of the fort.

"What we take away from these stories is our birthplace, our nation, our story," said Givens.

Thriving in a New World

The 1608 church lasted about ten years. In 1617, Governor Samuel Argall called for a new church located probably where the current brick reconstructed church stands and greets visitors today.

"It was replaced, always replaced," said Kelso.

Those replacements testify that Christianity served not only as a foundation of America, but continued to thrive in a harsh new world of uncertainty.

1608 Church Video

Sources: Mark Martin for CBN and National Geographic

2010 Christian Nature

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The Rain Forest - Those Sneaky Birds!

There are some sneaky, sneaky birds living in the rain forest. They will stop at nothing to achieve their goals!

The rain forest offers a rich variety of living things. Part of that richness can be seen in the flocks of birds that cooperate in the canopy, even though the flocks are made up of several species.

The rain forest is actually two forests in one. The canopy that's formed by the tree tops supports entirely different type of life than the part of the forest growing beneath the canopy. This lower forest is called the "understory."

Flocks made up of various species of birds search for food, usually insects, in their respective territories – either in the canopy or in the understory. Each flock has its own sentinel who watches for predators and warns the rest when danger is near.

This arrangement leaves the sentinel with little time to search out its meals. So it resorts to a little trickery to feed itself. It watches the other birds forage, in addition to watching the sky. When it sees the others turn up some good insects, it shrieks the predator alarm. Then, while the other birds are distracted, it chases down the insects before the others can get to them.

It appears that the other birds can tell when they are being fooled. When they hear the alarm, they immediately look at the sentinel. If the sentinel is diving for cover, they know the alarm is real. If the sentinel is diving for their meal, it's too late to do anything about it.

In effect, the other birds are trading some of their hunting skills in return for the alarm services of the sentinel. It's the Creator's wise arrangement where everyone uses his gifts for the good of all.

Notes: Science News

2010 Christian Nature

"For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another." Romans 12:4-5

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Looking at Fossil Records and 'Santa Claws'

The fossil record shows us examples of God's great creativity in designing living things. It also shows that life appeared suddenly on Earth, in finished form. The fossil record shows us that Earth originally had a much greater variety of life. Finally, the fossil record doesn't show any evidence of creatures evolving from one type into another.

Paleontologists have been looking for fossils of unusual creatures in some of the oldest rocks that have fossils in them. In other words, these rocks in British Columbia have evidences of some of the earliest forms of life. These layers show the rich variety of life that once existed on Earth. Paleontologists have found a much greater variety of arrow worms and jellyfish than live today. But even in the earliest layers, the worms and the jellyfish are fully formed.

In addition, paleontologists have found some startling creatures. One foot and a half-long creature had a circular mouth with radiating teeth and claws. Another looks like a tiny, inch long dragon. Scientists describe it as looking like the cameo of a stegosaurus. Perhaps the most unusual creature was named "Santa Claws" by one paleontologist. It has five pairs of claws attached to its head, two flaps on the side and a tail like a beaver.

Paleontologists and Christians who believe the biblical record of creation don't dispute the facts about fossils. We object to interpretations of the fossils that needlessly contradict Scripture.

Notes: Science News

2010 Christian Nature

As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the LORD is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him. Psalm 18:30

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All of Creation Calls! - Video with Brian Doerksen

How could I believe there is no God when all of creation calls? asks Brian Doerksen. This magnificent video is filled with creation set to his hit song, and it speaks to God's attention to detail in His Creation.



I do hope you were blessed by this video about God's attention to detail in His Creation!

2010 Christian Nature

(Please note: This is a nature blog, not a science blog. The name of this blog is Christian Nature. Notice "Christian" is the first word and "Nature" is the second.)
I am not a pantheist. In pantheism the Universe (Nature) and God are equivalent. I am a Bible-believing Christian who believes God is the Creator of nature. When He created humans He placed them into nature. It was called "The Garden of Eden."

read more "All of Creation Calls! - Video with Brian Doerksen"

Traveling Country Roads with John Denver - Video

Have you ever traveled the Country Roads in West Virginia? No? You don't know what you're missing! Let's travel with John Denver down his favorite Country Roads! You don't even have to leave your house for this trip! It's Autumn and the colors are magnificent!

Country Roads

Absolutely beautiful! What God does, He does well!

2010 Christian Nature

R.C. Sproul, in his book The Holiness of God, says, “Men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance, until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God.”

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You See, Your Dog Sees, Your Plant Sees

If a plant could see, what would it look at? Amazed scientists have learned that plants can indeed see and react to their environments just as do animals!

