January 2011

1/31/11

Treat Genetic Disease in Utero with Mom's Own Cells

"Discovery is expected to lead to significant advances in using stem cells to treat genetic diseases before birth."

UCSF researchers have tackled a decade-long scientific conundrum, and their discovery is expected to lead to significant advances in using stem cells to treat genetic diseases before birth.

Through a series of mouse model experiments, the research team determined that a mother's immune response prevents a fetus from accepting transplanted blood stem cells, and yet this response can be overcome simply by transplanting cells harvested from the mother herself. Amazing!

"This research is really exciting because it offers us a straightforward, elegant solution that makes fetal stem cell transplantation a reachable goal," said senior author Tippi MacKenzie, MD, an assistant professor of pediatric surgery at UCSF and fetal surgeon at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital. "We now, for the first time, have a viable strategy for treating congenital stem cell disorders before birth."

Scientists have long viewed in utero blood stem cell transplantation as a promising treatment strategy for many genetic diseases diagnosed as early as the first trimester of pregnancy, including sickle cell disease and certain immune disorders. Fetal stem cell transplantation involves taking healthy cells from the bone marrow of a donor and transplanting them into the fetus through ultrasound-guided injections. When successful, the implanted cells, or graft, replenish the patient's supply of healthy blood-forming cells.

In theory, the developing fetus with an immature immune system should be a prime target for successful transplantation, since the risk of graft rejection is low and the need for long-term immuno-suppressive therapy may be avoided.

However, most previous attempts to transplant blood stem cells into a human fetus have been unsuccessful, prompting some researchers to lose interest in this promising field, according to MacKenzie, who also is an investigator with the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research.

Findings from the study can be found online, in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. They also will be published in the journal's February 2011 issue.

"The fact that fetal stem cell transplantation has not been very successful has been puzzling, especially given the widely accepted dogma that the immature fetal immune system can adapt to tolerate foreign substances," said co-senior author Qizhi Tang, PhD, an assistant professor of transplant surgery and director of the UCSF Transplantation Research Lab. "The surprising finding in our study is that the mother's immune system is to blame."

"Now that we know a fetus can become tolerant to a foreign stem cell source, we can really think big and consider looking at how other types of stem cells might be used to treat everything from neurological disorders to muscular disorders before birth," MacKenzie added.

2011 Christian Nature

1/30/11

John Muir Quotations

John Muir quotes highlight his life as a naturalist, author and an advocate of preservation of U.S. wilderness. Muir's adventures in nature, especially in California, are still popularly read and enjoyed by millions today.

John Muir helped save the Yosemite Valley and Sequoia National Park and he strongly influenced the formation of the modern environmental movement.

Muir was born in Scotland in 1838, and he died in Los Angeles in 1914, but his nature quotations live on forever. Enjoy!

"No temple made with hands can compare with Yosemite... the grandest of all special temples of Nature."

"Let children walk with Nature, let them see the beautiful blendings and communions of death and life, their joyous inseparable unity, as taught in woods and meadows, plains and mountains and streams of our blessed star, and they will learn that death is stingless indeed, and as beautiful as life."

"In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks."

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. "

"Nature is always lovely, invincible, glad, whatever is done and suffered by her creatures. All scars she heals, whether in rocks or water or sky or hearts."

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and give strength to body and soul."

"Nature chose for a tool, not the earthquake or lightning to rend and split asunder, not the stormy torrent or eroding rain, but the tender snow-flowers noiselessly falling through unnumbered centuries."

"Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean."

"Take a course in good water and air; and in the eternal youth of Nature you may renew your own. Go quietly, alone; no harm will befall you."

"The gross heathenism of civilization has generally destroyed Nature, and poetry, and all that is spiritual."

"When one tugs at a single thing in Nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.”

These John Muir quotations are from the 'Father of the National Parks,' one of the world's great naturalists and conservationists.

2011 Christian Nature

What's Under the Ice?

What's under the ice that's baffling scientists?

The fact that dinosaur fossils are found in the Arctic suggests that there have been catastrophic changes on this Earth since those dinosaurs lived. Some of the changes, like the worldwide flood, are even described in the Bible.

More evidence of these cataclysmic changes are being found in Antarctica. Today, Antarctica is the coldest, driest place on Earth. Winds can rage at 200 miles per hour! Yet... under the ice, scientists are finding fossilized plants like ferns, pine trees and even ginkgoes. These finds provide evidence of a much warmer climate.

But the fossilized remains of animals provide evidence of a considerably warmer climate.

Fossils of three species of dinosaur have also been found. One has been named Cryolophosaurus or "cold-crested lizard," and was about 23 feet long.

Another, Glacialisaurus, or "frozen lizard," was also about 23 feet long.

A smaller dinosaur with spikes – named Antarctopelta or "Antarctic shield" – was about 13 feet long.

These fossils were found in the same sedimentary flood layers as dinosaurs around the world. These fossils and the record of magnetization of various layers of rock provide evidence that Antarctica moved south to its present South Pole location during the year that it was covered with flood waters.
Even though God has allowed great cataclysms to strike the Earth, He has never left His own without His love and care.

Notes: Answers

2011 Christian Nature

Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? Job 38:29

1/29/11

The Wonder of Exploding Dogwoods!

Take a relaxing walk in the peace and serenity of North America's spruce forests. What do you hear? A rustle of a passing deer? There is much more going on than you would ever imagine! The wonder of an exploding flower is going on all around you!

The bunchberry dogwood flower stands only about one-tenth of an inch tall. Scientists knew that the flowers opened explosively. The flowers do this to propel their pollen further.

The scientists decided to find out precisely how fast the flowers really opened. So they decided to tape a flower opening with a high speed camera that is capable of taking 1,000 pictures a second. But the camera proved to be too slow.

It was only with a camera that takes 10,000 pictures a second that they could clearly see what was going on. They saw that the petals opened, and in a separate action, the stamens unfold so fast that they catapult pollen into the air. All of this happens in four tenths of a thousandth of a second. That's more than a hundred times faster than a chameleon's tongue captures lunch. The stamens unfold so fast that they subject the pollen to 2,400 times the force of gravity. Is that wondrous?!

There are no limits to the wonders God can conceive and create. His greatest wonder is His mercy which resulted in forgiveness and salvation.

Notes: Creation, David Catchpoole, "Bunchberry Bang!"

