Why The Balance?

If you're a single female, you probably wonder why there are not more available men in your neighborhood. But world-wide, the male-to-female ratio always returns to 50-50 every four to six generations. It's been that way over thousands of years! Why do you think that is?

Science has learned that there seem to be several mechanisms working together to keep things balanced, providing a fail-safe system. Many species have gene transfer systems that always produce a one-to-one ratio in the next generation.

However, what happens if, perhaps due to a natural disaster, the balance is lost between males and females in a population? Scientists have been testing a theory that when either sex is significantly underrepresented, its increased contribution to the next generation brings things back into balance.

This amazing theory is supported by recent studies on the Atlantic silverside fish. Studies show that even when the population has three males for every female, the ratio returns to 50-50 within four to six generations! (See? I told you!)

According to evolution, males and females should not have developed at all. Evolutionary doctrine says that if males and females should develop, evolutionary forces will not favor sexual reproduction.

The Bible says that God not only created male and female, but that the creation is designed with great wisdom. What science is learning about how balance is maintained between the sexes contradicts evolution and supports the Bible.

Think about it: If The Master Creator had the Intelligence to create this world, don't you think He would have worked out all of the kinks before He rested?

2011 Christian Nature

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Tinker Toy Science

Ok, TV die-hards. This is not about "I Love Lucy"! This is a different LUCY - (Australopithecus) better known as AL 288-1. Supposedly, it is several hundred pieces of bone representing about 40 per cent of the earliest human ancestor.

LUCY is said by its discoverer, Dr. Donald Johanson, to be the best and latest proof that humans evolved from some ape-like creature. But LUCY is really a monument to human imagination! I call it 'Tinker-Toy Science'!

Though LUCY was 'discovered' in 1974, it wasn't until 1978 that Dr. Johanson announced his discovery of LUCY to the world at the Nobel Symposium on Early Man. Every newspaper quickly picked up the story.

LUCY was supposed to be the earliest human ancestor. Dated by evolutionists at about 3 million years old, LUCY was said to be an almost complete skeleton of a creature that walked upright like humans. However, there are some facts you should know.

LUCY is really a demonstration of how creative people can be – like I said, Tinker Toy Science. For example, her knee comes from a location over 200 feet lower in the rocks and over a mile away from one of her leg bones!

LUCY has been assembled from materials found in two different locations separated by several miles. Her bones were sifted out of plots of ground at these two sites, each of which was almost the size of a football field!

Strangely enough, all of LUCY’s bones from one of the locations provide her human-like characteristics, while all of the bones gathered from the other location provide her ape-like characteristics. That sounds at least a little suspicious to me!

Hey, I can understand the zealot-like nature of scientists in their search for 'discoveries'! But Tinker-Toy Science? That's a game!

2011 Christian Nature

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Let's Make a Tent!

Why is it that those with an evolutionary view think that intelligence has evolved? I understand the evolutionary process of some animals as they adapt to new environments; however, intelligence does not evolve from lesser to greater!

It was because of this unscientific evolutionary view that the scientist who first discovered the South American bats who build and live in tents refused to believe the bats were normal.

The tent making bat, as it is now called, carefully cuts the veins in palm leaves and folds the leaves over to create a protective tent. Each cut is made as though the bat is following a blueprint, and the resulting tent completely hides the bat within what appears to be nothing more than a folded over leaf.

We now know that 14 New World bat species, as well as two Old World species, build tents. Scientists have also learned that the various species of tent building bats have complex social customs that determine the design of the tent and how many individuals are allowed to live in one tent.

Tent making bats offer yet one more example of how the living world rises far above the expectations of those who believe in evolution. The limitations of human explanations should remind us that our focus should be on the things of God if we truly want to learn what we need to know in the world.

I count myself fortunate to know The Creator. I am always in awe as I learn more about His creation, but never surprised! Let's make a tent!

2011 Christian Nature

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What Is The Job of Science?

As I ponder scientific studies through the ages, I am impressed with how man's opinions have evolved. Aren't you glad you didn't live during the time people thought the Earth was flat? Well, the Earth would still not have been flat, we would just be ignorant of that fact! So what is the job of Science?

Four or five centuries ago people thought that small animals simply froze solid in the winter and in the spring thawed out, and resumed life. These ideas were later thought of as a foolish fiction of a previous, ignorant age.

Today, science has a growing list of creatures that do indeed freeze in the winter, and thaw and resume life in the spring. Scientists recently added three species of tree frog to that list. As the cool, fall weather sets in, these northern tree frogs usually burrow beneath the forest's leaf litter. However, if there is little snow, the frogs have no protection from freezing. Scientists assumed that the frogs' bodies manufacture antifreeze, as do some insects and polar fish.

When scientists collected some tree frogs for laboratory study in the late fall and winter, they received a surprise. Up to 35 percent of the frogs' body fluids froze when the frogs were cooled to several degrees below freezing. When thawed, the frogs returned to normal activities.

Scientists discovered that the frogs' bodies produced glycerol. This alcohol acts as an antifreeze. What is more important, it prevents ice crystals from forming in a way that destroys cells.

The created world around us is full of surprises. Because God is God, His unlimited wisdom and power allow Him to create anything in any way that He likes.

Because God is Creator, science cannot guess how nature might work. It must investigate to learn the surprising designs God built into the creation.