Plants need light for photosynthesis. They grow toward the light. However, this isn't what scientists are referring to when they talk about plant sight.

They have discovered that plants have an additional system that allows them to react to their surroundings.

Plants have pores, called stomata. Stomata allow carbon dioxide into the plant and oxygen out as photosynthesis takes place. They remain closed when there is little light or when water must be conserved. The more the stomata open, the faster photosynthesis takes place and the faster the plants grow. The plant also loses water faster when the stomata are open wide.

While both blue and red light are used for photosynthesis, scientists have found that the cells that open and close the stomata respond only to blue light. The amount of blue light present turns on a pump in the cells that causes them to swell, and the stomata opens.

This amazing process involves pumping protons to create electricity. In one experiment, scientists more than doubled the growth rate of orchids by providing extra blue light to open the stomata.

In the plants' ability to sense and react to their environment, we see another way that plants give glory to their Creator and show that they are not simple living things that just happened to develop.

Notes: Science News

2010 Christian Nature

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Musical Lakes Really Do Sing!

Did you know that lakes 'sing'? Well, they do! Think of them as 'musical lakes'.

It's a quiet, cool, overcast morning at the lake. There's a hint of fog in the air and a fine, lightly falling drizzle. Then you notice the sound. It's almost a musical note, and it's coming from the lake. It's almost as if the lake were singing.

Many people report hearing a lake "sing" when there is a fine drizzle falling. Those who have never heard it are skeptical. However, now science has confirmed that lakes do indeed "sing" in a fine drizzle. Scientists even know what causes it. And in this case, the scientific explanation doesn't decrease our wonder and awe at this amazing phenomenon.

Canadian scientists placed an underwater microphone at a depth of about 100 feet in a Vancouver Island lake. They placed the microphone almost 1,000 feet from shore so they would be certain not to pick up any sounds from the shore. Then they waited for the weather to change. The scientists eventually recorded the sounds of rain, hail, drizzle and even snow hitting the surface of the lake. Yes, even snow makes a sound when it strikes the water!

Their findings show that the fine drops of water in drizzle strike the surface of the lake almost as if they were tiny explosive charges. When they burst on the water, they give off a "ping." While you'd never hear a few of these droplets "ping," countless billions of them add their sound together to make the lake literally sing.

Scripture is correct in a literal sense when it tells us that everything in the creation sings praises to its Creator.

Notes: Science News

2010 Christian Nature

All the earth shall worship You and sing praises to You; they shall sing praises to Your name. Psalm 66:4

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How Old Do You Think the Grand Canyon Is?

Have you ever been to the Grand Canyon? I have, and I recall the Park Rangers saying that it took millions of years for water to carve out the Canyon. Being skeptical, I asked, "How do you know that for sure?" I was told it 'was science'. Really?

Back in 1926, a canal in the desert of Walla Walla, near Washington, became clogged with tumbleweeds. When heavier-than-normal spring rains occurred, water began to back up.

So workers diverted the water to a ditch leading to a nearby creek. The old ditch was not large, six feet wide and never more than ten feet deep, but the large water flow – 80 cubic feet per second – began to carve out the ditch.

The fast-moving water soon created what many have called a miniature Grand Canyon. Over six days, the water moved five million cubic feet of dirt and rock. The result is a canyon over a quarter of a mile long, 120 feet deep and 120 feet wide.

Canyons throughout the world have undoubtedly been formed by large volumes of water moving a large amount of rock in a short time. While none of these canyons are as large as the Grand Canyon, the return of waters to the ocean after the Genesis Flood provides more than enough power to carve a feature as large as the Grand Canyon. So, how long did THAT take?

2010 Christian Nature

"And the waters returned from off the earth continually...." Genesis 8:3a

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The Irony in Parables

How many times have we heard, "The stories Jesus taught with are just made up stories. Parables schmarables." But there is irony in the selective acceptance of parables!

Parables are a good way to teach. Jesus often used parables to teach a lesson. Parables can even be a good way to teach science. However, parables cannot be used to establish scientific fact.

Unfortunately, Charles Darwin frequently used parables as part of his scientific method. Many modern evolutionists continue that tradition. Let's look at an example.

Those who believe in evolution have tried to find an explanation for why some birds have luxurious, bright plumage. Does the peacock really need those brilliant tail feathers? Well, say evolutionists, females prefer the males with the most beautiful plumage. So the brightest males had more babies. Evolutionists call this sexual selection.

However, what does the story prove? It doesn't prove anything in the scientific sense. It doesn't explain where the colors came from in the first place.

