Science and Culture Today Discovering Design in Nature
Author

Michael Denton

fire juggler
fire juggler
Photo credit: Andrea Bertozzini on Unsplash.

For Fire, Nature Obliges Us with Rapid Reflexes

One area where very fast nerve conduction is vital is vision, more specifically, in keeping the eyes fixed on some object in the field of vision while in motion. Read More ›
push-ups

What if Our Muscles Were Less Powerful?

As every medical student comes to learn when first dissecting the human body at medical school, our limbs are almost entirely composed of muscles. Read More ›
rowing
rowing
Photo credit: Steve Elliott / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0).

Appreciating the Design of Human Muscles

It is likely that no further improvement in muscle power can be achieved by increasing the density of packing of the myosin motors. Read More ›
weightlifting
Photo credit: Victor Freitas via Unsplash.

For Fire and More, Humans Are Designed to Have Just the Right Strength

How is it that an ant appears proportionately so much stronger than a trained human weight lifter? Read More ›
Australian_blacksmith
Photo credit: fir0002 flagstaffotos [at] gmail.com.

Remarkably, Humans Are Just the Right Size to Make and Master Fire

Only an organism of our dimensions and android design — 1.5 to 2 meters in height with arms about 1 meter-long ending in manipulative tools — can handle fire. Read More ›
glass-making
glass-making
Photo: Glass-making, by Hessam / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).

How Man Became the Fire-Maker

Being terrestrial is one obvious requirement. No fully aquatic species could master fire and thus develop metallurgy. Read More ›
tree and a man
tree and a man
Photo credit: Gilly Stewart via Unsplash.

Nature’s Magic and Its Breathtaking Parsimony

Without this ensemble of fitness in nature, there would be no wood, no fire, no metallurgy, no modern technology. Read More ›
General Sherman tree
Photo: General Sherman tree, by Jim Bahn / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0).

A Remarkable Mechanism for the Existence of Large Trees

The mechanism represents a unique and stunningly brilliant solution to the problem of raising water to the top of large trees. Read More ›
coastal redwoods
Photo: Coastal redwoods can grow up to 115.5 meters tall, by Goldblattster / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0).

The Amazing Circulation System of Trees

Clearly, unless water can be drawn several meters up the conduits in their tree trunks, large woody trees would be impossible. Read More ›
charcoal
Photo credit: Patrick Selin, via Unsplash.

The Role of Lignin for Fire, Explained

Without lignin, there would be no woody plants, no wood, no coal, no charcoal, no fire, no pottery, and certainly no iron or metallurgy. Read More ›

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