2011 Christian Nature

"And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin..." Matthew 6:28

1/28/11

The Incredible Design of Your Hands

Have you ever looked at your hands and thought how marvelous they were? I don't mean 'marvelous-looking'! I mean how 'marvelously-designed' they are!

Studies show that it takes about a second to decide whether a person will do A or B. That's much too slow to make a successful typist or pianist. Good typists execute one key stroke every 60 thousands of a second. A pianist can play 30 notes with each hand about every 40 thousands of a second. How do they do it?

Then there is the precision of the micro-surgeon who repairs structures in the body so small he must peer at them through a microscope. Part of the secret of this design is the muscle structure of each finger and the hand.

The basic finger design begins with seven muscles. Your thumb has five additional muscles. And, believe it or not, your humble pinky finger has three more muscles than the basic design. The muscles don't work alone.

The tendons of the hand and fingers add elastic force to the operation of the hand. Essential to making these elements work together with precision is your sense of touch. Your fingerprints add the ability to sense texture and forces with more precision.

All of these elements combine with the brain which automatically thinks several keystrokes ahead of the typist's and pianist's keystrokes, resulting in the seemingly impossible abilities of the hand.

The human hand is a unique precision design that could only have come from God's hand.

Notes: Acts & Facts, Randy J. Guliuzza, "The Connecting Power of Hands."

2011 Christian Nature

"When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained...." Psalm 8:3

1/26/11

The Turtle That Never Sleeps

There is a turtle that almost never stops moving, and never ever sleeps. How does it keep from getting tired?

Leatherback turtles make use of far more of the sea than most creatures. They can dive to depths of over 4,000 feet. They prefer cold, open ocean waters, but lay their eggs on tropical beaches. Not only are they found all over the world, but the same individual may be found all over the world. In 1970, a turtle that was tagged off the South American coast also turned up just off the West African coast, almost 4,000 miles away!

Leatherbacks are uniquely designed, inside and out, to travel the world's seas. Their bodies are teardrop-shaped. This gives them nearly ideal efficiency traveling through water. In addition, they have seven ridges along the length of their upper shell, further increasing the efficiency of water flow around them.

Their bodies, including the shell, are covered with a very smooth, leathery skin. Studies of leatherback hatchlings show that they use 20 percent less energy to swim through the water than any other turtle hatchling.

Leatherbacks live their entire lives in the open sea, except for a trip to shore to lay eggs every few years. They almost never stop moving. Scientists who attached radio monitors to leatherbacks were astonished to find that they swim and dive day and night, never stopping to sleep.

Their front flippers are more than half the length of the entire body. They are driven by powerful pectoral muscles that can make up as much as 30 percent of the turtle's weight.

The leatherback turtle is a marvelously designed creature whose very existence glorifies our Creator.

Notes: Natural History

2011 Christian Nature

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

1/25/11

Think Snakes Can't Fly? Think Again!

So do you think snakes cannot fly? Aha! Think again!They can! Just not the way you're thinking of flying!

One of the things the Hawaiian Islands have always been famous for is that they have no snakes. But although there are no friends or relatives for them to visit, increasing numbers of brown tree snakes are catching the next plane to Hawaii.

The snake is native to the Solomon Islands, New Guinea and Australia. Thirty years ago Guam had no snakes either. Now there are up to 30,000 of the slightly venomous snakes per square mile. They were probably inadvertently carried to Guam by military transport planes. Guam's birds had never seen snakes before and had no natural fear of them. Since brown tree snakes are excellent climbers, most of Guam's bird species were wiped out.

The snakes' love of climbing seems to be their ticket to the Hawaiian Islands. They climb airplane landing gears and make the trip in cargo holds or wheel wells. Two snakes were recently discovered on a runway in Oahu on the same day. One died, but the other was still alive when found.

Authorities are worried about more than what the presence of snakes might do to tourism. Hawaii's beautiful tropical birds would be easy pickings for the snakes, just as were the birds in Guam. Experimental snake barriers are now being devised for use at island airports.

God protects His creatures by giving them the ability to recognize their enemies. We need to recognize the disguises of our enemies, too. Our greatest enemy, Satan, has been vanquished by the Son of God, Who took the form of a man for our salvation.

Notes: Minneapolis Star Tribune

2011 Christian Nature

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. James 4:7

1/24/11

Your Daily Miracle - Gone in the Blink of an Eye

You say you don't believe in miracles. But you experience a miracle every single day. It happens over and over, and then it's gone in the blink of an eye.

Every time you blink, you bathe the surface of your eye with a miraculous fluid called 'tears'. Tears are not simply a salty water solution. They are made of water, but also have oils, electrolytes and blink-sticky carbohydrates called mucins.

In addition, they contain antibacterial and antiviral substances. One of these substances is called lysozyme.

Any bacteria or virus that finds itself in tear fluid has a 95 percent chance of being dead within ten minutes! That blink of an eye keeps the surface of the eye properly moisturized so that our vision remains clear. Without this moisturization, your eyes would become red and painful, and, if untreated, you would probably go blind. Tear fluid also provides needed oxygen to the surface of your eyes.

But perhaps the most amazing property of tears is even more unexpected. Humans are the only creatures that cry emotional tears. Studies have shown that the ability to produce tears and cry actually helps us cope with emotional situations.

There are some inherited diseases which make people unable to cry tears. Studies have shown that people with this disease cannot deal well with stress.

Tears are a blessing in many ways. But we also remember that God has promised to wipe away all our tears when we reach heaven.

Notes: Creation in the Crossfire

2011 Christian Nature

Author, Lecturer & Columnist April Lorier. Founder & Director Emeritis of C.O.P.E. Inc. Her testimony before the Calif. State Legislature helped with the passage of The Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse and Neglect Law in 1974. Her latest book, available at AMAZON, is God's Battered Child: From Abuse to Leadership.

1/23/11

Today I Sing! - Video

Today I sing of the mighty powers of my Creator! I agree with Isaac Watts who wrote in 1715:

I sing the mighty power of God, that made the mountains rise,
That spread the flowing seas abroad, and built the lofty skies.
I sing the wisdom that ordained the sun to rule the day;
The moon shines full at God’s command, and all the stars obey.

I sing the goodness of the Lord, who filled the earth with food,
Who formed the creatures through the Word, and then pronounced them good.
Lord, how Thy wonders are displayed, where’er I turn my eye,
If I survey the ground I tread, or gaze upon the sky.