It doesn't explain why females prefer showy males. Nor does it explain where peacocks originally came from.

And it doesn't explain why some birds have very drab colors. However, the biggest problem with this explanation is that it begs the question: Why, when these people dismiss the parables of Jesus, do they accept the parables of Darwin?

You see, many evolutionists admit that they have no good explanation for how sexual reproduction evolved in the first place.

So the evolutionists' story for how the peacock came to have such bright feathers is just a story – not scientific proof. And when it comes to stories, I prefer the stories reported in the Bible because they have my Creator's own personal guarantee of truth.

2010 Christian Nature

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 2 Timothy 4:3-4

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'Constants' In Life

Did you worry as the sun came up this morning that it would never come up again? No? Why? Because it always does! Have you ever considered what blessings the 'constants' in life are?

Think about it: we are all so accustomed to the regularity of the seasons and the various time-constants of nature (e.g., the length of the day and the year), we rarely stop to think how important all this is.

When the sun goes down each evening, we are not disturbed, because we know it will rise the next morning; when winter settles over the hemisphere, we are confident that the spring will return in due time.

But if it were not so, life would soon become extremely difficult. Science and technology, which are based on the assumption that like causes produce like effects, would be impossible.

These basic physical constants (the earth's rotation controlling the length of the day, the earth's orbit controlling the year, and the earth's axial inclination controlling the seasons), in turn, control most other physical and biological processes on the earth.

Scientists, however, have no explanation as to why these constants are what they are. There is no better answer than that they are gifts of God's grace.

As a matter of fact, this present uniformity of nature dates only from the end of the great Noahic Flood, which marked a tremendous discontinuity in the processes of nature as they had functioned previously. God's promise to Noah of post-Flood continuity, as summarized in the words of our text, has been kept faithfully now for over 4,000 years.

All of God's wonderful creation gives a daily testimony to His faithfulness: "The living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein: . . . left not Himself without witness, in that He did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness" (Acts 14:15, 17).

So the next time you get down in the dumps, begin itemizing the constants God has given you. They truly are blessings!


First published in April Lorier Perspective

©2009 April Lorier of Christian Nature

"As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease."
Genesis 8:22

read more "'Constants' In Life"

Who Was the First Brain Surgeon? Noah?

Most of us were amazed when we first learned that physicians in ancient Egypt did brain surgery. Even more amazing is that the skulls of their patients showed healing: they accomplished such complicated surgery without killing their patients. That physicians had the knowledge to do such delicate operations thousands of years ago challenges the modern, evolutionary view that humans began as primitives.

Where did such knowledge come from? How did man learn that relieving fluid pressure on an injured brain prevented further damage and promoted healing? Obviously, according to the modern view, the first would be physician to try brain surgery had no idea what he was doing. However, history paints a very different picture.

Recently, archaeologists in west central China discovered a skull of someone who had brain surgery over 4,000 years ago. A large hole in the center of a series of cracks had been made by scraping through the bone. The skull shows that healing took place after the surgery, indicating some degree of success. Even older examples of successful brain surgery have also been found in eastern Europe. Creationist dating would place these examples to within several centuries after the Flood.

That the knowledge and skill to do successful brain surgery was so widespread so long ago suggests that man had such knowledge and skill even before the Flood. Noah may even have passed on knowledge that had been passed down to him from Adam himself!

Notes: Discovering Archaeology

2010 Christian Nature

And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. Genesis 50:2

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'Wonderfully Made' - Our Invisible Third Eye

Did you know that you have three eyes, one of them 'invisible'? In fact, someday your third eye may provide spare parts that might be necessary to repair the two eyes you normally think about.

Scientists have known for more than a century that the western fence lizard has a third eye. Its third eye can be seen as a white spot on the top of its forehead. While this third eye is an extension of the pineal gland, it has a retina, lens and cornea.

While this third eye is unable to focus light, it does sense light. Pineal eyes are also found in other lizards, frogs and lampreys, but not in mammals. Since human beings are supposed to be evolutionarily closer to mammals, scientists did not expect to find the third eye in human beings.

However, when medical researchers investigating the human pineal gland compared their findings with eye researchers, they were astonished. Both the pineal and the retina make melatonin, an important chemical in our daily rhythm that also affects mood.

Your pineal also makes a number of proteins that were thought to be made only by the eye that are necessary for processing light. And like the pineal, the eye also serves as one of the body's time-keeping mechanisms.

