Today's Creation Moment

One would think, for example, that it would be a simple job for modern science to create a fireproof fabric better than anything found in nature. After all, no living things in nature— besides humans—crash and burn. Photo: Pixabay.com © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

Which is more likely to last buried in the ground for a few thousand years, a wooden spoon or a stone hammer? Picture: Cave painting of bison – Pixabay.com © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

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. REF: Hands-on babbling. Science News, v. 139, Mar. 30, 1991. p. 205. Image: Sign Language Alphabet by Jazz Davis CCA By SA 4.0 © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

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. REF: Keeping food fresh with bamboo. Science News, v. 139, Mar. 23, 1991. p. 191. Image: Bamboo – Pixaby.com © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

Medical researchers are learning that your thoughts can affect your health. REF: Wechsler, R. 1987. A new prescription: mind over malady. Discover, Feb. p. 51. Image: Macrophage ingesting a pathogen.(PD) © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

Some of the most fascinating discoveries 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. REF: Weiss, R. 1991. Root words. Science News, v. 139, Mar. 23. p. 188. Photo: King Clone, the 11,700-year-old creosote bush ring in the Mojave Desert (PD) © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

The strange partnership between the snapping shrimp and the goby is absolutely necessary if both creatures are to survive. The nearly blind shrimp relies on the goby, and the goby relies on the safety of the complex tunnel system the shrimp digs. REF: Yanagisawa, Y. 1990. Strange seabed fellows. Natural History, Aug. p. 46. Photo: Shrimp (PD) © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

The relationship between the snapping shrimp and a fish called the goby is a good example of the Creator’s attention to the finest detail. REF: Yanagisawa, Y. 1990. Strange seabed fellows. Natural History, Aug. p. 46. Photo: Gobi and shrimp - by Steve Childs CCA By 2.0 © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

Science has shown that touching is necessary for life. Newborn animals that are licked by their mothers have a higher resistance to disease. They are also more likely to live to adulthood than newborns who are untouched by their mothers. Lambs will die after birth if their mothers do not lick and nuzzle them. Even human infants who are not lovingly touched enough will suffer from depression, poor sleep, weight loss, poor immunity and, in extreme cases, even death. REF: McCutcheon, M. 1989. The Compass in Your Nose . . . . Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher. p. 112. Photo: Mother cat and kitten _Ilona Burschl_pixabay.jpg © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

In South America ground hot peppers have been used for centuries to help relieve pain. Scientists have discovered the active ingredient in peppers that relieves skin pain. This sub-stance blocks the pain signals that come from the nerves just under the surface of the skin. REF: Check, William A. Hot peppers for pain. Los Angeles Times (Repr. in Reader’s Digest) Photo: Peppers _ Pixabay.com © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

Scientists have also known that animals generate a similar natural plastic called chitin. Like cellulose, chitin is a carbohydrate made of long chains of sugar molecules. Chitin is found in the shells of all insects and crustaceans, like crabs. Each year the crabmeat industry had thrown away thousands of tons of chitin because scientists couldn’t figure out how to extract chitin from the shells in a usable form. REF: Dworetzky, T. 1987. How an old crab could keep you in stitches. Discover, Feb. p. 16.. Photo: Crab_Pixabay.com © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

Many cultures around the world have legends about creation and a great Flood that have been handed down from generations in the distant past. Most of these creation and Flood stories sup-port the biblical story of creation and the Flood. REF: Branscome, Gary R. 1991. The Delaware Indians and the creator. Bible-Science Newsletter, May. p. 1. : Photo: Ark_in_Dordrecht_ by Ceinturion _CCA BySA 3.0 © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

For many people bats bring to mind words like “creepy,” “fangs,” “rabies,” and even “ugly.” However, over 450 years ago Martin Luther marveled at the delicate beauty of the bat. He pronounced the creature an excellent witness to the skill and wisdom of the Creator. REF: Givens, K.T. 1990. Going batty. Modern Maturity, Oct.-Nov. p. 60. Photo: Big-eared Townsend bat – (PD) © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

Some people talk to their plants. But what do you say to a bacterium? Evidently the soybean plant knows just what to say to make bacteria its close friend and helper. REF: Pennisi, E. 1991. Intimate chemistry of a symbiotic odd couple. Science News, v. 139, Mar. 9. p. 151. Photo: Soybean plants – (PD) © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

Life appears suddenly in the fossil record. And the living things found in the earliest rocks are completely developed and well equipped for life. Trilobites had fully formed eyes that were apparently more sophisticated than many creatures today. They appear without ancestors. REF: When life got hard. Science News, v. 138, Aug. 25, 1990. p. 120. Photo: Trilobite – (PD) © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

Garlic. Even say the word and some people move away to give you some distance. Others gather around, because to them, garlic helps make the meal. Garlic has begun to attract the attention of medical researchers as well. REF: Garlic medicine: cures in cloves? Science News, v. 138, Sept. 8, 1990. p. 157. Photo: Garlic – Pixabay.com © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

