THE DANCING MALA WALLABY

Mrs Mala is a tiny kangaroo or to be precise, a Rufous-hare Wallaby (Lagorchestes hirsutus) who lives on one of two remote islands off the coast of Western Australia, near Shark Bay.

She lives where food can be scarce and cut off from any medical facilities, so like other macropodids, her Designer has wisely given her special family planning ability so that she can control her pregnancies. (Now that would be handy!) Gestation lasts 124 days but the interval between joeys can be shortened to produce 3 in one year, or when there’s not much food in the cupboard an embryo can be put on hold – unattached to the uterine wall (embryonic diapause) – or even aborted if necessary.                              

Good times or bad, mum and dad like to kick up their heels in a lively dance.

*Special thanks to Year 5/6 - 2012, Beechwood Public School, NSW, Australia



Joey on the milkbar

 

Acknowledgements:
wikipedia.com                                                                                                                                                             environment.gov.au                                                                                                    umich.edu                                                                                   

Photocredits:
aqob.com.au
sharkbay.org                                                                                                                                                                     en.wikipedia.org
Wildlife Fact File

HUNTING A BULL WITH A SUBARU

Look into the night-sky towards the tropics and you will see a bull with a blood-shot eye, wearing a Subaru badge and facing a hunter whose sword belt is sagging!

The hunter of course is ORION (his belt forming the base of 'the saucepan'); further west you will see the faint but beautiful cluster of the SEVEN SISTERS called THE PLEIADES on the flank of Taurus the Bull. His blood-shot eye is the red star, Aldebaran.

Our upside-down view from 'Downunder'! 

Will Orion have to let out his belt as he gets older or is that sword just getting a bit heavy?

Will the Seven Sisters go their own ways or prefer to stick together?

These two celestial sights can be seen from anywhere in the habitable world, with Orion being the brightest constellation, hovering over the Equator. Betelgeuse, is Orion's shoulder and the giant blue star, Rigel, on his foot.

Last century, astronomers with modern telescopes were able to observe that the stars, Mintaka and Alnilam in Orion's belt, seem to be moving towards each other, whereas the other major star, Alnitak, seems to be drifting away.





Orion Nebula flashes from the hunter's sword

 

They also observed that the cluster of The Pleiades seems to be moving together towards the south-east.

 

 

The book of Job in the Jewish Scriptures was written at least 2,700 years ago and was probably the first book written about 3,500 years ago, long before the world’s first telescope was made by Hans Lippershey in 1608 AD.

God challenged Job:
“CAN YOU BIND THE BONDS OF PLEIADES OR LOOSEN THE BELT OF ORION?” 

How about that! So God is just a myth??

Okay, why the Subaru badge?   Subaru is Japanese for The Pleiades.
According to Greek mythology, the seven daughters of Atlas were: Electra, Maia, Taygete, Asterope, Celaene, Alcyone and Myrope who is not old enough to stay up as late as her sisters so she’s difficult to see with the naked eye.

Now you know why Subarus the world over, like Taurus the Bull, proudly wear the 6 star badge representing 6 stunning sisters. By the way, what else does Taurus wear- on his head for the next few months?....Jupiter!

Who said that God hasn’t got a sense of humour?

 

Acknowledgements:
Isabel Lewis, United States Naval Observatory
Dr. Robert J. Trumpler, Lick Observatory, California
"Curiosities Of The Sky" by Garrett P. Serviss 
Subaru (Australia) Pty. Ltd. and Port Macquarie Subaru

Image credits:
Night sky & Orion Nebula / Stellarium
Pleiades / Rogelio Bernal Andreo / DeepSkyColours.com

Posers from uni students

While you're waiting for the next article here's a bonus to liven up your dinner table, with some questions commonly raised by uni students:

1.         Where is the evidence that God exists?..........Give us some 'iopnas'!

2.         Why all the suffering?......................................Fix it God!

3.         Hasn't science proved with the 'theory of evolution' that God doesn't exist anyway?..........................................................Give us facts not myths!

A 4th question will keep for a rainy day and before you throw these 3 into the ring,

·         how can we explain the survival of Israel, and its sacred Book with its historic accuracy and archaeological evidence?

·         have we ever actually seen a man flogged nearly to death - then crucified naked with nails?

·         is the 'theory of evolution' actually based on empirical evidence or another human belief system?  Is it true science or religion?  Fair question?

Good luck!

DIAMONDS 4 EVER

What is DIAMOND?.... a lattice of carbon atoms.                    

We are told that diamond is formed under high pressure and temperature, beneath Earth’s crust, then surfaces by volcanic activity.  When did it form or how long did it take?

Obviously no-one observed it but geologists say: 1 to 3.3 billion years – a big range.
Can you get your head around that?

Here is the Star of Africa, a 530 carat diamond that now adorns the sceptre in the English Royal Crown Jewels. It was cut from the largest diamond ever found, ‘The Cullinan’ (3106 carat, 0.6kgs) from the Premier Mine in South Africa in 1905.