There are so many similarities between the eye and the pineal in humans that scientists hope to one day use a person's pineal as a source of genetic spare parts to treat some eye diseases!

We are truly fearfully and wonderfully made, just as The Psalmist declared!

2010 Christian Nature

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:14

read more "'Wonderfully Made' - Our Invisible Third Eye"

Exciting Possibiliy for a New Mexico ROCK

As all of you know, I grew up in The Land of Enchantment, New Mexico. So, naturally, I was intrigued by the fervor over a New Mexico rock in the news. The issue at hand is whether someone engraved the Ten Commandments, in ancient Hebrew, on a New Mexico rock 2,000 years ago.

In 1871, Indians showed New Mexico rancher Franz Huning a basalt boulder on his land. The boulder had strange writing on it. The Indians told him that the rock, with its writing, had been there long before their tribes ever came to the area.

Scholars were brought in to look at the rock. They identified the writing as paleo Hebrew script of the style in use between 500 and 100 B.C. What did the engraving say on what has come to be known as the Los Lunas Rock? It was an abridged engraving of the Ten Commandments. But who could have made it?

There are additional finds that are even more astonishing and seem to make the answer obvious. Above the rock is a flat mountain top. On the mountain top are ancient ruins of stone structures that seem to be designed for defense. Its design has been compared to the ruins of Lachish, in southern Judea.

Another Hebrew inscription on the mountaintop names the God of Israel as "our Mighty One." An astronomical petroglyph indicates a partial solar eclipse that is known to have taken place in 107 B.C. This coincides with an archaeologist's dating of the engravings to about 2,000 years ago.

Did travelers from southern Judea settle in what is now New Mexico some 2,000 years ago? Exciting evidence supports that possibility and challenges modern stereotypes about the abilities and accomplishments of the humans of 2,000 years ago.

May our proud modern age may be increasingly challenged by the evidence showing that the human beings God created have always been highly intelligent, curious and capable.

Notes: Creation Science

2010 Christian Nature

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Comic Book Science

Recently, I told you that Stephen Hawking, the great scientist, believes that the universe and life itself can be explained without referring to God; that God is, in Hawking’s words, “unnecessary.” He said we were 'Lords of Creation'!

But there are some scientists who do believe there was a creator. The problem is that some of their ideas about the “creator” and his “creation” are straight out of a comic-book convention.

According to a recent article written by a university astronomer in the U.K.’s Telegraph newspaper, it’s possible that the “universe around us was created by people very much like ourselves, using devices not too dissimilar to those available to scientists today.”

In this scenario, our universe is only one of many universes: what physicists like Hawking call a “multi-verse.” In one of these universes, someone, using a device only slightly more advanced than the Large Hadron Collider, created a black hole, which in turn, led to the Big Bang that created our universe.

Mind you, there’s absolutely no proof of this or, for that matter, the existence of “parallel universes.” Nor should we expect any: As physicist Lawrence Krauss documents in his book Hiding in the Mirror, hidden dimensions and parallel universes are mathematical abstractions that can’t be proven in the lab or through observation.

In Krauss’ estimation, “our continuing intellectual fascination with extra dimensions may tell us more about our own human nature than it does about the universe itself.”

Even more outlandish than creation-by-beings-from-a-parallel-universe is the idea that the universe, including us, is really a gigantic computer simulation. If that sounds familiar, it ought to: It’s the idea behind the blockbuster film The Matrix.

The “reasoning” goes something like this: “technological advances” could enable “advanced humans,” or “post-humans” to “program and run simulations of “their evolutionary history.” These simulations would take the form of “virtual worlds inhabited by virtual people.”

So, not only is everything around us fake, we are, too.

According to one of the leading proponents of this idea, “there’s a 20 percent chance we’re living in a computer simulation.” His proof? Like the creation-from-a-parallel-universe, there isn’t any, and we shouldn’t expect any. An intelligence sophisticated enough to create such a simulation is, by definition, sophisticated enough to hide the truth from us.

Krauss is right: These kinds of speculations do tell us something about human nature, specifically its perversity. Surrounded by evidence that universe is not the product of blind chance but, instead, the result of purposeful intelligence, we imagine “creators” that are literally the stuff of science fiction.

And not coincidentally, these “creators” are “very much like ourselves.” More to the point, they make no demands on us – acknowledging their possible existence leaves us free to live as we please, with no obligations to either them or each other.

When St. Paul wrote “claiming to be wise, they became fools,” this is the kind of folly he had in mind. Creation makes God and his attributes knowable, but that kind of knowledge carries a price many of us are unwilling to pay. So, we opt instead for a “creator” made in OUR image.