THAT is the job of Science: To investigate what our Creator created!

2011 Christian Nature

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Breast Cancer Screen RUTH - No Pinching!

What would you say if I told you could be screened for breast cancer without radiation and without being pinched or, for that matter, even touched by the machine? Sound too good to be true? It's true, thanks to an engineer named Boaz Arnon whose mother, Ruth, died from breast cancer in 2004.

Mr. Arnon is an Israeli electro-optical engineer who founded Real Imaging in 2006. As an Israeli, he was determined to honor the memory of his mother by offering an accurate alternative to mammography that would address all issues of concern and still be cost effective.

We all know mammography is not the ideal method for detecting breast cancer. The disadvantages outweigh the advantages. It's painful, emits radiation, cannot properly image dense breast tissue, relies on a radiologist's interpretation of the image, and is not recommended for routine screening of women under the age of 40. (I think the age is ridiculous since I had breast cancer at 38!)

So, appropriately named RUTH, the device Mr. Arnon invented uses a new trademarked platform he calls MIRA (functional Multidimensional Infra-Red Analysis). Built on principles from existing technologies and mathematics, MIRA enables functional quantitative analysis of 3D and infrared signals emitted from cancerous and benign breast tissue.

No more guesswork!

No more pinching!

No more radiation!

Wow! I'm constantly amazed by Israeli scientists!

2011 Christian Nature

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'Game On' Inchworm!

Recently I wrote about creatures who play 'Game On!' with predators or with possible meal sources. This is, in effect, Part 2, except it's about the inchworm.

Some creatures simply try to look uninteresting to hungry predators. Others take their role-playing so seriously that they actually fulfill some of the same roles as their models.

Loopers, or inchworms, move along the ground, twigs or branches with the characteristic opening and closing of an upside-down letter U.

These creatures are not true worms. Rather, they are caterpillars. As caterpillars, they often look very much like the twigs or branches on which they move. However, their odd form of movement can give them away.

Here's an experiment you can try. If you ever notice a looper on a branch, simply give the branch a gentle tap. Chances are, the looper will suddenly freeze into the same shape as a nearby twig. If you were to carefully touch the looper, you would find that it had become as stiff as a twig. A botanist reports that while studying one looper moving along a branch, an ant happened along. Ants, of course, will eat loopers. The looper froze in a horizontal position between branches. The ant walked across the looper, never noticing that its walkway was actually a potential meal.

Many scientists suggest that the looper "just happens" to be the same color as the branches on which it crawls. We ask, does it also accidentally know how to act like a twig to fool predators? The almighty hand of God is evident even in the inchworm!

Notes: N'tl Geographic/Creation Moments

2011 Christian Nature

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Brain's Many Jobs!

Christian Nature has written much about the brain - it is the most awesome organ in the body! But do you know how many jobs your brain has?

Not only is the human brain the most complex structure in the universe, it is also one of the busiest. In fact, during intense concentration, your brain can burn as many calories as your muscles do during exercise! Intense thinking can literally be as exhausting as a physical workout!

More than 100,000 chemical reactions go on in your brain every second.

Among the brain's many jobs is chemist. The brain produces more than 50 psychoactive drugs. Some of these are associated with memory, others with intelligence, still others are sedatives. Endorphin is the brain's painkiller and it's three times more potent than morphine.

Serotonin is produced by the brain to help keep our moods under control. The brain also makes dopamine. Dopamine makes people more talkative and excitable. Another hormone regulates hunger.

The brain is also a radio transmitter that sends out measurable electrical wave signals. In fact, the brain continues to send these signals for as long as 37 hours after death!

Our tiny knowledge of the brain is enough to show us that this incredible organ is no accident. The brain is much more than a powerful testimony to our Creator. Its incredible powers convince us that there is much more to existence than this material life.

Yep, your brain goes and goes and keeps on going. [Where have I heard that before?]

2011 Christian Nature

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Coffee and Tea Your Best Friend

We have all heard how coffee and tea can be harmful. But a new study shows coffee and tea may be our best friends!

A recent government study done by researchers at the University of South Carolina, Charleston found that regular drinkers of hot tea and coffee are less likely to be carriers of the MRSA bacteria, which is antibiotic-resistant.

MRSA (pronounced "mersa") stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and can develop into life-threatening blood infections or pneumonia, or dangerous skin infections that are extremely difficult to stop due to the resistance to common antibiotics.

According to the REUTERS Health report; the study—which was published in the Annals of Family Medicine—entailed researchers looking at whether coffee or tea drinkers were any less likely than other people to harbor MRSA in the nose.

Indeed, lead researcher Dr. Eric M. Matheson confirmed that both regular consumers of tea and coffee had a 50 percent lower risk of harboring the bacteria, vs. non-drinkers.

Read more on this research at the link provided.

Amy Norton - REUTERS Health

2011 Christian Nature

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Wonder of The Inventive Eye

Have you ever contemplated the wonder of the eye? Such intricate design! And have you noticed your eyes work better at times than they do at other times? Take, for example, the case of 9 people witnessing the same crime, yet when they give their individual account, each one is significantly different! That's because, with the help of our brains, our eyes are very 'inventive'!

Repeated research has shown that the images we see are not exactly what our eyes see. Our eyes and brains work together to construct the images we call sight. It's not that our eyes are out to hoodwink us. Most of the time our eyes are working to help us.

