Posted on February 27, 2020
New Type of Tyrannosaur
A newly identified dinosaur fossil has become quite a star in the news this month. If it were a new variety of ceratopsian (the group that includes Triceratops) or Hadrosaurid (including duck-billed dinosaurs) from the exact same type of find, or even a more significant find, would barely get any attention. But members of the Tyrannosaur group tend to get special attention because of the ominous reputation of the king Tyrannosaur – Tyrannosaurus rex.
Pieces of the skull from a specimen were accidentally discovered in southern Alberta, Canada by Jon and Sandra De Groot in 2010. Like many fossil finds, this dinosaur wasn’t very complete – just a few pieces of bone from the jaw and skull, but definitely enough to study and learn something from. Even very small fossils can hold valuable clues.
From these pieces, the team of researchers was able to determine that this dinosaur was a little different from other previously identified similar Tyrannosaurs. It is most similar to Daspletosaurus, which looked a lot like T. rex but was slightly smaller (26-33 feet long, compared with 40-foot-long T. rex). The research team named the “new” Tyrannosaur genus and species Thanatotheristes degrootorum. The first part points to the reputation of T. rex with it’s Greek meaning, “Reaper of Death”. The second part obviously honors the family who discovered the fossil.
Common questions about this recent find:
Did this dinosaur have feathers? – Only pieces of the skull were discovered. Sensational discoveries of theoretical feathers on dinosaurs are usually documented in other bones, like limbs, rather than the skull. The most likely reason why some depict this “new” dinosaur with feathers is because of its similarities to T. rex. Even if you believe that some dinosaurs had feathers, T. rex is unlikely because fossilized T. rex skin impressions have been discovered, clearly showing scales, not feathers.
Was this dinosaur really as scary as the name makes it sound? – While we can’t observe a live one, it’s similarity to T. rex probably means it behaved and ate similarly. The jaw of Thanatotheristes has a four-inch-long scar on it, which seems to indicate it got into fights. Dinosaurs weren’t always carnivorous though – read this article to learn more about the true history of dinosaurs.
Is it really a NEW kind of dinosaur? – It shows some clear differences from other previously named tyrannosaurs, so it does seem unique. However, there’s still a lot we don’t know about it. Two dinosaurs of the same kind have often been given different names in the past because of a lack of knowledge about male vs. female or juvenile vs. adult of a species. From my limited knowledge at this time, I think it’s very possible that Thanatotheristes and Daspletosaurus may just be male and female of the same type of dinosaur. Until we know more about it, it’s best to keep this dinosaur in its own classification.
References
Tyrannosaurus species named ‘Reaper of Death’ found in Canada. February 11, 2020. BBC News, Science & Environment. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-51457790
Voris, J.; Therrien, F.; Zelenitsky, D.; Brown, C. A new tyrannosaurine (Theropoda:Tyrannosauridae) from the Campanian Foremost Formation of Alberta, Canada, provides insight into the evolution and biogeography of tyrannosaurids. Cretaceous Research Journal, Vol. 110. June 2020. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195667119303611
Greshko, M. and Wei-Haas, M. ‘Reaper of Death’ tyrannosaur discovered in Canada: The scar-faced dinosaur illuminates how T. rex and its relatives became top predators. February 10, 2020. National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/02/new-reaper-of-death-tyrannosaur-discovered-canada/
Posted on February 4, 2020
Science News – Teenage T. rex
Two small Tyrannosaurus skeletons, named Jane and Petey, were recently studied after being excavated in Montana nearly 20 years ago. When paleontology was just a budding, new science, smaller dinosaur fossils like these were often neglected because most museums and collectors wanted the biggest, most impressive-looking dinosaurs (see my article about Marsh and Cope). This was a big mistake because juvenile dinosaurs are smaller, but we can gather a lot of clues about how each dinosaur lived and grew from their juveniles.
To study the growth patterns of dinosaurs, paleontologists cut out a very thin slice of bone to study under the microscope. In museums, the place where they took the slice out is filled in with a replica piece. Looking under a microscope, you can see growth rings, much like growth rings on a tree. By counting their growth rings, this team of researchers determined that the T. rex Jane was probably around 13 and Petey was about 15. Of course, this is assuming that our current understanding of how to count the rings is accurate. One interesting thing about the growth rings is that they varied in size quite a bit. This team thinks that perhaps these creatures grew more in years when food was more available and less when food was more challenging to find.
References:
January 1, 2020
Holly N. Woodward, Katie Tremaine, Scott A. Williams, Lindsay E. Zanno, John R. Horner, Nathan Myhrvold. Growing up Tyrannosaurus rex: Osteohistology refutes the pygmy “Nanotyrannus” and supports ontogenetic niche partitioning in juvenile Tyrannosaurus. Science Advances, 2020; 6 (1): 10.1126/sciadv.aax6250
Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences. (2020, January 1). Researchers learn more about teen-age T. rex: How the large predator grew up. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 4, 2020 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200101144031.htm
Posted on May 27, 2019
Why Don’t Birds Get Electrocuted?
