OUR MOON: ACCIDENT or MASTERPIECE?

I promised we’d look at the question asked by one of my students: “Why does the ‘Man in the Moon’ always look the same?”   She was talking about the monthly Full Moon - but is she right?

Yes, the Moon  completes one spin in the same time that it completes one orbit, only ever letting us see the ‘face’ and never the far side.                                                         

The moon has synchronous rotation - its orbital period is 27.321582 Earth days and its sidereal rotation period is also 27.321582 Earth days – exactly the same!   No-one knew what the far side of the Moon looked like until the Russsian space-probe Luna 3 orbited the Moon and transmitted mankind’s first images in October 1959.

Talking about the Moon - its gravity, position and orbit is perfect for it to also:

·         Stabilize Earth’s axial rotation

·         Regulate our ocean currents and our climate (Have you heard of climate change?)

·         Produce awesome Total Solar Eclipses- unique in our solar system...in fact, unknown anywhere else in the universe!

·         Produce ‘blood red’ Total Lunar Eclipses

·         Influence  the growth of plants and trees

·         Influence animal feeding habits, especially nocturnals

·         And of course - clean our beaches!

 

(Don’t forget, from 400,000 kms away it sometimes sets the scene for that romantic evening, helping us get home without a torch.)

 

In case we think we’ve got the Moon all figured out, just to complicate things it behaves dynamically in an eccentric orbit that produces libration – the ‘Man in the Moon’ appears to get the wobbles!

Despite all that, we are expected to believe that the Moon came about by sheer accident when some huge asteroid crashed into Earth from who knows where and all the debris somehow just  joined together…………………….”uh?”

(On the other hand, the Bible says that God said to king David that the Moon is His faithful witness in the sky.)             

Now then ……is the Moon just a very convenient accident or is there some design in this?

Acknowledgements:                                                           
nasa.gov   
wikipedia.com                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Monique Copelin (12), Beechwood, NSW, Oz                                                                                                                                                                                            

Photo credit:  Rogelio Bernal Andreo / Deep Sky Colours                                                                  

SPARE RIBS

Here’s Rolene Strauss from South Africa, crowned Miss World 2014.                                 
What do you think?... is she another beautiful masterpiece of humanity or is she just an accident of nature too?

Now then ladies, us men have you to thank for bringing us into the world… but where did you come from?  Venus?                                      
Ah!…you say women evolved over millions of years?                                                
Is that so?...just like the hundreds of thousands of sexual species all survived by simultaneously, as male and female, adapting and evolving through chance genetic mutation?...with no design whatsoever? 

                                                         
Right…I’m not sure I can get my head around that. Did you know geneticists admit that reproductive cells CANNOT adapt to environment, plus…….. we all seem to have a COMMON ancestry!

Science also has to admit that the universe must have had a supernatural beginning - where else did the matter and energy come from?...so let’s see if the first woman also arrived ...wait for it...............................supernaturally, like this:

Loneliness was not good for Adam, so what did God do about it?  
The Master Surgeon commenced the world’s first costectomy on the world’s first donor – a surgical procedure under anaesthesia to remove a rib (you know - just a spare part :) to sculpt His ultimate creative masterpiece: an adult woman ready for Him to give away at the world’s first wedding.  Meanwhile the patient made a remarkably quick recovery from major surgery! 
That must have been a busy day for everyone.                                                           

The human skeleton has a thoracic cage of ribs to protect the vital organs (that’s handy, hey!), to facilitate breathing and let's not forget, to support those vital breasts of hers.                                         

There are 12 pairs of ribs comprising: 7 true pairs, 3 false pairs and 2 floating pairs – 24 in total. So then why don’t men have one less rib?                                           

If surgeons remove a rib but leave the surrounding periosteum membrane…guess what!....osteoblast cells will regrow replacement rib bone. How about that!

Which rib was taken?  We aren’t told.   
Some like to think it was a rib close to Adam’s heart, making for a great romance.
Or maybe Adam had been created with a spare rib?
On the other hand if it was a rare ‘cervical rib’ growing from the 7^th cervical vertabra, well…that would make for a pain in the neck........(nah, just joking:)

So we can thank Adam or blame him!

 

Acknowledgements:  
wikipedia.org
Dr. Carl Wieland / creation.com
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed
Anatomica, Global Book Publishing, Sydney 2000
 

OUCH! A SORE POINT

We can guess what these guys are doing and we can be sure that little baby is an 8 day old boy.
Let’s hope the mohel and his assistant washed their hands thoroughly, that his instruments are sterile for this brit milah and ….that he hasn’t got ‘the shakes’!