Working together, our brain and eyes add logical details to the images we see.

Each of us has a blind spot in our vision because there are no vision cells where the optic nerve is. Instead of showing us a spot of nothing at the blind point in our field of vision, our brain invents an image from surrounding details.

As a writer, I can tell you your brain pulls the same trick on you when you proofread your completed manuscript. While others can still find typos, you may not. Your brain knows what you are saying and so it automatically shows you a repaired version, making many of your typing errors invisible.

Your pupils can also reveal your thoughts. Studies show that when seeing unpleasant scenes the pupils retract. Pleasant or interesting scenes cause the pupils to open wider.

Charles Darwin wrote, "To suppose that the eye, with all of its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree." I don't often agree with Charles Darwin, but this time I do!

I know that I am fearfully and wonderfully made! I know God's works are marvelous, and I am definitely one of His works. So why should I be surprised at my 'inventive' eyes?

2011 Christian Nature

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The Wonder of The Ear!

Have you ever thought about the intricacies of your ear? I have, and I'm amazed at the detail with which it was designed! Ah, the wonder of the ear!

Our senses link us to the world around us and enable us to interact with the world. While most people believe that our sense of sight is the highest of the senses and the most marvelous in design, our sense of hearing is no less marvelous.

When a sound strikes your ear, your eardrum vibrates with the sound waves, fast or slow, soft or hard. These variations in vibration provide us with important information about the nature of the sound we are hearing. Some sounds produce a vibration in the eardrum as small as a billionth of a centimeter – only one-tenth the diameter of a hydrogen atom!

There are three tiny bones in the middle ear called the hammer, anvil and stirrup. They pick up the vibrations from the eardrum, amplify them and send them on to the cochlea. The cochlea is filled with about 25,000 tiny hair cells that finally turn the vibrations into electrical signals that are sent on to the brain.

Our hearing is designed to be more sensitive to high-pitched sounds than to lower sounds. If we had just a little more sensitivity to lower-pitched sounds, we would continuously be distracted by the internal sounds of our body, including the blood rushing through our arteries.

In fact, to help prevent this, there are no blood vessels at all in that part of the ear where vibrations are turned into electrical impulses. The body supports life in these tissues by constantly bathing them in dissolved nutrients.

While we can hear many things, and decide not to hear other things, the Creator who so marvelously designed our ears invites us to hear Him. In quietness we can hear Him.

2011 Christian Nature

Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! Psalm 46:10

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Naturalist and The Squirrel

Two years ago, I wrote a post called The Heart of a Spiritual Squirrel? In it, I told of the scampering smart squirrels that surrounded my Big Bear Cabin. They definitely had a purpose! To get my seeds without contending with me!

But it sometimes seems squirrels do run about without any purpose. However, a naturalist in the State of Maine recently discovered that the squirrel's activities are well planned and efficient. [They certainly were with this girl's experience!]

It was a cold January day when the naturalist was watching a red squirrel who seemed to be nibbling on a sugar maple. Then the squirrel would run to a tree where some of the sap had leaked out and lap at it with his tongue.

The naturalist knew that conventional wisdom said it was too early to tap trees for sugar. He also knew that the sap from the trees is 98 percent water and could not provide enough energy to keep the squirrel going in cold weather.

Becoming more curious, he decided to study the squirrels' activity in detail.

He discovered that the red squirrels were systematically tapping the sugar maples with a peculiar bite into the tree. Each bite went through the outer and inner bark and into the xylem where the sap runs.

The squirrels were then allowing the running sap to dry until the sugar content was more than 55 percent. Wow

Not only were squirrels tapping just the maples, they only tapped them when the weather was right for the sap to run.

The mad running up and down the trees actually followed a careful daily schedule of tree visitations that could include over 70 trees!

Could it be that humans learned from squirrels to tap sugar maples? Whatever the answer to that question, I know that it was the Creator Himself Who taught the squirrel the processing and use of this sugary winter treat.

I'm always amazed when I see the Hand of God in His Creation!

2011 Christian Nature

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. Romans 1:20

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Nasty Neighbor!

Have you ever had a 'nasty neighbor' who wore you down with endless chatter about their problems? Or one who kept stealing your beautiful flowers you had nurtured all year? Or one who stole your sleeping hours with endless noise next door? In other words, a 'nasty neighbor' who did all the taking and no giving? Nature is full of parasitic beings who do the same - take, take, take.

One of these 'nasty neighbors' is called witchweed, and is found mainly in Africa and Asia, but some has been reported in North America as well. This parasitic plant can prevent crop plants from producing yields and is said to be responsible for intensifying the results of famine in Ethiopia.

Not long after germination, witchweed sends an enzyme "feeler" through the soil around it to find nearby roots. If the enzyme finds a root system, it will digest a few of the cells on the root surface. The damaged roots actually help the witchweed by sending out a chemical response that confirms their presence to the witchweed. The witchweed then grows an attachment organ to penetrate the neighbor's root system. However, witchweed cannot penetrate many root systems. If attachment is not made within four days, the witchweed grows aimlessly and dies in less than a week.

If the witchweed successfully attaches to a neighbor's root system, witchweed can enjoy a long and full life, being fed by its neighbor's roots. In fact, witchweed changes the hormones produced by its neighbor so that the neighbor's root system grows ever larger at the expense of the stem growth of the victim. While the victim may live its normal span, it will not be allowed enough strength to reproduce.