One that is far better suited for the comic books.

2010 Christian Nature

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This Is Nutty!

When most of us go on a diet, one of the first things we eliminate from our diet is nuts. But is this nutty?

Between 70% and 90% of the calories in nuts come from fat. That's why they have traditionally been on the list of foods to avoid for those who want to avoid heart disease.

Some Christians have wondered why so many of the foods we eat seem to offer natural hazards to our health. Why would God place us in such a dietary minefield? Well, perhaps many of our fears are more the result of our ignorance than of God's design.

A study involving 31,200 people compared those who ate nuts at least five times a week with those who rarely ate them. To control other factors that affect heart disease, researchers used Seventh Day Adventists in their study. Seventh Day Adventists suffer fewer heart attacks than other Americans. This is thought to be due largely to their diet.

When it comes to nuts, though, some eat nuts often and some rarely eat them. Researchers then kept track of who in the study group ate nuts, what kind and how often, and who had heart attacks. They found that those who ate nuts at least once a week lowered their chance of a heart attack by 25%. Those who had nuts five times a week were half as likely to have a heart attack.

While there surely are things in the creation that can hurt us, our Creator has filled the creation with many things that benefit us as well. Modern science is showing that perhaps many modern fears about the creation arise from ignorance about our Creator's excellent designs.

Notes: Science News

2010 Christian Nature

And their father Israel said to them, 'If it must be so, then do this: Take some of the best fruits of the land in your vessels and carry down a present for the man; a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds.' Genesis 43:11

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Video for Children - Jonah and the Big Fish

One day, a long time ago, there was a man named Jonah. God told him to go preach in a city called Ninevah. But Jonah didn't like the people in Ninevah, so he did not do what God told him to do.

God caused a huge storm to come when Jonah was in a boat with some other men. Jonah knew he was running away from God, so he knew God sent the storm as a warning. But the men threw him into the ocean and Jonah was swallowed by a very big fish. He lived inside the fish for 3 days and 3 nights. Finally, Jonah told God he was sorry. He said I will do what you told me to do.

OK! So God made the fish vomit up Jonah, and Jonah went to Ninevah.

It's not a smart thing to disobey God! Remember: God is The Boss!

Story of Jonah

2010 Aunt April, Nature Girl

Jonah 1,2,3

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Just The Flutter of Butterfly Wings Does It

OK, you're not a scientist, but you study what science has proven about nature. So, I have a question for you. Ever heard of the 'Butterfly Effect'? No? It is extremely interesting and, as I always appreciate, analogous to how we live our lives.

In 1963, Edward Lorenz presented a hypothesis to the New York Academy of Science. His theory, stated simply, was that:

A butterfly could flap its wings and set molecules of air in motion, which would move other molecules of air, in turn moving more molecules of air – eventually capable of starting a hurricane on the other side of the planet.

Lorenz and his ideas were literally laughed out of the conference. What he had proposed was ridiculous. It was preposterous. But it was fascinating!

Therefore, because of the ideas charm and intrigue, the so-called “butterfly effect” became a staple of science fiction, remaining for decades a combination of myth and legend spread only by comic books and bad movies.

So imagine the scientific community’s shock and surprise when, more than 30 years after the possibility was introduced, physics professors working from colleges and universities worldwide came to the conclusion that the butterfly effect was authentic, accurate and viable.

Soon after, it was accorded the status of a “law.” Now known as The Law of Sensitive Dependence Upon Initial Conditions, this principle has proven to be a force encompassing more than mere butterfly wings. Science has shown the butterfly effect to engage with the first movement of any form of matter – including people.

On Friday, April 2, 2004, ABC News honored a man who, at that time, was 91 years old. The news program was running a regular segment called “Person of the Week.” Usually the honoree’s accomplishments are listed in advance and by the time the name is announced, most folks have already guessed the identity of that week’s recipient. In this instance, however, the pronouncement left many viewers puzzled.

“And so…our Person of the Week is…” the anchorman finally said, “Norman Borlaug!”

One can only imagine the frowns. Who? Who did he say? Norman…what was the last name?

Yet, despite our unfamiliarity, Norman Borlaug is a man who is personally responsible for drastically and dramatically changing the world in which we live.

You see, in the early 1940s, Norman Borlaug hybridized high-yield, disease-resistant corn and wheat for arid climates. From the dust bowl of Western Africa to our own desert Southwest, from South and Central America to the plains of Siberia, across Europe and Asia, Borlaug’s specific seed product flourished and regenerated where no seed had ever thrived before. Through the years, it has now been calculated that Norman Borlaug’s work saved more than two billion lives from famine.

