In captivity, the octopus is renowned for its ‘unruly’ behaviour, for example, tampering with or blocking outlet valves, causing its tank to overflow. And it can be very difficult to keep contained. It can squeeze its boneless body through a space not much bigger than its eye—just sufficient f…
Hamath was a district which lay north of Damascus in northern Syria (Zech 9:1-2). The modern city of Hama is derived from this ancient place and is situated either side of the Orontes River, 213 kilometres north of Damascus.
The mountain ranges of the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon peaks stretch northw…
A Natural History of Biblical Lands – Hamath Read More »
Butterflies aren’t the strongest fliers. Their large wings cause them to flutter about, rather than generating more direct flight paths. But that fluttery flight makes it hard for predators to catch them. And if you have ever tried to catch a resting butterfly, you know they are surprisingly diffi…
Marvels of Creation – Clapping Butterflies Read More »
Water, like carbon, has a special role in living things. It is needed by all known forms of life. All organisms on earth are made up mostly of water; thus, water is the biological cornerstone of life. Water is a simple molecule, containing just three atoms: two hydrogen and one oxygen. Nonetheless, …
The Wonder of Water Read More »
Myrrh is referred to 11 times in the Scriptures—more than any other perfume. The Hebrew refers to its bitter taste (mar, “bitter”). It is derived from the gummy sap that oozes out of the Commiphora tree when the bark is cut. The leaking resin is allowed to harden and then scraped off the trunk…
Spider silk is one of the strongest materials in the natural world. Consisting almost entirely of large proteins, silk fibres have tensile strengths comparable to steel
and, on a weight to weight basis, some silks are nearly as elastic as rubber. In combining these two properties, silks revea…
The Scriptures speak of the wild ass which inhabits mountain steppes and semi-desert plains (Job 24:5). These animals are known today as onagers. They are reddish-brown or yellowish-brown in colour and have a broad dorsal stripe on the middle of the back. Unlike donkeys, onagers have never been dome…
In December 2016, Current Biology published an article about some amazing discoveries they made after studying the noses of zebrafish!
They wrote: “Our data showed for the first time how the motile cilia decorating the nose pit act as a very powerful water turbine and generate strong and robust…
Fish with Nose Turbines Read More »
There are two types of wolves in Israel today. There is the smaller Arabian wolf living in the Negev and the larger Asian wolf living in the Golan. They were once widespread, but many were eradicated by means of heavy poisons in the 1950s and today only a few hundred remain.
The…
In reality, the aerodynamics of many insect wings, including those of bumblebees, have more in common with helicopter blades than with the fixed wings of conventional aircraft. Two pairs of wings attach to the thorax of the bee, but the wings on each side are joined with hooks, so that they…
The Flight of the Bumblebee Read More »
