Bible and Science

The Seas, a Repository of Life

On March 26, 2012, James Cameron, the movie director of Titanic and Avatar, successfully explored the Mariana Trench. The Mariana Trench, which is known as the deepest part of the world’s oceans, reaches a maximum depth of about 11 ㎞ [36,090 ft]. It is deeper than the height of Mt. Everest (8,848 m above sea level). Why is it that the expedition to the seas that are so familiar with us draws so much attention in the age of cutting-edge science, when we have even left human traces in space? It is because it has been hard for humans to explore the deep seas due to its high pressure, cold water temperature, and complete darkness. James Cameron made a six-hour…

Starlight: The Universe’s Signal

In the movie Interstellar, the protagonist embarks on a space mission for the future of humanity. From a five-dimensional space, he sends a signal across time to his daughter on Earth. Even today, humanity receives time-transcending messages from the universe. The light emitted endlessly by the stars in the night sky—sent from the past and arriving in our present—is precisely that signal. The vast universe is filled with countless stars1 and galaxies, each radiating its own light. Yet from Earth, we cannot see the universe as it exists now. We see the Sun as it was eight minutes ago, and we navigate by the North Star as it appeared 466 years ago. What messages does this starlight—having traveled across space…

“I Was in My Mom”

Children sometimes joke, “I think my mom is a god. Even though I did it secretly, somehow she knows it was me.” “Not only she knows when I’m joyful and happy, but she also knows when I’m ill, lonely and sorrowful. It’s as if she knows me more than I know myself.” That is not all. She even defends her children despite the threat of death. We do not need to mention the case of the 27-week-old premature infant that came back to life just by being held by his mother for two hours to display the miracle of mothers who have saved their children on the brink of death. Mothers fear nothing and can accomplish anything for their children.…

Animals That Overcome the Heat

When the sweltering heat is in full force, people find ways to cool down—by drinking chilled beverages or enjoying time in the water. In regions such as Southeast Asia, where it feels like summer all year round, people cope with the heat by wearing clothes that block sunlight or by living in houses designed with good ventilation. In Korea, during July and August when heat waves and tropical nights are most intense, the use of cooling appliances causes electricity consumption to soar, sometimes even leading to temporary blackouts. Animals, on the other hand, survive perfectly well in scorching conditions without any special equipment, relying only on their own natural abilities. Termites, for example, are exceptional builders. On the African plains,…

Journey around the Earth Two and a Half Times

Around the World in Eighty Days is a novel by Jules Verne, published in 1873. In the story, Phileas Fogg, a gentleman from London, wagers £20,000 on whether or not it is possible to circumnavigate the world in eighty days. To win the wager, he and his valet Passepartout leave for a long eighty-day journey, starting from London to India, Japan, and the U.S., and back to London. However, what is amazing is that a journey over twice longer than the round-the-world journey from the story is going on in our body. The one that makes this fascinating journey is blood. Blood is made in the bone marrow. Blood consists of plasma that is mainly water, and of blood cells.…

What We See Isn’t Everything

Humans have remarkably developed civilizations up to the title of the “most intelligent species.” However, we have a big weakness that overshadows us in terms of being “on top” on this planet. This big weakness is that we understand the world through our imperfect sense organs. In other words, the level of our awareness of the world is determined by our sense organs, and we can perceive the world as much as our sense organs allow. We understand the world by using our five senses: vision, audition, olfaction, gustation, and somatosensation. We tend to trust our vision more than any other senses, just as the saying goes: “It’s better to see something once than to hear about it a thousand…

Insects’ Love for Their Children

An oak tree twig with four or five leaves “suddenly” falls from the air. In fact, the quiet trail is full of twigs with acorns attached to them. The edges of the twigs are straight as if they were cut with a knife, so it must’ve been done by someone. It is August when the sunlight feels strong as if the summer wants to stay longer and the trees are greener. Who ruined these acorns that are still green and unripe? Acorn weevil The ones who did it are acorn weevils. If you take a close look at the fallen acorns, you can see that each one has a black dot. They are holes acorn weevils made with their long…

