Osama Salih Mahdi

Living Wonders

Earth is alive with a symphony of sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields.

Picture a scene in Africa. A leopard silently approaches an impala, while a hare scurries nearby. A migratory bird, such as a European swallow, soars above them. An owl gracefully perches on a branch overhead. A python snake glides stealthily along the ground. An insect-eating bat hangs upside down from the tree. A golden orb spider weaves its web among the tree branches. A mosquito hovers in the air, and a honeybee alights on a blossoming flower. Now, amid this diverse gathering, introduce yourself – a human who appreciates the wonders of the animal kingdom. 

The shifting light and temperature variations signal to the European swallow that it’s time to go on its migration across continents. Sensing Earth’s magnetic field with its internal compass, the bird takes flight. However, it’s not only migratory birds that utilize natural reference points for navigation; the bee, with its special ability to sense ultraviolet light, skillfully collects nectar from flowers and returns to the hive.

The leopard stealthily approaches the impala, and the impala senses that something is wrong. The snake flicks its tongue, detecting the trail of the hare, and readies itself for an ambush. A mosquito, guided by its antennae, cuts through the air, attracted to the source of carbon dioxide in the human’s breath. Each creature in this scenario is actively perceiving its surroundings, capturing the scents via smell. The mosquito lands on the human’s skin, preparing to take a meal, but a swift swat sends it away, disturbing the hare in the process. The alarmed hare emits a squeak audible to the bat, making it take flight. Meanwhile, as the mosquito strays into silken strands of the spider, the spider senses the vibrations of struggling prey and moves in for the kill. 

Not known to the attacking spider, high-frequency sound waves bounce back to the bat that sent them. The bat’s sonar is so precise that it not only navigates in the dark, but also accurately pinpoints the spider in its web, plucking it with precision.

The place becomes dark after sunset, and the footsteps of the hare become too faint for human ears but easily discernible to the sitting owl. The disc of stiff feathers on the owl’s face funnels sound toward its sensitive ears, with one ear slightly higher than the other. This asymmetry allows the owl to precisely locate the source of the hare’s skittering in both vertical and horizontal planes. It swoops down just as the hare comes within striking range of the waiting python. 

Equipped with two pits on its snout, the snake senses the infrared radiation emitted by warm objects, effectively seeing heat. To the snake, the hare’s body appears to be on fire, and it strikes. While the owl shifts its attention to a new arrival on the scene, a nearby rodent whose footsteps are too faint for other creatures to hear.

Before the leopard can launch its attack, the impala’s ears detect the movement, prompting a fast escape, allowing it to live another day. The leopard continues its nocturnal hunt under the veil of darkness.

The truth is that a myriad of living organisms coexist in the same physical space on and under the ground. The majority of these organisms are microscopic and invisible to the naked human eye. Billions of nanomachines operate within the cells and bodies of each of these living organisms.

All these living wonders are the result of their gene expressions. You can read and understand this thanks to your gene expressions. 

Human cognitive abilities like memory, learning, language processing, executive functions, emotional regulation, attention, focus, problem-solving, and creativity are the results of the gene expressions of our exceptional sets of genes. 

Bats use echolocation for navigation and hunting prey. Genes and their expressions involved in the development of specialized structures in their larynx, like the laryngeal echolocation chamber, are what make such unique behavior possible, along with the ability to fly. 

It is the unique sets of genes and their expression that give electric eels the ability to generate electric fields for navigation, communication, and hunting. Genes involved in the development of specialized cells called electrocytes contribute to this unique trait

Chameleons are renowned for their ability to change colors to match their surroundings or express emotions. Gene expression in skin cells controls the distribution of pigments, allowing them to exhibit a diverse range of colors. 

The incredible navigation skills of monarch butterflies that migrate thousands of miles is the result of special gene expressions associated with the circadian rhythm in the genome of that butterfly. 

The theory of evolution claims that the mechanism of evolution, driven mainly by random, unguided mutations, creates and introduces changes to the instruction manual for building and running living things.