Have you ever noticed a bird perched on a power line and wondered why it doesn’t get electrocuted? Birds are amazingly designed little creatures! But the reason they don’t get electrocuted doesn’t have anything to do with their unique design. It’s all about the way electricity works. To understand why birds are okay, we also need to know what causes electrocution. Let’s explore how electricity works!
Electricity comes from the energy made by moving electrons. Everything is made out of atoms. Electrons are the parts of an atom that go around in circles like crazy around the middle of an atom. They are full of energy! Electrons just keep going and going. The atoms that make up metals don’t hold onto their electrons as tightly as other atoms. This means that electrons move easily through metals. Because of this, we say that metals are good conductors of electricity. This is why wires (made of metals) are used to move electricity through your house. But you, me, and birds are bad conductors of electricity.
Because you, me, and birds are not good conductors, electricity usually would rather travel through metal than through any of us. Electricity always wants to do things the easy way. Don’t we all? One important thing to know about electricity is that it wants to go to the ground. It will go through anything it needs to so that it can get to the ground as fast as possible. If you are on the ground or if you’re connected to anything that is on the ground, electricity will travel through you to get to the ground. This is what happens when someone gets electrocuted. Electricity goes through his body. Our bodies weren’t designed to handle that much energy, so getting electrocuted is an easy way to die. Electricity can be extremely dangerous if it’s not handled the right way.
Birds don’t get electrocuted because they aren’t attached to the ground. But, if a bird touches two different wires at once, it would get electrocuted. Also, the bird would get electrocuted if it touches something on the ground, like a pole. This is because two different wires can have two different strengths of electricity. Electricity likes to make things easy, so it will try to share energy across the two wires if something is touching both of them.
Short Answer: Birds can get electrocuted. They usually don’t because they: 1) aren’t connected to the ground, and 2) usually are only touching one wire at a time.
The important lesson you can take away from this is to be careful about electricity! Even birds aren’t invincible! Movies and TV often make getting electrocuted look funny, but really it kills or seriously injures a lot of people. Even people specially trained on how to work with electricity get hurt. Don’t ever try to touch a power line – with anything.
The power of intense electricity running through you is not a good idea, but there’s a different type of power that is very good to get connected to: the power of God. Did you know that God can help you do things you never thought you could? If you ask Him for help, He can give you strength when you feel totally worn out. Jesus said “I am the Vine and you are the branches”. When we are connected to Jesus and ask Him for help, His power can flow through us, just like life and energy flows through the branches of a plant. Or like electricity flowing through electrical wires and power lines!
© Sara J. Mikkelson, May 2019
*Note – No birds were harmed in the making of this article and it’s accompanying graphics!
Posted on March 21, 2019
Why Creation Clues?
My heart pounded and my eyes widened in mixed horror and disbelief as I stared in the rear-view mirror. I braced myself for the impact I knew was coming as the large truck hit the back of my car. And I knew the man had done it on purpose, out of unreasonable anger. Shaking with shock I dialed 9-1-1. It was a very unfamiliar place in an unfamiliar town in a region where I’ve only lived for two years. Long story short, everything turned out okay. I wasn’t hurt, and the car was okay. Crazy road rage guy left the scene long before the police arrived. I was definitely shaken up, though. Who on earth would do something this malicious? I know that this situation is nothing compared to other bad things in the world, but this experience really made me think and helped clarify a few things as I was figuring out the future of Creation Clues.
Processing the Bad Stuff
When you get some kind of bad news, often the world feels upside-down and chaotic. You feel disoriented, like you thought you knew where you were, only to look up and realize you’re horribly lost, and nothing looks familiar. You feel like a little kid in a grocery store who suddenly realizes she is lost and alone with no parents in sight. The bad things in your life may look like a broken relationship or death of a loved one, when you suddenly realize that the relationship you thought you had does not exist anymore (or perhaps never really did). Once the initial shock and processing is gone and we are re-oriented to the new reality, there are two questions we usually ask ourselves: 1) why is there so much evil in the world? And, 2) what am I going to do about it. Let’s talk about the answer to those two questions
1) Why is there so much evil in the world?
I think that one part of growing up is realizing that there are a lot of bad things in the world. I remember experiencing a very difficult loss at the age of twelve. After a while of processing, I had a question deep inside that I did not want to ask out loud: why did God make all the bad things in the world? God put the answer plain and simple in my path one day. The answer is that He did not make any of the bad things in the world. Death, pain, accidents, misunderstandings, miscommunications, and brokenness in our world are all the results of sin. God created a perfect world – He called everything that He had created very good. Then the very first humans, Adam and Eve chose to go against God which brought sin into the world and all the other bad things with it.