They are the only cells in the human body that repeatedly die and self-regenerate throughout life.. And science considers them so interesting that several branches of science are studying them. I am talking about hair cells. REF: Weiss, R. 1991. Fuzzy science. Science News, v. 139, Mar. 16. p. 169. Photo: Strand of human hair at 200x magnification (PD) © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

We don’t often think about our sense of smell. While our noses are on the job all the time, we note an odor only when it is unusual. Most of the time the scents around us contribute, unnoticed, to our overall impression of our surroundings. REF: McCutcheon, M. 1989. The Compass in Your Nose . . . . Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher. p. 99. Photo: Beach dunes_ Pixabay.com © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

When you are ill, you need sleep. And when you are sick you are usually sleepy. Medical researchers are now learning that it’s not accidental that illness and sleepiness go together. In fact, the relationship is one of God’s ingenious designs. REF: Feeling sleepy? Shhh! Bacteria at work. Discover, April 1987. p. 12. Photo: Sleeping baby - Pixabay.com © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

Roses have fascinated people for thousands of years. Rose breeding is one of the oldest human experiments in the science of genetics. Roses are bred for variations in size, color, frequency of bloom, and scent. More than 25 distinct scents have been identified in roses. By the mid-19th century, breeders had developed some 4,000 varieties of roses. REF: Mohs, M. 1987. Where has all the fragrance gone? Discover, June. p. 90. Photo: Autumn Damask roses_ courtesy of A. Barra. © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

A growing number of scientists, some of them with worldwide reputations, are changing their minds about evolution. The world famous astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle announced that there is so much information within higher forms of life that they could not have evolved. Dr. Hoyle said that he could not understand why so many biologists deny this obvious fact and accept evolution. REF.: Sunderland, Luther. 1988. Darwin’s Enigma. El Cajon, CA: Master Books. Photo: Persuaded by the Evidence by Doug Sharpe and Dr Jerry Berman. © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

One of the more unusual creatures God made was thought extinct until it was rediscovered in 1958. The kakapo parrot lives in New Zealand and, perhaps not surprisingly, the world’s only non-flying parrot. REF.: Discover, Mar. 1985. p. 36. Photo: Kakapo by Chris Birmingham CCA 2.0.xcf © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

PRIVATE The coelacanth is a rather strange looking fish that was supposed to have become extinct 70 million years ago with the dinosaurs. That’s what scientists thought anyway. REF.: No stinking fish in my taxi! Discover, Mar. 1985. p. 40. Photo: Ccoelacanth-fish (PD) © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

It is unfortunate that we so often have the sense that nothing technologically important has happened in human history until modern times. REF.: Patton, Robert. 1982. Ooparts. Omni, v. 4. p. 53. Photo: The Gate of the Sun - PD © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

All insects that hear, except one, have two ears. Some insects have ears on their legs, thorax, or abdomen. However, they all follow the same principle. Their ears are separated so that they can locate the source of the sound - except in one insect. REF.: Miller, Julie Ann. 1986. Sensory surprises in platypus, mantis. Science News, v. 129. p. 104. Photo: Praying Mantis– Pixabay.com © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

Research is confirming that even before birth children in the womb are learning about the world. The child in the womb does much more than simply hear sounds, including its mother's voice. REF.: Recollections from the womb. Science 84, Dec. 1984. p. 84. Photo: Smiling baby – Pixabay.com © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

PRIVATE It's commonly known that many animals are able to detect extraordinarily weak odors. The real mystery is how they can smell scents that are 1,000 times too weak to produce the chemical reactions necessary to make a scent signal. REF.: Vaughan, Christopher. 1990. Molecular odor‑eaters. Science News, v. 133. p. 348. Photo: Diagram of olfactory senses. (PD) © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

Tropical beauty has inspired many Hawaiian love songs. However, none is more unusual than the love song of Hawaiian fruit flies. REF.: Edwards, D.D. 1990. Unique island love songs attract flies. Science News, v. 133. p. 244. Photo: Drosophila_setosimentum by Karl Magnacca. CC By SA 3.0 unported © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

Algae are among the world's premier plants. Scientists never expected to find an alga that feeds like a Venus flytrap. REF.: Miller, Julie Ann.1986. Lake algae dine on bacteria. Science News, v. 129, Feb. 1. p. 71. Photo: Venus fly trap by Lynn B. Pixabay.com © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

PRIVATE Normally they bother no one. The creatures, called protozoan ciliates, quietly go about their business in water‑filled tree holes, eating other microorganisms. REF.: Revenge of the placid protozoan. Science News, v. 131, June 4, 1988. p. 363. Photo: Scanning electron microscope view of Oxytricha trifallax. (PD) © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