What a shame there have to be parasites in the world who always survive at the expense of others. Life is hard enough without 'nasty neighbors'!

2011 Christian Nature

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Insect Version of 'Game On!'

Christian Nature has looked at several plants and animals that use different forms of camouflage to keep from being noticed. Some don't wish to be noticed so that they can surprise their prey, while others don't want to be noticed so they can avoid becoming prey. However, what happens when both predator and prey encounter each other in full camouflage? It's 'Game-On'!

The predator in this drama, witnessed by a naturalist at the edge of a desert, is a yellow crab spider. The spider was waiting on a yellow flower that made him nearly invisible. The potential prey is an inchworm beneath the same flower.

The inchworm was tearing off bits of the yellow flower petals and sticking them on its back. Cool!

Properly camouflaged, the inchworm then worked his way toward the top of the flower where the spider waited. The spider felt the movement and ran around the edge to see whether lunch might be on the way.

However, when the spider got around the edge of the flower, he saw nothing. He didn't even notice the camouflaged inchworm on which he was standing! The spider then returned to the center of the flower, outsmarted by the inchworm who went on about his business.

Our wisdom would have said that the inchworm should try to run when he noticed the spider. However, the wisdom given to him by the Creator allowed him to continue about his business on the flower. This offers us a good illustration of how following the Lord's wisdom often requires us to reject our own.

In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Proverbs 3:6

Notes: National Geographic

2011 Christian Nature

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Jacarandas Light Up the Skies Again!

Again, 'tis the season for the most beautiful of trees in So. California: Jacaranda Trees! Enjoy them with me, again this year as they light up the skies!

As I drive along the roads of Southern California, I am mesmerized by the blossoming Jacaranda Trees, painting the roadsides purple - or could it be blue? Oh, I know the flowers are sticky, and if they land on your parked car, they will ruin the paint, but the beauty of them is unbelievable. This is my season, for it is now that all the Jacaranda Trees worldwide are in blossom!

There is an Australian poet named Ann Beard who wrote a poem that aptly describes my favorite tree. Enjoy!

A Jacaranda Tree

A Jacaranda tree stands tall, and sways as if to say,
Look at this magnificence! I’m wearing blue today.
Forgive the way I shout aloud, my lack of modesty,
but nowhere in this troubled world is finery like me.

Light rays slide between each leaf, will settle on the tips
to lightly kiss your face with a hundred million tiny lips.
You only have to lift your eyes to greet the filtered sun,
a sight I guarantee will warm the heart of everyone.

Though very tall, my leaf is small, its form is one of fern,
large panicles of bluebells swell to trumpet unconcern.
A Bee collects its nectar from an ample deep white throat,
then flies to join its family, and of its feast to gloat.

Look up to see each fern like leaf, floating up on high,
like footprints of a centipede that stroll across the sky.
See how far my branches reach, admire their greenery!
I am beautiful and strong, I am the Jacaranda tree.

Ann Beard, Australian Poet

2009-2011 Nature Girl

How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number - living things both large and small. Psalm 104:24-25

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Silent Sounds of Nature

I moved through majestic depths of silences, silences so immense I could hear the corn growing.

Under these silences there was an orchestra of natural music playing notes no city child would ever hear.

A certain cackle from the hen house meant we had gained an egg.

The creak of a porch swing told of a momentary breeze blowing across my grandmother’s yard.

Moving past (the barn) as quietly as an Indian, I could hear the swish of a horse’s tail and knew the horseflies were out in strength.

As I tiptoed along a mossy bank to surprise a frog, a faint splash told me the quarry had spotted me and slipped into the stream.

Wandering among the sleeping houses, I learned that tin roofs crackle under the power of the sun, and when I tired and came back to my grandmother’s house, I padded into her dark cool living room, lay flat on the floor, and listened to the hypnotic beat of her pendulum clock on the wall ticking the meaningless hours away.

(A description of sounds of silence in the country, “Growing Up,” Russell Baker, page 58 - Signet-New American Library 1982)

Growing Up is Available at Amazon

Silent Nature Walk

2011 Christian Nature

In the midst of the night, “when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent.” (Psalm 4.4 )

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Miracle of Lemon Grass

It always thrills me to watch science discover how God, in His Omniscience, provided every thing we humans would need in nature, no matter what our need was!

Take the miracle of lemon grass, for example. A drink with as little as one gram of lemon grass contains enough citral to prompt cancer cells to commit suicide in the test tube according to new Israeli research.

At first, Benny Zabidov, an Israeli agriculturalist who grows greenhouses full of lush spices on a pastoral farm in Kfar Yedidya in the Sharon region, couldn't understand why so many cancer patients from around the country were showing up on his doorstep asking for fresh lemon grass.

It turned out that their doctors had sent them.

"They had been told to drink eight glasses of hot water with fresh lemon grass steeped in it on the days that they went for their radiation and chemotherapy treatments," Zabidov said. "And this is the place you go to in Israel for fresh lemon grass."

It all began when researchers at Ben Gurion University of the Negev discovered last year that the lemon aroma in herbs like lemon grass kills cancer cells in vitro, while leaving healthy cells unharmed.