Quandary 1

Can these random, unguided mutations – or any other random, unguided mechanisms – create and/or add the absolute necessary changes to the genetic code instructions, allowing for the creation of different cells, organs/organelles, body plans, unique traits, and behaviors?

Epigenetic Information

Following a brutal 6-month winter, one of the coldest on record with temperatures plummeting to −35 degrees Celsius (−31 degrees Fahrenheit), only one of my honeybee hives survived. The swarm of honeybees were crowded closely together, forming a winter cluster to keep the queen at the warm core while her daughter workers shook and shivered to generate heat. Despite having a plentiful store of honey as their main energy source and a good population of winter-ready honeybees, surviving the harsh and unforgiving winter of North Dakota posed a challenge. Yet, against all odds, one strong queen made it. And she deserves a prize. A prize for keeping her legacy alive by producing new queens.

The process I use to produce a new queen/queens bee begins by establishing a starter hive. I placed several frames of brood filled with nursing bees, as well as ample pollen and honey, to nurture and feed the bee larvae. Additional bees were added to make the box crowded. Being queenless (without a queen), this triggered the need to raise a new queen. The following day, I introduced a frame containing eggs and very young bee larvae from the surviving queen to the starter hive. The bees immediately set to work. How exactly did the bees do it?  

The queen bee can lay 2,000 eggs per day. The fertile egg hatches after 3 days. The queen bee can choose to release a fertilized egg, which will develop into a female worker bee, or she can release a non-fertilized egg. This non-fertilized egg then develops into a male bee, also known as a drone. 

After hatching, the nurse bees initially feed the larvae a substance called royal jelly, followed by a mixture of honey and pollen. After a few days, the worker bees seal the larvae in the cell using beeswax. The larvae then develop into pupae. A couple of weeks later, a new worker bee emerges, ready to contribute to the hive’s activities.

When there is a need to create a new queen bee, the nursing bees do two interesting things. First, they feed the young larvae the special food: royal jelly. Royal jelly is produced by special glands in the heads of worker bees. The worker bees continue to feed the future queen royal jelly exclusively, elevating her status to that of a queen.

Second, the worker bees construct a larger cell for the future queen, as she is significantly larger in size than a worker bee. This larger cell is called a swarm or supersedure cell. Queens emerge from their cells in 15–16 days while workers emerge in 21 days.

Same But Different

The honeybee queen and worker share the same genetic material, possessing identical DNA and genes. However, they exhibit significant differences in their shape, behavior, function, and anatomy. 

These significant differences arise from the activation of different genes in each. In honeybee queens, specific genes are triggered during the developmental stage by the type of diet consumed, leading to certain genes being expressed while others may be deactivated.

On the other hand, worker bees are fed a diet consisting of honey and pollen, which activates a distinct set of genes while potentially deactivating others. This differential gene expression leads to variations in body structure, behavior, and assigned tasks.

When the first honeybee queen emerges from her cell, she searches for and eliminates her queen sisters. She knows there must be only one queen in the hive; hence, she kills every other emerging queen in their cells. Should another queen attempt to emerge, a deadly battle arises until only one remains in the hive.

After a few days of strengthening her wings, the queen bee makes her mating flight, during which she mates with several males. Upon safely returning to the hive with active ovaries, the honeybee queen begins her role of egg-laying, producing up to 2,000 eggs per day. She sustains this activity for a period of 2–4 years, occasionally extending up to 6 years.

In contrast, honeybee workers begin their lives with cleaning and construction duties within the confines of a crowded and dark hive. They then transition to nursing responsibilities, caring for thousands of infant sisters and brothers. After a few weeks, workers take on guard duties, defending the hive against various threats, even at the cost of their own lives if necessary.

Later, the genetic instructions of honeybee workers order them to undertake the very exhausting task of foraging. These foragers start making long flights to gather pollen and water ephemeral sources, not just for themselves but also for the entire colony, and sometimes even for humans (by pollinating many crops and producing honey), thereby maintaining the balance for the hive. Without any vacation, forager bees die of exhaustion within 6–8 weeks, with only about one week devoted to foraging activities using their highly sophisticated navigation system.    