2) What am I going to do about it?
The world is full of darkness and evil. Bad things happen all the time – terrorist attacks, school shootings, accidents, and natural disasters. You never really know who to trust, since people tend to be selfish and sinful. The very people you are helping, or who are working alongside you, may suddenly turn against you at any time. It’s a little like Mission: Impossible in real life. You never know who’s really on your side or who might be wearing a mask. There are two ways you and I can choose to react to these facts:
A) Protect ourselves – you can hunker down and hide to shield yourself from the evil as much as possible. Don’t get close to other people so you don’t get hurt. Don’t take risks so that you don’t fail. Don’t help people so no one can take advantage of you. Don’t love people so you don’t have to worry about losing them. I don’t know about you, but I think that sounds like a really sad, horrible way to live life. Is it safe? Maybe. Is it good? Not at all. In fact, it can actually make the problem of bad things in the world worse, because if you choose this route, you can easily become part of the problem. Christian singer Jason Gray put this idea beautifully in a line of a song:
“It’s hard to bring your heart to a world that can break it
Jason Gray, Fear is Easy, Love is Hard*
To offer love to those you’re afraid will forsake it
But a well-defended heart is always looking for a fight
In a lonely war against an endless night
But love can bring a light”
B) Be the good – on the other hand, you can choose to love all the other hurting people. I choose to be the goodness and love that I want to see in the world around me. Of course, we all make mistakes and have bad days, but thankfully that goodness and love does not have to come from my own very messed-up human heart. Because of what Jesus did to pay for all my badness and mistakes, I can take on His identity and express His love and goodness through my life. You can choose to do this, too. He wants to give you new life and hope so that you can pour that out to the world around you, too. Needless to say, that doesn’t mean you should do stupid things – the Bible says that we should be as wise as a snake, but as harmless as a dove.
Why Creation Clues?
My main heart-goal with writing Creation Clues is to offer hope. This has been my goal all along since I started Creation Clues almost seven years ago (2012), but the more life I live, the more important I realize hope is. Would it be easier for me to not write Creation Clues? Of course – between full-time work, home, family, and community responsibilities I’m definitely not bored. With plenty of bills to pay and important things like a house to save for, I could always be working on my side jobs that actually make money instead of writing Creation Clues. But this important reason of bringing hope to people through my writings about science and the Bible is more valuable to me than money or my most valuable asset – time. To me, bringing hope to people is absolutely worth the time I put into Creation Clues.
Exciting Future
We have lots of new and exciting projects planned for this year that I can’t wait to share with you! We are working on some very fun, new, short videos. We are leading an educational family-camp dinosaur dig adventure this year – check out our About page to find out more about how you can go with us! Also, we are super excited that we are working on the first two Creation Clues books! If you want more of what you see on Creation Clues or want to help us with these upcoming projects, please consider supporting this effort with your prayers or a donation. Check out our new Get Involved page to find ways that you can help inspire others with more clues of hope!
© 2019, Sara J. Mikkelson
*Quote from the song “Fear is Easy, Love is Hard”, by Jason Gray. See YouTube video below
Posted on March 7, 2019
Book Review – Dinosaurs: God’s Mysterious Creatures
The smell of a newly printed book and the sensation of cracking a cover open for the very first time has always thrilled me. I have always loved books. Since I have also always loved children, children’s books are one of my favorite types of books to read. Of course, since I love science, children’s science books are just about as good as it gets.
When I first saw this new children’s science book series published by the Institute for Creation Research, I was very excited. However, after I read the first book in the series, Dinosaurs: God’s Mysterious Creatures, I was a little bit disappointed. It’s still a great book that I do recommend as a whole, but it was different from what I expected. Today, I’m going to tell you about who wrote this book, what the book is and is not, and who I recommend reading it.
Who is ICR?
The Institute for Creation Research (ICR) is one of the oldest modern creation science organizations. They have done a lot of incredible, important work over the years. I have been very excited to watch the way this organization has grown over the past decade or so since I’ve been following them. While their scientific research is foundational, they have also been doing a good job recently of making their research understandable for normal people. Besides having a number of very gifted scientists, here are few interesting things about ICR:
- They are building a new museum in the Dallas area of Texas! The museum is on schedule to open this year. Based off what I know about it so far, it sounds like it will be spectacular.
- ICR publishes a free monthly magazine. It’s been my favorite creation science publication to read for the past ten years. What I like about this magazine is that I know I can always learn something new from it. Keep in mind that this is definitely not a kids’ magazine, though.
- Books and videos that aren’t just educational – they are also visually appealing. I would highly recommend many of their books and new DVD sets to almost anyone.
What is this Book (and what is it not)?
