The Amazing World We Don’t See

A friend of ours made a movie that will be in theaters this September (A Strange Brand of Happy. Go see it!) A little while ago an image appeared on the Facebook page for that movie that I really thought was the work of Photoshop.

“That can’t be real!” I thought. But a quick Google search proved otherwise.

That got me thinking. I just love seeing this crazy stuff that exists in our world that we never see. God made entire worlds and galaxies that, without the help of ridiculously powerful technologies, are just tiny lights in our sky—if even that!

In the other direction, to the infinitesimal, there is unseen beauty, intricate detail, and even some things that will light your face with an smile of “Wow!”

I included links at the end of this post to the source of these images, and a few sites that include more.

So take a moment today and enjoy the amazing beauty of the worlds what we never see. Incredible!

Really neat microscopic images:

Found across the web…

Cross-section of Marram Grass

Happy grass!
Cross section of marram grass

Bluebottle Fly Maggot

Or… microscopic walrus?
Maggot of the Bluebottle Fly

Moth

I love the intricate detail.
moth

Bedbug

No wonder we don’t want them to bite!
bedbug

Human Flea

Um… it doesn’t look human to me??
human-flea

Nerve

Incredible. Like fiber-optics, but much more impressive.
nerve

Bone

Wonderfully made. And blueprint for future buildings?
bone-structure

Lens of the Eye

Holy cow.
lens-of-the-eye

Mosquito

Not my favorite creature, but an amazing view of it.
mosquito

The Inner Life of the Cell

(This is not by Steve Gschmeissner, but it is another fascinating animation of what goes in inside ONE cell! There are over 100 trillion in the human body!)

http://blip.tv/videos-from-stellar-wellness-inc/the-inner-life-of-the-cell-4055585


LINKS:

Full of Life

Seedling in fertilizerRecently, I was fascinated by poop.

(Yes, you read that correctly.)

Actually, it started in a public outhouse-style “restroom”. If you’ve never used an outhouse, or a “port-a-potty”, it’s just a big container collecting all the liquid and solid waste, rather than flushing it away down a nice, convenient pipe—out of sight, out of mind.

(And, if you’ve never used a toilet that doesn’t flush… well… that is also fascinating!)

At first, I was grossed out. And rightly so, I believe. It’s gross. I really don’t even like using public bathrooms with plumbing, let alone the variety that collects all of the waste for you to view while you’re adding your own.

But a secondary thought (thankfully) crossed my mind before I left.

Wow, what if we didn’t have toilets that flushed? We’d just have to find some place for all this gross stuff… but then… it does make really good fertilizer. Hmm…

And then I remembered that we use various animal waste products as fertilizers, to enhance the soil and to grow better food. (That’s oversimplified, but generally true.)

God is so full of life that even the waste from his living creations produces more life!

That is both amazing, and completely understandable.

Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.1

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life… 2

For in him we live and move and exist.3

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.4

It’s obvious that the One who could, by a simple command, give life to all that is would be abundantly full of life itself. And that life being so fantastically complex that we’re still trying to understand it. We’re even looking for—and even finding—signs of it on other nearby planets, created by this Giver of Life.

That the waste generated by the Life he has breathed into his creation would also produce life is indeed astounding, and yet, it is as it should be.

God is life. Life beyond our wildest imagination. And he has breathed that same life into you and me.

Incredible.

Oh, the things you learn from a pile of poo!

It’s Raining Diamonds!

It Rains Diamonds on Neptune?One topic of study currently in the Campbell home is astronomy. Mom and most of the children are part of a home schoolers co-op that go through science curriculum together, and this year’s topic for the middle kids is the science of space.

(My favorite! Our kids had a leg up on everyone else as we have always watched space-related documentaries, and we subscribe to several NASA video podcast feeds as well. Yes, we are that awesome!)

This past week, one of the girls said something to me about learning that it rained diamonds on Neptune. My first response was a smile and a chuckle, and a silly, “Noooooo, it does not!” Little girls who are four, six, and eight can have a different way of hearing and passing along information, right? But she insisted that it was true, and her older siblings and Mom confirmed it.

What???

I had to look this one up, so I did.

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

If experiments at the University of California, Berkeley, are any indication, future explorers of our solar system may well find diamonds hailing down through the atmospheres of Neptune and Uranus.
These planets contain a high proportion of methane, which UC Berkeley researchers have now shown can turn into diamond at the high temperatures and pressures found inside these planets.

“Once these diamonds form, they fall like raindrops or hailstones toward the center of the planet,” said Laura Robin Benedetti, a graduate student in physics at UC Berkeley.

Whoa! Neat! Are you kidding me?!

Space is just incredibly amazing. Our planet alone is amazing… then that God would create such diversity across the billions of light years of space. Holy moly.

BUT, as cool as that theory from last century is … (and I suppose it’s still possible, as most of what we know about those planets still falls under the “theory” category)

“Some scientists have claimed that diamonds may form inside both Uranus and Neptune, but I do not believe that is true since the methane is confined to the surface where the pressures are much less,” says Monash University astrophysicist Dr. Andrew Prentice. “I think that is wishful thinking. In any event, the ‘falling diamonds’ would hardly have any influence whatever on the internal heat budget of Neptune or Uranus.”

So says Mike Bessell, a professor at the Australian National University’s Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, via this article.

Party pooper.

I thought a theory from 1999 might be a tad outdated. Ah well. It was fun while it lasted.

And I’m still holding out a little hope that this is actually happening!