Again, the same exact larva being fed two different diets produced completely different results.

The type of diet acts as an external factor that goes beyond the genetic code, inducing modifications to the DNA. This regulation influences the activity and expression of genes in honeybee larvae, selectively turning certain genes off while activating others to varying degrees. This process results in the development of different types of honeybees, whether queen or worker. 

This phenomenon is called epigenetics. “Epi” derives from Greek and means “above” while “genetics” describes factors beyond genetic code affecting gene expression without changing the DNA sequence.

In other words, epigenetics refers to a source of meaningful information or instruction that lies beyond the genes. In fact, epigenetic information can be observed extensively throughout life.

Another example is the development of different genders in many reptiles. In crocodiles, alligators, turtles, and some lizards, the egg’s temperature determines the gender, a phenomenon known as temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD). Even slight variations in incubation temperature can result in the production of either male or female offspring.

The females of these animals are aware of this fact and design the nest or the egg incubation site to ensure that some eggs have the right temperature to produce males while others develop into females.

Back to the process of creating a new honeybee queen. The main steps include the following:

First, identify the problem and determine the solution. The queenless hive immediately recognizes the absence of a queen. The honeybee workers know the importance of the queen and identify the problem of a hive without one.

Next, the workers know how to fix it. They construct a larger cell around the larva that will become the queen because they know she will be larger than a worker bee. The size of the cell for the future queen larva is perfect, neither too small nor too big.

Then, the honeybee workers feed the larva the right type of diet to become a queen, i.e., royal jelly. Thousands of worker bees provide about 1,300 meals a day to the future queen to satisfy her voracious appetite. Every single worker bee knows exactly what to do during the feeding process, with zero errors: royal jelly only. 

The interaction between the internal factors, featuring a unique sequence encoding specific proteins with particular 3-D shapes to form various types of cells and organs, and the external factor as represented by the type of diet specifically designed to regulate gene expression across multiple genes, leads to a distinct outcome aimed at achieving a distant goal. The design of this external factor is particularly unique as it solely regulates the gene expression of multiple genes by activating some and deactivating others. For the activated monarch genes, both the quantity and timing of production are critical. Any error could lead to the failure of the honeybee queen production process. There is no room for compromise. The external factor delivers precise instructions to the internal factors, which then instruct the production of specific proteins.

In other words, the design of the external factor contains comprehensive knowledge and meaningful information to influence several genes.

Second, the final product: worker bees seal the queen larva in her enlarged cell, where it develops into a pupa over the next few days and eventually emerges as a honeybee queen. She chews her way through the wax capping; armed with the right survival behavior, she knows what to do next. Her first task is to kill all her queen sisters. Then she takes off on her mating flight and returns to lay eggs.

More Knowledge

For honeybees, raising a new queen isn’t solely reserved for instances of a queenless hive. They undertake this process on several occasions, for example, when the existing queen is aging, ill, or failing in her duties, e.g., she may produce fewer eggs; the honeybees can recognize this decline in egg production and quality. Understanding the importance of a strong queen to the hive’s well-being, the bees gently retire the old queen and start the process of creating a new one.

Another example is the phenomenon known as swarming, which serves as the primary method for honeybees to reproduce and expand their population in nature. When a hive becomes too crowded, the queen initiates swarming by leading a portion of the bees to establish a new colony elsewhere. However, successful swarming requires careful preparation. As the colony senses the queen’s intent to swarm, scouts are sent to find a good location for the new colony. Additionally, worker bees begin constructing swarm cells to raise new queens.

After the egg hatches into a larva, it breathes through openings on both sides of its body, positioned to the left and right. It takes on a distinctive c-shape and has a voracious appetite.

Nurse bees inspect the larva and begin the feeding process. During the first two days, they provide a special diet. The larva, in its c-shaped position, essentially floats in a pool of food. Because it lies on one side, it breathes through the opening on the opposite side. Therefore, the nurse bees must be extra cautious not to overfeed the larva, which could lead to suffocation.