The reason I was disappointed with the children’s book Dinosaurs: God’s Mysterious Creatures is because it was different than I expected.
Is it a good bed time story?
If you are looking for a good picture book about dinosaurs to read aloud to your child in less than an hour, this is not the right book. Dinosaurs: God’s Mysterious Creatures has a lot of good information for kids, but it’s not really designed in a way that makes it good to sit down and read all at once. However, if you are looking for a replacement for your child’s dinosaur encyclopedia, or a good reference book on dinosaurs for education, this is a good choice. The second half of this book goes through several different types of dinosaurs with lots of fun and interesting facts about each one. I do wish they had expanded this section to include more types of dinosaurs. Young children soak up facts about dinosaurs like sponges, especially when it comes to naming different dinosaurs. Besides dinosaur types, it also covers other important dinosaur-related topics like fossil footprints, rock dating, and dragons.
Sample pages from the book 
Sample pages from the book
Is it good for my kid who is obsessed with dinosaurs?
Most kids who pick up a book about dinosaurs are probably already very interested in dinosaurs. They probably already can tell you that T. Rex was a scary meat eater and Triceratops ate plants. The biggest difference with this book is that it covers dinosaurs from a biblical creation perspective. That being said, there’s a lot of information that isn’t directly linked to dinosaurs in the first half of the book. It is important basic creation science information but may feel a little bit irrelevant to a child who is anxious to learn about dinosaurs. If I was a child, I would skip to the middle and look back at the beginning later if I had questions. But will your dinosaur-lover enjoy this book? Yes, he will probably enjoy this book, but he might be a bit impatient with some parts of it.
Is this a good book for my four-year-old? What about my ten-year-old?
Yes, your four-year-old will probably enjoy this book because it is about dinosaurs. A typical ten-year-old might enjoy it, depending on her interests. Some of the wording might be a little tough for younger kids. Some aspects of the book might not be appealing to an older child because she might feel like she’s “too old” for it. Of course, every child is unique, so the best gauge of whether or not he will like Dinosaurs: God’s Mysterious Creatures it is to let him look at the book online or in-person before you buy it.
Conclusion
In summary, Dinosaurs:God’s Mysterious Creatures children’s book published by Institute for Creation Research is a great resource for kids, provided you know what you are getting. If you are looking for a good creation science book for a child in your life and you’re not sure what will be a good fit, please send me a message or comment. I would love to help you. I don’t make money off the sales of these resources or any others I might recommend (until I create my own, at least)*, so I would be happy to recommend the best resources to meet your personal needs. I simply believe this cause is essential to offering hope and clues towards the truth for the next generation.
Article ©2019 Sara J. Mikkelson
*The writer did receive a free copy of the book Dinosaurs: God’s Mysterious Creatures from ICR for the purpose of reviewing it on Creation Clues
Updated on March 1, 2019
The Human Factor
How do new findings and research become part of science? There are several steps to scientific method, but in our modern day, one of the most important steps is publishing a peer-reviewed research paper. Today, I’m going to explain to you exactly what a peer reviewed research paper is, who reads them, how they work, and what is wrong with them. Most of these papers can be a bit dull and dry but they are important because they can turn into things that affect your everyday life.
What is a Peer Reviewed Research Paper?
Let’s say you were a scientist or research student about to write and publish a science paper. You would probably get together with several of your friends, mentors, or co-workers. Together, your group would research your topic by finding out what other people say about it and by doing experiments. You write your beautiful, long, complex paper with a nice conclusion. After writing it, it has to be submitted to a publisher and reviewed by people who are experts in your field. For example, if you are a meteorologist, who studies the science of weather, you might research tornadoes and submit your paper to BAMS (Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society). Your paper would be reviewed by experts who know a lot about something related to your topic. After careful review, your paper might get published on the glossy magazine pages of BAMS. Of course, this is a very, very simplified explanation, but it gives you a basic idea.
Who Reads Peer Reviewed Research?
Very few people read these papers because they are usually very hard to understand – they use lots of specialized, technical words that are not in the normal English language. When I read research papers and books, I usually stick with geology papers because I understand the special geology words much, much better than biology or medical research papers. The people who read research papers are mostly the people who work in that specific field of science – e.g., biologists read biology research, physicists read physics research, and chemists read chemistry research. It’s important for any scientist to keep up with the latest research in her own field, but the fact that only a small group of people learn about the research can create its own problems.
What’s Wrong?
In 2005, Dr. John Ioannidis from Greece published his paper, “Why Most Published Research Findings Are False”*. In this paper, Dr. Ioannidis uses the math of statistics to show how most of the research that medical doctors depend on is probably false*. That’s a scary idea – what if most of the information your doctor counts on is wrong? Dr. Ioannidis had some very good points. Some are ways that research can be improved. For example, having a bigger research sample size can give more accurate results – testing 100 people instead of 12 in your research. Another good point he made is that more of the published findings should be verified by repeating them – most science really has to be repeatable and testable to be proved.