And there was someone who inspired Norman, years before. And Norman inspired Edward Lorenz after him.

As I said, this seems analogous to life - to how we live, not knowing something we have said or done enabled someone else to succeed. I had an 8th grade teacher, Margaret Oliphant, who loved me. One simple statement she made as she looked at me with so much delight on her face, changed my life forever. It was the flutter of her love - my butterfly wing - that enabled me to succeed in spite of a no-chance childhood.

Who are you affecting today?

2010 Christian Nature

Adapted from The Butterfly Effect: How Your Life Matters by Andy Andrews, © 2009 Simple Truths LLC

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Compound in Daffodil Bulbs Treats Aggressive Brain Cancers

"Scientists have been digging in odd corners to find effective treatments for brain cancer for decades, and now they've found one in daffodils. It doesn't mean that you should eat daisies or daffodils for what ails you, but that modern medicinal chemistry can pluck new chemicals from stuff that grows in the garden. This is a good one!"

When looking for new ways to treat aggressive brain cancers, an international team of scientists turned a new leaf and "discovered" the lowly daffodil. A new research study published in the November 2010 print issue of The FASEB Journal offers hope that a natural compound found in daffodil bulbs, called narciclasine, may be a powerful therapeutic against biologically aggressive forms of human brain cancers. (Photo by: Mark Jones, edited)

"We are planning to move a narciclasine derivative toward clinical trials in oncology within a three to four year period in order to help patients with brain cancers, including gliomas, as well as brain metastases," said Robert Kiss, Ph.D., co-author of the study from the Laboratory of Toxicology at the Institute of Pharmacy at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Brussels, Belgium. "We hope narciclasine could be given to brain cancer patients in addition to conventional therapies."

To make this discovery, Kiss and colleagues used computer-assisted techniques to identify targets for narciclasine in cancer cells. The strongest potential candidate to emerge was the eEF1A elongation factor. Researchers then grafted human melanoma brain metastatic cells into the brains of genetically altered mice. Results showed that the injected mice survived significantly longer when treated with narciclasine than those mice left untreated. The researchers believe that narciclasine selectively inhibits the proliferation of very aggressive cancer cells, while avoiding adverse effects on normal cells. Narciclasine could be used in the near future to combat brain cancers, including gliomas, and metastases such as melanoma brain metastases.

"Scientists have been digging in odd corners to find effective treatments for brain cancer for decades, and now they've found one in daffodils," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. "It doesn't mean that you should eat daisies or daffodils for what ails you, but that modern medicinal chemistry can pluck new chemicals from stuff that grows in the garden. This is a good one!"

Source: Cody Mooneyhan - FASEB Journal

2010 Christian Nature

R.C. Sproul, in his book The Holiness of God, says, “Men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance, until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God.”

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How Many HORNETS Does It Take to Change a Light Bulb?

OK, how many hornets does it take not to change a light bulb, but to power a digital watch? In the case of the Oriental hornet, six hornets can generate enough electricity to run the watch.

Entomologists at Tel Aviv University have been studying Oriental hornets, also known as 'Electric Hornets'. They have been most interested in the outer skeleton, or skin, of the hornet. And they have discovered that this cuticle works as a living solar cell. When sunlight hits the hornet's cuticle, electricity is generated.

To prove their point in dramatic fashion, they wired six hornets together in series. That arrangement generated enough electricity to run a digital watch for several seconds. Their research also revealed the fact that the cuticle's electrical generation is most efficient at the temperatures in which the hornets normally operate. Different layers in the cuticle generate and store electrical current. Voltages have reached as high as several hundred millivolts, and the current has been recorded as high as several tenths of an ampere. In effect, Oriental wasps are living semiconductors!

The researchers now find themselves in the classic situation of finding out how little they know by learning something. They report that they don't know how the hornet converts its electrical energy into a form it can use. Nor do they know how the cuticle stores the energy or transmits it.

Modern science loves to take pride in its accomplishments. However, every time science investigates God's seemingly simplest creations, scientists are reminded of their need for humility.

Notes: Chemical & Engineering News

2010 Christian Nature

When pride comes, then comes shame; but with the humble is wisdom.
Proverbs 11:2

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Research - Your HAIR Reveals Your Secrets

Hair can be used to diagnose stress levels, drug intake, and even your risks of a heart attack, according to new Israeli research.