Here is what the Jewish Torah claims God said to Abraham:

"This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger…."                      Genesis 17

So why at eight days old??                                                        

Let’s give the cultural, ethical and religious arguments a miss and just look at the medical aspect…
Vitamin K was not identified until 1929 when Danish scientist Henrik Dam named it Koagulationsvitamin. Together with calcium, Vitamin K is used to convert the blood-clotting protein prothrombin to thrombin but the low level of Vitamin K at birth can lead to the rare ‘Haemorrhagic Disease of the Newborn’ (HDN) in 0.25% to 1.7% of births.

Prothrombin levels reach normal level in 5-7 days but then….           

increase on Day 8 to 110% of normal – the highest level that will ever be reached in the life of this child!                                       

(Just by the way, it is claimed that the dosage of Vitamin K now administered to newborns as a standard procedure is 20,000 times that required and has been implicated as a cause of child leukaemia.)       

Okay, we might think circumcision is a barbaric relic of superstition. Other nations like Egypt used this procedure as a rite of passage to puberty, adulthood or marriage BUT… a Jewish male is reminded several times each day that Israel is meant to be ‘a cut above the others’- even if it is a sore point!

Could there be a Creator God who might have had a clue or two about what He was doing?                               

 

Acknowledgements: 
mercola.com
lastrow.wordpress.com
apologeticspress.org
Photo credits: 
bethaderech.com 
blog.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

             

                                                                                                                                                       

                                                           

                                                                             

                                                                          

 

PLAYING BY EAR

Here is Nik Wallenda, 450 metres above the Little Colorado River in Grand Canyon - playing it by ear again.                    

 

Okay, he’s using his arms and legs with assistance from a balance rod to pull off his stunt ‘safely’ but we’re left wondering what he’s got between those ears.                

We’ll never really know except, like the rest of us, he must have two of these peculiar thingummies:

Whatever is this anyway?

No it’s not a three-headed snail and no, it’s not a tumor.                                

This is your inner ear that some medicos say evolved over millions of years, so let’s go exploring inside Nick’s ear like a bug…but this ain’t easy…a waxy substance is making this adventure hard-going and soon we come to a membrane completely blocking our way.

We learn that the membrane is the eardrum which receives sound vibrations that are amplified behind in the middle ear by 3 tiny bones: the ossicles (malleus, incus & stapes). Why 3?...so that loud sounds are dampened. Clever hey!...and yet another example of ‘irreducible complexity’ - leave any component out and nothing works.     

Now remember the good old days of flying when the hosties would hand out lollies to passengers?...except you were busy with ear-ache as we descended to our destination in an unpressurised airliner. The Eustachian tubes normally vent the middle ear to the throat, which prevented Nick’s ear-drums from perforating with the pressure changes when driving up to the Grand Canyon rim at about 4000 feet above sea level.

At last we reach the inner ear where the stapes vibrates an oval window in the cochlea (‘the snail shell’), sending waves thru fluid which are detected by hairs (organ of Corti), sending electrical signals for the brain to interpret as sound.

Wait!...that’s not all. The 3 semi-circular canals you can see are set at right angles to each other and contain fluid that moves tiny hairs, enabling the brain to sense movement of the body….and there’s more vestibular organs! The brain needs a reference to distinguish between movement of the body and attitude of the head so there are two sensors incorporated as well: the saccule aligned vertically and the utricle aligned horizontally.

So ladies and gentlemen, just what are we born with, between those lugs?  

Two integrated, self-cleaning, pressure tolerant, water-resistant, shock-proof, dual purpose, attenuating stereophonic microphones – complete with artificial horizons and 3-dimensional accelerometers!             
If just one component was missing would the ear be a masterpiece of bionic engineering?..... or just a ridiculous deformity for hanging your specs on?           

 

 

Acknowledgements:  
Anatomica, Global Book Publishing, Sydney 2000  
wikipedia.org    
medicinenet.com   
Gillen, A. ‘Body By Design’, Master Books, Green Forest AR, 2001  
Photo credits:   
nydailynews.com      
3dscience.com  
zrhbzeds.homeip.net                                             

                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                    

                                     

                                                            

                                                                                                                                    

 

 

 

 

 

 

BLACK SMOKERS

 

We are told that BLACK SMOKERS were unknown until 1977…….or were they?

Scientists first found hydrothermal vents 2,500 metres under the Pacific Ocean in the Galapagos Rift off the coast of Ecuador. Sea water at ~2 degrees C is drawn down to be heated by volcanic magma to ~460 degrees as a supercritical fluid, rich in hydrogen sulphide and acidic as vinegar. The minerals deposited form chimneys up to 20 metres tall and unique microcosms of life develop around them, including giant clams and tubeworms 3-4 metres in length.