Mitochondria, the Inheritance of Life from Mother

We see how mitochondria are essential for life. What is interesting is that all mitochondria in our cells are from our mothers; it is maternal inheritance. “What is life?” Though it seems like a philosophical question, this question is being studied by many scientists because they haven’t found an answer to it yet. It is a very common truth that all living things have life. However, it is not a simple matter to define life in one word. Many scholars have tried to define life, but they haven’t established one perfect theory. The current definition of life is the generalization of the common characteristics of life. Living beings have the following characteristics: homeostasis, organic system, growth and development, reaction to…

Invertebrates, the Irreplaceable Beings

In regard to a person or an object that is hardly noticeable, people say they have a weak presence. Presence means a feeling that a person or an object exists, which speaks for the amount of people’s interest in the object. Then, which animal has the strongest presence? Is it the elephant which is almost as big as a house, or the whale as big as a few buses put together? Or maybe it is the lion, the king of the jungle, since the world operates within the law of the jungle, or the shark which dominates the ocean. However, the presence in nature is not always in proportion to the size of the body or strength. There are animals…

Snowflakes! No Two Snowflakes Are Alike

On a snowy morning, even the cold winter feels cozy and warm. Thick snow covers everything white, and snow flowers that bloomed overnight on every tree branch look like there’re going to fall off at any moment. This quiet winter scene, where time seems to have stopped, is a gift from the heavens. The scenery covered with snow, where the sun shines through the clear air, is dazzlingly beautiful. The snow scenes are beautiful, but if you take a close look at the snowflakes, you will find they are even more splendid than what they look like on the outside. Open your eyes big and take a close look at the snowflakes, and you will find beautiful jewels, the gifts…

The Value of Salt

There is something that is in the soil, rocks, butterflies, elephants, blood, muscles, and even in amniotic fluid. What is this? It is salt. Now it is easy to get salt thanks to the development of techniques which produce salt artificially. However, in the past, salt received special treatment, so there was even a saying in Korea, “A salt seller is better than a governor.” Salt has been with humans throughout history and playing an important role. Now, let’s learn about the value of salt. Salt and History In the primitive ages when humans lived by hunting, they were able to ingest salt by hunting and eating fish or birds. However, as they began to farm and grain became the…

Skin, the Perfect Clothes

In summer, Ms. Stevens goes to the beach. She is dazzled with sunlight and sweat rolls down her face, but the blue sea and the sandy beach in front of her eyes is so refreshing. She gets her feet wet in the waves and feels happy like a little child at the cool waves hitting her ankles. It hurts a little when she steps on a shell, but a little scratch doesn’t bother her. She can enjoy all these, thanks to skin’s various functions. Skin, the largest organ of the human body Skin is the largest and most visible organ in our body. When spread out, its width is about 1.5–2 m2 [16–21 ft2] and it weighs for about 8%…

Homing Instinct

Heungbu and Nolbu, an old Korean novel, contains scientific knowledge of migratory birds. This novel is about a kind man named Heungbu, who takes care of a baby swallow that had its leg broken by falling to the ground from its nest. The baby swallow leaves for a long journey in the autumn, and the next spring it comes back for Heungbu with a seed, which grows to be a gourd full of gemstones inside. Animals’ instinct to leave for far-off places from their habitats and come back to their original locations is called homing instinct. Just as it is shown in the novel, Heungbu and Nolbu, the swallow has an amazing homing instinct. A few years ago, a bird…