The research team was led by Dr. Rivka Ofir and Prof. Yakov Weinstein, incumbent of the Albert Katz Chair in Cell-Differentiation and Malignant Diseases, from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at BGU.

Citral is the key component that gives the lemony aroma and taste in several herbal plants such as lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus), melissa (Melissa officinalis) and verbena (Verbena officinalis.)

According to Ofir, the study found that citral causes cancer cells to "commit suicide: using apoptosis, a mechanism called programmed cell death." A drink with as little as one gram of lemon grass contains enough citral to prompt the cancer cells to commit suicide in the test tube.

The BGU investigators checked the influence of the citral on cancerous cells by adding them to both cancerous cells and normal cells that were grown in a petri dish. The quantity added in the concentrate was equivalent to the amount contained in a cup of regular tea using one gram of lemon herbs in hot water. While the citral killed the cancerous cells, the normal cells remained unharmed.

The findings were published in the scientific journal Planta Medica, which highlights research on alternative and herbal remedies. Shortly afterwards, the discovery was featured in the popular Israeli press.

Why does it work? Nobody knows for certain, but the BGU scientists have a theory.

"In each cell in our body, there is a genetic program which causes programmed cell death. When something goes wrong, the cells divide with no control and become cancer cells. In normal cells, when the cell discovers that the control system is not operating correctly - for example, when it recognizes that a cell contains faulty genetic material following cell division - it triggers cell death," explains Weinstein. "This research may explain the medical benefit of these herbs."

The success of their research led them to the conclusion that herbs containing citral may be consumed as a preventative measure against certain cancerous cells.

As they learned of the BGU findings in the press, many physicians in Israel began to believe that while the research certainly needed to be explored further, in the meantime it would be advisable for their patients, who were looking for any possible tool to fight their condition, to try to harness the cancer-destroying properties of citral.

Does anyone know where lemon grass is grown or sold? No? Well there's an entrepreneurial opportunity for somebody!

Notes: Scientific Journal Planta Medica
Israel 21c

2011 Christian Nature

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Saturn Storm - Birth Pangs?

There's a huge storm brewing on Saturn. Within days, the tempest enveloped the ringed planet, triggering lightning flashes thousands of times more intense than on Earth.

Astronomers are definitely keeping their eyes glued to the 6th planet from our sun as it seems to be weathering an extraordinary storm.

According to a CBS News report, it began last December as a "white spot" seen in Saturn's northern hemisphere. Since then the visible spot has grown into a long horizontal white stormy mass that has now encircled the immense heavenly body. (Photo from Cassini spacecraft/NASA/JPL)

Astronomers say the tempest on the ringed planet has triggered "lightning flashes 10,000 times more intense than on Earth" and that—at the storm's height thus far—they've been recorded at 10 strikes per second.

The atmospheric disturbance on Saturn is being called "one-of-a-kind" by astronomers. And Cassini project scientist Linda Spilker of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory remarked, "It's still going like crazy."

With the perceived increase in storms, earthquakes and tsunamis here on our own planet, including strange recent events like a huge snowfall in the Atacama Desert in South America (one of the world's driest places), it's interesting to note that perhaps these phenomena are not restricted to Earth.

…Birth pangs?

Source: CBS Local

Wail! God's Day of Judgment is near— an avalanche crashing down from the Strong God! Everyone paralyzed in the panic, hysterical and unstrung, Doubled up in pain like a woman giving birth to a baby. Isaiah 13:8

2011 Christian Nature

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Master Deceivers

Most naturalists know there are creatures out there who are master deceivers. They look or sound like one thing, but are another.

Africa's southern deserts have a plant called living stones. In a desert, any vegetation can be a welcome source of food or moisture. In this setting, a plant that doesn't look like a plant has an advantage. And living stones look like nothing more than just another rock in the sand.

Wasps can be some of the nastiest insects in nature. An insect in Costa Rica called the mantispid looks very much like the feared wasp, even up close.

Then again, the hover fly looks like a wasp and sounds like a wasp because the frequency of its wing beats is almost identical to a wasp.

Treehoppers have a very odd body shape that comes to a point on top. Not only do they look like thorns, but they usually stay on bushes that have thorns, orienting their bodies on the branches just like true thorns. This effectively hides them from hungry birds.

Larval plant hoppers use a different form of deception. They attach themselves in groups on branches, orienting their frilly and feathery bodies together so they look like a flower!

Christians know that The Bible warns us that Satan is a master deceiver. In fact, he appears as an angel of light. Have you heard several 'spiritual' leaders talk of 'the light' before? Which light is that? We must be just as careful as other Created beings out there. We must know The Truth!

Notes: National Geographic

2011 Christian Nature

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First Synthetic Windpipe!

"Frankly speaking, I was very much scared," said the patient, Andemariam Teklesenbet of Eritrea, who is a student at the University of Iceland in Reykjavik. "I was about to refuse the surgery, but Dr. Macchiarini explained everything to me. I prayed. I accepted it. I believed in it."

Good thing he did! He now has the world's first synthetic trachea (windpipe) in his body. And most remarkably, to this writer, it was done with no embryonic cells, but with the patient's own cells.

He will be discharged from a hospital in Sweden on Friday after his cancerous windpipe was removed and replaced by the world's first artificial trachea, made of his own stem cells grown on a man-made plastic matrix.