There’s not a plant or flower below, but makes Thy glories known,
And clouds arise, and tempests blow, by order from Thy throne;
While all that borrows life from Thee is ever in Thy care;
And everywhere that we can be, Thou, God art present there.

Sing with me as you watch this video!

2011 Christian Nature

1/22/11

Marital Fidelity Champions!

I remember sitting by the pond in Arkansas(years ago), watching male ducks pace as they waited for the call of their mates. After the females had 'given birth', the couple swam off to find a meal. I was so impressed with the loyalty expressed between each of the couples.

Most water fowl are faithful to one mate over long periods of time. However, the swan is a champion of marital fidelity.

In North America, they are called whistling swans or tundra swans. Another member of the same species is usually found in Europe and Asia, where it is called Bewick's swan.

Researchers report that each has a unique pattern of yellow and black on its bill, making individuals easy to identify. This allowed researchers to trace their lives over many years.

These beautiful creatures have relatively long life spans. One individual was traced for 26 years. Typically laying four eggs in nesting season, they breed for most of their lives. They are highly territorial. In a face-off for food or nesting area, the largest male is usually the winner.

When there is a disagreement, the males face each other while their mates cheer them from the sidelines. Ha! Single swans enjoying a nice discovery of food are often driven off by couples. Couples are faithful for life.
Researchers say that they have recorded no cases of divorce among successfully reproducing couples. Nor do they report any case of marital infidelity among swans. If a mate is lost, the survivor often takes over a year to settle down with another mate. In one case a survivor waited for six years.

Marital fidelity is also God's instruction to humans. Today many factors are allowed to challenge marital fidelity. Often infidelity before or after marriage is portrayed as simply normal. But if swans can manage fidelity, we humans have no excuse for infidelity.

Notes: Natural History

2011 Christian Nature

Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. I Corinthians 7:10

1/21/11

What's With All These Hairy Roots?

What's with all these hairy roots? What good are they?
We are all familiar with the fact that the very tips of most plant roots have tiny hairs. These hairs seek out water and nourishment from the soil and absorb them for distribution in the plant. Few people beyond some biologists and chemists are aware that these delicate portions of some plants are able to produce a large variety of important medicines. Often the hairy parts of plant roots are able to make medicines that even our best chemists and genetic engineers cannot make.

The hairy roots of plants have been used to make certain medications for over two generations. But it was only recently that scientists discovered that by infecting seedlings with a certain bacterium, they could produce versions of plants that were nothing but hairy roots. Another benefit of this new procedure was that the hairy roots don't stop growing or making medicine.

Periwinkle hair roots make 75 different alkaloids, including caffeine, nicotine, and two medications important in cancer treatment. Antidotes for motion sickness and nerve gas poisoning are made by hen-bane roots. Gourd roots make important agricultural chemicals. Relatives of the Chinese cucumber make anti-fungus chemicals. And, as many gardeners know, marigold roots make chemicals that act against nematodes and fungus.

While human sin has made the creation less than perfect, our merciful Creator has, with foresight, provided solutions to many of our earthly problems.

Notes: Science News

2011 Christian Nature

Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of the riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. Matthew 13:22

1/20/11

The Bird Gifted With Discerning Intelligence

We use the term 'bird brain' for a reason. But as it turns out, there is one bird that would defy the stereotype! THIS bird has the gift of discerning special intelligence!

With the exception of basic messages such as aggression, communication between two entirely different species has seldom been observed among animals in the wild. We know that many animals among the same species give each other specific warnings about an impending danger. However, scientists have never noted one species recognizing the specific warning given by a second species.

Diana monkeys on the Ivory Coast of Africa face two primary threats, leopards and crowned eagles. When one of these threats appears, the spotter gives a very specific bark-like call depending on the type of threat. Of course, the monkeys need to respond differently to each threat whether it comes from the leopard below or the eagle above. So it helps them to know what they are facing.

On the other hand, a bird named the Yellow Hornbill is threatened only by the crowned eagles.

Researchers noted that these birds ignored the monkeys' warning about the leopards. But when the monkeys signaled danger from the eagle, the bird took defensive measures. Researchers confirmed their observations using tape recorded monkey calls. The researchers were amazed that these birds understood the monkey warnings in an intelligent manner.

Such intelligence comes from the Creator, Who has given the gift of such intelligence to His creatures in a way that provides for their survival. This shows His loving care for His creation.

Notes: Science News

2011 Christian Nature

You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being. Revelation 4:11

1/19/11

The Mystery of the Lonely, Bold Traveler

Even life that exists where sunlight never reaches nevertheless gets its nutrients as a result of photosynthesis. Furthermore, no matter what the organism, it always lives in some sort of community with other organisms.

Now a bacteria has been discovered that breaks both of these rules. The organism, nicknamed "the bold traveler," was discovered living in water-filled cracks in a South African gold mine. It lives nearly two miles below the surface. And it shares its habitat with no other species.

Since there's no other life down there, and they are totally cut off from the surface, scientists wondered how they managed to get energy to carry on life.

Further study showed that the creatures are able to get energy directly from the radioactive decay of the uranium that is found in the rock into which the mine is cut. They are also able to extract carbon, which is essential to life, directly from carbon dioxide. They can also secure nitrogen, also essential for life, and which it extracts from surrounding rocks. Scientists also say that the creature cannot handle oxygen.

This discovery again illustrates the limitless creativity of God. We rejoice as we see that He is not limited to creating life that lives in what we call the "normal" way.

Notes: New Scientist, 10/9/08, Catherine Brahic, "Goldmine bug DNA may be key to alien life"

2011 Christian Nature

"Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!" Psalm 107:8

1/18/11

The Controversial Four-Legged Lungfish

According to evolution theory, there were no four-limbed creatures living on land until 360 million years ago. That is supposedly when Lungfish appear in the fossil record.

Lungfish can breathe air, have four fins arranged rather like legs and can even climb trees. Long ago, evolutionists declared that all four-limbed creatures that live on land, including man, evolved from the Lungfish. er-huh?

As we look at the variety of land-living creatures, evolutionists are here claiming a great deal of change from our lowly Lungfish ancestry. It is interesting, however, that the Lungfishes themselves have changed very little in the supposed 360 million years of their existence.

Lungfish hatchlings today have small teeth, which, as they grow to adulthood, fuse into a bony dental plate. In this adult plate, the individual teeth are fused to one another. There are thousands of well-preserved fossils of both hatchlings and adult Lungfish that supposedly lived 360 million years ago. A study of these fossils shows that even the dental development of Lungfish has not changed since the first Lungfish appeared among the fossils.