Long or short, styled or shaggy, you can tell a lot about people by the way they wear their hair. It provides clues to how they see themselves, and how they hope to be perceived. And according to several important studies by Israeli-Canadian researcher Dr. Gideon Koren, your hair can also reveal lifestyle information, such as whether you have been under stress and are at greater risk of a heart attack.

If you know what to look for, says the professor of pediatric medicine and toxicology at the University of Western Ontario, hair can tell you what a person has been up to.

Indeed, Koren's research has helped to divulge secrets hidden in hair; specifically, the level of stress a person has had to contend with. Following a study by a colleague of his about a decade ago that showed that cortisol (also known as hydrocortisone, a steroid hormone or glucocorticoid), produced by the adrenal gland, is present in human hair, Koren decided to study the relationship between cortisol levels and levels of stress.

"As cortisol is a known biomarker for stress, and because hair grows about a centimeter [0.4 inch] a month, I thought this was a great opportunity to measure chronic stress over time," he tells ISRAEL21c, adding that his research has led to a new biological marker that "can be used to help prevent heart attacks."

Building your "stress record" through your hair

While hair itself consists of dead cells, a hair's follicle - which contains its roots - is alive, and substances in the bloodstream, like cortisol, can leech into the follicles from blood vessels in the scalp. As hair grows, the cortisol moves up the strand. Taking into consideration the rate of hair growth per month Koren says, you can determine how much stress an individual has been under in recent months.

In fact, it turns out that the cortisol count in hair is the most reliable measure of the hormone to be found by scientists to date. Previously they had to rely on measures of cortisol in blood or urine, which record only a few hours' or days' worth of the hormone. Thus, depending on hair length, a doctor could determine how much stress a person has been under for the preceding six months or even more, and whether or not those stress levels have increased recently.

In a study in 2008 and 2009, Koren tested the theory at Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba, where he took hair samples from 120 men with a history of either heart attacks or chest pain and infections. Men were the only candidates in the first of what Koren hopes will be several studies, since they are more likely to have experienced heart-related stress.

Members of the research team analyzed the 1.2 inches of hair closest to the scalp, and using the cortisone level measurements they built a "stress record" covering the previous three months for the subjects in the study.

Cocaine used by mothers found in infants' hair

The study confirmed Koren's theories. Subjects who had experienced a heart attack showed significantly higher levels of cortisol in their hair. All the men in the study showed higher than average cortisol levels; about one third of the men with the lowest levels had experienced heart attacks, while heart attacks were experienced by more than two thirds of those with the highest levels of cortisol in their hair.

Koren, who was born in Tel Aviv, says he has conducted numerous studies at Meir Hospital with collaborator Prof. Michael Lishner. In a new study at the hospital that also involves cortisone measurement levels, Koren is examining the effects of stress on in-vitro fertilization candidates.

The current studies are not Koren's first that involve hair. "My laboratory has long been interested in the way drugs and alcohol are incorporated into hair. In 1988 I published the first paper showing that when a mother used cocaine in late-stage pregnancy, elements of the drug are incorporated into the baby's hair. We later determined that almost every drug taken by the mother can be found in the baby. This study led to significant breakthroughs in enabling physicians to determine what a baby has been exposed to," Koren recounts, adding that the technique is now used in hospitals on a regular basis.

A musical medical professor

Currently professor of Pediatrics, Pharmacology, Pharmacy and Medical Genetics at the University of Toronto, and professor of Medicine, Pediatrics, and Physiology-Pharmacology at the Schulich School of Medicine of the University of Western Ontario, Koren is also director of Toronto Hospital for Sick Children's Motherisk Program, which he founded in 1985. Educated at Tel Aviv University, he spends about three months a year in Israel, working on his research and visiting relatives.

Now Koren has found a way to combine his passions: "I created a musical theater for hospitalized kids that has been performing a therapeutic play called 'Tails' weekly at Toronto hospitals since 1992. We are now at 900 plays and still counting," he says. The professor intends to continue studying the connection between stress and hair. After all, it could save lives, he concludes.

Source: David Shamah, Israel 21c

2010 Christian Nature

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Intelligence of Whales - Was Melville Right?

Whales can maneuver precisely through the world's oceans and ice floes and among each other. Herman Melville noted this when he wrote in Moby Dick that whales seem to be guided by a "secret intelligence from the Deity."

Much about that "secret intelligence" remains a secret to this day. It is known that sperm whales can echo-locate in the same way that bats do. They send out a series of clicks from a special organ in their head. However, other species of whales lack that organ. Scientists think that other whales may use a less precise method of echo-location based on their low pitched calls.