Symbiosis, Wisdom to Live Together

All living organisms are interacting with each other. As for relationships with other living organisms, there are some types of symbiosis: mutualism which is a relationship where two organisms of different species benefit each other, and parasitism which is a relationship where one organism benefits at the expense of the other. Not only humans but also animals and plants cannot live on their own; this is the principle of nature. Mutualism is a type of symbiotic relationship where two different organisms benefit from each other, while commensalism is a relationship where one obtains benefits from the other without harming or benefiting it. Mutualism benefits each other Mutualism is often found between animals that live together with other types of animals.…

Light and All Creation

Seeing is a process to perceive the shapes and colors of objects with the eyes. This has been a great curiosity for many people since ancient times. Empedocles, an ancient Greek philosopher, thought that we can see objects as beams are emitted by the eyes, and Aristotle thought that colors exist in objects. Descartes said that when light touches an object, it is transformed into color and enters our eyes. It wasn’t until the 16th century when people finally figured out that we recognize an object as the light reflected on the object comes into our eyes. Like this, light is absolute in perceiving objects. Without light, our eyes can perceive neither the shape of an object nor its color.…

Soil, the Earth’s Skin

On August 1, 2013, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA] released images from the Mars rover Curiosity. Mars has a more Earth-like environment than any other planet in our solar system, so it is dubbed the second Earth and is considered the best candidate for human settlement. However, the images of Mars just showed a barren wasteland covered with vast expanses of sand, dust and rock, unlike the blue planet Earth. Birth of living soil One of the reasons Earth can become a beautiful planet that has life is that soil covers most of its land surface. Topsoil is the upper, outermost layer of soil. It is usually the top 30 cm [12 in]. On Mars, however, there is…

Protein, Material of Life

You grope around to turn off the loud alarm, and drag your feet to the bathroom. You brush your teeth, wash up with soap contained in various containers, and dry your hair with a hair dryer. After a quick breakfast, you get dressed, and leave the house, carrying your purse and cell phone. When we take a look at the items that are used while getting ready to leave for work, most of them are made of plastic. Starting with watches, toothbrushes, detergent bottles, hair dryers, utensils, cooking utensils, functional fabrics, bags, and cell phone display stands—all these would not have been around us if we did not have plastic. The 21st century is worth being defined as the “age…

Dimensions

They say “Dimensions are different” when something goes beyond their expectancy or when something is not understandable. In such cases, a dimension means a particular aspect of something or a way of considering it. However, there is another definition of dimension. In the mathematical sense, it refers to spaces like a two-dimensional plane or a three-dimensional cube. Interestingly, however, in terms of recognizing dimensions, we can say that we are in a “low dimension.” Just as the beings in the two-dimensional world cannot know the three-dimensional world accurately, we cannot perceive the higher-dimensional worlds in the three-dimensional world that we see. Then how many dimensions are there in the universe? There can be a new dimension in the universe that…

Plants’ Active and Intelligent Pollination Strategy

Black locust which spreads fragrance along the spring wind, pink royal azalea all over the mountains, and a bunch of red roses . . . The charming and colorful flowers attract people’s attention, giving out the taste of late spring. Whom are these beautiful and fragrant flowers for? There are cryptogams which have no flowers like moss or bracken, but most plants bloom flowers, make seeds, and leave offspring in the world. In order for seeds to be made, pollen which is made in a stamen needs to be in contact with a stigma; this process is called pollination. Since plants cannot move by themselves, they receive help from other things like insects, birds, water, and wind. Colorful flowers and…

Laughter and Tears: Expressions of Joy, Anger, Sorrow, and Happiness

The movie Inside Out is an animation about an 11-year-old girl Riley’s five emotions that work in the emotion-controlling headquarters in her head; it’s about an adventure that her five emotions—Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear—have to bring back happiness to Riley who’s having a hard time in a different environment. The film tells us that Sadness who cries about everything is as important as Joy who is always bright in life. Humans are animals of emotions that feel tens of different emotions. Human emotions cannot be categorized exactly like in the movie, but there is no objection that joy and sorrow are the keys that play pivotal roles. Laughter and tears are two ways that express the extreme feelings…