One cannot escape the conclusion that there has been no evolution of Lungfish since they first swam the seas. This agrees with Scripture. It also poses a problem in logic to suggest that such a stable creature could produce the variety of four-limbed creatures we see today.

Think I'll stick with what my Bible says.

Notes: Nature

2011 Christian Nature

And God created great whales, and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind.. Genesis 1:21a

1/17/11

Don't Underestimate The Lobster!

If I asked you to rate the lobster on a scale of 1-10 for intelligence, what would your rating be? Careful, now, don't underestimate the lobster!

With no backbone and not much of a brain, the lobster is usually depicted as pretty low on the evolutionary scale. It follows that lobsters are also intellectually pretty dim.

Populations of many sought-after species in North American fisheries have been dropping, as indicated by the numbers caught. The same appeared to be happening with lobsters.

However, divers surveying lobster populations in lobster fisheries reported that there were plenty of lobsters. Why, then, were the catches going down?

Zoologists curious about what was going on mounted video cameras on some of the lobster traps. The video showed that lobsters were entering the trap to eat the bait through the funnel-shaped opening, and when they were done they casually left through the same opening.

Hey! Wait a minute! Those dimwitted lobsters were not supposed to be able to get out of the trap!

Our so-called traps are, in reality, nothing more than lobster luncheonettes! Researchers concluded that the only lobsters that get caught are the lobsters who happen to be eating in the trap when it is pulled up.

The fact that lobsters are far more intelligent than worldly appearances would suggest means that we need to look at the world around us far differently than the people of the world. That's exactly what we are doing when we believe in creation as well as trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins.

Notes: Creation, David Catchpoole, "Lowly Lobster Surprise."

2011 Christian Nature

"For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that sets snares; they set a trap, they catch men." Jeremiah 5:26

1/16/11

Brain Size Doesn't Mean Much

If someone told you it was obvious you had a 'small brain', would you consider that an insult? Aw, don't be offended! It's not the size of the brain that determines anything important. It's 'working memory'!

For example, you look up a telephone number and dial it. You didn’t write it down, you simply remembered it. But an hour later, you will probably not be able to remember the number. That kind of memory is known as “working memory.”
Honeybees may not have much for a brain, but

researchers at the Australian National University in Canberra have found that honeybees have a surprisingly good working memory.

Researchers constructed a tunnel, connected to a pipe with openings to different destinations. They marked these openings with simple signs – like wavy lines.

They trained the bees to learn that an opening with a specific sign offered a treat, while the other opening – also marked by a sign – offered nothing. After the bees had learned which sign marked the goodies, the scientists made the tunnel longer to learn how long the bees’ working memory lasted.

They also began offering differing signs to learn how flexible the bees’ working memory is. Their conclusion is that honeybees have a working memory that lasts about five seconds, the same as birds. But more amazing is that their memory proved as flexible as a rhesus monkey.

Gathering pollen from a range of flowering plants requires a good working memory. Honeybees’ sophisticated working memories have nothing to do with evolutionary ascent. It’s a needed ability given them by an awesome Creator!

Notes: Science News

2011 Christian Nature

You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being. Revelation 4:11

1/15/11

Searching But Never Finding - 'Copycat' Life

I'm a 'word person' so I spend time pondering words. Words like 'natural' and 'random', for example. Ever thought about the phrase 'after their own kind'? It means copycats! So what difference does that make, you're wondering. All the difference in the world in science!

Charles Darwin’s 'natural selection' as the driving force for evolution was abandoned almost a century ago and replaced by 'random mutations'. Every textbook since then has therefore claimed that all the varieties of extinct and living plants and animals have been the result of random mutations.

However, the Bible teaches us that plants and animals reproduce “after their kind.” Plant biologists at Purdue University recently made a startling discovery that supports the Bible’s teaching.

Researchers were working with a species of mustard plant commonly used in genetic experiments. This plant sometimes has a mutation that causes deformed flowers. Since it is a recessive mutation, such plants have no genetic information that would enable them to have normal flowers.

To their amazement, the scientists found that 10 percent of these plants were producing offspring with normal flowers, even without the correct genetic information. Did you get that? ...without the correct genetic information!

The plants were put through all sorts of genetic testing to see if the correct genetic information might be found hiding in unexpected places within the plants. None of the correct genetic information was ever found, and they ruled out the possibility that the wrong genetic information changed back into the correct kind.

God created living things to reproduce after their kind. He has made DNA so that it can correct itself. Apparently, He has included other ways for living things to do this, too.

Notes: Science News, “Plants fix genes using copies from ancestors.”

2011 Christian Nature

And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:12

1/14/11

Can You Multiply in Your Head Faster Than an Owl?

What's that sound? It's too dark to see -- the moon is hiding -- so your heart starts pumping. You wonder, are you in danger? No, you're not in danger! You are experiencing the results of an owl that can multiply in his head better than you can in your head!

A barn owl perches, silently as a shadow, in a tree. A hundred feet away, a deer mouse scampers over a dry leaf, producing a slight rustling sound. Within seconds, the owl’s talons grab the mouse.

We all know that owls have excellent vision in the darkness. Researchers at Cal Tech in Pasadena have learned that there is much more to the barn owl’s abilities than vision.

To get their data, they wired up 14 barn owls with headphones and then studied their responses to pairs of sounds.

Their results convincingly show that barn owls construct a detailed map of their surroundings inside their brains. To locate the source of a sound, owls don’t simply add together the incoming sound signals, as would be expected. Rather, the owl’s auditory nerve cells calculate the distance of incoming sounds, then apply this information to its mental map in a process researchers could only describe as “multiplication.”

Up until this time, humans were thought to be the only living beings whose thought processes used such “multiplication.” Researchers said that this “multiplication” is a much more powerful way for the brain to process information.

God knew that owls would need this ability to successfully make their living, so God – as the source of all intelligence – gave it to them. Evolution cannot design intelligence.

Notes: Science, Vol. 292, 13/4/01, Laura Helmuth, “Location Neurons Do Advanced Math.”

2011 Christian Nature

The beast of the field shall honor me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen. Isaiah 43:20

1/13/11

Climate Indicator - Global Warming or Grapes?

Are you tired of hearing about global warming? Seems to be more than inconvenient! If you think about it, we once had an Ice Age and now we don’t … so warming is not new. Other people argue we are merely seeing the normal cycles of heating and cooling.