Diamond can be manufactured synthetically by a variety of processes and since it can be harder and more pure than the natural stone it can be preferred for industrial use such as delicate transistor manufacture.
Under controlled conditions how long does the manufacture of synthetic diamonds take?  
It looks like chemists are embarrassed to say…… a matter of days at most!

Apparently an isotope of carbon, radiocarbon known as Carbon 14, can be detected in natural diamond (along with coal, oil, limestone, graphite, natural gas, marble, and fossils).  So??
Carbon 14 has a ‘half- life’ of 5,730 years so it should be undetectable after only ~100,000 years.

Do you think perhaps it would be better to rely on historians to tell us about history?

Acknowledgements:           wikipedia.com

DINO AMONG DUSTCOATS

This really sets the cat among the pigeons or ‘Dino among the dustcoats’!.......

A paleontologist from North Carolina State University, Mary H. Schweitzer, was involved in a large fossil dig at Hell Creek in north-east Montana. In 2001 so many remains were collected from the site that even smelled of death that a 3.5m long thigh bone from a particular Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil had to be broken to fit into the helicopter. Bone fragments were taken back to the laboratory and dissolved with acid to reveal fibrous bone matrix. Further examination revealed that the dinosaur was probably a pregnant female and heme, a haemoglobin component in blood, also remained. As a result of this and other unfossilised finds, a new field of science has emerged - molecular paleontology.

An adult T-Rex was about 12 metres long and stood about 3.7 metres tall. We are told that they died out 65 million years ago but that soft tissue and nucleated red blood cells could not be expected to survive anywhere near that long, even in a protected environment within rock.

What has been the response from academia? Mary has been accused of: being mistaken, allowing contamination, lab testing outside her expertise, rushing the tests due to funding constraints, confusing matrix with bacterial biofilm…but no scientist who values his/her career dares question that sacred dating of 65 million years. The only option now is to rethink fossil mineralisation and preservation rates.                                          

According to the Geological Column in the textbooks:
How is the 65 million years decided on by paleontologists?........by the age of the rocks?
So how is the age of the rocks decided on by geologists?........by the age of the fossils?

And what drives science these days?  Objectivity… or money? careers? bias?

Just by the way, Mary is reported having said about God: “…I think He kind of designed it so that we’d never be able to prove His existence.”


Acknowledgements:                                                           

en.wikipedia.org                                                                                                                                      www.smithsonianmag.com
discovermagazine.com
Photo credits:
T-rex / cosmonoticias.org
Hell Ck / berkeley.edu
                                        

SURTSEY'S BIRTHDAY

Here’s an unexpected find – an ancient island 31 kilometres south-west of the Icelandic mainland, with a diverse ecosystem and evidently millions of years old.

Just kidding.....Surtsey Island has its 51st birthday today!

 

 

Who said they’re not making any more real estate?

This is Surtsey being born by volcanic eruption on 15 November, 1963, or as some imagine – Surtur the mythological god of fire breathes out a brand new island.

 

Despite being protected by restricted access from outside interference, Surtsey Island has quickly acquired a diverse ecosystem of over 60 plant species, at least 12 bird species, seals, spiders, insects, worms…..

No....Surtsey is not so old after all.

 

Acknowledgements:           wikipedia.com
Photo credits:
Surtsey now / geology.rockbandit.net
Surtsey born / en.wikipedia.org
Birdlife / vulkaner.no

SHIPWRECKED ON MALTA

 How about a bit of intrigue?....involving lumps of lead, a retired L.A. cop, the pope, a Jewish prisoner, national pride, tourist dollars, theologians, fishermen, government officials, Catholic tradition, archaeology, lawyers of course, and to cap it off…the Bible!

Since the 1960’s about 6 anchors have been recovered by fishermen from St. Thomas Bay at the south-eastern corner of Malta. Apparently four of them were at a depth of 15 fathoms (90 feet) outside Muxnar Reef that partially obstructs the bay and the others, near a cave. Only the lead stocks remained and by their inscriptions, once belonged to an ancient Egyptian ship.

Here comes the Bible bit. ‘Acts’ carefully details the wreck of a large Alexandrian cargo ship carrying wheat to Italy, that occurred on the coast of Malta (in about AD60). With hurricane Euroclydon raging, four anchors were lowered into 15 fathoms and at least two bow anchors were lost with the ship’s boat. The stern anchors were cast off before the ship ran aground where two seas met, while aiming for a beach unrecognisable to the sailors. All 276 people on board survived, including Paul under Roman guard, on his way to Rome for an appeal before Emperor Nero. Who gave the orders? The Jewish prisoner with a dubious past!

Do you now trust the Bible’s maritime story to be true?

Click on the link to view St. Thomas Bay today...

https://goo.gl/maps/aYHtvpTmzRk




Acknowledgements:
Bob Cornuke, President, BASE Institute, Colorado Springs
Dr. Lucas, author of ‘Acts of the Apostles’ and ship-wreck survivor

Image credit: bbc.co.uk