Other ideas presented by Dr. Ioannidis, and by Dr. Henry Morris II in another article I read this week, were much more serious, such as how researchers can pick data that go well with the point they want to make. In other words, it’s easy to pick evidence that we want to see instead of carefully looking at everything. This is one of the biggest problems with science – science is not perfect because it’s done by humans who are not perfect.
Here are some of the ways that our “human-ness” can cause problems in science research:
1. What’s cool?
If publishers are afraid that the idea in a researchers paper is too edgy and might make too many other scientists upset, they may not publish it. People are generally not happy when you want to challenge an idea that has been dearly held to for a long time. Things like doctors washing their hands, planets revolving around the sun, and that the continents were once together, unlike how they are today. People often just don’t want to rock the boat, and this can keep new discoveries from happening sooner.
2. What’s in it for me?
Does the researcher get special awards or importance for publishing this paper or “proving” certain ideas? For example, she gets her doctorate by naming a new species of fossil, she will probably make a bigger deal of little differences or maybe interpret a baby, male, or female of the same species as a new species. As naturally selfish humans, a person tends to cave in to what will be best for her instead of what will be best for everyone in the long run.
3. Where does the money come from?
You have to have money to do almost anything. Want to live in a house? Turn the lights on? Drive a car? Fix a car? Eat? Do experiments? All of those things (and countless others) take money. It’s just the way things work in our modern world. If a scientist is doing research, he needs money, which usually means he needs to convince someone else to give him money. And if someone is funding his research, he most certainly doesn’t want to disappoint them with his results. Even if a researcher doesn’t to intentionally choose his favorite data that his sponsors will like, it can still happen naturally without thinking about it. Of course, scientists can try their best to be as fair as possible, but sometimes personal ideas will still sneak into how they see the data. It’s just part of being human.
How Does Research Science Impact Me?
Please don’t get this wrong – it doesn’t mean that you can’t trust anything in peer reviewed research papers.* There is a lot of good, useful information in peer reviewed research papers and science methods are constantly being improved. Believe me, I wouldn’t spend lots of hours of my free time sifting through technical science research if I thought most of it was inaccurate. My point today is simply that science isn’t perfect.* Science is constantly growing and improving, as it should be. We can learn a lot from peer reviewed research, but we need to keep in mind that today’s science news headlines aren’t necessarily bona fide fact. Lots of things in life can change with a moment’s notice – science, houses, jobs, relationships, locations, emotions, etc. If you have something stable to rely on, like the unchanging character of God, all the other constantly changing factors will not wreck your world.
©Sara J. Mikkelson, February 2019
References:
Ioannidis, John. Why Most Published Research Findings are False. August 30, 2005. PLOS Medicine. Open Access. Last accessed 2/28/2019. https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124
Ioannidis, John (guest). Why Most Published Research Findings are False. November 20, 2018. STEM Talk podcast, episode 77. Last accessed 2/26/2019
Morris, Henry, Jr. Peer Evaluation in Scientific Research and Creationism. Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth, Vol II: Results of a Young-Earth Creationist Research Initiative. Introduction, Appendix. Pg. 21-24. 2005. Institute for Creation Research, USA.
*Note: Please do not use this article to make it say something it doesn’t say. This article is not about evolution. The research by Dr. Ioannidis was only in regards to the medical field and his statistics should not necessarily be extended to any or all fields of science. I simply present his research to be constructive and thought-provoking. Dr. Ioannidis’ goal was to improve the science of medicine with his research, a very noble goal.
Updated on January 30, 2019
Mad Scientists Make Real Lava
Don’t try this experiment at home! Recently, a group of research scientists in New York State recently re-created lava in the lab. Making and testing lava in a lab certainly sounds like something you would envision a mad scientist doing, but the reason why they did this is actually very good (although I’m sure they definitely had some fun with it).
How to Re-Create Lava
Just how did these scientists at the University at Buffalo re-create lava? It’s really quite simple – rocks made from lava are all over the world. These rocks are basically just “frozen” lava that was once a raging hot liquid inside a volcano or something similar. These scientists simply took basalt rock (one of the types of rocks associated with volcanoes) and melted it. Of course, melting a rock takes a lot of heat: 2,400° F in an induction furnace.
What Was Tested?
Volcanoes and water often go together – sometimes creating very explosive results and other times they can be relatively calm. These scientists wanted to discover when lava would react the most dramatically with water. Once melted they poured the lava into insulated steel boxes of different heights. Then they shot water jets into these boxes at different levels and different speeds. Then they put pressure on the pillar of lava from the top using a special plunger and hammer to encourage an eruption. The eruption was the most dramatic when the water was shot in at a deeper level inside the lava (with more of the pillar of lava above the water). At least one foot of lava above the water seemed to be the sweet spot in this experiment.