Now the Pinot Noir grape may help settle this debate. The harvest date for this grape is so closely tied to weather that average annual temperatures can be determined from the date of the harvest.

Harvest dates for the grape have been carefully recorded for centuries in Burgundy, France. These records have harvest dates for every harvest since 1370. Researchers were able to correlate these dates with average annual temperatures.

The year 2003 was actually the warmest in over six centuries of data, while the second warmest years were in the 1520s and again in the 1650s. No modern warming cycle has yet lasted as long as those of 350 years ago. The findings also show that there was a long cold period that lasted from the 1750s until the 1970s.

After the Flood, God promised that the seasons, with their seed time and harvest, would not cease while the world is here.

However, He did not promise that there wouldn’t be cycles. We can be comforted by the fact that He has promised that the weather will always allow crops to be grown.

Notes: Nature

2011 Christian Nature

While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. Genesis 8:22

1/12/11

Noah's Ark VIDEO for Children

God chose to destroy His creation in order to wipe out the wickedness that had overtaken it. He instructed a godly man, Noah, to build a big ship - we call it an 'ark' and He gave Noah the exact measurements to make it.

Noah spent many years building the ark, even though people made fun of him. See, it had never rained before. The people didn't even know what rain was like! Up to that time, the earth was moisturized with steam that came out of the ground. So the people thought Noah was crazy when he said he had heard from God that water was going to come down from the sky!

But sure enough, after Noah finished the ark, he put two of every animal and bird (a male and a female) into the huge ark, got his own family inside, and then God closed the door. And you know what? It started raining!

It rained for 40 days and 40 nights and Noah heard the people outside screaming for him to let them inside the ark. But he couldn't. At the end of 40 days, it quit raining and a big rainbow appeared. God told Noah that the rainbow was His promise never to destroy the earth again with water.

Every time I see a rainbow, I remember God's promise to Noah!

Now, let's watch the video called Noah and the Ark!

Wasn't that a wonderful story? You can ask Mommy to play it again for you!

2011 Christian Nature

Please note: My #1 search on Christian Nature has been for Christian videos for CHILDREN. This is yet another story from the Bible about God's creation that parents and grandparents can play for the children in their care.

Solar Energy - The Hornet Knew the Secret All Along!

While abundant resources are channeled to converting sunlight into power, it emerges that the common Oriental hornet has known the secret all along.

"These structures are very complicated," Plotkin explained. "To build something similar would be very expensive and complicated, but the insects do it naturally. Their cells secrete all the building blocks and they just do self-assembly."

As billions of dollars are poured into perfecting the elaborate process of converting sunlight into power, it turns out an ordinary insect called the Oriental hornet does it with only the help of Mother Nature.

Tel Aviv University (TAU) Prof. Jacob S. Ishay had long ago observed that unlike most members of the wasp family, the Oriental hornet ramps up its nest-digging when the sun is at its brightest. The late scientist guessed that it might somehow be harnessing solar radiation.

Three years ago, graduate student Marian Plotkin approached Ishay in search of suggestions for a doctoral project that would combine his interests in biotechnology and electricity.

Ishay had found his man. He encouraged Plotkin to search for the mechanism behind the hornet's extraordinary ability. An understanding of how this wasp generates energy from light could, he theorized, be helpful in the ongoing quest to find cheaper ways of using the sun as an alternative electricity source for humans.

In October, Plotkin and colleagues published their findings in the journal Naturwissenschaften. ISRAEL21c caught up with Plotkin via Skype at the National University of Singapore's Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Initiative, where he's just begun a fellowship in tissue engineering.

Proving the theory correct

"Most people wouldn't notice these hornets, but their nests are very common," Plotkin related. "We collected them in the field right outside the university."

After many examinations performed on anesthetized bugs, his crew discovered that the shell covering the Oriental hornet's body acts as a natural photovoltaic cell. Manmade PV cells (photo means "light" and voltaic means "electricity") convert sunlight into electricity through semiconductor materials, usually silicon. The semiconductor absorbs the rays, whose energy knocks electrons loose into an electrical current. The cell is built to channel this current and transfer it in an orderly way.

This hornet doesn't need expensive silicon or any feats of engineering. Instead, its exoskeleton is made up of a complex cuticle with brown and yellow layers. Structures in the brown part trap the solar light and beam it into lower layers studded with rod-like structures that keep the energy bouncing between them. The yellow part gets its color from a pigment called xanthopterin that turns light into electrical energy.

"These structures are very complicated," Plotkin explained. "To build something similar would be very expensive and complicated, but the insects do it naturally. Their cells secrete all the building blocks and they just do self-assembly."

The former electronic technician then collaborated in his work with scientists in Israel and England. To prove that xanthopterin is a light-harvesting molecule, a dye-sensitized PV cell was constructed with xanthopterin, similar to that of the hornet. Though their initial version did not work very efficiently, it did prove the theory was correct.

Adapting to the hornet's sting

"Biomimicry is the field of taking ideas from nature and implementing them. I hope scientists in photovoltaics will read the article and decide to try it." Plotkin said.

As a research fellow, Plotkin hopes to be able to continue this line of study in his lab. "Tissue engineering can be combined with cultivating cells of hornets or other insects with exoskeletons made of layers of cells," he explained.

Working with the Oriental hornet does have its downside: "I got stung four times," he confessed with a laugh. "The first time was very painful and the pain lasted two days, but the body becomes accustomed to it and with each sting it hurt less and lasted for a shorter time. Unlike a snake's venom, the hornet's venom is designed to inflict pain on large mammals, not to kill. So it did what it is supposed to do."

Plotkin (34), who emigrated with his parents at age five from Ukraine, lived most of his life in Nesher, a town near Haifa. Whether he comes back to Israel after his fellowship or goes elsewhere will depend on what jobs are offered to him, he said. Thanks to the hornet research, he now has contacts both in and outside the country.

Co-authors of the research include chemists from the Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan; electronics and computer science students from the Nano Research Group at the University of Southampton, UK; a physicist from Haifa's Technion-Israel Institute of Technology; and a student at the School of Physics and Astronomy at TAU.

Hmmm. Wonder Who told the hornet 'the secret'?

Thank you, Abigail Klein Leichman

2011 Christian Nature

1/11/11

How Did Life Originate?

There are so many theories on the origin of life! One scientist disagreeing with another makes me wonder 'Why'?