By the way, it was recorded in the Jewish Scriptures at least 2,400 years ago that God challenged Job: “Have you entered the springs of the sea?” from the Hebrew word: nebek, meaning ‘fountain’.           

As they say: “Out of sight, out of mind” but no…..not unknown.

Acknowledgements:   The author of ‘Job’                  
wikipedia.com                                                                                  
Photo credit: flickr.com 

PATHFINDER OF THE SEAS

Whoever is this guy...smiling benevolently from his memorial in Richmond, Virginia?

Matthew Fontaine Maury (14 Jan 1806 – 1 Feb 1873) is known as the ‘Pathfinder of the seas’, being regarded as the father of modern oceanography and naval meteorology after founding the scientific study and charting of ocean currents and prevailing winds.       

He was superintendent of the U.S. Naval Observatory from 1844 to 1861 and was honoured post-humously by interment between Presidents Monroe and Tyler in Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery and induction to America’s Hall of Fame.

Even today, NASA’s Aquarius - Sea Surface Salinity program using Argentina’s SAC-D satellite, pays tribute to Maury and his contribution to oceanography and meteorology.

So what is that book beside his left leg? Surely it must be a navigator’s handbook or science textbook. Well, here’s a clue - a quote from Maury: 

"…reason assures us that they move in obedience to some law of Nature, be it recorded down in the depths below, never so far beyond the reach of human ken; and being a law of Nature, we know who gave it, and that neither chance nor accident had any thing to do with its enactment."

Whoever is he talking about?...who enacted a law of Nature in the depths?

We find Maury’s efforts to chart the world’s ocean currents were motivated by this:

“…and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea.”

Hang on….that sounds like the Bible which is not supposed to be scientific!                 
Yes, in fact Psalm 8.  So what about this one?

“Thus saith the Lord, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters.”     Isaiah 43

…or this…

“The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.”   Ecclesiastes 1

Do you think perhaps young Matthew (meaning ‘gift of Jehovah’) was well named by his parents when you consider how much time and fuel ships (and aircraft) have been able to save thanks to charts from Maury and his successors?

Next time you buy an imported product or travel overseas, spare a thought to Maury and that Bible of his, with those scriptures written some 2,500 years before his charts were made. Despite all the hi-tech engineering, we’re still very much at the mercy of the world’s winds and currents.

Acknowledgements:                                                                                                                                                                     
icr.org   
wikipedia.org                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Photo credit: www.popscreen.com

 

 

 

Doctor Death

“Madam, this is Dr. Death the obstetrician assigned to assist with your delivery.  Kindly ignore his bloodied hands and coat - it is now 1845 and according to modern medical science, this demonstrates he is eminently qualified to consult having just conducted autopsies on several women who died from childbirth. As it is claimed, ‘doctors are gentlemen and gentlemen’s hands are clean’ and of course ‘cleanliness is next to prudishness.’
After all, what's a bit of blood and guts between doctor and patient...Doctor knows best dear."
        

Well you and I should be grateful Dr. Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (b. Budapest, Hungary 1818) sacrificed his professional reputation in 1847 by insisting medical students coming into the maternity ward of Vienna General Hospital from the dissecting room must first wash their hands in chlorinated lime solution.



Dr. Ignaz. P.Semmelweis

Was he onto something here?  The mortality rate due to puerperal fever plummeted from 30% to 2% and Semmelweis published his findings as “The Etiology, Concept and Prophylaxsis of Childbed Fever” in 1861 – only to be mocked by his peers.

In 1865 Sir Joseph Lister conducted the first antiseptic operation, later receiving honour as Queen Victoria’s surgeon and elevation to baronetcy, while poor Semmelweis died shunned and forgotten in a mental asylum at the age of only 47. His findings were subsequently confirmed by French scientist Louis Pasteur.  

Should medical science have known better? If they had opened their Bibles and read Numbers chapter 19 they would have found:

“He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days…and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even.”

But isn’t this just Jewish ceremonial law? Why should medical science take any notice of religious mumbo-jumbo in the Jewish Tanakh?                                           

From 1347 on, the Black Death ravaged Europe to take the lives of about 30 million people - approximately 1/3 of the population, but the Jews suffered much lower losses from disease because of their social isolation in ghettos, and their personal and domestic hygiene. Instead they suffered massive revenge killings, being accused of contaminating the village wells while discreetly sourcing their drinking water direct from springs.

I wonder where they learnt their standards of hygiene? 

*Many thanks to my dear friend ‘Uncle Bob’ Bryce, Port Macquarie, NSW.* (retired Perth City Fire Commander)

Acknowledgements:                                                          

en.wikipedia.com                                                   

World Book 2005