Why Did Lava Act This Way?
While we really don’t know for sure why this happened, one of the scientists on the team, Ingo Sonder, has a theory. He thinks that because of the super intense heat and pressure being under a tall pillar of lava, the water does something unusual. Imagine that the water turns into a giant bubble or blob when it’s shot into the lava. The outer shell of that bubble turns into steam while the inside of the bubble is still liquid water. As long as there’s not too much heat or pressure or speed coming into the lava, the water will stay more contained in it’s “shell” of vapor. But, when there’s a tall pillar of lava above it and the water shoots in super-fast, it “breaks” the vapor shell and mixes more with the lava, creating a bigger eruption. Of course, this is just a theory, but it’s very cool to hear about!
Why Did they do this?
Why create lava in the lab in the first place? It’s not just for fun! The more we can learn about how lava, volcanoes, and water act together, the better predictions scientists can make about volcanoes. Many people live near volcanoes and just like accurate hurricane predictions can help people know when it’s safe and when they need to evacuate, more accurate volcano predictions can help save the lives of many people.
What Can I Learn From This?
To be completely honest, I’m a little bit of a mad scientist myself – I think that volcanoes are fascinating. Maybe you do, too. Dangerous volcanoes that put people’s lives at risk are no good, though. Natural disasters like this weren’t part of God’s originally created, “very good” Earth. These things are the result of Earth going downhill because of our sin. Even though we humans messed things up, God is still so good and gracious to us. He has given us the special ability to learn about the world around us through science. Studying volcanoes is a great way to do that! Always remember the more you learn about the world around you the more you can fulfill God’s destiny for you.
References
Scientists brew lava and blow it up to better understand volcanoes. Science Daily. December 10, 2018. Source: University at Buffalo. Last accessed 1/30/2019 https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/12/181210105410.htm
Posted on December 12, 2018
Trailblazer
The cool morning air felt unusually refreshing for a late July day in Kansas. It was a perfect day to be out in the field searching for fossils. That is, once we were able to drive across the muddy fields to the beautiful gray and yellow outcrops of flood-made rock where the fossils were buried.
“Be careful not to drive in the ruts”, the ranch owner warned me, “It makes them deeper and hard to fix if you drive in them when they’re muddy”
As I drove the four-wheel drive vehicle over the rough terrain, careful to avoid the deep, muddy ruts, I thought about what the ranch owner had said. It made me think of several lessons I could take away from the ruts.
Wyoming Ruts
The deep muddy ruts in Kansas reminded me of other, much deeper and much narrower ruts I had seen two years before in Wyoming. Unlike the fresh, muddy ruts in Kansas, the Wyoming ruts were older and made in a much harder terrain. These ruts were wagon ruts, made by pioneers traveling in their covered wagons on the Oregon Trail.
Compared to the “dirt-road-ruts” I was used to, these ruts were very narrow, made by wagon wheels instead of tires, and they got much deeper at some points. Some were as much as four feet deep! Pioneer families would drive their covered wagons through these ruts. The ride was most certainly a rough one. Children, women, men, and animals walked through and around these ruts, following the wagons that held everything they owned.
What are four things we learn from some old ruts in Wyoming and new ones in Kansas?
1. Ruts are Rough
I took off my shoes, walking barefoot through these Wyoming wagon ruts. The sandstone rock felt sharp to the feet. I could picture myself in the place of these pioneers. Perhaps they had walked so many miles that their shoes were already worn to pieces. Their feet might only be protected by rags tied around them. The rough rocks would cut their feet and make them bleed. Perhaps it was winter time and the travelers walked over icy or snow-covered ruts. I stumbled once, lightly scraping my knee. How many times did pioneers stumble in these very same ruts?
That’s one thing about ruts – they are rough. Whether they are old or new all ruts have the potential to make you stumble, slide, bump, and get hurt. Even the smoothest-riding ruts are potentially hazardous.
2. Ruts Guide
On a positive note, ruts can give you direction and help keep you on-track. If I didn’t have some type of trail in Kansas to remind me how to get out to the dig site, I would get lost quickly. Some people who are very gifted with direction would know where they are going without any trails or ruts, but I am not one of those people. I get distracted by scenery and my own thoughts just driving around town, let alone on a dig. The downside is that the direction the ruts lead may not end up at your desired destination. In other words, the ruts can mislead you instead of lead you. If you rely on ruts or a trail for direction, it is essential to make sure that you’re on the right trail.
3. Ruts are Like Habits
So far we have talked about the positive and negative aspects of ruts. On the negative side, they can cause us to stumble and get hurt sometimes. On the positive side, they can help us stay on-track, but only if they go in the right direction. Ruts, in and of themselves, are neither good or bad. It all depends on where the ruts are going. Our habits are like ruts. Habits can be either good or bad, depending on the direction they lead. Take a look at your own habits today.