Deep beneath the waves of many of our oceans, superheated water gushes from the ocean floor. The water is so loaded with minerals, especially with black iron sulfide, that it looks like black smoke.

As the hot, mineral-rich water encounters the

colder ocean water, some of the minerals precipitate, forming a black chimney around the escaping water. These chimneys are literally honeycombed with hollow compartments.

Evolutionary scientists have proposed that these hollow compartments provided a kind of nursery shelter for the first life forms forming from the exotic chemistry of the hot mineral water. They know that living cell walls have an extremely complex structure, and this proposal is thought to solve the problem of the first life forming without its own cell walls.

Some research has shown that iron sulfide may be able to support some of the chemistry related to life. However, one must assume that the right mix of ingredients for life had to be present. One must assume that amino acids were somehow available. Nor is there an explanation in the proposal of how biologically meaningful DNA information developed in these circumstances, nor any hint how cell walls would have developed.

Life is made possible by a very complex information system and the complex chemistry it controls. The Bible still offers the best explanation for the origin of life.

Notes: Science News

2011 Christian Nature

And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. Genesis 1:20

1/10/11

Are Creationists 'Unintelligent'?

Because I am a Creationist, does that mean I am, at best, naive, and at worst totally unintelligent? The reason I ask is because of a news report I saw recently.

A respected scientist published in a respected science journal claims that he has found evidence for ESP-Extra Sensory Perception.

As first reported in the New York Times, the peer-reviewed study will be published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Its author is Daryl J. Bem, an emeritus professor at Cornell University.

In particular, Bem studied the ability of humans to sense future events. In one experiment, Bem tested to see whether "memory works both ways," meaning, can a person "remember" things that happen in the future. Bem subjected 100 college students to a fairly simple memory test: Seated in front of a computer, the students would see a few sets of words and then be tested to see how many words they could recall.

After the test, the students got to review some of the words and categorize them according to whether the word was, for example, a food or an animal. Well, lo and behold, on the original recall test, the students had been better able to remember those categorized words that they had seen after the test! The paper claims, "The results show that practicing a set of words after the recall test does, in fact, reach back in time to facilitate the recall of those words."
In other words, according to the study, there is evidence for ESP.
If the study is true, imagine the implications! If science has suddenly discovered a 6th sense, what are people going to do for science fiction movies?

Or what happens when someone is arrested for killing his neighbor and claims he heard voices in his head telling him to do it? There goes the old insanity defense.

Scientists understand the true ramifications of this study. And that's why most scientists are either embarrassed or outraged by it.

If the study is sheer quackery, science-and a respected journal-get a black eye. As the Times article stated, "claims that defy almost every law of science are by definition extraordinary and thus require extraordinary evidence." The Times is filled with quotes by scientists claiming that the evidence in the ESP study comes nowhere near the level of "extraordinary."

Now, I have no idea whether the study will prove anything. But scientists know that if there is any validity to it at all, it would completely undermine the naturalistic, materialist worldview that dominates modern science - the idea that nothing can be true that is outside of science.

If there is something beyond the five senses that we can test and measure, if humans can sense the future or communicate without speaking, who is to say that things like prophecy or prayer are figments of people's imaginations? And who is to say there is no God? Or that those of us who believe in God can claim, as we do, to know the mind of God and His will for all of human existence?

So, back to my original question: Are Creationists unintelligent?

2011 Christian Nature

When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Romans 1:21-23

1/9/11

Bat Spit Saves Lives!

A stroke – sometimes called a brain attack – happens when a blood clot prevents blood circulation in the brain. Unless the clot is quickly dissolved, the brain cells will die. There is currently only one approved drug to dissolve these clots, but it must be given within three hours of the stroke. Unfortunately, most stroke victims don’t get to the hospital that quickly.

A new drug called desmoteplase has now proven safe and effective when given up to nine hours after a stroke. This is a preliminary conclusion after limited human testing. Most amazingly, this drug is made from the saliva of vampire bats who are mammals! These bats must feed on blood. Typically, they pierce the skin of a cow or some other mammal.

The bat saliva contains the working chemical in desmoteplase and keeps the blood from coagulating while the bat is feeding; when it is finished, the blood clots in its host quite naturally.

Not only is the critical time in which desmoteplase can be applied much greater than that of the man-made drug, but it appears to carry no risk of causing a hemorrhage.

Again, man has gone to one of God’s designs and found something that is better than anything man could devise. That this happens every day should send the message to everyone that we are the result of a wise Creator.

Notes: Science News

2011 Christian Nature

For the life of the flesh is in the blood...
Leviticus 17:11

1/8/11

Best Friends - The Nature of Two Horses and One Eye

There is no friendship like the friendship of a horse. Having spent my childhood on horses, I'm fully aware of the incredible sensitivity and compassion that God has built into these magnificent creatures. This story of the nature of equine companionship and caring is another example of that.

If you venture to The Horse Trust animal sanctuary in Buckinghamshire, England, you're likely to see two horses that appear to be best friends. That may not be so unusual, but what is, is that between them, they only have one functioning eye.

Angel is a 12-year-old mare who was rescued from abuse and neglect at a farm in Bucks. She lost her eyesight because she'd been starved to "within an inch of her life."

Now though, Angel has a guide.

Twenty-eight-year-old Tarna—also a mare who is sight-challenged—lost one of her eyes when she was "impaled on a metal spike."

One eye or not, Tarna has apparently taken it upon herself to be Angel's guardian and protector, as she constantly stays by her side.
"Tarna is very protective of blind Angel, leading her to food, defending her from other horses and acting as a physical shield from obstacles," notes Susan Lewis of The Horse Trust. "The two have developed a firm friendship and are now inseparable—Tarna will dig her feet in or cry out if a groom tries to separate the two."

Lewis added that "It's incredible to think where they've both come from and now, together, there is no reason why they can't live a happy life."

See some great photos of the two friends at the link provided.

Notes: SWNS.com

2011 Christian Nature

Have you given the horse strength? Have you clothed his neck with thunder? Can you frighten him like a locust? His majestic snorting strikes terror. He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength; He gallops into the clash of arms. He mocks at fear, and is not frightened; Nor does he turn back from the sword. Job 39:19-22

1/7/11

Law Enforcement Among Insects

Meet Officer Nipit! He's a law enforcement officer you will never meet. But there are those in the world of insects who will meet him and not live to tell about it.