This video spells out exactly how this was done, and it's very exciting!



Amazing!

2011 Christian Nature

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Four Tricky Metamorphoses!

As I look at the magnificence of God's Creation, I keep seeing His distinct Finger Print. I agree with the Psalmist who asked,

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?

Here's a good example: The Tiger SwallowTail Butterfly and its four tricky metamorphoses!

Many plants and animals disguise themselves as something they are not in the hope of protecting themselves. However, a true trickster must have many disguises. The tiger swallowtail goes through four 'tricky metamorphoses' as it tricks its way into adulthood.

The newly hatched larva looks for all the world like a bird dropping. This appearance makes the larva of no interest to birds that might otherwise eat it.

Three molts later the caterpillar has turned
green to match the leaves on which it feeds. In case he is spotted by some birds looking for a nice fat caterpillar for lunch, the caterpillar also has two large spots on its head that look like the eyes of a snake. Birds who are interested in caterpillars usually try to stay as far from snakes as possible.

Then, in the pupal stage, the tiger swallowtail has again radically altered its appearance. The pupa now looks like nothing more than just another broken twig on a tree trunk.

The Tiger Swallowtail butterfly is not a poisonous butterfly,
but many females (especially southern subspecies) are much darker, mimicking the poisonous Pipevine butterfly (Battus philenor). Animals that eat it the poisonous Pipevine butterfly get very sick and vomit. These animals remember that this brightly-colored butterfly made them very sick and will avoid all butterflies with similar markings (including the Tiger Swallowtail) in the future.

The immature tiger swallowtail's bag of disguises reflects a great deal of knowledge about the behavior of those creatures that threaten it. Each of its disguises uses a different method to fool those birds that would be interested in the larva. Each disguise has the same specific goal. This master of disguise is no accident of biology.

It shows the Finger Print of a loving Creator Who is omniscient (all-knowing) and knew what dangers each of His Creations would face in their survival! And obviously, people have been praising God for a long time for this same reason. Psalm 8:3-4 (above) proves that!

2011 Christian Nature

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How Deaf Babies Communicate

When my last grandson was a baby, he babbled constantly, and he looked like he understood what he was saying. He was very serious about something! He was not any different from any other baby, in that he babbled. Then slowly some of the babbles sounded like real words! Of course, my daughter and her husband listened intently to hear that 'first word'!

But what if my grandson had been deaf? Would he still have babbled on? Most of us assume babies babble what they hear. But evidently, even deaf babies can babble and they hear absolutely nothing! So how can deaf babies babble if they hear nothing to imitate?

The clue to the fact that there is more to speech than simple imitations came when scientists discovered that infants can babble without ever making a sound. Researchers studied five infants, two of whom were deaf and had deaf parents. In the deaf households, communication took place through American Sign Language.

Scientists found that both hearing and deaf children babbled in the language used in their homes. Hearing infants produced sounds, then syllables, and eventually meaningful words. The deaf infants did the same with their hands. At first they would make the hand signs for basic letters and numbers, stringing them together without meaning.

Just as the hearing infants were beginning to offer meaningful communication by their first birthday, the deaf infants' signing had reached the same point by their first birthday.

Researchers were shocked when they realized what this means. It means that the brain has some type of unified ability built into it for learning language. This conclusion goes against everything evolution says about who and what humans are.

However, it fits perfectly with the Bible when it tells us that men and women were made for fellowship and communication with their Creator.

This is a very joyful story, in my opinion. Deaf babies have enough to deal with in their lives. So to hear God has created them with the ability to communicate, albeit in a different way, makes me want to praise Him even more!

2011 Christian Nature

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Healing Powers of Cinnamon

Every diabetic knows cinnamon can lower glucose levels.

Even researchers note that cinnamon is one of the world's oldest herbal medicines, mentioned in Exodus, Proverbs and the Song of Songs, as well as Chinese texts as old as 4,000 years. There's no doubt cinnamon is chocked full of healing properties.

But now it turns out that cinnamon may also delay the onset of Alzheimer's Disease! Researchers discovered that an extract in the cinnamon can delay the effects of five aggressive strains of Alzheimer's-inducing genes.

A new study shows that the common spice cinnamon seems to delay the progress of Alzheimer's disease, a degenerative brain condition.

The research builds on the work of Prof. Michael Ovadia of Tel Aviv University, who discovered about a decade ago that an extract of cinnamon -- one of the aromatic ingredients in the incense used in the ancient Jewish Temple - has powerful anti-viral properties.

This news should not surprise Bible-believing people! Just look at Genesis 1:11-13

Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so.
The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

2011 Christian Nature

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Where Have The Bees Gone?

Where have all the bees gone? It's been five years since we first heard about this, yet it seems no one has the answer. It's affecting the price of my blueberries!

Honey bees help pollinate about one-third of our food supply, including many favorite fruits and vegetables. For example, 100 crops represent 90 percent of the world's food, and more than 70 of those crops are pollinated by bees.

"You wouldn't have an apple if the bees weren't there when the apple tree was blooming," said Dr. Jeffery Pettis, a research leader at the federal government's Bee Research Laboratory near Washington, D.C.

"You would have to move that pollen from tree to tree, and bees are the key to that," he said.

