John Clayton
One
of the amazing things about life on the earth is how many places it can
survive. Life exists at the bottom of the ocean miles under the surface. It
exists in caves where no light ever penetrates. We find life in pools of
hot water in volcanic areas and even in the air itself. All of this life
continuously works to produce nutrients and recycle materials between one
ecosystem and another. The special equipment living things possess to
survive in harsh places is remarkably and highly specialized.
An interesting example is a
sponge that flourishes in the Ross Sea in Antarctica called Rossella
sponges (racovitzae). This sponge possesses spicules that are long, thin, sharp silica structures
which had always been assumed to be a defense mechanism to ward off
predators. Studies at the University of Genoa in Italy have shown that the spicules
are made of a material which makes them conduct light.
Like the fiber optic material
used in electronics and in communications, the sponge conducts the light
available to it around corners with large percentages of light reaching the
center of the sponge. At the end of the fiber optic material are
photosynthetic algae which take the light and produce sugars for the
sponge. The sponge provides a home for the algae including light piped into
its protected chamber. The algae produces food for
the sponge. In the low light cold environment of Antarctica, this arrangement allows vast
quantities of life to exist. To explain the origin of such complex tools as
fiber optics by chance requires a great deal of imagination. We would
suggest intelligent design is the base cause of this incredible system.
This article
taken from: Does God Exist?, Sept/Oct 1998.
|