Whales also use sounds to communicate with each other. Scientists have cataloged at least 23 different sperm whale click arrangements. Some of the patterns always follow other patterns, indicating that the clicks are a form of language. Some whales are believed to carry out conversations over thousands of miles.

Scientists believe that some of the frequencies used by the whales allow them to communicate with other whales halfway around the world. The haunting melodies of the hump back whale are mating songs. The songs can last as long as 30 minutes. A humpback song will be the same within a single population of whales and sometimes within an entire ocean basin!

Whales are beautiful creatures! While they are intelligent, science has proven they are not as intelligent as once thought. However, they still glorify their Creator.

Reference: U.S. News & World Report

2010 Christian Nature

So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:21

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Houses Made of Bones?

If you live in a temperate climate, you have probably heard your home pop and crack on cold days. Those sounds are caused by the different materials that make up your house contracting at different rates as the temperature falls. At some point, the growing tensions are released and you hear the result.

If you live in a warm climate that is subject to hurricanes, you know that a building is likely to fail at the point where different parts of the house, like the roof and wall, meet together.

Buildings are made up of a large number of things, each of which acts differently under the same conditions. That makes for weak points in any structure. British architects have looked at the structure of living things to find an answer to this problem.

They noted that skeletons can work well under conditions that would cause many other building materials to fail. One researcher noted that a skeleton is more efficient than any man-made structure. One architect's suggestion was to build structures like walls and bridges out of artificial bone that is formed to the needs of the structure.

We should not be surprised that, once again, man is looking to the living world for solutions to his problems. The living world, like everything else, was designed by our all-wise God Who does all things well.

Notes: New Scientist

2010 Christian Nature

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The Shy Bird With the Great Memory

The very-shy bird called Clark's nutcracker collects food during the growing season and stores it for the cold winter months. In one year, a bird will store between 22,000 and 33,000 seeds in as many as 2,500 locations, which can be more than ten miles apart. But does the little bird remember where he put all those seeds? You betchya!

Biologists tracked the activity of Clark's nutcrackers in the San Francisco Peaks in northern Arizona. A small army of researchers tracked the birds' seed gathering and storing activities.

One of the first things they discovered was that the birds quickly figured out that they were being observed. Some refused to store food when researchers were watching them. Others faked storing seeds when they were watched.

Back in the lab, researchers studied the storing activity of Eurasian nutcrackers. After the birds stored seeds in a large sand floor, the birds were removed. Then the seeds they stored were dug up. When the birds were allowed to return, they quickly discovered that their seeds had been stolen, so they refused to store any more seeds.

In the end, researchers concluded that the nutcrackers recover as many as two-thirds of their stored seeds within 13 months.

The remarkable memory of these little birds is their gift from God that enables them to be fed all year around.

Notes: Science News

2010 Christian Nature

Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food? Job 38:41

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Snow - Red, Orange, Green or Black?

Silly me. I have spent a lifetime believing snow was white. Now I find out that snow can be green, orange, black, or red! The photo is of red Antarctic snow. The snow is red due to the presence of Chlamydomonas algae. The colored snow is sometimes called 'watermelon snow' both because of its color (red or green) and because it reportedly tastes and smells sweet.

Over 2,000 years ago, Aristotle wrote about red snow. Today, red, orange and even green snow has been found on every continent. It is typically found in deep mountain snows in the late spring. The snow color is caused by any of 350 species of strange snow algae.

The pigments inside the resting algae cysts produce the colors. Even while resting in the nutrient-poor, highly acidic snow, the cysts are photosynthesizing. In its cyst form, the algae can live even in temperatures of -94°F. As the snow melts in the late mountain spring, the cysts burst open. A single cell with two whip-like tails emerges. It then begins to swim upward, against the draining water from the snow above.

At this time of the year, the snow melt water can reach the same acidity as a peat bog, which causes death to most microbes. Those that manage to swim through the snow mate and then return to the cyst stage. These cysts then settle to the ground as the snow melts to remain inactive until the next spring.

Researchers have found that the algae have unique fatty acids that enable them to remain flexible in the cold environment in which they spend their entire active lives.

Snow algae have been uniquely designed by God to make a living in some of the lowest temperatures on Earth. If our Creator can find a way to enable snow algae to flourish in these conditions, He can find a way to help us out of the most impossible circumstances.

Notes: Science News

2010 Christian Nature

He gives snow like wool; He scatters the frost like ashes; He casts out His hail like morsels; who can stand before His cold? Psalm 147:16-17

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