That's why researchers like Pettis are trying to unlock the mystery of Colony Collapse Disorder -- or CCD. Since 2006, seemingly healthy bees have abandoned their hives and never returned.

Researchers estimate nearly one-third of all honey bee colonies in the United States have disappeared.

"The fruits and vegetables have a bit higher value both monetarily, and I think, nutritionally, than do rice, corn, and wheat," Pettis said. "Those are staples. They'll keep you alive. You can survive on staples, but you can't thrive. You can thrive on those other fruits and vegetables and nuts."

Wild blueberries in the state of Maine depend on honey bees. Without their pollinating travels, you can scratch the number one antioxidant fruit in the world off the menu.

"We brought in roughly 65,000 hives this year from all over the United States to pollinate the wild blueberry crop," explained Jadczak, who oversees Maine's beekeeping operations.

One suspect is the vicious Varroa mite.

"Not only is it literally sucking the blood out of the adult bees and the developing bees, but the mite is also a vector of various viruses," Jadczak said.

As researchers search for the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder, they encourage beekeepers to concentrate on the health of the bees they do have.

"When they're in times of the year or in an area where they think there's not enough pollen coming in, beekeepers are feeding extra protein, and that seems to help -- seems to produce healthier colonies," Pettis explained.

Those feedings can lead to healthier diets and a healthier economy. Workers at Wyman's in Maine know this all too well.

"With $15 billion worth of produce that's pollinated by bees annually, everybody is going to have something on their dinner table that is pollinated through honey bees," said Darin Hammond, senior manager of farm operations at Wyman's.

The company, which is the country's leading grower, packer, and marketer of wild blueberries, has taken a hit because of CCD.

Hammond said that pollination costs have gone up around 35 percent.

"I think that the cost of beekeeping and the cost of renting bees is going to continue to increase over time," Hammond said.

Still, he said Wyman's is pressing on, providing grants to universities for CCD research.

Speaking for myself, I pray the problem is solved soon. I'm beginning to notice how much the price for my blueberries has risen!

2011 Christian Nature

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Computing By Thought?

Sounds unbelievable, but it's true! It is definitely in our future: computing by thoughts.

A new Israeli-developed tool enables the disabled to send emails by thought alone, and could revolutionize the world of mind-controlled computing.

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev students Uri Usami, Ariel Rosen and Ofir Tam developed a way for people to control computer actions with their thoughts.

The able-bodied can blast off an email in seconds, while eating a sandwich and calming a baby. But those less deft with their digits, such as the disabled, may not even be able to email let alone do those side tasks.

Hoping to give more dignity and communications possibilities to the disabled, a trio of students from an Israeli university developed a program that connects brain waves virtually to a computer interface. They call it MinDesktop, and their prototype application could revolutionize mind-controlled computing the same way Windows changed the accessibility of personal computing.

Taking an off-the-shelf technology, the three Ben-Gurion University of the Negev undergraduates have developed a new graphical user interface (GUI) to help the physically challenged use their thoughts to send emails, surf the Web, turn on media players and communicate with their computer and the outside world.

Following successful trials with 17 able-bodied test subjects, Uri Usami, Ofir Tam and Ariel Rosen hope their product will be applied one day to help the disabled with actions beyond the computer screen. Project supervisors see the usefulness of such an interface for other purposes as well, such as in noisy environments or situations where two hands are just not enough.

"One application is helping disabled people with diseases like ALS and other muscular problems, or for somebody who is using his hands for some other operation and cannot use a keyboard or mouse," says Dr. Rami Puzis, one of the supervisors. "Of course you could use voice also, but this application could be especially useful in noisy environments. With pilots, for instance."

Astronauts, he agrees, could also benefit.

Programmed with thoughts you love

Under the supervision of Puzis, Prof. Yuval Lovitz and Dr. Lior Rokach, MinDesktop has a long way to go until it becomes a commercial reality, says Puzis, explaining how the idea came about: "Dr. Lior Rokach became aware of the hardware Emotiv, a headset that can record and analyze [brainwave] EEGs - and he wanted to start a student engineering project that would do something with it."

When offered the idea, the students had their own plans in mind, and veered away from what their supervisors had originally intended, says Puzis.

In a series of experiments, able-bodied subjects learned a new action in eight seconds and then typed a 12-character email in about seven minutes. However, Puzis believes that trained users could finish sending a sentence as simple and significant as "I love you, Mom" in as few as four minutes, using only -- you guessed it -- their mind.

The breakthrough is in the way the students hierarchically organized the system's commands in a way that is simple for a human to learn and use.

"The innovation is the user interface -- the human-computer interface. We are using three actions that the software and the headset can give us - two is not enough - and when there are many actions you define [in the system], it becomes noisy and harder to control," says Puzis.

"Instead of a mouse and keyboard, we have a headset and an easy interface to a pointing device that can be controlled."

Fitted with a helmet developed by Emotiv, which comes equipped with 14 points to record and analyze EEG brainwaves, the students programmed the helmet's existing software to learn the thoughts associated with simple types of actions such as push and pull -- actions that are associated with specially developed commands for the mobility-challenged.

A new window of accessibility

The invention doesn't allow a free-thought exchange between user and PC, but uses a kind of mechanized learning of commands to associate a thought with a certain onscreen action.

For instance, you could train the computer to learn a pushing action, such as pushing a button on a screen or media player, by associating that action with a familiar thought -- let's say, the bark of your dog.

