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THE FACT OF CREATION Special Freezing System A frozen frog embodies an unusual biological structure. It shows no signs of life. Its heartbeat, breathing and blood circulation have come completely to a halt. When the ice melts, however, the same frog returns to life as if it is has woken up from sleep. Normally, a living being in the state of freezing confronts many fatal risks. The frog, however, does not face any of them. It has the main feature of producing plenty of glucose while it is in that state. Just like a diabetic, the blood sugar level of the frog reaches very high levels. It can sometimes go as high as 550 milimol/liter. (This figure is normally between 1-5 mmol/litre for frogs and 4-5 mmol/litre for human body). This extreme glucose concentration may cause serious problems in normal times. In a frozen frog, however, this extreme glucose keeps water from leaving cells and prevents shrinkage. The cell membrane of the frog is highly permeable to glucose so that glucose finds easy access to cells. The high level of glucose in the body reduces the freezing temperature causing only a very small amount of the animal's inner body liquid to turn to ice in the cold. Research has showed that glucose can feed frozen cells as well. During this period, besides being the natural fuel of the body, glucose also stops many metabolic reactions like urea synthesis and thus prevents different food sources of the cell from being exhausted. How does such a high amount of glucose in the frog's body come about all of a sudden? The answer is quite interesting: this living being is equipped with a very special system in charge of this task. As soon as ice appears on the skin, a message travels to the liver making the liver convert some of its stored glycogen into glucose. The nature of this message travelling to the liver is still unknown. Five minutes after the message is received, the sugar level in the blood steadily starts to increase.193 Unquestionably the animal's being equipped with a system that entirely changes its metabolism to meet all of its needs just when it is required can only be possible through the flawless plan of the All-Mighty Creator. No coincidence can generate such a perfect and complex system.
Migratory birds minimise energy consumption by using different "flight techniques". Albatrosses are also observed to have such a flight style. These birds, which spend 92% of their lives on the sea, have wing spans of up to 3,5 meters. The most important characteristic of albatrosses is their flight style: they can fly for hours without beating their wings at all. To do so, they glide along in the air keeping their wings constant by making use of the wind. It requires a great deal of energy to keep wings with a wing span of 3.5 meters constantly open. Albatrosses, however, can stay in this position for hours. This is due to the special anatomical system they are bestowed with from the moment of their birth. During flight, the wings of the albatross are blocked. Therefore, it does not need to use any muscular power. Wings are lifted only by muscle layers. This greatly helps the bird during its flight. This system reduces the energy consumed by the bird during flight. The albatross does not use energy because it does not beat its wings or waste energy to keep its wings outstretched. Flying for hours by making exclusive use of wind provides an unlimited energy source for it. For instance, a 10-kilo-albatross loses only 1% of its body weight while it travels for 1,000 kms. This is indeed a very small rate. Men have manufactured gliders taking albatrosses as a model and by making use of their fascinating flight technique.194
Pacific salmon have the exceptional characteristic of returning to the rivers in which they hatched to reproduce. Having spent part of their lives in the sea, these animals come back to fresh water to reproduce. When they start their journey in early summer, the colour of the fish is bright red. At the end of their journey, however, their colour turns black. At the outset of their migration, they first draw near to the shore and try to reach rivers. They perseveringly strive to go back to their birthplace. They reach the place where they hatched by leaping over turbulent rivers, swimming upstream, surmounting waterfalls and dykes. At the end of this 3,500-4,000 km. journey, female salmon readily have eggs just as male salmons have sperm. Having reached the place where they hatched, female salmon lay around 3 to 5 thousand eggs as male salmon fertilise them. The fish suffer much damage as a result of this migration and hatching period. Females that lay eggs become exhausted; their tail fins are worn down and their skin starts to turn black. The same is true also for males. The river soon overflows with dead salmon. Yet another salmon generation is ready to hatch out and make the same journey. How salmon complete such a journey, how they reach the sea after they hatch, and how they find their way are just some of the questions that remain to be answered. Although many suggestions are made, no definite solution has yet been reached. What is the power that makes salmon undertake a return of thousands of kilometres back to a place unknown to them? It is obvious that there is a superior Will ruling over and controlling all these living beings. It is God, the Sustainer of all the worlds.