The nurse bees provide thousands of meals, each containing approximately ten microliters at the outset. There is no room for error. Every bee checks the larva and adjusts the meal size according to the rapid growth of the larva.

By the third day, the nurse bees switch to a different diet and progressively increase its quantity for the future worker and male bees.

The larva’s insatiable appetite persists and by the fifth day the diet includes honey and pollen. This rapid consumption results in the larva increasing its weight by 1,500 times.

To put this into perspective, at this rate, if a human baby weighed eight pounds at birth, then it would weigh 1,200 pounds after just six days.

The nurse bees provide the perfect type and quantity of food for the larvae every hour, thousands of times, with zero error in the darkness of the hive.

Furthermore, the removal of feces behavior is another remarkable problem-solving solution that demonstrates comprehensive knowledge in providing information to solve a problem. Because the larva is literally swimming in its food and cannot leave the cell, it is important that no feces are allowed to exit the larva’s body. Any waste discharge would lead to significant problems. The larva’s intestine operates as a closed system at this stage. The initial segment of the digestive system is separated from the final segment. Consequently, waste cannot travel out of the larva’s body.

It must be uncomfortable to consume so much food without the ability to relieve oneself, but it is a necessary and intelligent solution for this unique situation.

In the next stage of development, the two parts of the digestive system connect, allowing the larva to expel waste efficiently. To stay clean, it cleverly utilizes strands of spun cocoon to remove the waste. This occurs after the cell is capped and no more food is required.

Caring for the new honeybee queen involves thousands of honeybee workers carefully feeding the larva thousands of meals in the darkness of the hive. Not a single one makes a mistake, ensuring that only the appropriate diet is provided to the future queen. Even a tiny droplet of honey or pollen could disrupt the queen’s development despite the abundance of honey and pollen in the hive.

The unique composition of royal jelly and its precise control over thousands of genes in the larva toward a specific problem-solving objective is a conclusive example of intelligent design, surpassing even the most sophisticated human designs.  

The Merriam–Webster’s dictionary defines information as: “knowledge obtained from investigation, study, or instruction” and “the attribute inherent in and communicated by one of two or more alternative sequences or arrangements of something (such as nucleotides in DNA or binary digits in a computer program) that produce specific effects.”8

The multiple levels of meaningful information in epigenetics are, by definition, the product of intelligent design.

Quandary 55

But where does the meaningful information observed in epigenetics originate? Can random, natural unguided processes generate such meaningful information through trial and error?


How Natural Selection Works

Leonardo: “Tell me how natural selection works?”

Darwinstein: “Consider the following example. Let us take one hundred different breeds of domestic dogs, German Shepherds, Chihuahuas, Siberian Huskies, Dachshunds, Bulldogs, Maltese dogs, Terriers and more. Let us take one hundred individuals from each breed divided into fifty male and fifty female with a variety of colors if the breed has different colors.”

Leonardo: “So, we have 10,000 dogs in total.”

Darwinstein: “Correct. Next, let us put all of these ten thousand dogs on the African savanna, and check them after one year. What do you think will happen? How many dogs will we find alive after one year?”

Leonardo: “I would say fifty dogs.”

Darwinstein: “Fifty is an exaggerated number. I would say only a few dogs might survive.”

Leonardo: “I can see how many of these poor dogs will not make it to the next two days. The ones who will survive the heat, thirst and hunger in the first couple days will have no chance against the other predators such as lions and hyenas.”

Darwinstein: “The one who somehow managed to get some food will be killed by the diseases in the next few weeks. Only a very few individuals will survive the onslaught of that brutal environment.”

Leonardo: “Interesting. So, natural selection acts against diversity. We started with ten thousand dogs and just after one year only about few dogs left. Now I am thinking. Natural selection can only operate on what already exists. It only removes what already exists. It does not explain how these dogs originated. Natural selection changed the proportion of the different breeds of dogs by terminating the unfit ones on the African savanna. I have the feeling that mutation plus natural selection works in the opposite direction of evolution. These mechanisms often take away rather than add.”

Darwinstein “Let us go and buy some bagel bread. I know a good place for that.”

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