After the computer learns the brainwaves associated with you thinking about your dog's bark, in every future instance when you think of your dog's bark an associated pushing action will take place as your thoughts are picked up on the Emotiv headset, translating them to an action.

Such a thought-controlled computer has been the challenge for hundreds of labs around the world, but until now the ideas haven't been altogether feasible for the masses due to the clunkiness of the equipment and the need for it to be operated in a lab setting.

Prof. Mark Last, who heads the software engineering program at the university, says that he didn't see any limitations to using the system -- even "interference" such as thick, curly hair does not pose a problem.

He explains how the students approached the programming: "When you have some history of the brainwaves - and you have a set of thoughts that you ask your subject to think about, then you can look for relationships between certain thoughts and those actions so you can recognize correctly what the subject was thinking about."

From there, the computer can make predictions - and help the disabled listen to the Rolling Stones, or send an email to a loved one.

Source: Israel21c

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Bamboo Our Best Food Wrap?

Has it ever occurred to you to wrap your food in bamboo to protect it from spoilage? Does it sound strange to you? As it turns out, it's not so strange, after all. In fact, science is discovering it may be our best food wrap!

For centuries, Asian cooks have wrapped meat, sushi and candy in bamboo bark. Though the reason for this practice seems to have been forgotten, humans evidently once knew what modern science is rediscovering about bamboo.

Chemists have succeeded in extracting the natural chemicals in bamboo bark. What they found was not one or two but four natural chemicals in the bark that inhibit bacteria, especially staph germs. These natural antibacterial agents are now under study for possible use as natural food and cosmetic preservatives.

If these natural chemicals can be shown to kill bacteria and yet be harmless to people, the door will be open for an entirely new class of natural food preservatives.

The question naturally arises about how Asians originally came to use bamboo in the kitchen. Is it possible that thousands of years ago, when ancestors of today's Asians headed east from the Tower of Babel, humans knew that bamboo would help keep their food from spoiling?

Much of what we are learning today was already known to a humanity that was only a few generations removed from our first and once-perfect parents. Remember that the perfection with which humanity was created was more than moral perfection. Because Adam and Eve had a perfect knowledge of God, they also had a perfect understanding of all that He had made.

2011 Christian Nature

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Israel Clean-Tech Superhero!

The new solar field at Kibbutz Ketura generates enough energy to power three communities, and takes Israel one step nearer to becoming a clean-tech superhero. It is the first of many planned in an effort to have 10 percent of Israel’s energy from renewable sources by 2020.

It's taken five years to get off the ground, thanks in part to the difficulty of coordinating between no less than 24 ministerial offices, but the first Israeli solar field was finally launched this month to fanfare, VIP barbecues, music, a religious rapper (who wrote a song for the occasion) and a picturesque setting sun.

Arava Power's 4.95 megawatt solar field in Kibbutz Ketura marks a milestone for the state of Israel. The Jewish nation has been intent on branding itself as a clean-tech superhero, selling solar innovations like inverters and software abroad, yet not quite able to prove its commitment to renewable energy on its home turf.

Now, after successfully navigating labyrinthine regulatory hurdles, Arava Power has its sights set on helping Israel reach its stated goal of 10 percent renewable energy by 2020. About half of that amount could be generated by solar energy in the Negev desert, which sits under clear, bright skies most days of the year.

Although it's a Middle East country, Israel doesn't have any appreciable oil sources beyond the natural gas wells off the coast of Haifa. It does have a large amount of oil shale, but environmentalists caution that extracting oil from the shale would cause too much damage.

What's left? The sun, an energy source that makes non-polluting perfect sense. Arava Power, says CEO Jonathan Cohen, is pioneering the way for other companies to make their mark in this new industry in Israel.

"There is no doubt that the natural advantage will be fully leveraged," says Cohen. "There are talks of bio-gas, and an aggressive drive to get wind up and running."

READ MORE

2011 Christian Nature

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Your Feet Hear Them!

Do you hear those plants communicating as you walk over them? What? You didn't know plants communicated? Oh, yes! Maybe your feet hear them!

In fact, some of the most fascinating discoveries in recent years have to do with our growing knowledge of plant communication. New research continues to reveal even more amazing facts about the exquisite intricacy of God's marvelous work.

Naturalists have long noted that plants often choose to grow at precise spacing from each other and plants of other species. Scientists at the University of California at Santa Barbara theorized that this precision might be a result of communication between the roots of these plants. So they devised an experiment to find out.

They designed a network of interlocking, partially transparent growth boxes. These boxes allowed them to watch how root growth took place in single plants, two plants of the same species, and plants of different species.

They discovered that when burro weed roots neared the roots of the creosote bush, the roots of the creosote bush slowed the growth of the nearing roots.

They also discovered that burro weed roots will stop growing when they encounter other burro weed roots. This allows the plants to send their roots out where they will not compete with their own kind.

Most astonishing is the discovery that burro weed roots continue to grow if they encounter other roots from their own plant. The amazed scientists noted that this means that even plants may have a sense of self.

When the Bible tells us that the whole creation praises its Creator, it certainly suggests that at least every living thing has a sense of itself as well as its Creator.

Notes: "Root Words" Science News

2011 Christian Nature

"Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the LORD:" Psalm 96:12-13a

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