Like other mammals, koalas also cannot digest the cellulose present in the trees. For this, it is dependent on cellulose-digesting micro-organisms. These micro-organisms are heavily populated in the convergence point of small and large intestines, the caecum which is the rear extension of the intestinal system. The caecum is the most interesting part of the digestion system of the koala. This segment functions as a fermentation chamber where microbes are made to digest cellulose while the passage of the leaves is delayed. Thus, the koala can neutralise the poisonous effect of the oils in the eucalyptus leaves.195
The South African sundew plant entraps insects with its viscous hairs. The leaves of this plant are full of long, red hairs. The tips of these hairs are covered with a fluid that has a smell that attracts insects. Another feature of the fluid is its being extremely viscous. An insect that makes its way to the source of the smell gets stuck in these viscous hairs. Shortly afterwards the whole leaf is closed down on the insect that is already entangled in the hairs and the plant extracts the protein essential for itself from the insect by digesting it.196 The endowment of a plant with no possibility of moving from its place with such a faculty is no doubt the evident sign of a special design. It is impossible for a plant to have developed such a hunting style out of its own consciousness or will, or by way of coincidence. So, it is all the more impossible to overlook the existence and might of the Creator Who has furnished it with this ability.
Birds should be as light as possible in order to fly easily. The feathers are made up of keratin proteins keeping with this need. On both sides of the stem of a feather are veins and on each vein are around 400 tiny barbs. On these 400 barbs are a total of tinier 800 barbs, two on each. Of the 800 tinier barbs which are crowded on a small bird feather, those located towards the front part have another 20 barbs on each of them. These barbs fasten two feathers to one another just like two pieces of cloth tacked up on each other. In a single feather are approximately 300 million tiny barbs. The total number of barbs in all the feathers of a bird is around 700 billion. There is a very significant reason for the bird feather being firmly interlocked with each other with barbs and clasps. The feathers should hold tightly on the bird so as not to fall out in any movement whatsoever. With the mechanism made up of barbs and clasps, the feathers hold so tightly on the bird that neither strong wind, nor rain, nor snow cause them to fall out. Furthermore, the feathers in the abdomen of the bird are not the same as the feathers in its wings and tail. The tail is made up of relatively big feathers to function as rudder and brakes; wing feathers are designed so as to expand the area surface during the bird's wing beating and thus increase the lifting force.
This unique design of basilisk is one of the evident signs of God’s perfect creation.
The plant cell, unlike human and animal cells, can make direct use of solar energy. It converts the solar energy into chemical energy and stores it in nutrients in very special ways. This process is called "photosynthesis". In fact, this process is carried out not by the cell but by chloroplasts, organelles that give plants their green colour. These tiny green organelles only observable by microscope are the only laboratories on earth that are capable of storing solar energy in organic matter. The amount of matter produced by plants on the earth is around 200 billion tons a year. This production is vital to all living things on the earth. The production made by plants is realised through a very complicated chemical process. Thousands of "chlorophyll" pigments found in the chloroplast react to light in an incredibly short time, something like one thousandth of a second. This is why many activities taking place in the chlorophyll have still not been observed. Converting solar energy into electrical or chemical energy is a very recent technological breakthrough. In order to do this, high-tech instruments are used. A plant cell so small as to be invisible to the naked human eye has been performing this task for millions of years. This perfect system displays Creation once more for all to see. The very complex system of photosynthesis is a consciously-designed mechanism created by God. A matchless factory is squeezed in a minuscule unit area in the leaves. This flawless design is only one of the signs revealing that all living things are created by Allah, the Sustainer of all worlds.
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Bilim ve Teknik, January 1990, pp.10-12. |
The
oil found in eucalyptus leaves is poisonous to many mammals. This
poison is a chemical defence mechanism used by eucalyptus trees
against their enemies. Yet there is a very special living being
that gets the better of this mechanism and feeds on poisonous eucalyptus
leaves: a marsupial called the koala. Koalas make their homes in
eucalyptus trees while they also feed on them and obtain their water
from them. 
At
first glance, bird feathers seem to have a very simple structure.
When we study them closer, however, we come across the very complex
structure of feathers that are light yet extremely strong and waterproof.
Plants
unquestionably play a major role in making the universe a habitable
place. They clean the air for us, keep the temperature of the planet
at a constant level, and balance the proportions of gases in the
atmosphere. The oxygen in the air we breathe is produced by plants.
An important part of our food is also provided by plants. The nutritional
value of plants comes from the special design in their cells to
which they also owe their other features.
