Articles » Biology

Nature is so full of wonderful creatures that it must be hard to focus on one for special study. However in recent years, a strange assortment of animals have enjoyed a brief moment of scientific attention. In each case the occasion for this special fame was the publication of the genome of that organism. The genome consists of details concerning the DNA molecules in each cell of the organism. DNA, or the genetic information, is made up of four special molecules (called nucleotides) strung together. It is the order of the nucleotides, like beads on a string, which determines the information content of the DNA for each particular organism. Read the rest of this entry »

A seahorse (family Syngnathidae, genus Hippocampus meaning “horse sea monster”) is like no other animal on earth. It is the only fish that swims upright. It is not just a fish that travels on its tightly curled tail, but its whole body is designed around how it swims. For example, its elaborate balancing mechanism uses an air bubble inside of a specially designed swim bladder to maintain upright posture. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the most popular mammals is the lovable and cuddly koala. Its appearance has given rise to calling them bears, often teddy bears and, although they are not bears but rather marsupials, the name has stuck. Their fluffy ears, large spoon-shaped nose, round body and bright button eyes make them appealing to everyone. Read the rest of this entry »

An avid fan of spy stories, I have read many which involve an apparently harmless document (like a friendly letter). But the document actually conveys dangerous information if one is provided with the appropriate convention for decoding it. Read the rest of this entry »

Tarsiers are chipmunk sized nocturnal primates known for their enormous night adapted eyes and koala-like body appearance. Their face, which resembles that of an owl, is the epitome of innocence. Tarsiers are covered with very soft, beautiful, velvety fur, which is generally buff, beige, or ochre in color. The head and body together range from 10 to 15 cm in length, followed by a 20 to 25 cm long slender tail. Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever noticed that everybody seems to place a high value on problem solving? I can well imagine one’s mother saying “This room is way too messy! How are you going to manage your clothes, toys, electronic gadgets (or whatever) so that this does not happen again?” She clearly expects you to come up with a plan and to follow it! Possibly you may come up with some way to organize your treasures in order to keep mum happy. Read the rest of this entry »

CSAA’s featured speaker for Creation Weekend 2011 was well known creation apologist Dr. Jerry Bergman. Large numbers of people came to hear one or more of his lectures and all declared themselves delighted with his genial, non-confrontational manner and his interesting material. In that Dr. Bergman’s area of expertise is biology, chemistry and medical anatomy, the issues he discussed were quite different from the geological topics which we have considered in recent years. This material demonstrated anew that the issue of creation is broad and encompasses all aspects of nature. Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever wondered how this transformation takes place?  The caterpillar makes his cocoon (or chrysalis) and out pops the butterfly – pretty simple, right?  Simple – until you realize that nearly every single organ in the caterpillar body is destroyed and then remade into a beautiful butterfly.  Eat leaves? Now change your diet to drinking nectar.  Those tiny suction-cupped feet?  Forget those – now you can fly with wings that make the whole world envious of your beauty.  Read the rest of this entry »

Eggs are complex structures designed to allow the embryo to develop outside of the mother’s body. An animal egg (Latin, ovum) provides a protective shell in which an embryo can develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, mollusks, fish, and monotremes (mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young), the egg contains an ovum or, if fertilized, a zygote. A zygote results from fertilization of an ovum, and develops into an embryo. Read the rest of this entry »

Woodpeckers (family Picidae) are found almost everywhere on the continents except extreme polar regions. Most species live in forests or woodland habitats, and many of the about 30 genera and 214 known species are now threatened due to loss of habitat or habitat fragmentation. The smallest woodpecker is the Bar-breasted Piculet (seven grams and eight cm tall) and the largest is the Imperial Woodpecker (average over 600g (1.3 lb) and 58 cm (23 inches) tall. Some species exhibit differences in appearance of the sexes such as body size, weight and bill length. In such cases, the males are larger. Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes it seems as if information is the most important commodity in our technological age. Information, of course, can be put to good or bad uses. We would all agree, no doubt, that computer viruses are a bad use of information. In that situation, a small piece of computer code (information), once it is inside your computer, can take over the whole operating system, with disastrous results for your interests. Of course such problems are nothing new. The term “virus” comes from natural phenomena that do the very same thing to living cells. Invading information occurs to even the smallest cells, bacteria. In fact, some of the bacteria that most threaten our health, are themselves the victims of invasive information from outside unrelated sources. Consider the case of the infamous Escherischia coli 0157:H7, cause of potentially fatal hamburger disease and in some isolated situations, contaminated water. Read the rest of this entry »

No sea animal elicits such fear and terror in the common people as do sharks. Gruesome shark attacks on humans are part of both the folklore and history of many cultures, including our own. Their predatory skill both fascinates and frightens us. Even though sharks rarely attack humans, when an attack occurs, it tends to be widely publicized by the mass media. Ironically, their very survival is now threatened by human-related activities, such as net fishing.

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You have to wonder how a big science project in biology, which involved 32 laboratories from 10 countries and 440 scientists, and which cost $130 million, could be controversial with many other mainstream biologists. The lead articles were published in the journal Nature on September 6, 2012. What could be controversial about that? Well it transpires that many scientists, who were not involved, did not like the initial thinking on which the project was based, how the research was carried out, and how the conclusions were drawn. What certain mainstream scientists particularly did not like was that so many intelligent design and creation scientists were so pleased. Read the rest of this entry »

Every family, whether into science of not, should obtain a copy of this book for the sake of their children (upper elementary through high school). This deluxe book, The World of Animals, is a wonderful reference book which describes anatomy and ecological significance of the main groups of animals. Read the rest of this entry »

The archer fish (Toxotidae jaculatrix, from ejaculator fish) –– named due to its expert archery skills–– is one of the most amazing types of fish known to humans (Smith, 1936). When first researched by scientists in the 1920s, researchers “could hardly believe their eyes” at its shooting ability (Pinney, 1977, p. 3). The existence of the fish was actually first reported by explorers in 1764, but scholars could not accept the reports of the existence of this amazing fish (Lüling, 1963, p. 100). Read the rest of this entry »