The more we exercise a habit, the deeper ruts they form. That’s why it’s important to often take breaks and make sure the trail you’re on is going the way you want to go. If you don’t take breaks to look ahead and behind, the ruts of those bad habits are going to get waist-deep like those from the covered wagons. It’s much easier to change directions in ruts that are shallow, not deep.
4. Formed While Soft
That brings us to one last, very interesting thing about ruts that I learned in Kansas. Soft mud can form deep ruts very quickly. Try to picture that in your mind. Soft mud with a wheel pressing a lot of weight into it – it will definitely make a deep rut. The same scientific principle can be applied to our habits. We form deeper habit-paths when we are softer and more mold-able. When are you soft and mold-able?
The first thing to come to my mind is that we are softest and easiest to mold when we are young. If you’re young, keep in mind that the very best time to make good habit-paths is now – don’t put it off! Even if you aren’t young, there are other things that can make you soft and mold-able, like change. Good or bad, I’ve always found that one kind of change is the perfect opportunity for another change. Take advantage of a transition times to create new routines.
Softening Your Soil
You don’t have to wait to change your habits or attitudes until a new year, new job, or new house comes along, though. The ultimate way to soften the soil of your heart and life is to ask God for help. That’s one of the best things about being a follower of Christ – you don’t have to depend entirely on your own cleverness or hard work. God is always with you and excited to help because He is a good Father. When we recognize that we need to change our habit-paths, we can call on God and ask Him to make our hearts soft like a muddy road while He helps us get out of the bad ruts and form new, good ones. That doesn’t mean it will be easy or fun – it will probably still take a lot of practice and patience, but you’re not stuck cleaning up this mess of muddy ruts by yourself. Today is the best day to ask God to make your heart soft and show you the direction He wants you to go.
© 2018, Sara J. Mikkelson
Posted on July 20, 2018
Terrific Trilobites
Have you ever wondered what the world would have looked like before Noah’s flood? When you go camping today, you might worry about a bear getting into your food. But, what if you had to worry about T. rex stealing your lunch (or just taking you instead)? If you go to the beach today, you might enjoy picking up seashells, watching crabs, or swimming with fish. But, if you swam in the oceans before the flood, you might see some creatures you wouldn’t see today, like trilobites!
What is a Trilobite?
Try saying it out loud – it’s pronounced like “try-low-bite”.
Trilobites were amazing little creatures! They had an exoskeleton, like lobsters, crabs, and insects. When they outgrew their skeleton, they would shed it. Trilobites also had segmented bodies, like insects.
If you were to travel back in time and if you could catch a trilobite and keep it as a pet (instead of a goldfish), you would have a LOT of different ones to choose from! Trilobites came in lots of different sizes, shapes, and types. Some had big heads with fancy horns and bumps. Others looked less fancy. The smallest known trilobites were 1/32” long (that’s about as big as the dot in this “i”). And the largest ones were over two feet long!
Scientists still have a lot to learn about trilobites. Since we haven’t found living trilobites, scientists have to make a lot of guessing based off of just the fossils. It’s like detective work. Some things just aren’t preserved very well in the fossil record, like what color living trilobites would have been.
Roll Defense!
What does a trilobite look like to you?
When I first looked at a trilobite I thought it looked a lot like some of the bugs I used to play with in my back yard: roly-polys. Maybe you call them pill-bugs. Just like a roly-poly or an armadillo, trilobites would roll up when they were afraid. That’s the special defense that God gave them.
Some trilobite fossils are completely rolled up in a tight little ball. Others are laid out flat. But, some are in-between – they were turned into fossils while they were rolling up! Imagine trying to take a picture of a roly-poly or armadillo while it was curling up, but before it completely rolled up. You would have to be very fast to capture that! It’s the same kind of thing with fossil snapshots – these trilobites had to be buried very quickly to be preserved partially rolled! These trilobites were caught by surprise and turned into fossils during the terrible, global flood.
Incredible Eyes
One of the most amazing parts of a trilobite is its compound eyes. Your eyes only have one lens in each eye, but some trilobites had over 15,000 hexagon-shaped lenses in each eye! In some types of trilobites, the eyes were made of two different minerals that were arranged very precisely to work together so that the trilobite could see correctly. Trilobites must have had incredible underwater vision!
Trilobite fossils are found in some of the lowest fossil-bearing rock layers. But they are very complex, unique creatures who came in a vast variety. Some people believe that evolution made everything out of nothing. They expected to find only “simple” creatures in rock layers this low. But, they have trouble figuring out where the amazing trilobite would come from so quickly, with its compound eyes and many different types.
