'The heavens are declaring the glory of God; and of the work of his hands the expanse is telling'. Psalm 19:1

Spider Silk.
Spider silk is lighter than cotton, yet ounce for ounce it is stronger than steel. If enlarged to the size of a football field, a web of dragline silk could stop a jumbo jet in flight. For decades, scientists have studied the silk produced by spiders. Dragline silk is the strongest and most water proof of all the seven types of silk spiders can spin.

The manufacture of industrial fibers such as Kevlar require high temperatures and the use of organic solvents. In contrast, spiders produce silk at room temperature, using water as a solvent. Furthermore dragline silk is tougher than Kevlar.

Researchers are intrigued by the toughness of dragline silk. 'Scientists would like to exploit that property in items ranging from bulletproof vests to suspension cables for bridges' writes Aimee Cunningham in Science News Magazine.

But replicating dragline silk is not easy, for the material is made inside the spider's body and the process is not yet fully understood.

'It's humbling to realize that a lot of very smart people are trying to replicate what the spiders in our basements can do naturally' - says biologist Cheryl Y. Hayashi, Chemical & Engineering News magazine.

- culled from Awake! January 2008. www.jw.org.

How is God relevant? Is he a spider? Or did he create the world for spiders?

Insects' compound eyes

Scientists are trying to imitate the compound eye of certain insects, such as the honeybee and the dragonfly. Professor Luke Lee of the University of California U.S.A describes the compound eye as 'Layer upon layer of perfectly ordered structures.'

The compound eye of insects is made up of multiple optical units, each of which points in a different direction. The images produced by the individual lenses combine to create a wide mosaic view that is superb at detecting movement. Scientists are exploring ways to mimic the compound eye of insects in order to make high speed motion detectors and ultrathin multidirectional cameras.

A team of bioengineers has already developed an artificial compound eye with more than 8,500 lenses that fit into a space no larger than a pinhead. This technology, however cannot be compared with the compound eye of the dragonfly, for instance, which has about 30,000 optical units in each eye.

thehomer: How is God relevant? Is he a spider? Or did he create the world for spiders?

He created the spiders who create the silk that 'a lot of very smart people' have been trying to replicate without success.

“Science Takes a Lesson From Nature”
THE above was a heading in The New York Times of August 31, 1993. The article noted that a growing number of scientists who design new materials have become involved in the field of biomimetics. The Times defined biomimetics as “the study of the structure and function of biological materials as models for artificially created ones.”

The article acknowledged that lowly sea animals and spiders make materials that are superior to similar substances that today’s scientists can make. The abalone, for example, draws calcium carbonate, the powdery component of chalk, from water and makes microthin plates. It then cements many such plates together with a mortar of protein and sugars. Dr. Mehmet Sarikaya says the shell’s structure is 30 times stronger and tougher than the ordinary calcium carbonate made in the laboratory. “We don’t have the technology to make the layers of material as thin as they are in sea shell,” he admits.

- April 22 1994 Awake

honeychild:
He created the spiders who create the silk that 'a lot of very smart people' have been trying to replicate without success.

Your God didn't create the spiders and what makes you think he knows anything about silk?

thehomer:

Your God didn't create the spiders and what makes you think he knows anything about silk?

So who did? You? Or the 'very smart people' who have not yet been able to duplicaate it?

Hmm

Gid is wonderful

Creation Had It First: Sonar

Bats are equipped with a system somewhat similar to a sonar, enabling them to locate and follow the movements of their prey by sending out sounds and analyzing the echoes. But a certain moth (the dogbane tiger) has a jamming signal that sends out waves similar to those of its adversary. Upon receiving the signal, the bat, not having enough time to analyze whether it is an obstacle or not, systematically avoids the moth.

Professor James Fullard, of the University of Toronto, Canada, expressed his admiration, saying: “The amazing thing is the sheer volume of information processing and profound neurological decisions handled by both the bats and the moths, using a very limited number of nerve cells. They exhibit a degree of economy and sophistication that could be the envy of human aerial warfare strategists.”

Job 12:7-9: “But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you.........Which of all these does not know
that the hand of the LORD has done this?

EVERYTHING about birds appears to be designed for flight. For example, the shafts of wing feathers must support a bird’s entire weight during flight. How can the wings be so light yet so strong? If you cut through the shaft of a feather, you may see why. It resembles what engineers call a foam-sandwich beam. It has a pithy interior and a rough exterior. Engineers have studied feather shafts, and foam-sandwich beams are used in aircraft.

The bones of birds are also amazingly designed. Most are hollow, and some may be strengthened by internal struts in a form engineers call the Warren girder. Interestingly, a similar design was used in the wings of the space shuttle.

Pilots balance modern aircraft by adjusting a few flaps on the wings and tail. But a bird uses some 48 muscles in its wing and shoulder to change the configuration and motion of its wings and individual feathers, doing so several times a second. No wonder that avian aerobatic ability is the envy of aircraft designers!

Flight, especially takeoff, consumes a lot of energy. So birds need a powerful, fast-burning “engine.” A bird’s heart beats faster than that of a similar-size mammal and is usually larger and more powerful. Also, a bird’s lungs have a different, one-way-flow design that is more efficient than a mammal’s.

Gearboxes and jet engines keep today’s world on the move. But did you know that nature also beat us to these designs? Take the gearbox, for example. Gearboxes allow you to change gears in your vehicle so as to get the most efficient use out of the motor. Nature’s gearbox does the same, but it does not link engine to wheels. Rather, it links wings to wings! And where can it be found? In the common fly. The fly has a three-speed gearshift connected to its wings, allowing it to change gears while in the air!

The squid, the octopus and the nautilus all have a form of jet propulsion that drives them through the water. Scientists view these jets with envy. Why? Because they are composed of soft parts that cannot break, that can withstand great depths and that run silently and efficiently. In fact, a squid can jet along at up to 32km an hour when fleeing predators.

Truly, humans can only look on and wonder. Scientists develop an awe “bordering on reverence” when they study nature, says the book Biomimicry.

Awake! magazine January 22 2000

honeychild:

So who did? You? Or the 'very smart people' who have not yet been able to duplicaate it?

If we're just going to make things up, then yes I did.