There are a lot of wild theories out there! I read recently that we think that the best way to divert “Killer Asteroids” from smashing into our planet might be to spray paint them.

Hmmm…

I think the diamond rain is cooler.


For further reading:

NASA Crushes 2012 Mayan Apocalypse

Well, leave it to the party poopers at NASA to crush the dreams of all of the big fans of Mayan prophesies and general time keeping skills.

It seems that the head of the Near-Earth Objects Program has quite handily decimated any and all the claims of global apocalypse, mayhem, end-of-the-world predictions as well as any of the happier “new beginning” prognostications based on the Mayan calendar ending with December 21, 2012.

It’s a shame, really. I was glad we knew the date… now we’ll never know!

But, leave it to the smart guys at NASA to clear things up for us. You can always count on them!

🙂

If you’re curious … enjoy the video above, or read the article.

But, if you do, your dreams will definitely be crushed. Don’t say I didn’t warn you …

Programming of Life

Wow! We just finished watching this video (which is available in its entirety at their website, where you can also order the DVD).

It was produced by some friends of ours, and man, they did a fantastic job. It’s the incredible story of the cell, DNA and all the “building blocks” of life. Just so incredible. We had seen this video from some other friends of ours who have a website full of Health and Wellness Facts. The kids think it is so cool looking, and we all think it’s AMAZING what happens inside each cell, let alone the whole bodies of living things! (And even more amazing are the bodies of we people!)

When you have the time, please watch this 45 minute video and enjoy!

(And if you can, let them know what you think of it, either at YouTube, their video website, or their business website. From what I know this is the first in a series of at least three more. Already looking forward to them!)

Beautiful Skies

Darkened Fall Skies

I truly love the beauty of the fall season. This was the view out of my third-story window today. A very dark sky on the horizon, with fluffier white clouds above and blue sky (and sun) behind. And this was just minutes after a wet, heavy snow was showering down on us.

It’s more than just the colors of the leaves. And the sky. The angle of the sunlight this time of year does wonders with just about anything it falls upon. The colors, the shadows, and of course the contrast against magnificent skies!

And if that wasn’t enough, have you seen the skies on a clear autumn night? Beautiful full moon for most of the night. (It even accompanied me on an early morning walk just after sunrise today!) Close beside the bright large orb in the black sky you’ll find a smaller one, though seemingly just as bright. Jupiter is doing a little dance with its larger partner these last few days in November.

Somehow the sky has always fascinated me. I am drawn to it. I love to just stare up at it, marvel at its visible beauty, as well as the beauty of what we know of how it is made and how it works. Magnificent. Beautiful. Majestic. Breathtaking.

There is certainly beauty in every season, but if I ever had to be stuck in just one, I’d most definitely choose autumn!


Note: The photo does not begin to capture the beauty of the sky I saw, but the iPhone camera was all I had with me at that moment… 🙂

A Planet in “The Goldilocks Zone”

NASA scientists (among others, I’d imagine) continue searching for planets and planetary systems in our galaxy and nearby galaxies with all the tools currently available to us, and they continue to discover those greatly sought after objects. And now apparently have found the first planet that is thought to be in the so-called “Goldilocks Zone”.

The Goldilocks Zone is the orbit where—like our planet, Earth—it’s not too hot, and not too cold. Gliese 581-g is apparently such a planet. (Hopefully you’ve watched the video above already, and know all the facts…)

Our two boys and I (and a little bit with the younger kids, too) have been learning more and more about our solar system, and galaxy, and the universe in general lately. The enormity of even just our own Milky Way is mind blowing. But then to think of how much larger still is the universe, it’s just unfathomable.

The boys and I have pondered the idea of other planets out there near or far where God has placed life. It’s possible! But who knows? So far we have found nothing. Pretty “lucky” how we were placed right in the “Goldilocks Zone”…

But the search continues. And meanwhile, we still have a ton to learn about our own solar system, life or no life. (There certainly is nothing like us in our own solar system… unless they have trans-dimensional cloaking devices?) We have sent many probes out to collect data and photos and explore for us … including New Horizons that is scheduled to get us our first real, up close view of Pluto (formerly the 9th planet…) in the year 2015. I can’t wait! 🙂

So, perhaps some day—if Jesus tarries, as they say—perhaps we, mankind, will be able to achieve some sort of transport that will take us to places like Gliese 581-g. Or beyond. And who knows what we’ll find there? And elsewhere? I have no doubt that, even if we don’t find anything anywhere, the curiosity the God placed inside is will keep us searching for more, and help us find more.

Hopefully when we do, we can come up with a slightly better name… 😉

God Of Wonders (DVD)

God of Wonders DVDWe are fans of God’s creations here. There is no end to the amazing complexity and brilliant design all around you. The boys and I have been reading many books about our solar system (and the universe beyond) and the kids and Jen just joined a science club where they were learning about the incredible world of the cell. It really is marvelously fantastic. (There aren’t enough superlatives.)

Recently we borrowed a DVD from some friends of ours, then we subsequently lent that DVD to other friends, and upon retrieval of the much-lent movie, we all watched it again this week—and it was just as good as the first time!

That DVD is God of Wonders from Eternal Productions, made by our friends at LaBarge Media. It’s got some incredible video footage and it’s an hour and half of learning about God’s amazing creation. We highly recommend.

You can click the DVD cover above and purchase directly from LaBarge Media’s store (ChristianVideoWarehouse.com), but at the moment they are transitioning that site, so you might be better off purchasing from Amazon. (See link above.)

Or, you could just borrow from a friend 😉

Either way, we recommend.