Like human society, many social insects have laws, lawbreakers and law enforcement. Researchers have now established that at least 15 species employ law enforcement.

While these insects rely on a queen as the only egg-layer of the colony, the workers are also capable of laying eggs that can hatch. One of the most common crimes in these nests is “rogue six-legged law and order egg-laying” in which one of the workers tries to sneak some of her eggs in among the eggs laid by the queen. This is strictly forbidden!

The other workers – or even the queen herself – will enforce nest law that requires the death of the offender. Then, the offender’s eggs are searched out and destroyed when found.

In one experiment, researchers planted worker-laid eggs in a honeybee nest. Within 24 hours, workers had found and destroyed all but 1 percent of the eggs that had not been laid by their queen.

Another researcher offered nursemaid ants a mixture of eggs, some from their queen and others laid by the workers. The nursemaids quickly stacked most of the queen-laid eggs and began to care for them. However, when they discovered a worker’s egg, the nursemaids would typically pass the egg around among themselves and then finally crush it.

Law and order is a gift of God to both man and animals for which we owe God thanksgiving.

Notes: Science News

2011 Christian Nature

For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God....
Romans 13:4a

1/6/11

Kangaroos Using 'Toothpaste'?

A specialized tooth varnish developed by scientists in Israel can help kangaroos bounce back from a common and often-fatal gum disease.

Kangaroos at Jerusalem's Biblical Zoo are now safe from the often-fatal lumpy jaw disease, after scientists created a new tooth varnish. Photo courtesy of Jerusalem Biblical Zoo.

Israeli researchers have managed to clear up "lumpy jaw disease" in kangaroos by administering a variation of a topical human medication. The common periodontal condition is often fatal for the captive marsupials.

A three-year study was conducted among these mammals at Israel's Gan Garoo-Australia Park and Tisch Family Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem and reported on recently in the Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine.

Left untreated, lumpy jaw disease leads to periodontal diseases, severe gingivitis and abscesses. Four years ago, Gan Garoo lost about 40 percent of its kangaroos to this ailment, which is thought to be caused by the diet in captivity as well as by environmental stress. Affected animals stop eating and starve to death in a short period of time.

Slow release tooth varnish

Until now, the only way to treat periodontal diseases in kangaroos has been antibiotics fed or injected by force several times a day, followed by solitary confinement to prevent cross-infection of the rest of the herd. This method is not only physically difficult to accomplish, as kangaroos weigh between 154 and 176 pounds, but it also is counterproductive in that it introduces a new source of stress.

"The new treatment is easier to implement compared to the currently available treatment, because it doesn't require continued force-feeding over time, and it doesn't have the same side-effects as the current oral/systemic dosage form," explains Prof. Doron Steinberg of the Hebrew University (HU) Faculty of Dental Medicine. "The delayed release mechanism greatly reduces the rate of suffering of the animal, leads to quick recovery and enables rapid return to the group, a fact which is of crucial importance in wild animal and zoo medicine."

Developers of the innovative veterinary treatment also included Prof. Michael Friedman of the HU School of Pharmacy and Dr. Eran Lavy of the Koret School of Veterinary Medicine. Testing was carried out in collaboration with veterinarians Meytal Bakal-Weiss and Nili Avni-Magen. After application on the gums, the drug is released slowly from the varnish, which is made up of disinfectants embedded in a polymeric matrix. The disinfectant helps reduce the gum swelling.

Good news for pets

The success of the new treatment is good news for pets, too. Most dogs over the age of four develop dental problems and even severe periodontal infections that can lead to systemic diseases. In a recent study among dozens of dogs, applying a sustained release dental varnish was effective in treating canine dental disorders.

"The new treatment can also be applied to other animals suffering from dental diseases and gingivitis, thereby reducing their suffering and long-term treatments," says Lavy. The researchers are now examining ways to integrate food supplements into the medicine to make it tastier for dogs.

Veterinarians from zoos in other countries have shown keen interest in the dental varnish, which is patented by Yissum, the Hebrew University's technology transfer company, and ready for commercialization. Partners are now being sought to develop the treatment for wild animals and pets.

Source:Israel 21c Staff

2011 Christian Nature

1/5/11

Dr Beewolf and the White Goo

All of these years, antibiotics were being used by a wasp! It took medicine thousands of years to discover antibiotics and learn how to use them. Now it appears that a wasp called the European Beewolf has been using an antibiotic all along.

The Beewolf builds a burrow in sandy ground to lay its eggs, where the hatchlings will spend four to nine months after they hatch. She also leaves a spot of 'white goo' in the nursery chamber.

Then the Beewolf catches a bee, paralyzes it with a sting, and returns it to her burrow. She will stock each nursery chamber in the burrow with up to five bees.

Scientists have long wondered what the white goo was. Now research has shown that this substance is laced with a new species of bacteria that live on the wasp’s antennae.

It turns out that this species of bacteria makes an antibiotic that apparently protects the hatchlings. When scientists separated a clutch of 15 wasp larvae from the goo, only one made it to adulthood. On the other hand, in a clutch of 18 larvae who had access to the goo, 15 made it to adulthood.

Obviously, the Beewolf did not discover this use of an antibiotic and learn how to use it to protect its children. Rather, the Beewolf’s Creator – Who created antibiotics in the first place – built this behavior into the Beewolf to help it survive.

Notes: Science News

2011 Christian Nature

But speak the things which become sound doctrine: ... That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children.... Titus 2:1,4

1/4/11

Only This Parasite Can Control Fire Ants!

When I lived in Texas, I got intimately acquainted with fire ants. Nothing hurts as bad as being attacked by a fire ant swarm! And nobody there knew how to kill them! Ouch!

The Fire Ant can be aggressive and deliver dangerous venom, but in the perfect world originally created by God, insects such as this would not be expected to be so troublesome.

Scientists have been studying an insect parasite

that may be helpful in controlling troublesome insects. This parasite, itself an insect, is capable of killing even Fire Ants. The parasitic order insect parasites called Strepsiptera consists of over 500 species. They are known to prey on insects in 34 different families.

In its larval stage, it seeks out a victim. When it finds one, it burrows through its hard outer layer to the first layer of cells. Here, it hijacks the insect’s immune system, which rather than attacking it, encloses it in a layer of skin.

Males of one species of the parasite attack ants while the females attack grasshoppers. Another species, which attacks a species of katydid in New Guinea, has no males at all. Once they mature inside their host, they poke the top of their body out of the skin bag and release some 800,000 larvae. The new generation sets out to find more hosts, and the host dies.