The ancients had a very sophisticated knowledge of food and health, some of which is only being rediscovered today. REF.: Season gingerly to retard rancidity. Science News, v. 129, Mar. 1, 1986. p. 137. Photo: Ginger Spice by Andrea (Ajale) – pixabay.com © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

A remarkable discovery in Israel is shedding new light on life in Bible times. The discovery is also allowing scientists and the rest of us to get to know an important New Testament character. REF.: Greenhut, Zvi. 1992. Burial cave of the Caiaphas family. Biblical Archaeology Review, Sept./Oct. p. 29. Image: Christ Before Caiaphas by Matthias Stom (PD) © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

Some types of bacteria are able to go into a state of suspended animation when living conditions become too harsh. Not only do they change their form and appearance, they are amazingly able to change their DNA structure to avoid damage from harmful types of light! Image: God Appears to Moses in Burning Bush. Painting from Saint Isaac's Cathedral, Saint Petersburg. (PD) © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

Nothing is more frustrating than glue that refuses to stick. And nothing is harder on an adhesive’s ability to stick than water. Water can prevent adhesives from solidly touching the surfaces that are to adhere. Freezing and thawing temperatures can force glued surfaces apart. Photo: mussels – Pixabay.com © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

New research shows that, when attacked, many plants make chemicals that will give munching insects a bad case of indigestion. They also seem to warn their neighbors about the attack so that they, too, start up their defenses. Some plants even call in air defenses. Photo: Parasitoid wasp by Ian Alexander - CC BY-SA 4.0 © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

The study of plants’ abilities to protect themselves from insect attackers is a fairly new and rapidly growing area of research. It seems that new and even more amazing discoveries are appearing about plants. Photo: Tomatoes on vine Pixabay.com © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

Have you ever wondered how, over thousands of years, the population balance between males and females remains roughly even? Photo: Atlantic Silverside – Smithsonian Environmental Research- CCA 2.0 © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

There are a number of species of bacteria that possess tiny chains of crystal particles called magnetosomes. Magnetosomes, as the name suggests, have iron in them to help the bacteria sense magnetic fields for navigation. They can also help the bacteria find food. Image: The magnetic field of a bar magnetic - Newton Henry Black (PD) © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

After suffering a stroke, a man in Baltimore suddenly began speaking with a Scandinavian accent. Though he had no experience with languages other than English, he suddenly sounded Nordic and appeared unfamiliar with English! In the weeks after the stroke his speech gradually returned to normal. Image; Tower of Babel by Gustove Dore (PD) © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

It’s not very pretty, nor is it graceful, but Colombia’s rock-climbing catfish has a unique ability among fish. Photo: Catfish - Photo: Courtesy S. Schaefer/AMNH. © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

How smart is the smartest tree you ever met? Does it sound silly to speak of trees as being smart? Botanists are learning that some trees have elaborate defenses against insect pests. Photo: Eastern tent caterpillar by Katja Schultz CC 2.0 © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

One good method of avoiding attack in nature is to pretend that you are somebody who should not be attacked. In the insect world one of the most feared creatures is the ant. Photo: Jumping Spider mimicking an ant by Yogendra Joshi CC 2.0 © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

Genesis uses only a few words and simple language to describe the creation of trees. That hardly seems fair, considering the importance, variety and complexity of the largest and longest-living things on earth. Photo: Bristlecone Pine (PD) © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

It’s a warm day on the Amazon River. A small fish swims near the surface looking among the natural floating river debris for some food. As he looks among the occasional leaf or twig in the water he sees no danger . . . just a nearby leaf. Photo: Leaf fish (PD) © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

Are you a musician? From the standpoint of evolution, human musical ability serves no purpose. Photo: Peruvian playing a zampoña. (PD) © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

Some creatures seem more wise and powerful in dealing with the problems of living than seems reasonable. Photo: New Zealand mud snail (PD) © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

Many people today think it’s unusual for someone to interpret the Genesis account of creation literally. For example, many in the church seem unsure of whether Adam was a real person. How are we to understand Genesis? Image: Genesis Factor book cover by Ron J. Bigalke. © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

Medical researchers are learning what happens in the body when we develop a fever. They say that the body’s fever response is usually a very important part of our body’s defense against disease. Image: Brain illustration by LeevanJackson_ CC By SA 4.0 © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

We live in a world—indeed a universe—that is in continual change. Things have been designed that way for a very important reason. Unfortunately, some people choose to define evolution as simply change. However, that’s not the kind of continuous change that surrounds us. Photo: Swan family – cob, pen and cygnets by Suzanna Jutzeler_Pixabay.com © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.

Naturalists are discovering that many animals use a variety of plants and other items to treat their illnesses. Animals often know about the medicinal properties of plants when modern medicine has yet to learn about them. Photo: Bear (PD) © 2023 Creation Moments. All rights reserved.