Trilobite fossils show us that God did an amazing job designing things. He also did an amazing job designing something else. I’ll give you a hint: this is His very favorite part of creation. What is it? You! Even though you don’t have a bunch of different lenses in your eye like a trilobite does, there are other special features all over your body that point to God’s wonderful design of you. God had a good design for the trilobite that lives in the water. But, God has a different design for your body because He has different plans for you. God designed you just right for the plan He has for you.
Fun Facts About Trilobites:
- The three segments of a trilobite’s body are called:
- Cephalon (pronounced “sef-a-lawn”) – basically the head
- Thorax – middle section
- Pygidium (pronounced “pij-id-ee-um”) – basically the tail
- Trilobite fossils have been found on every continent, including Antarctica!
- Currently, over 20,000 different species of trilobites have been named
- Just like some dinosaur footprints were turned into fossils, some trilobite trails are preserved as tiny markings in rock
© 2018, Sara J. Mikkelson
Posted on June 8, 2018
Your Mind-Blowing Brain!
Did you know that your brain works a little bit like a computer? Only, it’s like a computer that is way more amazing and complex than we can ever understand. Your brain is the best technology you will ever have. It’s better than a tablet, phone, or even the best super-computer in the whole world! But, how does your brain work? What makes it so special?
Wiring Your Brain
Did you know that your brain generates enough electricity to power a lightbulb?1 There are about 86 billion tiny cells in your brain called neurons.2 These neurons send and receive information from all over your body through electrical and chemical signals. In fact, they send so many messages that just the neurons in your body can send and receive more messages than all the phones in the entire world!3
Your neurons send information and instructions all over your body super fast. It’s a good thing God made your brain to work quickly because this helps protect us and others from danger. For example, if you feel a mosquito on your skin, the nerves in your skin report to your brain, then your brain remembers that mosquito bites are bad, so it tells your hand to react by smacking the mosquito.
Did you know that your brain changes when you learn new things?4 For example, when you first learn how to play a musical instrument or how to read, it’s difficult. But, it gets easier with more practice until you can do it without thinking about it. This is because your brain is creating new paths between neurons when you start learning something new. With enough practice, a new pathway between neurons is made and it’s easy to do what you learned.
What makes my brain different from an animal’s?
Have you ever taken a minute to think about thinking? How is it that you can think about thinking?
Animals are really cool, and they have amazing brains, but their brains are not quite like yours and mine. For example, as far as we know, animals don’t think about thinking. They are usually just interested in food and other basic needs of their bodies. They don’t think about things like learning how to read or what stories they might find in a book. Animals aren’t very creative – they don’t try to draw beautiful pictures or write music like people do. They tend to be extra self-centered and don’t usually do much to help each other unless they can get something out of it.
Sometimes in a litter of kittens, one will be sick or just weak and small. When this happens, the mother cat will not feed the sad little kitten or take care of it like the rest of the kittens. Although a mother cat can do a very good job of caring for her kittens, she doesn’t have the same kind of compassion for her weak, small, or sick kittens that humans have.
Why is that? Why do humans care so much about people and animals that are small, weak, or sick? People have a special mind that is different from the mind of an animal because we were made in the “image of God”. God made all the animals, but He made people to be different – extra special. God made people because He wanted someone to love and someone who could love Him back. He wanted someone who would enjoy being with Him. Since God loves all of His creation and since we are made in God’s image, we tend to have a special heart of compassion for His creation. That’s one of the reasons why our brain is so special – our brains are extra special because we are made in God’s image.
Fun Facts About Your Brain:
If you were to look at your brain right next to the brain of a mammal about your size, your brain would be at least three times bigger!- An adult human’s brain weighs about 3 pounds
- You aren’t supposed to use 100% of your brain at one time. God efficiently designed your brain to only use the sections it needs to for the tasks at hand5
- The right side of your brain controls the left side of your body. And the left side of your brain controls the right side of your body
- While you sleep, your brain sorts through information, makes decisions, creates memories, organizes memories, cleans out toxins, and does other things too
- Under the right conditions, your brain can re-wire itself to work normally when about half of it is removed!5
©2018 Sara J. Mikkelson
References:
- Your Amazing Brain. National Geographic Kids. National Geographic. Accessed 6/8/18 https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/explore/science/your-amazing-brain/
- Azevedo, F.; et al. (April 10, 2009). “Equal numbers of neuronal and nonneuronal cells make the human brain an isometrically scaled-up primate brain”. The Journal of Comparative Neurology. 513 (5): 532–541.
- Your Amazing Brain. National Geographic Kids. National Geographic. Accessed 6/8/18 https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/explore/science/your-amazing-brain/
- Leaf, Caroline. Switch On Your Brain. 2013. Baker Books. Baker Publishing Group.
- Line, Peter. (June 2018). The Incredible Human Brain. Creation Magazine 40 (3). Pages 14-17. Creation Ministries International
