Humans: Better Designed and Capable than Darwinism Can Explain
Look at the equipment humans come with. Look at the things they can do. Is this the work of blind chance?
Equipped for Rapid Repair
Researchers unearth secret tunnels between the skull and the brain (National Institutes of Health). An expert in stroke recovery noticed something interesting. Experimenting with rats, Dr. Matthias Nahrendorf noticed that immune cells called neutrophils appeared too rapidly in the damaged brain tissue to have arrived from the usual sources– marrow in the limbs. Pursuing the discovery, his team looked more carefully at skull tissue and found neutrophils in the marrow of the skull bones. Looking closer, they found tiny “tunnels” in the spongy bone tissue where the neutrophils travel to the injury site.
Dr. Nahrendorf’s team detected the channels throughout the skull as well as in the tibia, which led them to search for similar features in the human skull. Detailed imaging of human skull samples obtained from surgery uncovered the presence of the channels. The channels in the human skull were five times larger in diameter compared to those found in mice. In human and mouse skulls, the channels were found in the both in the inner and outer layers of bone.
Future research will seek to identify the other types of cells that travel through the newly discovered tunnels and the role these structures play in health and disease.
Survival of the Wisest
What is ‘primitive technology’ and why do we love it? (BBC News). People have been fascinated by Robinson Crusoe stories for a long time. A new wave of interest in ‘primitive technology’ revolves around the videos of John Plant, who demonstrates human ingenuity at a very basic level in his popular YouTube videos. George Pierpoint describes the movement:
Primitive technology is more than just survival skills. It’s like hitting the reset button and seeing how advanced you could become if left to fend for yourself.
Need an axe? Make one from a stone and a branch. Need a pot? Mix your own clay and make a kiln. Need to crush some rocks? Make a water-powered hammer.
From Robinson Crusoe almost 300 years ago to Tom Hanks in the film Cast Away, the idea of surviving alone in the wild still captures the imagination of many.
Primitive technology videos regularly receive millions of views and have spawned an active online community who discuss the latest videos.
Most of us live like pampered house cats who couldn’t survive a day “naked and afraid” in the wild. But John Plant shows that we still come with the body and brains able to do it if we had to. Humans are exceptional at using intelligence and wisdom to solve problems. Some birds build elaborate nests. Some crows can make tools. Some mammals help one another in social groups. No other creature on the planet can match the creative ingenuity of the lone human being to find solutions to problems, and then store and communicate the knowledge gained. Most of us profit from the collected wisdom of thousands of years. There’s something fascinating about seeing someone go out and show that the capacity for raw, primitive technology still exists in some of us willing to exercise our innate capabilities. Those living in ‘primitive’ hunter-gatherer cultures probably have more know-how than many couch potatoes today, who couldn’t survive without a car and grocery store.
Rapid Creativity
The embedded video here shows violinist Jonathan Leviim, accompanied by pianist Oleg Poliansky and accordionist Garnik Militonyan, performing “Czardas” by Vittorio Monti (1868-1922). As Leviim demonstrates incredible virtuosity and speed, think of how rapidly the neurons in his arms, fingers and brain are firing to make this possible. Then think about the instrument he is playing, developed by careful research centuries ago (before modern technology) that craftsmen selected to get the best raw materials and organize them into this finely-tuned device, built for pure aesthetic appreciation rather than survival. Then think about the composer who conceived the music in his mind and transmitted it to paper, so that musicians decades later could play it. The products of sheer dumb luck?
Truly we are fearfully and wonderfully made! Use your equipment for good.