Scientists are studying these insect parasites in the hope of learning how to use them to control troublesome insects. In doing so, they are following God’s command given in Genesis for man to subdue the Earth.

Notes: Science News

2011 Christian Nature

“And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.” Genesis 1:24

1/3/11

Birds Dead From New Madrid Fault Gases?

If you have not read my previous post about the thousands of dead blackbirds, click on the link and read that first.

My question is: could these blackbirds have died from the gas emitted by the moving of the tectonic plates of either The New Madrid Fault or the yet-to-be-named fault running through Arkansas?

Since that particular Arkansas community is situated in the New Madrid earthquake fault region, the death of so many fish and fowl might be indicating the escaping of underground gases caused by a seismic shift under the earth.

Never heard of the New Madrid Fault? Thought California was the worst place for earthquakes? Well, California may experience MORE earthquakes, but they are not nearly as deadly as those that have occurred on the New Madrid Fault! Let's look at the history.

THE NEW MADRID FAULT SYSTEM EXTENDS 120 MILES SOUTHWARD from the area of Charleston, Missouri, and Cairo, Illinois, through New Madrid and Caruthersville, following Interstate 55 to Blytheville (where I used to live) and on down to Marked Tree, Arkansas. It crosses five state lines and cuts across the Mississippi River in three places and the Ohio River in two places.

THE FAULT IS ACTIVE, AVERAGING MORE THAN 200 MEASURED EVENTS per YEAR (1.0 or more on the Richter scale), about 20 per month. Tremors large enough to be felt (2.5 - 3.0 on the Richter scale) are noted annually. Every 18 months the fault releases a shock of 4.0 or more, capable of local minor damage. The most recent registering 4.3 along the New Madrid Fault on Thanksgiving evening, 1996, which was felt by citizens in the states of Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky, Illinois and Mississippi. Magnitudes of 5.0 or greater occurring about once per decade, can do significant damage, and be felt in several states.

THE HIGHEST EARTHQUAKE RISK in the UNITED STATES outside the West Coast is along the New Madrid Fault. Damaging tremors are not as frequent as in California, but when they occur, the destruction covers over more than 20 times the area because of underlying geology.

A DAMAGING EARTHQUAKE in this AREA, 6.0 or greater, occur about every 80 years (the last one in 1895). The results would cause serious damage to schools and masonry buildings from Memphis to St Louis.

A MAJOR EARTHQUAKE in this AREA, 7.5 or greater, happens every 200- 300 years (the last one in 1812). There is a 25% chance by 2040. A New Madrid Fault rupture this size would be felt throughout half the United States and damage 20 states or more. Missouri alone could anticipate losses of at least $6 billion from such an event.

THE GREAT NEW MADRID EARTHQUAKE OF 1811-1812 was actually a series of over 2000 shocks in five months, five of which were 8.0 or more in magnitude. Eighteen of these rang church bells on the Eastern seaboard. The very land itself was destroyed in the Missouri Bootheel, making it unfit even for farmers for many years. It was the largest burst of seismic energy east of the Rocky Mountains in the history of the United States and was several times larger than the San Francisco quake of 1906.

WHEN WILL ANOTHER EARTHQUAKE HAPPEN THE SIZE OF THOSE IN 1811-1812? Several lines of research suggest that the catastrophic upheavals like those in 1811-12 visit the New Madrid region every 500-600 years. Hence, emergency planners, engineers, and seismologists do not expect a repeat of the intensity of the 1811-12 series for at least 100 years or more. However, even though the chance is remote, experts assign a 3% probability of a major earthquake by the year 2040. Earthquake probabilities for known active faults always increase with time, because stresses within the earth slowly and inexorably mount, year by year, until the rocks can take no more, and sudden rupture becomes inevitable.

THE GREATEST CONCERNS ARE THE 6.0-7.6 SIZED EVENTS, which do have significant probabilities in the near future. A 6.0 shock has a 90% chance by the year 2040. Damaging earthquakes of this magnitude are a virtual certainly within the lifetimes of our children.

WHAT IS THE RICHTER SCALE? The Richter Scale of earthquake magnitude is a measure of the energy released at the source of an earthquake deep within the earth. It is determined by measuring the amplitudes of ground motion on seismograms. An earthquake has a fixed amount of energy and only one Richter magnitude.

HOW MUCH INCREASE in ENERGY DOES EACH UNIT of the RICHTER SCALE REPRESENT? It is incorrect to say that each unit of the Richter scale corresponds to a tenfold increase in energy. Each unit, say from 5.2 to 6.2, actually represents 31.6 times difference in energy release. Every two units represent 1,000 times more energy, and every two-tenths of a unit represents double the energy.

IF A FAULT HAS LOTS of LITTLE EARTHQUAKES, WILL LARGER ONES BE PREVENTED? The answer is, "NO". A magnitude 6.0 (which is damaging) is 1,000 times more energy than a 4.0 (which is not damaging). An 8.0 (which is devastating) is 1,000 times larger than a 6.0. In other words, a fault would have to have 1,000 4.0 events to prevent the occurrence of a single 6.0, or a million 4.0 events (1,000 times 1,000) to prevent a single 8.0.

Before an Earthquake strikes there are a few simple and inexpensive precautions you can take to lessen the potential damage but more importantly to lessen injuries. Know your environment, understand what has the potential for falling, rolling or swinging when an earthquake strikes.

A previously unknown fault in eastern Arkansas could trigger a magnitude 7 earthquake with an epicenter near a major natural gas pipeline, a scientist said Wednesday.

Haydar Al-Shukri, the director of the Arkansas Earthquake Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, said the fault is SEPARATE from the New Madrid fault responsible for a series of quakes in 1811-12 that caused the Mississippi River to flow backward.

Acres of cotton fields cover the fault west of Marianna, about 100 miles east of Little Rock, but stretches of fine sand mixed with fertile soil gave away the fault's location, Al-Shukri said. Liquefied sand bubbled up through cracks in the earth, while ground radar and digs showed vents that let the sand reach the surface, he said.

The fault, likely created in the last 5,000 years, sparked at least one magnitude 7 earthquake in its history. Such temblors cause massive destruction in their wake.

"This is a very, very dangerous area at risk of earthquake," Al-Shukri said. "When you talk about magnitude 7 and plus, this is going to be a major disaster."

Hey, just asking.

2011 Christian Nature

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